Just returned Viking Freya Budapest to Amsterdam...thoughts and tips

[Riversedge]

Lauren---could you please touch on which countries accepted euros and which used only their own currency.

Did you use the ATM or did you take euros from US? I know AAA will exchange US to euros at their facilities.

How did you handle tips for program director, and the other service personel on the ship?

Were ATM's readily available? Thankyou

 

We got some Euros at our bank before we left. I don't think the exchange rate was as good but we wanted to be sure we had some the minute we needed some. The only country that doesn't use Euros is Hungary. They use Forints. When we got to the airport in Budapest we changed a small amount at the airport so that we would have enough to pay the taxi driver. Exchange rate there isn't good. After that we used the ATMs in the cities along the way. Easy to do. No one uses USD. Everyone takes credit cards but you will probably experience a currency exchange fee.

 

We called our bank before we left and told them that we would be using our ATM card while we were gone. They noted in our account all the countries that we would be visiting. It's possible our card could have been rejected if we hadn't done that. They also charged a 3% fee so there was no advantage to using cash over credit card except for the tips and smaller amounts of cash you might need daily. We also called our credit card company and told them we were going to be using our card out of the country.

 

Tips for the crew can either be paid in cash (they give you one envelope) or you can have them added to your account at the end which is what we did. It's 12 Euros per person per day. We also tipped the waiter extra that we thought was so good. (Just handed him some cash) For the daily tours they recommend per person 1 Euro for the bus driver and 2 Euros for the guide. Most people tipped but a few didn't. And if the guides were extra good they got a little extra. All the tips do add up.

[Riversedge]

Lauren,

 

 

I'm wondering how big the refridgerators are in the staterooms.

 

Thanks!

Paula

 

The refrigerators were a typical dorm size. About 19 inches high by 19 inches wide. It worked very well and kept things very cold. If fact if you had it turned up too high it froze things! There was a space cut out of the top shelf so that it held one bottle of wine. We had a lot crammed in there. It was very quiet and we couldn't hear it running.

[Riversedge]

Would love to hear about the ports you visited. We are doing this same cruise next May.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Karen

 

I will definitely do that, Karen! We have company coming tonight but I'll try to get to it in the next couple of days.

[followyourheart]

The refrigerators were a typical dorm size. About 19 inches high by 19 inches wide. It worked very well and kept things very cold. If fact if you had it turned up too high it froze things! There was a space cut out of the top shelf so that it held one bottle of wine. We had a lot crammed in there. It was very quiet and we couldn't hear it running.

 

Thanks, Lauren. Now I can think about what kind of goodies we will be able to fit in there.

[rjscott]

I am surpised the longships do not have a clothesline. I was just on the Viking Prestige last month and there was a clothesline in the shower. I used it almost every day and was really happy it was there, even though I had brought my travel clothesline (which I never used).

 

We were on the Idun this past April and we had a clothesline in our shower. Not sure why the Freya didn't. Rather than clothespins, I took a package of small coated "clips" that I bought in a kitchen store and they worked quite well and packed better than clothespins as they were smaller. As Lauren said, the sink is quite small, but it will do for hand-laundering a few items at a time.

[best45]

Hi Willbrook,

We traveled with Viking in China and onboard the riverboat the "unlimited" beer and wine at dinner truly meant "unlimited."

Ginger

[lahlah57]

Oh Lord......Lauren your review of your cruise gave such wonderful hope for a spectacular trip and then I read Caroldolls review and it scared the he** out of me!

You two differed on just about everything, how could two ships, Freya vs Idun be so opposite???

Either you are highly forgiving or she is highly critical. Polar opposites on 2 new ships, same itinerary and around the same date. What is the deal?:confused:

[macsback]

Lauren, I see that you could bring wine on board-- how about a bottle of Scotch?

 

Macsback

[phoebecat]

For the tips. We are doing Viking in two weeks time on Rhine Discovery and I am so grateful for the packing tips, clothing guide and the info on the mobility issues - Dad uses a stick so thanks for the heads up on the trips and level of physical fitness required.

[Caroldoll]

see a clothesline, but I used a hanger and hung it in the shower. I didn't have high expectations except for the size of the room which was wonderful. I didn't expect long, long bus rides every day. I expected to be near the little town and walk in as they advertise. I have not even had one complaint about the room--although both TVs went on at the same time and I had to hop out of bed every time we changed stations to turn the other one off. I didn't complain as I heard that some of the passengers' TV's didn't work at all...I figured too much is better than none! My expectations did not include, not slight dampness on the way to the lounge..it was so wet it came over the side of my sandals..did not expect the carpet to be unstuck at the sides, did not expect the beautiful hardwood to be curled up with a Piso Mojado sign, did not expect the bad odors, did not expect daily--yes daily long bus rides which consumed the day. I didn't complain about the drinks. Yes they give you two wines to chose from at dinner, one red and one white and beer. Plenty of that.

