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19 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

Oh that's fantastic that you will be docked in the center of Paris!  It wasn't too much of an inconvenience for us being docked in Le Pecq but closer is always better.

Also great that if you are particularly interested in the DDay landing beaches that you have been there a previous time.  I would say that the time spent on Omaha Beach was a bit short but it's not Viking's fault.  It was a VERY long day trip.. over 3 hours there and 3 hours home. With lunch and bathroom stops and seeing the Atlantic Wall and the American Cemetery the day can only hold so much.  I think they did a great job with what they could given the time constraints.

We had been to Omaha Beach about 20 years ago..  also on a long day trip from Paris so I knew that it would be a lot of bus time.

 

Yes, it'll be convenient to be docked actually in Paris although I've heard Viking makes it as easy as possible with shuttles. When we went to Omaha Beach years ago we went on a on-day bus tour from Paris and I remember the long bus ride. On the way there it wasn't bad because we were excited but going back to Paris seemed longer! It'll be interesting...  

Thanks again for your help.

17 hours ago, mskaufman said:

July 14, will waive to you on the River

Awww... we'll miss meeting you! Have a great trip!

Yes! Thank you again, Sleep 7, for writing this detailed report. For the first time this year Viking has launched a couple of smaller boats so that they can actually dock in Paris which sounds good. In your report I was particularly interested in the itinerary so I'm very appreciative of your posting the Dailies. We have been to Omaha Beach several years ago so on that tour day we have hired a private guide to take us to Utah Beach where my husband's father landed on D-Day. We've been on several Viking river cruises and have never had the need for a special guide so I was a little antsy about the schedule. Plus, we've never been on an ocean cruise of any kind so I am a novice! Thus, thanks for a lot of details!

4 hours ago, mskaufman said:

We are on this cruise in July.  I wonder if the OP went to LeHavre.  If so, I must have missed the pictures.

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I'm wondering which date you are sailing, MSKaufman. We are booked on the July 12th departure. 

Thank you, Sleep7, for such a detailed and upbeat review. It actually answered a lot of my questions. 

3 hours ago, cruisewmn said:

I called Viking a couple of years ago to ask if they could accommodate my food allergies (dairy, gluten, shellfish).  They said no and hung up on me.
 

Uniworld was happy to accommodate me, as was Crystal. We ended up going on Crystal and loved it.

 

I suggest calling the cruise line and ask BEFORE you make a reservation. 

I'm surprised to read this about Viking, although your diet is more restricted than mine. I have been on three Viking river cruises, the first in 2011, and they have always graciously and competently accommodated my required gluten-free diet.

It was way back in 2011 but we did the Viking Danube Waltz cruise from Budapest and loved it! In fact, that's what prompted us to follow with three other river cruises with Viking. As for Budapest, we did only the two days at the first of the cruise and  we felt that Viking provided a very good overview of the city, both sides, and definitely hit all the highlights. In the free time we saw some other things on our own so we were satisfied with our time in Budapest. Of course if you have the time and money, the extra days will give you a much more in-depth look at this amazing city.

Thank you for your replies, both good to know about.  I appreciate your help. 

We will be on the Viking "Paris to Normandy" cruise this coming summer. I know we'll spend time at Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery (if we choose the "American" version of the tour).  My husband's father landed on D-Day at Utah Beach which is about 30 miles west of Omaha Beach, 40 minutes by car according to Google Maps. I'm wondering if anyone who may have done this tour before can offer a suggestion about how we could, at our own expense, make a quick trip over to Utah Beach.  We have been to Omaha Beach and the Cemetery once before so we're not as concerned about shortening our time there.  What do y'all think?

Another option for afternoon or "happy hour" wine or beer is to purchase it while on shore and keep the bottle in your room refrigerator. The bartender gave us wine glasses to take to our room (or the deck or the lounge) and, depending on what you buy, this may be less expensive than adding up a bar bill. Also, that way you can buy a bottle that you particularly like. Yes, there is sparkling wine available at breakfast for mimosas.

We have cruised with Viking three times from Austin, TX, and they have arranged our flights each time (because we do not have any loyalty to any particular airline nor points to use) and we've never used their custom air option. The flights they arranged for all three trips have been extremely satisfactory for us. I know there are horror stories on this site but you won't hear them from me!

We have done three Viking European cruises and each time, because we have no loyalty to any certain airline, we have used the Viking air arrangements without the custom air option. The flight schedules have all been perfectly agreeable to us with efficient routing. Each time as soon as the arrangements were made known to us (about 90 days before each cruise), I went to the airline's website and chose the seats that we preferred. Never a problem at all to type in our flight number and choose seats for the trans-Atlantic flights. Not possible for the flights within Europe but those are all short in duration so I'm not picky about those. Have fun!

