First Time Viking River Cruisers and Others

[wiselindag]

Red Haired Traveler - I have sailed twice on river cruises (both on AMA) and each time my husband has not chosen to travel so I have traveled with a female friend. I have never felt uncomfortable or that the cruise was romance-oriented. In fact, there are many single cruisers and it is easy to make friends on the smaller river ships and to mix and mingle as you meet so many people on the daily tours.

 

As for demographics, I have just passed the early 60's stage (alas!) but did both cruises while still in that age range. There were some younger cruisers (often the daughters or sons of older ones) and also some in the tourism business on both of my cruises. On AMA, at least, there was a range, although the majority were older folks with the time and money to travel.

 

I hope you will give river cruising a chance. Fellow passengers tend to be well educated and interesting conversationalists. You will have the opportunity to learn a great deal on the tours, and the ports are fascinating. I have enjoyed my two and look forward to taking another in 2013.

[franski]

I am curious about the age demigraphics as well. I have never been on a river cruise so have lots of questions. What kind if any, is entertainment on the ships? I usually travel with another female, we are in our younger 60's. Are these cruises more romance oriented? It was suggested that perhaps we would get bored on these smaller ships. Any and all advice extremely welcome. We are considering the Grand European on Viking in 2014.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!! And to the River Cruise forum....

 

Entertainment is much lower key on the river boats. There is no gambling, glitzy shows etc... There may be some local musicians on board - but if nothing is planned, then there is usually someone playing a piano in the lounge. There can be some lectures, or "hands on" type of demonstrations... perhaps a group trivia game. Nothing wild or crazy...:D If you need high energy entertainment, then river cruising might not be for you.

 

Dh and I are in our late 50's. We tend to be on the younger end of the age spectrum, but that doesn't bother us. I do not think that river cruises are romance oriented... In fact - the scarcity of tables for 2 in the dining room has been commented on many times on these boards.

 

Singlets (ie:Single travellers) or friends travelling together is fairly common. You can meet a larger percentage of the passengers given the small numbers on board, and most people seem to "find" a comfortable group, and often stick with them on the buses, or at the dinner table.

 

I can't speak to Viking - as our first cruise with them is in late April - but have travelled with Uniworld, AMA and Scenic so far. We love river cruising --> the more relaxed attitude, not having to dress for dinner, the opportunity to meet some really interesting people....

 

Have fun planning!! My only suggestion would be making a decision sooner than later. River cruising is not like big ship cruising in that sailings can (and often do) sell out quite far in advance. If you are looking at something this year - and have a specific date and/or category of cabin in mind - you should probably be checking availability now.

 

Fran

[pepper88]

I'm planning my first trip on Viking (Moscow to St. Petersburg). Is it necessary to go through a travel agent (I never have for previous trips) or can I make all the arrangements through Viking? Their website seems quite informative with a lot of my questions already answered.

 

Thanks for your help.

[caviargal]

On our cruises with Avalon, evening entertainment was limited to some local acts and the resident piano player. Even on New Year's Eve, there was nothing special happening and the CD did an audience participation skit that seemed to go on forever.

 

On our two AMA cruises, we were out last most nights dancing and having fun. We are on the younger range (mid 50s) of river cruisers and active and we really enjoyed the entertainment on AMA. The piano player was also a DJ that played good music after the night's scheduled entertainment (also very good and ranging from a vocalist to a jazz duo to the talented La Strada) and one night there was a 60s party that was a blast.

[beachgal]

Doing first Viking cruise in April Amsterdam-Basel with group of girlfriends. We are from US and wondering for those of you who used wifi on the ship, are there any charges if using ipad on board?

[ea6b5]

Doing first Viking cruise in April Amsterdam-Basel with group of girlfriends. We are from US and wondering for those of you who used wifi on the ship, are there any charges if using ipad on board?

I used a IPAD on the Viking Legend on the Danube river cruise with no charge

[franski]

I'm planning my first trip on Viking (Moscow to St. Petersburg). Is it necessary to go through a travel agent (I never have for previous trips) or can I make all the arrangements through Viking? Their website seems quite informative with a lot of my questions already answered.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic - and the River Cruise forum!!

 

We did Russia last year (St. P to Moscow with Uniworld...) and it was an amazing trip... I think you can do everything through Viking - but I will offer a couple of pieces of advice...

 

Book your air with them - so that you can get transfers. Traffic is brutal, and we do not speak the language... both my DH and I commented that we would not have wanted to try to arrange transfers on our own there (we have done our own transfers on other itineraries...)

 

If you are planning on extending your time in Russia either before or after the cruise, it might add some extra challenges to the planning. You would need to adjust your flights (don't know if Viking will do that, and still provide transfers...) and also would need to get an "invitation" from the hotels to apply for your Visa (Viking will provide the invitation letter for the cruise portion...) Unless you book an extension through Viking. But - cruise line extensions can be pricey.

