dolllover

On 9/3/2023 at 12:01 PM, notamermaid said:

I find it a far superior itinerary of CroisiEurope to the one of Viking. As a side note, I have read that the paddle wheeler technology used on the Elbe Princesse is a bit noisy. But perhaps that is just a perception of a few people. Know anything about this?

 

And a ship spotter has been there: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?67785-Viking-Beyla-KFGS-07002022&p=462147#post462147

 

notamermaid

 

Do you know if CroisiEuorope allows smoking on their boats?  That would be a deal breaker for me . 

17 hours ago, SonomaMountain said:

We paid so much money to be on a bus tour. I hope Viking comes up with a better plan since they have had several weeks to work on this.

Hope Viking comes thru and you have a great trip. After coming back recently from an amazing bus tour they can be as expensive as a river cruise these days. 

Thank you for your trip report. We’ve been on two Viking river cruises and both were excellent. 

On this trip we docked right into town so that was really great. If you wanted to do wine tasting and other sights those required a bus trip but 30 min at the most if I'm remembering correctly. At times we stayed overnight and sailed the next morning. These ports are fantastic. Hard to pick a favorite but Saint  Emilion was really amazing. Make sure you do the walking tours. You will have a great time.

We just came back from this trip and had a great time. Stayed in the pre cruise hotel called Hotel du Louvre. We loved the location of this hotel. Wasn't a big fan of the included breakfast since anything ordered from the menu took forever and was often cold. The breakfast buffet was ok.

This was our first river cruise with Uniworld and we really liked it. The service was great.Always asking if we needed anything. We had the french balcony room. Beautiful decor and loved how Uniworld does the French windows where one can stand outside like a mini balcony. The big problem with the room was how cramped it felt. We've done two previous Viking cruises and even though the bedrooms were small it had a superior design where one didn't feel cramped.

Loved Barbara one of the tour guides we had on this trip. Try to get in her group if you can. Ask away any questions you may have. 

We did this cruise on the Luminary. If you do the ship's excursion to Keukenhof make sure to choose the full day instead of the half day as there is so much to see. We also did the Delta Works which is fascinating but to be honest wish we had just did the bike tour in the countryside instead. But that's just me. A really nice trip. 

I've been on 2 Viking cruises and 1 Avalon. Loved them all but if I had to choose again I would go with Viking over Avalon. The staff was super friendly and helpful on our Viking cruises. We did the South of France and Romantic Danube and on those we were able to walk into town. Guides were great and it never felt crowded. They also do a really nice barbecue on the deck which we used quite a few times. You really can't go wrong with any of the cruise lines since river cruising is great. We got a French Balcony and the rooms were big enough for us.

The vaccine rollout here in Orange County, CA is going pretty well with vaccinating people 65 and up. My parents got their shots and DH is getting his second on the 17th. According to our website I should be getting mine sometime this month and I'm 59.

Weather is warm and sunny. DH and I love hitting up Laguna Beach when the weather is this nice. We feel lucky.

I have a river cruise planned in France for Oct. Going to wait a couple of months before I decide if I should move it. According to my French relatives they aren't vaccinating too many people yet. Some are skeptical and choose to wait. Looking forward to traveling again and staying hopeful there's a light at the end of this long tunnel.

Our April cruise on Millie is sold out except for the Retreat. I hope the rumors are not true. Asked my TA and she said it's still a go and hasn't heard anything about it being cancelled. Already bought the airfare for this trip. At 500 bucks non stop roundtrip from LAX we're still going to Japan even if the cruise is cancelled unless Japan is not allowing tourists from the US. Next April is still far away.

Don't give up on Viking. Your TA may be able to move the payment date. We were able to. Our first cruise was with Avalon. That got us hooked on river cruising. If you choose Avalon go with a newer boat. Much nicer than the older one that we used called the Luminary. Our next cruise was with Viking and it was fantastic. When the weather is nice one can have meals outside on the Aquavit terrace. More casual with a really nice barbecue. We always do the pre and post stays. When we did or pre cruise with Avalon in Amsterdam the lobby area was taken over by Viking and looked to be much better organized for tours and questions than our Avalon one. In fact our Avalon rep came a lot later in the day and utilized a tiny room on one of the upper floors. The concierge at our hotel wasn't much help so it would have been nice to have had an Avalon rep when we got to the hotel. Maybe we've been lucky but all of our pre and post hotels with Viking had beautiful views of the water without asking for one. 

Our third river cruise was on the Rhone and we chose to go with Viking again because of the great experience we had with them the first time around. Thought it would be hard to top our Danube cruise but the Rhone was even better. Really fantastic. The level of service and detail with Viking was superb. 

Won't your TA go to bat for you if you have one. At the very least they should try to get Uniworld to match your cancelled cruise with a future one price wise. Uniworld really seems to be handling this crisis poorly. I have a final payment due next month so trying to decide if I should eat the cost of my flights booked thru Uniworld and just try to to get my deposit back instead of giving them more money.