We have done three Viking River Cruises and we have always used their standard air arrangements. Each time the flights and connections were very agreeable to us. Also, as soon as we received the flight information from Viking we went on-line to that airline and chose our seats without any problem at all. Have a great trip!

My husband and I did the Viking Portraits of Southern France cruise in early November of 2012. The weather was wonderful--jackets and light coats, but never uncomfortable. A few days of walking I wore gloves with my layered sweater and jacket. The little towns were not crowded at that time which is a bonus. Having said all that, we did not do Paris on that trip as we had been there several times before but the people who did it before the trip (in late October) gave great reviews of the weather there also. We chose November only because the price drops dramatically at that time. We were in Paris in April of 1999 and it was cold and rainy the whole time. It didn't keep us from doing anything, but we used rain gear and umbrellas every day. Thus, I guess I vote for autumn!

We were on this trip August 22 to 29. We did the 3 day prestay in A, sterdam and we stayed at the Moevenpick Hotel. Easy walk to town center and Central Station from there. Beautiful hotel with great service and free breakfast. Viking had a desk manned for help and information. They had a walking tour on our 2nd day and we opted not to do it and were glad we didn't. It lasted 7 hours.

Re: the "seven hour tour..." No way! As I wrote in an earlier post, we too opted for the Viking stay in Amsterdam at the Moevenpick. I agree with Elsie's post about the nice hotel, etc, but I absolutely can't imagine the walking tour of seven hours! We did do the Viking walking tour and it lasted about two hours and we learned so much--not only history but also some tips that we used during our stay. I beg to differ, but as someone who actually took the tour, I think it was well worth it and it sure didn't last seven hours!

We have done three Viking river cruises, the most recent being the Rhine Getaway in March. On all three trips we have let Viking make all the arrangements since we have no loyalty to a particular airline, and we have never been disappointed in the Viking-arranged bookings. This most recent Rhine trip Viking put us on United from Texas through Newark to Zurich. Viking provided transportation to the ship in Basil, of course. When we received our airline reservations about a month before the trip, I went to the United website (as I have done with the airlines on the two other trips) and selected the seats that fit us better than the randomly-assigned seats Viking had chosen. This time there was a little glitch that the flight over was on a United Partner, Swiss. However, I contacted them via e-mail and received excellent seat assignments after telling them what we wanted. We did do the extension in Amsterdam because if you travel from Basel, there is no time spent in Amsterdam on the actual cruise. Arranged by Viking, we too stayed at the Movenpick, which is very modern and nice with a wonderful breakfast included, as AnotherDawn has written in another post in this thread. In fact, I would agree with everything AnotherDawn wrote.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. FotoPeg, I'll bet we'll have the same timetable as your trip so my husband can consider the wake-up call. And, NotAMermaid, thank you for your always helpful advice. In the river cruises we've done, you two have been my mainstays of information! Thanks again.

We are leaving later this week for the Viking Rhine Getaway from Basel to Amsterdam. I am wondering if anyone who has done this trip remembers if you were able to see what's left of the Remagen Bridge (between Koblenz and Cologne) which played a big part in WWII. If anyone remembers, let me know.

I want to add a different answer to your question. The first Viking cruise my husband and I took was the Danube Waltz the first week of April in 2011. We have since taken another Viking cruise and are booked on our third Viking trip in 2014. So, obviously, we had a wonderful time and thought Viking was an excellent company with which to travel. No complaints at all! The weather was cool but really very good that whole week in early April. I recommend you try it!

We did the Viking "Portraits of Southern France" trip last November and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Probably our favorite trip so far. However, having never even been on a large-ship ocean cruise, we are more than happy with every aspect of European river cruising. If you understand that a river cruise is very different from an ocean cruise, you will have a wonderful trip. This particular itinerary was just delightful and Viking did what we think is an excellent job of showing us that part of the world in comfort and style (sounding like a brochure!).

Lori, you're very popular! Please add me to the list of fans who want to read about your Viking Rhine Getaway. I'd love to have your blog.... Thanks!

SherryMHill@gmail.com

We are planning to do the Viking Alsvin from Budapest to Amsterdam May 10, 2014. After seeing very active ocean cruise roll calls I've been disappointed to see very little on river cruises, obviously because of so fewer travelers. I'm thrilled to see this long thread and plan to peruse it more. We've been on ocean cruises but this will be our first river cruise, so I have some questions maybe some of you could please help answer.

