steverhodes

For our 50thAnniversary last year, we took a Viking cruise there. It was absolutely fabulous. You can see all the pictures I took here: https://RhodesVacations.com

We fly business when going overseas but coach when we don’t. This means these 8 days cruises are slightly CHEAPER for us than the 8 days ones in Europe.

Here is an example of typical attire in December on a Viking longship.

+4 pounds every trip. Enough food is not the problem.

Since this topic has come up often, I decided to walk around the dining room several times on our back-to-back Viking River Cruises this month (Elbe and Eastern Europe). I saw people dressed like we are in the picture. No one was dressed sloppily in my opinion. We average about .5 sport coats per night and I never saw fancy dresses. I always wear khakis and a button up shirt. I was pretty average in my dressing vs. the other guests. After 13 cruises on Viking, one of the things I like best about Viking is that I don’t have to buy dress up clothes to go on a vacation. I donated my last suit to Goodwill in 1998. I don’t even own a tie. My experience on Viking has been no sloppy dressers and very few were overdressed.

My wife and I have been in explore suites on FIVE different Viking longships. We found the room absolutely fantastic!! The little bit of noise or slight vibrations we heard from engines were trivial. We would book another explore suite in a heartbeat. They are absolutely wonderful rooms. We also love the great sunset pictures you can get from their back veranda.

The official word from Viking on the status of Viking Idun is: “We can confirm that just after midnight (CEST) on 1 April, VIKING IDUN and a cargo vessel collided while sailing from Antwerp to Ghent. No guests were injured. The ship sustained some damage near the bow and is currently docked in Terneuzen with all guests. While damage of the ship is being assessed, guests will continue with a modified version of the itinerary. We hope to have the ship in operation in time for its next departure on 4 April, if that should not be so future guests will be accommodated on another Viking Longship. Viking’s Custom er Relations team will communicate directly with the guests or their travel agents.”

According to another website (www.fleetmon.com), “Viking issued this statement We can confirm that just after midnight (CEST) on 1 April, VIKING IDUN and a cargo vessel collided while sailing from Antwerp to Ghent. No guests were injured. The ship sustained some damage near the bow and is currently docked in Terneuzen with all guests. While damage of the ship is being assessed, guests will continue with a modified version of the itinerary. We hope to have the ship in operation in time for its next departure on 4 April, if that should not be so future guests will be accommodated on another Viking Longship. Viking’s Customer Relations team will communicate directly with the guests or their travel agents.”

Prague extension is great. We did it on both of our cruises last year. You can see all of my pictures here. https://RhodesVacations.com

Last year July 7-14 and December 5-12 we were on the Danube with Viking and had NO changes or problems due to water. Two perfect flawless cruises.

My wife Sally and I are booked on the November 1-15, 2019 cruise. It will be our 15th Viking cruise. You can see our pictures of our previous Viking cruises here: https://RhodesVacations.com So excited! Steve and Sally Parker, Texas

We have done both. I would definitely pick Prague. Here’s a picture from last month in Prague.

On 4 of our Viking trips, we tried to upgrade to business using our miles. One of these was on United and 3 were on American. Never did the airlines tells us our tickets were not upgradable. On all 4 of trips we were able to upgrade to business at least one of the ways. And on one we were able to upgrade both ways to business. The reason we did not get both ways upgraded was business got sold out.

This year we did the Romantic Danube July 7-14 and the Danube Waltz December 5-12. ZERO problems and no ship swaps on either. Two fantastic cruises. We have now taken 10 Viking River cruises since 2014 and never had a water problem.

We bought a bunch of them 2 weeks ago. Don’t know what 2019 will bring. Maybe program will keep going or maybe not.