 

On ocean cruising we go Silversea, Regent, Crystal almost aways...but have had experience on them all. Didn't expect it to be like an ocean cruise--it wasn't.

 

What I expected was what they advertised.

[Riversedge]

Lauren, I see that you could bring wine on board-- how about a bottle of Scotch?

 

Macsback

 

There would be no problem with bringing a bottle of scotch. They do not search your luggage. I probably wouldn't be so bold as to bring it to the bar or to dinner but if you wanted to bring it on deck you could certainly do that. I actually don't think they would stop you from using it anywhere. We liked the way they were so customer friendly.

[Riversedge]

Oh Lord......Lauren your review of your cruise gave such wonderful hope for a spectacular trip and then I read Caroldolls review and it scared the he** out of me!

You two differed on just about everything, how could two ships, Freya vs Idun be so opposite???

Either you are highly forgiving or she is highly critical. Polar opposites on 2 new ships, same itinerary and around the same date. What is the deal?:confused:

 

 

When we travel we usually adopt the attitude that "it's all part of the adventure" and don't sweat the small stuff. We were so thrilled to be in Europe and on a dream vacation that most of the negatives were exactly that....small stuff. Just so you don't think there were no negatives I'll list them here. To be honest with you tho, none of them were worth bothering about except for maybe the dining (I'll get into that in another post)

 

1) Things that go bump in the night: Yes, you do occasionally bump into the locks at night. Sometimes there's only 6" clearance on both sides and the captain is trying to put in a boat that seemed as long as a football field. The first night we got tangled up with a navigation buoy. That was little little bit bigger bump.

 

2) No clothesline. Not a bother because we improvised

 

3) dining room noise and menus which I'll get into later

 

4) TV's that can be heard in the next room. Not a problem if you have neighbors like us who never turn on their tv. We could hear our neighbor's tv because we think they put them back to back on the walls and forgot to put in insulation. Really, it's not that bad and it's just a little background noise. Plus maybe our neighbors were hard of hearing and had it turned up. We didn't hear anything from the other side except occasional coughing.

 

5) The sun deck was closed for 6 days. No, it wasn't nice but what choice did they have? It's the only way they can get under the numerous bridges and one day they did put it up while we were in town so that people could sit up there if they wanted. All the other cruise lines had their top deck closed also. People were complaining that they didn't know that in advance (obviously not cruise critic readers)

 

6) 3 delays getting to our next stop. One was during the night because they were working on the engines which made us 2 hours late for Kinderdijk (which wasn't worth seeing anyways) Two others were because of lock delays that were no fault of Viking. One caused an hour or two delay but everything went on as planned, just a little later. The other one they were nice enough to drop us off and the ship went on to a spot down the river. They arranged for busses to take us to the ship at the end of the day which gave us more time in town. Very nice of them to do that. It allowed them to catch back up with their schedule.

 

7) Cleaning carts and vacuum cleaners that were in the narrow hallways for about 4 hours. We just had to watch where we were going and not trip on the hoses and cords. With crutches it made it a little difficult but I just had to watch where I was going. When they were done cleaning they put them away.

 

I honestly can't think of anything else. River cruising is not the same as ocean cruising and you have to go in with the mind set that you're not going to be pampered at every move and things do happen that are out of their control. We had 67 locks on our trip and occasionally the captain can't get in right when he'd like to. I felt that Viking did everything they could to make sure we got the best experience possible.

[Riversedge]

Staff: This is where the Viking Freya shines. They made our trip special. The Captain was highly approachable and was visible in common areas several times. It's not an easy job to be on a river with so many locks and so many other boats and barges sharing the waters. On the Captain's night he dined at one of the tables.

 

The Maitre d' (David Jiricka) was so hard working. He was always visible in the dining room and helping to pour wine and bus tables. It would have been nice if he could have come around and asked if everything was ok but he was too busy doing what we felt they should have hired another person or two to do.

 

Executive Chef: (Zsolt Csinci) Very nice and also very approachable. There are 10 cooks on board and they worked very hard in a small kitchen. One day it started to rain while we were at the windmills and the cooks walked to where the tours were carrying armloads of umbrellas so we could walk back to the boat out of the rain. Very impressive.

 

Hotel Manager (Jochen Kargl) I guess he did o.k. Must have worked a lot behind the scenes as we never saw him much. Might have been nice to have him more visible.

