Viking Vs. Vantage

Anyone been on both for European river cruises?

DH & I have been on Viking - Great Rivers of Europe. They are a great company and we enjoyed the cruise very much. We had a good size room. However, the rooms on the lowest deck on Viking are very small DH would never stay in one. Vantage is owned by the brother of the owner of Grand Circle. I have heard good things about them. We prefer Grand Cirlce to Viking. We prefer the room layout; compelmentary wine with dinner. SOmething to remember if price is a consideration. If you book ahead on Viking, you might pay more but since you book VIking through a travel agent; you may get a deal if the ship is not full. GCT (we have done 2 river cruises with them) and Vantage bookings are direct - I think they sail with nearly full ships every time.

Hope this helps

I have written a longer review about our experience on the vantage russian river cruise in another section of this webb site--the thing i would urge you to consider is to have a plan so that you can spend some quality time-a minimum of 2-3 days on your own in st. petersburg and moscow: vantage is not the only tour company that will blitz you with so many many sights that you miss the forest for the trees: for example, anyone who has been to st. petersburg and not spent at least 2 full days at the Hermitage has missed a travel experience of a lifetime. I would think the most important aspect of your planning then would be how you can experience as much as possible of moscow and st. petersburg, making secondary such things as comfort on the ship, food, cabin size, etc. regards, r.hurley

You have to look at both companies and what they offer - apples to apples for the price. I think you will find that Viking is a little more expensive that Vantage. We just returned from a Vantage Holland to Hungary cruise and were really pleased. As far at the rooms go, we had a cabin on the bottom level of the River Odyssey and loved it. About 150 square feet with fold down beds. Plenty of room for us. Loved the way Vantage organized everything. The food was super as were the program directors. Would I recommend Vantage, yes. Would I trave with Vantage again, in a heartbeat.

Willard