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Viking Rhine Getaway -- Viking Tor, Fall 2014


AnotherDawn
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I'll try to relate some of our experiences here, as they apply to our trip. First, we had a wonderful experience, and would happily do it again. Our trip was nearly perfect, the Viking staff was wonderful, from booking to the final ride to the airport. We were blessed with unseasonal good weather the entire week.

 

I may post some things that sound negative or critical but they should not be construed as meaning we did not have a good time or we did not enjoy the cruise or that Viking did anything wrong. It's just a fact that things were the way they were, and maybe the information can help future travelers make decisions.

 

Day 1, arrival in Basel

 

We arrived at the airport around 5pm, on time, and waited an hour as about half a dozen more couples arrived. The Basel airport is pretty small, so if you go through Amsterdam like we did, shop there for last minute necessities as there's next to nothing in Basel.

 

Also, because we arrived so late we did not get the tour of Basel that many others did who were able to get early flights. (Likewise, people who had early departures from Amsterdam did not get that tour at the end)

 

We were put on a bus with our luggage and had a 10 minute ride to the ship. We got off the bus and were told our luggage would be taken to our room and we'd have it after dinner. So, no chance to change clothes before dinner.

 

Everyone else got on the ship immediately but DH and I took 5 minutes to look around. There's a funky old tower nearby:

 

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First view of the ship and the river:

 

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The 100 level "aquarium" cabin that would be our home for the next 7 days:

 

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We were pleased with the cabin. It was brighter than I expected, and quite comfortable. We mainly used it for naps, freshening up, and of course sleeping. We had a chance to visit one of the upper level rooms with the full balcony, and it was about 20" wider, and aside from the balcony there were no differences that I could see. Bathrooms were the same on both levels.

 

View from our window:

 

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As I said we did not have our luggage to change before dinner so we washed up and went to the dining room. We missed the welcome and briefing, since we arrived in the middle of it and had stopped to wash.

 

Our one and only unpleasant incident happened at dinner. We chose a table and had another couple sit down with us when a rather brusque man showed up and informed us we were at HIS table and we had to leave. Well, we had no words for this and at first thought it was a joke, but then a server came over and confirmed that this person had a 'reservation' and we had to move. And so we ended up at a corner table with no view (the sun was going down so this very quickly ceased to matter). Two more diners joined us and we laughed over it, and became friends for the rest of the trip.

 

So, apparently even though seating is open and there are no assigned seats, some people were able to get reserved seating in the dining room for the entire week. We saw placards on a few tables after that.

 

I went up on the roof deck after dinner to get some air. It was cool and misty and we were the only ones there.

 

Back in our room and ready to sleep but no luggage had arrived yet. We went to the front desk and they assured us it had been removed from the bus and was on the ship somewhere and would find it. Around midnight it was discovered in someone else's cabin. We changed and crashed hard.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to post and for the pictures. I know from past cruises that I've seen large groups, family and friends who travel together, reserve a large table for meals as they want to dine together. Perhaps this was the case you experienced.

Keep posting!

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Thanks for posting - I'm looking forward to more :)

 

That stinks that your luggage was that late arriving to your cabin but at least it did arrive and wasn't left on the dock! Hard to imagine other travelers not noticing luggage that wasn't theirs in their cabin until midnight since those cabins are pretty small but maybe they were in the lounge until the wee hours. Anyway, fantastic it was located!

 

I've never seen that reservation situation in the dining room - didn't know that it was possible to reserve. It ended up being a good thing for you if you made friends with your new tablemates and laughing over it was a good way to handle it altho' I'm sure it was not a pleasant way to start your cruise.

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Thanks for posting - I'm looking forward to more :)

 

That stinks that your luggage was that late arriving to your cabin but at least it did arrive and wasn't left on the dock! Hard to imagine other travelers not noticing luggage that wasn't theirs in their cabin until midnight since those cabins are pretty small but maybe they were in the lounge until the wee hours. Anyway, fantastic it was located!

 

There was a lot of wine flowing that night at dinner (and every other night, too) and things were pretty loud in the lounge when we went downstairs, so I suspect this is exactly what happened.

