Viking 15 Day River Cruise - too long???

[BethIRC]

Having never done a river cruise, what are your thoughts on the Viking 15 day Grand European Tour? Would like alternative suggestions on cruiselines and tours as well since this will be my first and possibly only opportunity. Thanks!

[brownblonde]

Having never done a river cruise, what are your thoughts on the Viking 15 day Grand European Tour? Would like alternative suggestions on cruiselines and tours as well since this will be my first and possibly only opportunity. Thanks!

Our first river board trip was the same one and I don't think it was to long. It is relaxing as most river boat people will tell you. You may stop at a town in the A.M and then move on to another and stop all nite. We feel it is a long airplane ride to do a short trip, but if you don't like to be away for more then 10/12 days you will have to make that decision. They will t entertain you in the evening and also have things going on while moving down the river. We were with our T/A and some people that we do travel with at times with our T/A so being with a nice group made the trip extra special. In that situation you don't meet to many other passengers.

 

Do like Viking been 2 times with them. We now are leaving in a few days to experience Grand Circle Travel.

[DonfromNC]

Viking's Grand European tour was our first river cruise and still one of our favorites. Like you, we wondered if it would be too long, but then we decided the hard part is the flight over and back. Once you're there you might as well stay. We were not ready to go home at the end of the cruise -- or the other two for that matter. If it weren't for our cats at home we might just stay longer.

 

Interestingly, there were two couples on that first cruise who had just gotten off a cruise ending in Budapest. During that cruise they liked it so much they rescheduled there flights home and arranged with Viking just to move from one ship to the other and make it a 4-week cruise.

[caviargal]

I think it depends on your personality and travel style. 15 days would be too much for us. We are going for 11 days this winter and will be leaving the boat for 2 nights mid trip to get a change of pace.

 

We do enjoy river cruising but smaller doses work better for us. We chose the 11 night because we will have my 79 year old mom with us and it easier for us to travel with her on this type of trip than by land.

[brownblonde]

I can see some of us are giving Bethirc some food for thought. Hope it helps her

[Dale]

Do like Viking been 2 times with them. We now are leaving in a few days to experience Grand Circle Travel.

We are just the opposite of you. Two times with Grand Circle and once with Viking. We enjoyed all three of them very much. The only difference to me was the price. The only problem I have is, I don’t think there is enough difference between the two lines to justify the extra cost of Viking.

[Hydrokitty]

Our first river cruise was Castles on the Rhine from Budapest to Amsterdam. It was 16 days and IMHO no river cruise could ever be too long for us! I have kitties too and the biggest problem I have is missing them....We use Vantage and they have one cruise that goes from Amsterdam to the Black Sea in one trip or you can break it up into two seperate cruises like we did. I think they compare very favorably with Viking and GCT, but they charge a little less and include airfare, which most others don't. Enjoy it, it's a wonderful trip, no matter who you go with.

[paul929207]

Our only river cruise was 21 days from Constanta, Romania to Amsterdam. It was not too long. In fact, I would have stayed on for another 21 days.

[webfoot]

Our first cruise was 16 days ... and they practially had to take me off of the ship kicking and screaming ... wanted to keep on going. Each has their own experience but I loved the length of that cruise.

[karen sharpe]

I think it depends on your personality and travel style. 15 days would be too much for us. We are going for 11 days this winter and will be leaving the boat for 2 nights mid trip to get a change of pace.

 

We do enjoy river cruising but smaller doses work better for us. We chose the 11 night because we will have my 79 year old mom with us and it easier for us to travel with her on this type of trip than by land.

Hi Caviargal....We are going to take a river cruise next fall and are in the midst of trying to decide on all the details....I know how extensive your cruising has been and I am wondering if you could share with us which cruiseline and itinerary you liked best. Thanks, Karen.

[caviargal]

Hi Caviargal....We are going to take a river cruise next fall and are in the midst of trying to decide on all the details....I know how extensive your cruising has been and I am wondering if you could share with us which cruiseline and itinerary you liked best. Thanks, Karen.

 

Hello, Karen, and nice to see you here!

 

I have only done one river cruise but I have put clients on a number of them. Before choosing ours, I researched the age of the ships (important to me), size of cabins, reputation for food and service and onboard amenities. We were torn between AMA and Avalon which are quite similar and choose Avalon as they had an itinerary that worked for us (we did a short cruise as part of a longer land trip to Germany) and a brand new ship.

 

We enjoyed the cruise though for both of us the time on the ship during the day was pretty boring. When we are in Europe, we like to be out and about as much as possible so that was the biggest downside of the experience. And with my type A personality, it took me a bit to get used to the pace of the trip. We did meet up with two very fun couples on day 2 and hung with them for happy and hour and dinner every night after we met and that made the trip a lot of fun.

 

We were impressed with a number of things about the trip. The ship itself was stylish and well appointed. Service was very good and we got to know the staff on a first name basis quickly. Our room was very comfortable (we were in a B cabin on Avalon Affinity) with a great bed and more than adequate bathroom with a great shower.

