Viking Grand European AMS-BUD Aug 2016 photo journal with pre-cruise Amsterdam

Please don't "quote" a long post with multiple pictures. This chews up a tremendous amount of screen space for no benefit. It would be much more considerate to either edit the "quote" to eliminate all but the picture you want to describe, or to skip the "quote" altogether and briefly describe the photo you are commenting on. Thanks!

Mimmy , does the ship itself do the night cruise in Budapest or is that an optional tour on a separate ship?

My cousin and I booked a Viking Grand European trip on the Viking Vili August 5-August 19, 2016 with a two-day pre-cruise in Amsterdam. We booked when a special airfare was offered. I looked into booking the airfare on our own and found that going through Viking was a considerable savings. About two months before the cruise we were sent our flight schedule, and I was very pleased with it. St. Louis to Detroit to Amsterdam on the way there and Budapest-Amsterdam-Detroit-St. Louis on the return. There was enough time to make connections without spending hours sitting in an airport. And our return flight didn't leave Budapest until 11:20 am so we weren't with the group who had to leave the ship at 3:30 am.

 

We booked a cabin on the lowest level that has a high window. If I could do anything again, it would be to spend a little more and get a French balcony cabin on the second deck. I'm not a tall person, and if I wanted to see out the window I had to pull a stool over to stand on.

 

My suitcases were in the trunk of my car, I was doing last minute things around the house prior to my husband taking my cousin and me to the airport, when my cousin called. She was sick and her doctor told her not to travel. I was dumbfounded and she was, of course, upset. It's a very good thing we had insurance (through our travel agent) so she should get her money back and I went on the trip.

Mimmy52 - I am enjoying your posts about this Viking Cruise as I will be taking the Amsterdam to Basel trip with Viking in May, 2017. I think your pictures are just superb and would like to ask what kind of camera did you use during this trip. Thank you so much and I may be asking more later.

My mother had to cancel a cruise at the last minute due to a sudden health issue. That sure made me a believer in trip insurance (which she had).

I have so enjoyed this thread and will reread and take notes before our cruise (different cruise but some of the same ports). Thanks for taking what I am sure took a lot of time.

Mimmy , does the ship itself do the night cruise in Budapest or is that an optional tour on a separate ship?

It is on the ship itself, Starlaker. It will actually move from one docking spot to another. Since Budapest was our final destination and the ship had been docked next to the Chain Bridge, the night sail to us to a docking spot where it was easier to use busses to disembark.

RealCajunLady, my camera was only a Sony point and shoot. Cameras that involve a lot of equipment are just too heavy for me to lug around. Feel free to ask questions later. There might be others who would chime in with even more information.

Dogsarepeopletoo, the review took a lot of time, but it gave me a chance to enjoy my cruise all over again, and it also gives me a place to come back to if I want to remember it again.

RealCajunLady, my camera was only a Sony point and shoot. Cameras that involve a lot of equipment are just too heavy for me to lug around. Feel free to ask questions later. There might be others who would chime in with even more information.

 

Dogsarepeopletoo, the review took a lot of time, but it gave me a chance to enjoy my cruise all over again, and it also gives me a place to come back to if I want to remember it again.

We have a rather heavy camera also which does take excellent pictures but is soooo bulky. I am thinking about investing in a point and shoot (or finding the one that I probably put away several years ago :')). I really am glad that your posted all of the pictures. My husband and I are taking some time to look them over and get ready for our trip.

There's a category in between that offers the best of both worlds: the "superzoom." My favorite is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300:

http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/lumix-point-and-shoot-cameras/DMC-FZ300K.html#srule=popularity&start=1&cgid=lumix-point-and-shoot-cameras

I have a new Canon SX720 superzoom that has a 40x optical zoom, goes out to 120 x you use digital zone along with the optical zoom. Takes amazing photos, but tough to hand hold at max 40x zoom!!

Wonderful posts, Mimmy52. I am so glad to have found them as we prepare for our first Viking cruise (Ams-Bud) at the beginning of August. I will digest them over the next several days. An initial "general experience" question I have is, when Viking offers both an included and optional excursion on the same day, say, morning and afternoon, and a conflict is not identified in the schedule, did you find that there was normally enough time to get from one to the other? I suppose it may depend on the specific tours.

Thoughts?

Yes, misterb, if an included tour was in the morning and an optional in the afternoon, I don't think there was ever a conflict. When you go to your online "My Viking Journey," I think it gives you an idea of how long a tour will last, for example, three hours. They seem to have the tours set up so you can always be back on the ship for lunch (or dinner) unless the tour specifies that a meal will be included. Although the optional Rothenburg tour I took didn't say lunch was included, I could tell from the number of hours we'd be gone that we would be out for lunch. Since it didn't say lunch was included, I thought lunch would be on our own but that wasn't the case.

We walked about a block or two away to De Drie Graefjes for lunch.

 

 

We were not to be the hardy souls eating outside. It was drizzling, cool and windy so we went inside.

 

 

We took the last table, in a corner by a spiral staircase. We came to realize that there was more seating upstairs, but we were glad we hadn't needed to climb that staircase. Sally and I discovered that neither of us ate meat but had added fish to our diets when our doctors advised it. I had a toasted sandwich of goat cheese with honey and a fried egg on top. It was delicious!

 

 

This shop was right across the street from the restaurant, and I meant to come back and get my picture taken. I totally forgot once we left the area.

 

 

We took our time walking back to the hotel, and our rooms were ready when we arrived. The key cards work on wifi and you hold your key card up to the device next to the door to enter. The elevator works only with a key card too. If you want the lights on, the key card goes in a slot inside the room next to the door.

 

My room

 

 

 

The Radisson Blu was in a great location, close enough to walk anywhere in old town but on a quiet street. It was clean and the staff considerate.

What a wonderful review. I'll let you know how we liked our river cruise. Your input has been valuable!

We have a rather heavy camera also which does take excellent pictures but is soooo bulky. I am thinking about investing in a point and shoot (or finding the one that I probably put away several years ago :')). I really am glad that your posted all of the pictures. My husband and I are taking some time to look them over and get ready for our trip.

My husband and I are taking our first cruise this summer. Are you doing the river cruise Viking Grand European Tour?