 

I figured we still had our passports and credit cards, so even if it was lost, we'd manage. :D

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So glad you're posting about your trip. I look forward to more. Did you have to stand on tiptoes to look out your cabin window? It looks awfully high in the photo. Weird about your luggage not being found until midnight. Makes me wonder what time it was put in the wrong cabin.

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Thanks for coming back to write your review and include photos. I am an avid follower of the reviews as our Rhine Getaway will happen in 2015. We are booked in 104 Aquarium level on the Idi longship so I was happy to see your stateroom picture and will be interested in hearing anything else about the room location. You have a great travel attitude, taking glitches in stride and with humour. :)

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Day Two: Breisach

 

Passengers on the ship started moving about 6am, as most want to get to breakfast and out the door on the daily excursions.

 

A cold buffet of sliced meats and cheese, bread and pastries, coffee and tea is available on the fore terrace from 7-9:30 am. Coffee, tea, cocoa, juice and pastries are available at the coffee stations on the middle deck from 6-11am. The dining room opens at 7am and that is the only place to get a hot breakfast, if you want eggs, bacon, potatoes or hot cereal. I like to start with a hearty breakfast so that is where we went every morning.

 

The doors open at 7 and not a minute earlier, and by 7:30 the feeding frenzy is well underway. There is a single omelet station where you can get eggs cooked any way you like, and there was always a line. Scrambled eggs are on the buffet, too, if you're in a hurry. I was impressed that the eggs were so fresh they were almost orange. You can also order a few items like french toast or eggs benedict off the menu, and then supplement that with fruit or pastries from the buffet.

 

About 7:45 the dining room empties out as everyone rushes to get ready for the excursions, which left at 8am most mornings. Our first day was the Black Forest and cuckoo clock trip, and we chose to skip it. I wasn't excited about a bus ride and had no plans to buy a clock.

 

When you leave the ship you pick up a "pass" from the front desk and if you are going on an excursion you get a numbered tag, too. This helps the staff keep track of how many people are in the tour so they can be divided up into groups, and also lets them keep track of which passengers are not on board.

 

They also offer a map of each port, and in some of them we had a shuttle bus schedule too, for those who wanted to stay later than the standard tour.

 

We got our map and walked 5 minutes into a very sleepy Sunday morning Breisach. The sun was just coming up and it was slightly hazy, cool but with the promise of a much warmer day.

 

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St Stephen's Meunster is immediately visible on the hill overlooking the town, and that was our destination. We went up and up and around and around, admiring the view.

 

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The church was open, but empty. There are plaquards around the courtyard, primarily in German and French (which I know a little of), and I was able to translate enough of it to get the idea this site had been a roman outpost at one time and that the church had been bombed in WW2.

 

The hike had made us really thirsty and we learned our first lesson. Viking offers bottled water at the door when you leave, if it is not there you only have to ask. Take it with you. We had a difficult time finding water during the trip, and when we did it was expensive and usually sparkling mineral water. In Breisach, being Sunday everything was closed, but we found a little hotel near the cathedral and I managed to pantomime enough to get us a bottle of sparkling water. We sat for a while enjoying the morning sun and then set off on the rest of the "red line" trail on the map we had.

 

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Breisach is a cute little village with a number of old buildings. There are plaques every so often that identify historic buildings, but sadly a great many of them say something like "A very old inn stood here from 1100 until it was bombed in 1944".

 

Then it was time to go down the hill.

 

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(continued)

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We headed down the opposite side of the hill, on a sloping street.

 

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Then down some stairs.

 

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Where we found an old gate house that is now a museum.

 

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And some interesting cobblestones in the square. The swastika has been removed from the center of the circle.

 

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Down more steps...

 

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After which we shortly found ourselves back at the town square where the busses from the Black Forest trip had arrived and folks were preparing to go up to the church. We wandered around in the center of town a bit, but we were getting tired and nothing was open yet (Cafes open at 10 or 11am) so we went back to the ship for lunch and a rest.

 

I think what I remember Breisach for is all the lace curtains.