Wow that's terrible telling you to use your insurance policy to cancel. I have a trip to Italy in Sept and haven't been thrilled with them as well. Other lines are extending final payment but they insist I have to make it 4 months before leaving and with the mess Italy is in it's hard to believe it's a go in Sept. 

1 hour ago, drakes2 said:

I just read that River Cruises out of Europe expect not to return for at least a couple years as they cater to a lot of North Americans over age 65.  Also with European hospitals not as well equipped and overcrowded its puts us at greater risk.  I was actually contemplating doing a river cruise but guess that won't happen soon. 

 Where did you read this? Hope you're wrong about this.

5 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

Looking at booking a European river cruise at Viking for next Nov 2021.

That's 18 months, or 1.5 years away.

Besides the deposit today, They want final payment by July 2020.

We asked if they can push that back to a reasonable July 2021, since in this economy, we don't want to tie up our $ for that long.

They said NO, that "this final balance date is firm"

Guess we're firm on not booking & letting have our $ as free loan for 1.5 years.

 

Would figure in this environment where most other travel & cruise companies have greatly relaxed that final payment & cancellation policies that Viking would be more competitive & be more reasonable with their final payment policy...

 

 

I've had luck with my TA getting Viking to move the date closer. Frustrated with Uniworld right now. They're not relaxing final payment with the virus going on.

I have an upcoming cruise with Uniworld for Sept 20. Final payment of 7500.00 is due on May 14th. Should I switch now for next year? Flights have been paid for thru Uniworld. Just not sure the timeline of when Italy will recover from this pandemic. My TA thinks I should wait and just move my trip if need be. 

I'm hoping to book this cruise for 2022.

We don't leave until next Sept with Uniworld going on their Italy cruise. We will probably keep the reservation but what about bankruptsy due to all the cancellations with this virus. I feel terrible for the travel business. Certainly taking quite the hit.

Thank you for another excellent review. Your blog has been most helpful. So sorry about the passing of Carol. She will be in spirit as you continue your many adventures. Looking forward to your future reviews. 

We had to cancel last year of our first Azamara cruise due to an unfortunate fall my DH had. Looking forward to trying Azamara in the future. 

To be honest I'm really hesitant to book with a line that doesn't use a TA. In case of any issues a good TA will have your back. It sucks that the Boston office is crappy to deal with when that's all you have to resolve any kind of issue is that office.  I thought I got a lot of junk mail from Viking but I get twice as much from them. 

20 hours ago, bubbulz said:

They just posted this on FB:

 

In honor of our family of brands turning 100 this year, we're extending the 100th Anniversary Celebration Event for a limited time – and adding dozens of new departures to choose from!

 

With itineraries starting from $2,099 USD, don't miss your opportunity to save up to 30% on The World's Best and Most Awarded Luxury River Cruise Line. #ExploreUniworld

 

View Offer: https://www.uniworld.com/current-offers/100/

Thank you for posting this. Just called my agent and Uniworld is going to adjust my fare for my upcoming cruise next Sept. This just saved me a lot of money. 

We always stay a few days before and at the end of our river cruises. We love this way of travel.

15 hours ago, katie scarlette said:

Thank you Peregrina651 and Host Jazzbeau for your thoughts.  My companions and I plan to go to Versailles independently on Day 2, stay as long as we like and return to the ship or go to Paris, and then go to Paris on our own on Day 7.

While we were in Paris pre cruise we went to Versailles . We went on a Sunday with our pre bought timed entry tickets for 9 AM. Splurged and took a taxi for 50 euros and got there in 20 min around 8:30. We were near the front of the line. Have great pictures of us in the Hall of Mirrors with no else around. It was a rainy day but still very enjoyable. The palace was empty and it was great watching the fountain show with so few people around. Took the little train to see Marie Antoinette Petite Trianon. The day was fantastic. When we left the lines were miles long to get in.

Like others have said on the Viking boats there's the Aquavit terrace which was a fantastic place for us to eat. We ate quite a few meals there with fantastic views. In the main dining room dinner started at 7 but one could arrive later like we did without any issues. My DH and I don't socialize much at home except for family and loved the warmth of the river cruisers we met. Very welcoming and friendly that we very much enjoyed socializing with the other passengers. One of the things we love about river cruising. Yes there are more people on Viking but on our two cruises enough crew members are hired so we never had to wait much for anything. We also never had an issue finding quiet places to hang out in. 

2 hours ago, What was that? said:

D'oh! I was looking for ONE cruise that did both... Thank you for straightening me out!

 

And I assumed you did them back-to-back, but maybe not?

No different cruises. 

1 hour ago, What was that? said:

What cruise is that?

We did on Viking's Romantic Danube and Lyon and Provence cruises. That's how they were listed on the website.