 

1: I was thinking on a westward cruise we should be on the starboard side so we don't have the sun streaming in all day both blinding us and heating up the cabin. Are my concerns valid? The Alsvin has the French balconies all on the port side and Verandas on starboard side.

 

2: How much cruising is during the day and how much at night? I guess it's a trade-off between getting daylight port time and seeing sights along the shoreline.

 

3: It looks like the wine is so-so. How about the beer? Do they just have lager or do they have any ales, IPA, porter, stout, etc?

 

4: I see people thrilled with their cruise and horror stories. Part of it is probably personal viewpoint, but what percentage of cruises are great?

 

5: I'm an avid amateur photography and want to get great pictures, but not pictures of a tour group's backs. Do I need to go off on my own instead of taking the excursions to get the pictures I want?

 

6: One review I saw was from someone in their 60's that said they were the youngest people on the cruise. Don't young people do this cruise?

 

7: Some people have said cabin upgrades aren't worth it. Is it almost as good to get a deck 1 window cabin?

 

I'm starting to ramble, so I'll stop here. I'd appreciate any hints. If I don't get much response here due to the cruise wind-down I'll probably post to a more general board.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Boyd

1. First of all, do not use your big-ship ocean cruise to compare. River cruising is destination-oriented so it doesn't matter on which side your cabin is located.

2. Cruising during the day and/or night varies by itinerary. Most cruising is done at night in order to have more time in the ports but if there is a particularly scenic part of the river there will be cruising during the day.

3. The wine and beer are perfectly acceptable. Remember, as someone said, it's the best kind: free! Seriously, it is very nice that it's included as complimentary.

4. I personally know at least twelve couple friends (aside from those we've met on the actual cruises) who have cruised with Viking and I've never heard a bad review. Granted, the recent floods changed everything for river cruising for a while, but in general I think there are far more positive reviews. From reading CC, I can tell that many of the negative reviews are from former ocean cruiser who did not expect the differences in river cruising.

5. Take your tri-pod if you'd like, especially if it can be folded or collapsed. The cruise staff will tell you if it's allowed which it likely is. However, you're almost always within walking distance of the ship so you can return it if it becomes a burden. Also, thanks to the wireless transmitters you can wander for picture-taking as much as you'd like and not lose track of your guide or group.

6. On the Viking cruises we have been on, there have been some younger people in their early 40's but generally it is an older crowd. Mostly 50 to 70, I would say because that's the age group that can afford the time and money to do this type of trip. Always a very active crowd with few exceptions and you'll naturally gravitate toward people whom you like.

7. Personally, I like having a window but it doesn't have to be a balcony. We've had both aquarium class and large window and I can't say that the big window is worth a great deal of extra money although it sure was nice. Again, in a river cruise the cabin is not the focus.

Have an open mind and you'll have a wonderful time.

My wife and I are interested in booking the Rhine Getaway cruise with Viking.

How the day starts is important to us, and we'd like to know when tours are scheduled to leave the ship, etc.

It would be a great help in our decision making if someone could give us an idea of the daily time schedule. I've searched Viking's website but can't find anything more specific than the cruise itinerary.

I realize of course that sometimes circumstances beyond anyone's control effect plans, and timetables need to be adjusted.

As far as mornings on a Viking River cruise, in our experience on Viking river cruises, you may arise any time you'd like or request a wake-up call as in a hotel. Coffee and pastries are available outside the lounge starting about 6:00 am. A complimentary Tai-Chi or Yoga-style exercise class is offered at 6:30 or 7:00 in the lounge for early-risers. Breakfast is served in the dining room usually beginning at 7:00 am. It's a full breakfast buffet, including complimentary champagne, or you may order from the morning's menu. The tour for the day usually leaves about 9:00 and lasts about an hour and a half or two hours. It's normally a walking tour as the boat docks in the city but sometimes it's a bus tour if the city is larger.

The mornings are really your choice as to how leisurely you'd like to be, but river cruises are destination-oriented trip so most people take advantage of the mornings.

After having sailed very happily with Viking, the bottom line for me is that the Silver Spirits pkg is not necessary. Wine and beer at dinner is not limited. You may purchase any spirits on shore and bring them onto the ship for consumption. It's usually no more expensive than the States. Drinks in the bar are reasonable. As has been stated on this board before, figure the cost by day and then think if you will really drink enough to make it worth the expense. Surely you'll want to do some sightseeing, not just drinking!