Gravity Railroad

Looking forward to it!

We did the Franconian Countryside Tour this past June.

After a short bus ride from the ship, our first stop was the Schloss Seehof Palace. Schloss Seehof was the summer residence for the Bamberg Prince-Bishops. From the parking lot to the palace is around 1200 feet distance going slightly uphill. The tour of the residence requires climbing and descending stairs. Big stairs.

From the palace we went a very short distance to Brauerei & Gasthof Drei Kronen in Memmelsdorf for a brew and a pretzel. The bus dropped us off and picked us up 30 feet from the front door of the pub.

From the pub we went to a truly beautiful Baroque Catholic Church in Eltmann. I believe the name is Maria Limbach. The bus dropped us off and picked us up at the front door.

Next stop was free time in the town of Zeil am Main. The bus parked on Krumer ?Strabe? and it was down hill to the old market place and then back uphill to get the bus. It was quite steep and made of cobblestone.

Then back to the Alsvin.

Hope you have a great trip!

In a prior post I mentioned that we were dropped off in Roth for the Nuremberg visit.

If you go to 49.238338° 11.147178° in Google Earth, you can see a Viking Ship parked on the canal in Roth. While it slipped my mind, my wife says we were brought back to this same location in Roth to pick up the ship after our excursions. I don’t know if we were the exception or if this is the usual procedure for Nuremberg.

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Our sun deck was closed for 5 days, the entire time we were on the Main-Danube Canal.

This is the Viking Europe Bar Menu. I don't see cider.

http://wpc.475d.edgecastcdn.net/00475D/PDF/EuropeBarMenu_440204009.pdf

What is the alternative/solution to double docking?

Wouldn't you need to find a suitable large area where every river cruise ship could have its own berth?

I don't think you could find that area in any of the current downtown ports.

You would end up in an area far removed from the downtown. Double docking has it’s regrets but it keeps us in a downtown area. That’s the way I look at it.

And we have not talked about the wonderful meals prepared by Chef Jakub and his staff.

We had Surf & Turf one evening.

http://i798.photobucket.com/albums/yy269/GideonKyzer_photos/SurfampTurf.jpg' alt='SurfampTurf.jpg'>

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Farewell Dinner Menu:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f1q6dxgie3cuz72/Farewell%20Dinner.pdf?dl=0

The optional tours did enhance our trip. I did not have a conversation with anybody who spoke ill of an excursion.

For instance, The Mozart & Strauss concert was 2 hours long.

I am sure that this is subject to change but this was our experience. Just wonderful! This is from the actual program.

If you are not doing the optional tours, you can do the standard city walk tour or just stay on the ship.

This was our first river cruise and our first time in the respective countries. The reality is that this is a forced march. That is not a complaint. How could we just not see as much as we could? Sure it costs money but life is too short. For us the extra cost was worth it.

Vienna we did the Mozart & Strauss Concert and Schoenbrunn Palace.

Nuremberg we did the WW2 Tour.

Bamberg we did the Franconia Countryside Tour.

Wurzburg we did the Rothenburg ob der Tauber Tour.

Koblenz we did the Moselle Excursion.

Cologne we did the Cologne Beer Culture & Dinner.

Kinderdijk we did the Dutch Cheese Maker.

All of the standard and optional tours we took were wonderful and educational. The tour guides were exceptional with high praise to the WW2 Tour guide in Nuremberg. Those Alsvin passengers who took different excursions than us had high praise for theirs also. I don’t think you could go wrong with any choice.

We were scheduled to take the Bavarian Cruise & Baroque Town Scharding excursion in Passau. The Captain decided to cancel that tour and start the journey to Regensburg early. His concern was a low bridge between Passau and Regensburg. It rained quite a bit up river and his concern was an ever raising water level under that bridge. It was close but we passed under it. The Captain made the correct call. Crew members told us that subsequent ships could not pass until the water dropped.

For those passengers concerned with mobility, Viking organized a leisure group for the standard tours.

The ship location is printed at the bottom of the Viking Daily’s. I forget the exact dates but on more than one instance the Alsvin would drop off passengers at one location so they could start their excursion and then pick everybody up at another location. This practice maximized time. For Nuremberg, I know we were dropped off at Roth. I don’t remember where we were picked up. Sorry!

This was our first river cruise also. We had a wonderful time.

Great crew and fabulous food.

So much to see and do. 14 days just flew by.

The only time you felt the ship move was in a lock when a wall got bumped.

All the best in your travels.

Viking Alsvin June 4-18, 2016

June 4, 2016 Budapest

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3vznfxy9swd48xu/AADkxY1LMfWxWHxghjmwcGLia?dl=0

June 5, 2016 Budapest

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d6mtrqdssuuqfga/AADrP66rm3WCl1LvyC5dlffla?dl=0

June 6, 2016 Vienna

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9zf5mcixbiz8lr4/AAAymLdj0Hm9gwV23gFB7OEXa?dl=0

June 7, 2016 Vienna

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y9ufpct4gadc529/AABtJEPg86E6lBq2Bi4dDWhla?dl=0

June 8, 2016 Melk

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5n6y3xaaw8gri3j/AAAHqdUcEJutCiTzpvR877cHa?dl=0

June 9, 2016 Passau

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gf8cnesnv6su61i/AAATC1MVlm8HHc_qd_8y1EhHa?dl=0

June 10, 2016 Regensburg

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hhs1dq3rpjf5qoh/AAAQCRZntPYKslmUWopJtyhva?dl=0

June 11, 2016 Nuremberg

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4y5ul0kskgigbmi/AAAo-H2WAdLz4VPtap0ZPYVsa?dl=0

