jiminyC_fan

Personally, I have been on a maiden voyage with problems. I did not ask for compensation because a brand new ship is expected to have some glitches, both with the staff and the ship itself. I sure hope people took that into consideration when booking the maiden voyage.

Personally, all inclusive would not pay off for us. We are not drinkers so the wine and soda at meals are all we need. We like the included tours but like time to explore on our own as well. We tip at all inclusive resorts and would tip more at the end of an all inclusive cruise. Thank goodness there are choices for all personal styles of travel.

I understand what the OP is thinking and saying. I booked a river cruise and then started reading this cc board. I remember 1 very active poster who doesn't go on her cruise's bus tours because the other cruisers dress so poorly she doesn't want to be associated with them. I was booked on Viking and started wondering about my decision when all the Viking haters (who have never cruised with Viking) started coming out of the woodwork proclaiming how terrible Viking was compared to their preferred line. If anything good was posted about Viking, they had to immediately start protesting. Bottom line: I cruised last Aug-Sept on the Viking Sky and LOVED IT. None of those snobs showed up. I would cruise with Viking any time, but I would think twice about some of those other lines preferred by a few cc posters.

Totally agree!

Believe me, only a few river cruisers are on cruise critic or even heard of it. There are no fashion police when you finally cruise. It's just on here that a few people are judgmental. I wore blue jeans in Nov with white athletic shoes (gasp) or Keen hiking boots when touring. I had a camera everywhere I went. Not one person in any of the towns stopped to stare at my attire. All treated me with utmost respect as did I to them. It's crazy how the Internet makes mountains out of mole hills for no apparent reason.

Personally we like Viking. We know that we are paying up front. No biggie. We know their sales tactic of the 2 for 1. No biggie. In the end, it is the cruise that counts and they deliver. BUT, everyone has their own favorite for different reasons. It is what is important to you. What I wouldn't trust are peoples opinions that have not cruised a certain line but feel the need to bash it. That goes for all cruise lines.

You will most likely get many answers to your question. I think you have the right idea...comfort before style. Uneven cobblestones are hard on one's feet and of course you don't want to trip and fall. There is a lot of walking, much on uneven surfaces, while on the included tours so you want comfort for sure.

 

Find a shoe that works for you, make sure it is broken in if necessary, and ignore the posters who tell you that you must wear a certain style or color when in Europe. You will see a wide variety of styles......that is if you spend your time looking at people's feet instead of the sights!

Best advice here!

For me, AVIA and Sketchers wouldn't even come close for cobblestone. The thinner soles just don't work for me. I needed more support so I chose the brand Keen. Yep, ugly but I didn't care. For me it was comfort. They have several styles from hiking boots to sandals. Do yourself a favor and try on many brands and buy what's best for you.

Great news for all of you. Believe me, it's well worth the effort!

We used a non chip card without fail. We were prepared to use one with a chip if asked. We just preferred using our MC over AMEX.

Personally I would get the tram ticket. It is so worth it to get around and see the things you want to in a shorter period of time. I wouldn't go in a group. I don't think they get any special treatment. It's cheaper and you can go at your own speed. Keep checking for the tickets and do it daily. The time slots fill up fast. I had to do the same last year but it was so worth it. We walked right in while the line wrapped around. I almost felt guilty because they were all waiting in the pouring rain.

I agree with CPT Trips. The longer the cruise the better. It takes so long to get over to Europe and back again that 7 days isn't long enough even if you include a short pre cruise or post cruise. So happy that we chose a 15 day for our first European River Cruise. We chose Viking and we loved everything about them. Everyone here has a favorite line so it's kind of hard to get a feel for the right one for you. As others have said, read some of the reviews and maybe that could help you. After listening to people and reading here, we thought it was a ship loaded with wheelchairs and canes. That was not our experience at all. But even if it was we would have been perfectly fine with it. We were in our early 50's on a cruise to Alaska on Holland and our very favorite person onboard was a man in his late 70's. He was in a wheelchair and he brought sunshine to our cruise. He kept up with the fast pace of the port intensive cruise including the land portion before the cruise. We later learned that he only had a short time to live and was treating his caretaker to the cruise. Her life long dream was to see Alaska. Age means nothing. Attitude does. We don't like the small talk at dinner either but it worked just fine for us. Hope you find your perfect match.

But you could never experience the same itineraries with a Princess cruise.

Very true!! So glad I didn't let the eating arrangements stop me from river cruising.

I would stay away from the Viking longships which pack on passengers. It has been mentioned that Tauck has alternative dining so look at them. Not sure about Scenic or Uniworld but I would expect that these more premium lines (AMA is another) would be better suited to what you are looking for than the value priced lines like GCT, Emerald, Vantage.