 

Program Director: (Lucia Petrasova) Couldn't have been nicer and more professional. She is as good as they come but she was only on the Freya for 2 weeks.

 

Front desk staff: (Sandra, Lisa, David) Amazing people and did everything they could to make the trip sensational. Very organized and helpful with all of the questions they must hear over and over every trip.

 

The waiters (loved Johnny) worked hard. Some were better than others of course.

 

The housekeeping staff worked hard and did a good job. Always friendly when you saw them in the hall.

 

We talked to several of the staff and they all seemed very happy to be on the ship. We asked them about the hours they worked and how long their contracts were for and about their families. They are very happy to talk to you and answer questions. We didn't feel there was anyone who wasn't happy to be there.

[Riversedge]

If you have a special occasion (we were celebrating an anniversary) they prefer you call Viking in advance but if you don't do that you can still tell the front desk when you arrive. They brought a cake to the table that had a large sparker in it and sang to us. They also bring extra plates so that you can share with your tablemates. I have to say that the quality of the cake was better than any we've had on our ocean cruises. One man was celebrating his 90th birthday so the Maitre d' got the attention of everyone in the dining room and had everyone sing. Nice touch. We couldn't figure out how they knew who we were as you don't sit at assigned tables. I guess we weren't as anonymous as we thought!

[Riversedge]

For those of you doing a packing list, I thought of a couple more things:

 

binoculars...we used them a lot during the times we were cruising along

 

sunscreen...the sun was powerful and we didn't see very many places

it was for sale. None available onboard. You may also want to bring a

hat. Many people ended up buying one along the way because no one

was expecting so much hot sunshine. I guess it depends on when you

travel.

[sitraveler]

The evil men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.

 

Nice to read a positive Viking review.

[lahlah57]

;)Thanks Lauren......Like your glass half full attitude.

[Riversedge]

Before I went I was always curious about what sort of entertainment was onboard. They usually managed to keep us busy. Keep in mind that this is not Ocean Cruising entertainment. There is no theater, no stage, and no room for one. They do a good job with the space/time that they have. Most of the days you are busy off the boat and worn out at the end of the day. These are not listed in order that they happened

 

Welcome briefing

 

Sailaway party

 

Tour of bridge and meet the captain

 

Tour of galley

 

Every night there was a daily briefing before dinner. The program director

gives you the itinerary for the next day. This is also listed in the

daily that will be on your bed after dinner but the briefing is very

entertaining and helpful. You will see pictures and get tips on the

next day. It was usually 6:45 with dinner at 7:00

 

Welcome cocktail with the captain

 

Safety drill (lasted about 5 minutes)

 

Farmer's Market Visit...join the chef for an excursion to Vienna's local

market

 

Cheese, Jenevery and Dutch Masters: A talk about these with cheese

tasting following

 

Lecture on windmills

 

Dutch Tea Time (I think this was only once)

 

Memories of your cruise. A picture presentation of your cruise. (The staff

takes pictures along the way)

 

Talk about Mozart and Vienna Coffee House

 

Slovak Folklore show with local entertainers

 

Taste of Austria lunch with local entertainment

 

Apple Strudel demonstration

 

Nautical Talk lecture...questions and answers

 

Dancing nights

 

German lesson

 

Viking past guest cocktail hour

 

Talk about the Rhine and Main Danube canal

 

Lecture about the European Union

 

Mixture of the Sounds of Music entertainment

 

Liar's Club (Call my bluff) team game

 

Glassblowing demonstration (bring your credit card!!)

 

Music quiz

 

Raffle draw

 

Disembarkation briefing

 

Musical entertainment with pieces from classical composers

 

Shuffleboard tournament

 

Every morning there were Qi Gong exercises in the lounge at 7:00 a.m. If we were traveling on the boat rather than docked, the program director would come on the speaker and tell about the sites we were approaching. You could hear well in your cabin also as there are adjustable speakers there. When we were passing the castles on the Rhine they had an impromtu ice cream party on the top deck. Nothing was planned in advance and it was a hot day. It was a special touch.

 

Some of the listed activities were done in the evening and some were done during the day if we were cruising. There were also lots of movies available on your tv in your room. On the nights there was nothing we were interested in we were happy to relax from our busy day.

[Riversedge]

The dining and menu options were probably the only downfall of this cruise. Viking needs to do a better job. However, I have noticed other complaints of this nature about cruise lines other than Viking so maybe it has to do more with the size of the kitchen and room for extra staff.