 

Food was varied and fresh and they accommodated my requests for deviations from the menu preparations graciously. The food was significantly better than what we have experienced in the main dining rooms of our last dozen or so ocean cruises (X, HAL, RCI).

 

We did a two of the included tours but mostly explored independently.

 

We chose another new Avalon ship for this year to take my mom to Europe.

 

If we were to do another on our own, I would look closely at AMA for the bicycles provided and the tables for 2 in the dining room. We like to have that option. We also decided that we would choose a very port time intensive itinerary to limit what was for us the most boring part of the trip, the dead time spent during the day getting from place to place. Overnight stays which allow us more time in the ports we visit are high on our list and we have 4 overnights on this next cruise.

 

Theme cruises are also of interest to us and Avalon offers a jazz cruise and a couple of wine cruises, both of which we enjoy. I also think we would meet like minded folks on these themed cruises, a plus.

 

We again are opting to fly in early and stay 4 nights in Germany pre cruise and one night post.

 

I would stay away from ships that are too basic for my tastes (Murphy beds and small cabins would not cut it). It would not matter to me to not have tours included.

 

So my actual experience is quite limited but for us, a newer ship, port rich itinerary with as many overnights as possible and a ship that offers upscale amenities and accommodations are high on the list.

 

Hope that helps a bit!

[karen sharpe]

Caviargal.....Wow! That more then helps...I knew you would have the info I could relate to.

I have gotten such mixed info from friends regarding river cruises but the general consensus has been to keep the itinerary no longer then 14 days as the cabins and ships are smaller and time on board can be pretty restrictive.

I like the advice re port intensive and overnights. We love having the opportunity to dine in port restaurants and stroll the streets during the evening.

I may not be a Type A but hubby is a Type AA so picking an itinerary that is active and gets us off the boat is important.

Thanks as always for such great advice. Karen.

P.S. Seems like yesterday I was looking at your posted wedding pictures!

[caviargal]

Caviargal.....Wow! That more then helps...I knew you would have the info I could relate to.

I have gotten such mixed info from friends regarding river cruises but the general consensus has been to keep the itinerary no longer then 14 days as the cabins and ships are smaller and time on board can be pretty restrictive.

I like the advice re port intensive and overnights. We love having the opportunity to dine in port restaurants and stroll the streets during the evening.

I may not be a Type A but hubby is a Type AA so picking an itinerary that is active and gets us off the boat is important.

Thanks as always for such great advice. Karen.

P.S. Seems like yesterday I was looking at your posted wedding pictures!

 

Seems like yesterday to us as well but it will be 4 years this Thanksgiving!:)

 

As for rooms, Avalon and AMA rooms are 172 Sq ft, the same as our balcony cabins have been on HAL, RCI and X so we were content with cabin size but I would not choose a boat with cabins of 140 sq ft as some lines offer.

 

Just a thought, but you might find 14 days a bit long for a first time experience, especially for your husband.

 

I will be interested to hear which cruise you choose to do.

[Shawski]

Karen,

 

We did our first river cruise last month on AMA. We had 7 nights on the ship with a pre-cruise stay in Budapest and a post-cruise stay in Prague. I have to say that we were happy we did not do a longer cruise - 7 days on the ship was enough for us. It began to feel cramped after awhile. If you are not in port, and the sun deck is closed or weather is not conducive to sitting on it, you are confined to the lounge or your cabin. The lounge ends up being pretty crowded.

 

Caviargirl mentioned doing a cruise on AMA because, among other things, they offered tables for 2 in the dining room. We had thought about this also. It turned out however, that the tables for two are only about a foot away from tables for 4. It was also very noisy in the dining room, so if you're thinking about having a nice quiet dinner with your significant other, this is not the place to do it. We did, however, meet some nice people at the tables that were right next to ours.

 

If you are not sure you would like a river cruise, why not think about starting out with a 7 day cruise and add two or three days at both ends.

 

Marti

[franski]

I do agree with Shawski (Marti) on this... We chose a 7 night cruise with Uniworld for our 1st river cruise, and extended in Paris after. It was great - and left me wanting more. We were reluctant to commit to anything longer as I was not sure if we would like the experience - and I had no one to talk to who had been on one before...(hadn't found CC at that time).

 

I think that knowing the type of traveller that you are helps... River cruising isn't perhaps the best choice for those who like lots of on-board activity. I understand where caviargal is coming from in relation to port-intensive time, but my DH and I really do like the down-time, so don't mind a sailing day. I do agree with her on the Murphy beds, however - and bathrooms are another of my issues. I need to be able to turn around in the shower....

 

I think I could be happy on a longer cruise, but the timing is a bit of an issue for us...We can't swing more than 14 days away, and I have discovered that I like a day or two before or after the cruise - so this limits most of our options to 7 days on the boat.

 

Have fun planning!!!

[Willsot]

We will be taking our first river cruise in September. It will be 15 days + pre and post-cruise stays, making the trip a total of 3 weeks. We have only experienced ocean cruising, but have enjoyed 14 over 7-days cruises. The longer, the better for us. We shall see how the river cruise goes.