 

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Lunch on the ship is served simultaneously on the terrace and in the dining room. The terrace buffet usually contained 2-3 meat/main course items and/or a soup, with salad, fixings, bread and a dessert or two. The dining room had a menu with appetizers, 2-3 main courses, desserts, plus the buffet with salad, cold cuts and cheese, breads, etc. The menus are often, but not always similar.

 

We tried the terrace for informal dining but the seating is extremely limited. I think there are about 6 tables outside, and another 6 or 8 inside the lounge and they fill quickly. We ate on the top deck once but were bothered by wasps. After that we had lunch in the dining room when we were not eating in town.

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Yes, about an hour before the meal they put out a menu in front of the dining room. I don't believe they posted a terrace menu, but it was easy to go look and see what they were putting out. They set up salvers and placards 15-30 minutes before hand.

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One couple said the bus ride was very scenic, another said they thought the little villages they went through were pretty. I didn't hear anything about the clock factory other than one passenger had bought 4 clocks.

 

I did hear later that there had been a problem with one of the buses. Apparently one of those quaint little villages was having its annual festival that weekend and they refused to let the bus through town. So it had to back up and take another road.

 

I saw what looked like coffee and cherry brandy set up for returning passengers, but we were on our way to our room and by the time I got back to the lobby to investigate, it was gone.

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Thanks so much for posting your review!

 

And, especially, the pics of the aquarium cabin as we too are booked in 121 on the Kvasir next July. I actually think that window up high is going to afford plenty of privacy while allowing lots of natural light. Let us know how that goes as docking procedures occur in different cities please.

 

Also, can I ask if the excursion to the Black Forest and clock making factory was an optional expense or was that the "tour of the day"?

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Yes, about an hour before the meal they put out a menu in front of the dining room. I don't believe they posted a terrace menu, but it was easy to go look and see what they were putting out. They set up salvers and placards 15-30 minutes before hand.

Thanks, helpful to know.

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Also, can I ask if the excursion to the Black Forest and clock making factory was an optional expense or was that the "tour of the day"?

 

It was the included tour. I think there was also a guided walking tour up to the church, but we had done that already and I wasn't paying a lot of attention.

 

We did not do any of the optional, additional payment required, tours.

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Day Three: Strasburg

 

We left Breisach after dinner and arrive in Strasburg during the night. It was still dark at 6am when we woke.

 

I took advantage of the mostly empty ship to get some photos of the common area. Forward, the dining room doors and stairs up. Aft, the reception desk

 

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One of the coffee stations.

 

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Dining room at breakfast.

 

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The daily tour into the city left at 8:30 and it began with a walk through the park where the ship was docked, up quite a few stairs to the street where the busses were.

 

We had a very informative tour of modern Strasburg, which is home to the European parliament and the human rights court. Our guide was from the city, and she had a lot to say about its turbulent history. Tip: if you want to see the stork nests sit on the side behind the driver.

 

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Then we began our walking tour of the old city, toward the cathedral. We had the option to join the "slow walkers" or "leisure" group most days and we took it. Our group had one guy in crutches, two people with canes, one woman in a foot cast, and several people like us who just wanted to go slower and take more photos. Viking had permission to take one bus close to the cathedral, as a result we missed the walking tour of the old homes along the canals, which were father out.

 

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The cathedral is huge, and it has beautiful stained glass windows that were rescued from the Germans after WW2.

 

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Our guide also warned us about pickpockets and gypsies in the square. They dress as to make themselves look pitiful, and sit on the stairs by the entrance so you almost have to step over them to get in or out. The police chase them off every so often, but they come back. We kept our eyes open and didn't have any problems.

 

After the cathedral we found the Musee Archiologique and bought tickets. They have a nice collection of prehistoric and Roman items, and on the side is a display of finds from WW1. Some knowledge of French or German is helpful, not much was labeled in English.

 

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For Strasburg we had the option of going back to the ship after the tour or staying in the city. Viking had busses set up to pick us up at 2:30, 3:30 and 5pm. We opted to stay and explore, and have lunch. We found a cafe away from the tourist area and sat for over an hour, had a nice lunch and a glass of wine. It turned into a very warm day, probably topped 80F. We were very happy to be under an umbrella and not out on the hot cobblestones.