June 12, 2016 Bamberg

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dhl6yz3q9u15pl8/AADd1A9pQXyiPIcfmgwtGZYFa?dl=0

June 13, 2016 Wurzburg

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wry3y09k578v7u4/AADD7QDMN8MJgX3g3NqvSr9Ya?dl=0

June 14, 2016 Wertheim

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/81jshiv1oxgcw6e/AAAtso2DHRcMOHvsAk8RghHra?dl=0

June 15, 2016 Koblenz

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qw1n70bcgpiid6a/AAA9jqq6AJQ69LZXZD1btM8Za?dl=0

June 16, 2016 Cologne

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ofgfif441s911de/AABLzD5MvLaV2Ct1xU2h1QI4a?dl=0

June 17, 2016 Kinderdijk

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cny27lvd7dnxu00/AABC2ppyfI3ScxBqwHheB89Ma?dl=0

June 18, 2016 Amsterdam

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m73p5rtycl6966i/AAAmpraBMkx-Sa6oVaFvlNmRa?dl=0

Capt BJ

I have to confess that the words “Viking provides internet at no charge for a reason” are not mine. Those words were spoken at the daily briefing by a crew member trying to address the frustration of Alsvin guests with Internet or the lack of.

All anybody can do is relate their own experience during a trip. WiFi was an issue (for whatever reason) during the Alsvin June 4 sailing.

Included is a picture of the Alsvin in Cologne with the satellite antenna under a bridge. During our entire time when we were parked in Cologne, both internet and TV was down. Not a deal breaker for me. I did not spend this kind of money to watch TV or spend time on Facebook. But it does go to the OP question on WiFi. It may never happen again, but it happened to us.

We did the Grand European on Viking Alvsin 3 weeks ago. I have no other experience.

Viking provides internet at no charge for a reason. The connection is satellite and the connectivity and speed varies from non existent to poor. I am not talking about being at the bottom of a 80 foot deep lock. I mean on the open river.

AT&T Passport was not much better.

When I turned off Airplane mode at Newark, I received txt messages that were 2 weeks old.

Most people complained about the problems with uploading photos. TXT messaging without photos worked better but still had issues. iMESSAGE did not work, you had to change the iMESSAGE txt to SMS and resend it when it failed.

If you have a post stay you could use the hotel connection to post photos.

It is what it is. Still a wonderful trip.

Just back from the June 4 - June 18 sailing of the Viking Alsvin (Budapest to Amsterdam).

This was our first river cruise.

Had a wonderful time. Viking performed very well. The food by Executive Chef Jakub was awesome. Program Director Chantal was the life of the ship.

During the planning stage for this trip I was eager to see but frustrated not to find any recent copies of the Viking Daily for this cruise. So I scanned ours. Hopefully these will benefit others.

If there is a problem with the links, please let me know.

A trip of a lifetime.

June 4, 2016 Budapest

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3vznfxy9swd48xu/AADkxY1LMfWxWHxghjmwcGLia?dl=0

June 5, 2016 Budapest

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d6mtrqdssuuqfga/AADrP66rm3WCl1LvyC5dlffla?dl=0

June 6, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9zf5mcixbiz8lr4/AAAymLdj0Hm9gwV23gFB7OEXa?dl=0

June 7, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y9ufpct4gadc529/AABtJEPg86E6lBq2Bi4dDWhla?dl=0

June 8, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5n6y3xaaw8gri3j/AAAHqdUcEJutCiTzpvR877cHa?dl=0

June 9, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gf8cnesnv6su61i/AAATC1MVlm8HHc_qd_8y1EhHa?dl=0

June 10, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hhs1dq3rpjf5qoh/AAAQCRZntPYKslmUWopJtyhva?dl=0

June 11, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4y5ul0kskgigbmi/AAAo-H2WAdLz4VPtap0ZPYVsa?dl=0

June 12, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dhl6yz3q9u15pl8/AADd1A9pQXyiPIcfmgwtGZYFa?dl=0

June 13, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wry3y09k578v7u4/AADD7QDMN8MJgX3g3NqvSr9Ya?dl=0

June 14, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/81jshiv1oxgcw6e/AAAtso2DHRcMOHvsAk8RghHra?dl=0

June 15, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qw1n70bcgpiid6a/AAA9jqq6AJQ69LZXZD1btM8Za?dl=0

June 16, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ofgfif441s911de/AABLzD5MvLaV2Ct1xU2h1QI4a?dl=0

June 17, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cny27lvd7dnxu00/AABC2ppyfI3ScxBqwHheB89Ma?dl=0

June 18, 2016

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m73p5rtycl6966i/AAAmpraBMkx-Sa6oVaFvlNmRa?dl=0

UPDATE:

After being reassured that the Eistla would still be our ship and after the date which air fare can be decided and booked (and it was), Viking decided to reassign (their words) the June 5 sailing of the Eistla and they put us on a different ship with a different departure day.

Not a biggie, nobody got hurt. Just an update.

We are booked on Eistla June 5, 2016

Noticed that both the Eistla and the Bestla were removed from the Viking web site.

They are both June 5, 2016 departures. Eistla departs from Budapest, Bestla from Amsterdam.

When I called Viking, was originally told that they (Eistla & Bestla) were sold out.

Later phone calls to Viking confirm availability on both cruises and the customer service agent I spoke to said an internal email went around saying both cruises were going to be pulled from the web site. No explanation given to me.

Just curious, why would Viking remove these cruises from the Viking web site before they are sold out?

Any ideas? Is this a normal thing?

Thanks in advance.