I'm sorry but I disagree. We found the Viking longship just fine. Never felt cramped or "packed". We won't hesitate to cruise with them again.

I am painfully shy and was quite nervous about the group dining with strangers. Luckily we met two couples as we got off the airplane and we became instant friends. We ate with them every night. A couple of nights, one couple didn't eat with us so other guests did. I was happy our friends kept the conversation going since I am not good with small talk. As the cruise progressed we got to know more and more people in our tour groups. I found eating lunch and dinner with others wasn't a bad thing in the end.

We stayed at the Movenpick and loved its location. We walked to Centraal station several times. A couple of days we did it more than once. Definitely if there is mobility issues, I would agree that it would be a problem however. There is a train stop right outside the door that would drop us off.

We cruised last year in November, Amsterdam to Budapest. Would do it again in a heartbeat in Nov. Just like stated above, we dressed in layers.

We stayed at the Moevenpick and loved the hotel. We found them extremely helpful when we asked questions. It was beautiful. The room was perfect. Our luggage was waiting for us in our room when we returned from exploring. No wait what so ever. We would definitely return to that hotel.

I found it odd about the wine/beer offering on Viking. They kept it flowing through all meals.

It is standard practice throughout the cruising industry that once you have a travel agent, all correspondence must be through the TA.

Not leaving a tip for everyone but the room attendant is sad. Did they not deliver your food every night for dinner? Take your breakfast, lunch, dinner order? Did they not provide water, soda, milk (wine-beer)? I couldn't live with myself if I stiffed any of the help.

Sorry this happened to you. I've heard of it in the ocean cruising industry as well. I do not think it is fair. If a large corporation or whatever wants to charter the cruise date they better book it ahead of time just like John Q Public!!!!

My guess is that once this happens OP will be a happy camper. I think people routinely use this forum as a means to extract refunds from cruise lines...

The complaints about the cheap wine, the malfunctioning lights and the noisy cabin lead me to believe the OP expects perfection and will not settle for anything less. river cruising is a gamble, sometimes the weather cooperates, sometimes not. There is never a guarantee.

 

I admire Vikings diligence in responding to complaints on this forum but if I were in charge of their customer service I would stop that practice. Do you think it's a coincidence the other cruise lines don't have much of a presence here? As the largest operator there will always be a small percentage of unhappy customers, addressing their complaints in a public forum only encourages the vocal minority to seek recompense here.

I agree.

Age is only a number. I'm not 80 or 90 but not 30 either. I could travel with any age. It's all in attitude.

Viking does fill the bus. That means about 40 passengers per bus.

Other lines, like AMA and Scenic limit the tours to about half that per bus.

That will be a big factor in choosing my next river cruise line.

That is not always the case if at all. Our Viking bus was not "filled". Our groups were not 40 people. The groups were very manageable.

Thanks for pointing it out Jazzbeau. I missed it but it still shocks me. We didn't encounter that at all and sounds like followyourheart didn't either. Very manageable numbers for us.

WOW, 50 people on the same tour??? YIKES!! So happy that Viking didn't have numbers that high. Crazy.

That wasn't true on our AMA cruise. Our party lingered in the dining room after everyone else, and we were never rushed.

 

On our Viking cruise, guests lingered as well. I felt sorry for the staff since they have to get up early to get the dining room ready for breakfast. Maybe the ones that want to linger could continue their conversation in the lounge.

Bucking what appears to be a trend, here, we actually felt that, if we're flying across the pond, we wanted to maximize our time on a river cruise. Our going-in assumption in these situations is always, "We may never get there again." So, we looked for cruises that were closer to two weeks.

 

First off we chose Viking due to several friends that have cruised with them. That was the easy part for us. Then I studied itineraries and chose Amsterdam to Budapest because of the same attitude as above.

We chose Vantage because it was recommended by a friend. We chose Amsterdam to Budapest because it goes through more than one country. The Rhine is spectacular with vineyards and castles everywhere. The food was wonderful and the guides were excellent.

We liked the idea of visiting more than one or two countries as well.

We had friends on a June 2013 Viking cruise. Yes, they were bussed everywhere and had to change ships and even spent a night in a hotel on viking.

 

Their comment .. It was an adventure and they felt lucky that viking had their own busses so there was always a bus ( or another ship) available at last minute notice to continue the tour.

I remember posts that people were happy the way things were handled last year but those comments were quickly swept under the rug. Some were even questioned. People like to bash Viking so they fed off the unhappy people and forgot there were/are happy people.

Just curious about the bus tours. When we were in Amsterdam we took a private tour away from the city so we could see the country side. What an awesome decision we made. It was a great way to see more of the country itself. Were there any positives on the bus tours?