 

We also did a little shopping. Most of the tourist shops sell the same things, pins, magnets, postcards, kitschy stuff. The unique finds in Strasburg were the stuffed toy storks, which came in all sizes, and the red and white linens. If those are things that appeal to you, buy them there, because we did not see them anywhere else on the trip.

 

We went back to the bus at 3:30 and took a nap. I missed the Flammkuchen demo.

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Loving your report and the great information. We sail in the reverse direction next month. Your photos are terrific and we're so glad you had a good time.

 

We're most distressed about the reservations at dinner. We've made several Viking trips and we're worried that they are allowing their system of open seating to change to more like ocean trips. It's not what we want and we'll look for other lines if this becomes true. It was terrible that they made your table move after seating. They do advertise open seating as one of their main features and most of our ships have made it clear at the welcome talk that it is open seating. Often a few from a group will "stake out" a table for friends but they have to do it in person and it's not always the same table each night. Sounds like the restaurant manager missed that talk. ;) Only at the Captain's Dinner have we seen a pre-determined table with him/her in attendance but the remaining tables have been open seating.

 

We'd love to hear about the program director on your ship. The program director can make or break the trip - whether they are familiar with their ports, have a great sense of humor, interact easily with the passengers and whether they share vital information and tips about the stops before you make decisions. We've been lucky and had great ones for 5 of our 6 trips so we're always hopeful. Can't wait.

 

Thanks again and happy travels.

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Our program director was Boris, and he was a very open approachable guy. He did the Daily Briefings and introduced the various special guests on the ship and acted as MC whenever necessary. He made the briefings fun, interesting and seemed pretty knowledgeable about each of our destinations.

 

Overall, we had a great crew. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to be helpful. We had questions answered and issued fixed quickly and with a smile.

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Day Four: Mannheim/Heidelberg/Rudesheim

 

This was an extremely busy day. It dawned cool and drizzly, but I took a chance and got on the excursion bus without my coat. Again we took the "leisure" group option for slower walkers.

 

The bus ride was boring, but short. Once we got to Heidelberg it got interesting watching to see if the bus would make it through the narrow twisty streets to the castle. Heidelberg has some interesting old architecture, but it's hard to get pictures on a moving bus.

 

The castle is mostly a shell. Our tour took us into the courtyard, with a brief visit to the cellar to see the "world's largest wine cask". The castle was destroyed by Napoleonic forces, and although a brief reconstruction was started, they ultimately decided to leave it, and maintain it in the condition it stands now.

 

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If you want to peruse the gift shop head up the walk as soon as you get off the bus and get your radio channel number. The guides allowed us no time after the tour.

 

The bus goes back down the hill into Heidelberg, where there is a walking tour. Fortunately for us the weather had cleared off by this time. Heidelberg is a small town, surprisingly so considering its famous university. We enjoyed browsing a number of small shops, bought a giant pretzel at one of the bakeries and sat in the square enjoying it. The tour guide leaves you in a square with a not-very-interesting church and a lot of tourist souvenir shops. They all have the same ticky-tacky stuff, but Heidelberg had a lot of stuffed bears, for reasons unknown to me. We were also told there was good chocolate to be had from some of the shops.

 

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We had to be back at the bus by 12:15 and right around 11:55 I started noticing people from our tour walking that direction and realized what time it was. We still hadn't seen the bridge tower or found a chocolate shop, so DH and I did a mad dash through town acting like crazed tourists, and did manage to get back in time.

 

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Meanwhile the ship had moved on to Gernsheim, which is a small modern village with a shipyard, and the bus from Heidelberg delivered us there just in time for lunch. We were off immediately for Rudesheim.

 

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We had our usual afternoon nap, which seemed to be what a lot of other passengers were doing, too. After all the morning walking everyone just wanted to crash in their cabins until either the afternoon tour or dinner came around. I won't say that most people were out of shape, but folks were definitely not used to the amount of walking, stairs and hill climbing we were doing on this trip.

 

At 3pm they presented Rudesheimer coffee in the lounge, and I happen to have woken up by then, so we sat down for the little demo and free boozy coffees. It comes in cute little cups, which of course you can buy in town, along with the liquor.

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