 

As others have posted previously, the dining room is very noisy. Before we went I thought "how bad can it be?" Well, it can and it was. Horrible. I do think they may try and fix it in the future because the Head Honchos were visiting our boat and talking to people and examining the dining room. But I don't think this would be a quick fix so the problem will be here for awhile. There are round or oval tables for 6 or 8 and long tables for either 10 or 12, can't remember which because we never sat there. To make matters worse, we had a group of 40 on our boat that was very noisy. Because they knew each other there was a lot of extra loud talking. The night that half of the boat went to the Vienna concert we had 2 dining times. That night it was very nice. I don't know an easy way they could always have 2 dining times because of schedules but it would sure make the dining experience a lot bettter. You could talk to the person next to you but difficult to talk across the table. Breakfast and lunch was fine because not everyone ate at the same time.

 

Another problem is the lack of enough staff. They need at least 2 more waiters or to hire more people to clear tables. When you got your food you didn't see your waiter again until you were waiting for your plate to be taken away. Not the waiters fault, they were working so hard the whole time.

 

Most nights the portions were very small. Shrimp cocktail was one shrimp. The night we had surf and turf it was one shrimp. It was the joke of the boat and everyone was laughing about it. Yes, I know that Viking says you can order more but by the time you realized that your portions were so much smaller than you expected, the waiter disappeared and everyone was ordering dessert. We could have ordered more at the beginning but you never knew ahead of time how much food you would get and we don't like to throw food away. (My Rigatoni consisted of 7 noodles and 2 spoons of spinach) Also breakfast and lunch were partially buffet so we just learned to eat more then.

 

We thought the breakfast and lunch choices were very good. The salads for lunch were excellent and mostly different every day. There was always pasta and you could eat at the buffet on the deck every day if you wished. For breakfast there was a menu plus a buffet of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, potatoes, pastries, cereals, fruit and you could always get an omelet. You could order pancakes, french toast, eggs benedict from the menu.

 

We thought the menu choices were a bit strange at times. There were 3 choices every night. One was a meat, one a fish and one a vegetarian. Plus you could always order the "every night" options which were caesar salad, salmon, steak, and grilled chicken breast.

 

It would not stop me from cruising on Viking again but I do think there's room for improvement in the dining area. The cook told me that the menu is set by corporate so it is the same on all ships. Not sure if he meant just the ships on this itinerary or all of them but I thought he meant all.

 

If you are going to expect the dining to be the same as ocean cruising you will be sadly disappointed. I don't think this is just a Viking problem, I think it's more that river boats have less room for staff, less ovens, and it's just impossible to have the choices that you might be used to on a large cruise ship. We adjusted our thoughts and eating patterns (eat more at breakfast and lunch) and then we were happy. River cruising is about so much more than eating!

 

I took pictures of most of the menus and could post a few here if anyone is interested.

[Rami077]

Lauren:

 

Thank you again for your wonderful, detailed report on your cruise. Many of us are reading and gathering good information. I hope Viking is following your reports. You are giving a very fair and positive review along with the few areas they could improve on. We are looking forward to our cruise on Nov 4th on the Prestige.

 

Mary

[cormike1]

First let me say that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts Lauren. I find you have the same attitude as my husband and I do...go with the flow and don't sweat the small stuff! Our 1st cruise on the Danube with Viking was totally amazing! I am probably the pickiest eater of 4 of us traveling together and I always found something to eat. At that time (2001) we ordered our dinner at lunchtime....they came around and asked us what we wanted. We were at dedicated tables. We had a choice of a fish dish or meat dish. One day the choice was fish or veal which I don't eat either of. I said I would just have the soup and salad and the waiter said no that they would bring me chicken (which was on the next day's menu as it turned out) Very accomodating! Sometimes the food was not what we were used to but if you expect that then you had better stay home. I would say thinking back, Viking was the fanciest presentation of the meals than the other 2 companies but that was along time ago so I would really think things have changed since then. AS you said, you were certainly not there for the food. I hope you continue river cruising Lauren as it is such a wonderful experience and for the most part, you do get into the city areas that the large ocean liners do not and that is the neat part. Thanks again for your reviews....brought back lots of great memories!!!

[cormike1]

I wish you would post some pictures Lauren. I am sure many would love to see them. Thanks again for the great reviews.

[TFC]

I am frankly glad to hear your report about smaller portions on the menu. We are cruising to enrich AND extend our lives not shorten them. The typical volume of food offered on an ocean cruise is too much and probably contributes to the passengers inability to get around on the tours as they age. Thank you, Viking, for savings us from ourselves.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[lahlah57]

Tfc---lol!

[swamp1sg]

We were on the Viking Paris to Normandy cruise last November. It wasn't too loud but they really do need more wait staff. The hotel staff and tour guides were outstanding.