 

If you pop over to the Roll Call section for river cruises, there is a thread for both 2012 and 2013. Lots of great information there.

 

Fran

[Redhaired Traveler]

Thank you all for your replys! What about the weather? Are the Christmas cruises very cold? Are the summers very humid?

[Going Coastal]

No charge for wi fi on Viking and my experience was that the connection was excellent from Amsterdam to Budapest.

We were on a new long ship and loved it, and were able to use our balcony to great advantage.

Viking China is next on our list.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

[pinay]

Hello fellow cruisers any one else doing this cruise please let me know, thank you;)

[Jgg630]

Fran,

 

I was on the Aegir in December. I really liked the ship but some cabins had some issues with plumbing backing up. I'm not sure if it was the plumbing or the individuals. It is a great ship. I loved the cruise. Have already booked another for this December. For you newbies, I did a blog on my river cruise if you are interested.

 

http://www.travelpod.com/z/jgilmer/1/1355011200

[CTGirl]

We are doing Viking China next month. It is our first river cruise and we are really looking forward to it. If we like it we may want to do a cruise in Europe that includes Budapest. With that in mind can someone please tell me what a French Balcony is as many of the ships going to Budapest have them.

[rjscott]

CTGirl,

A 'French Balcony' is simply floor to ceiling windows with one being a sliding door that opens. There is no balcony to step out onto, but you can enjoy the passing scenery and the air from this 'Frency Balcony'. There will be signs posted that you should not lean out from the open doorway, and a horizontal bar to prevent you from doing so, but we still enjoyed our French Balcony cabin on our first Viking cruise, as we enjoyed watching the passing scenery as we got ready in the morning or for dinner in the evening.

[pacmom]

CTgirl, China is the jewel in Viking's crown. It is a totally different experience from europe. A French balcony is a glorified sliding glass door with bars across the lower portion. We were in China in Oct. and had a marvelous time. If you are on the Emerald, say hello to Janos, the hotel mamager from his friends Pat and Terry. We have made 4 Viking trips and Janos was part of the staff on 3. Savor every minute in China--it is a remarkable journey. Pat

[RichardandMark]

We are doing our first River Cruise this December. It is On the Danube Christmas Market cruise. We booked through our local TA that was offering the cruise through Collette, which we have done several tours with and we liked them. We will be traveling on the Luftner line aboard the Brilliant. It has been fun reading all of the threads on River cruises. We are learning a lot and unlike many of you, have nothing to compare our cruise to anything else. Thank you so much for all of your posts. Newbies like us need these to learn from. It appears that like Ocean Lines people have river favorites for many reasons. It is fun reading why.

[CTGirl]

CTgirl, China is the jewel in Viking's crown. It is a totally different experience from europe. A French balcony is a glorified sliding glass door with bars across the lower portion. We were in China in Oct. and had a marvelous time. If you are on the Emerald, say hello to Janos, the hotel mamager from his friends Pat and Terry. We have made 4 Viking trips and Janos was part of the staff on 3. Savor every minute in China--it is a remarkable journey. Pat

I thought that was what a French Balcony might be. I don't think I would mind that as long as the door opened.

 

Yes, we are getting very excited about our China trip. We are going to get our immunizations next week and then all we have to do is pack. I am a pro at packing for an ocean cruise but this China trip will be very different. I am going to take a little of every type clothing and then either layer or take off depending on the temperature. We will be on the Emerald. I will try to say hi to your friends. I have been reading the Chin thread for over a year now. It has been very helpful.

[H2Otstr]

[CTGirl]

Thanks for the picture. They look like very nice cabins. A lot of the cabins on the itineraries I am interested in are French Balconies. I think I can handle that.

[pacmom]

Sharon, the new long ship Fr. balconey cabins are smaller than the one you had. There are no chairs on the ones launched last--only 135 sq.ft.

[CTGirl]

Sharon, the new long ship Fr. balconey cabins are smaller than the one you had. There are no chairs on the ones launched last--only 135 sq.ft.

No chairs would not be a good thing.

[drbillmc]

This will be our first river cruise after many ocean cruises and land tours. We will be on the Viking Odin on the Cities of Light tour in May, 2014. A few questions.

We have two precruise days in Paris and two post cruise days in Prague. How well does Viking handle the land portion? Hotel location and quality? Are we on our own?

The worst reviews that I have read have been about when high water forces the tour on land. Is this something we have to worry about in May on the Moselle, Rhine and Main?Will the top deck be available most of the time or are the bridges too low on this itinerary?

Any advice for first time river cruises? This has been on our bucket list for a long time. Can't wait. Thanks

[pacmom]

Have never taken any lines pre or post, just done them on our own. Have found included tours to be very good, especially on the lines which use the "vox box" allowing you to be a bit further away from the guide and still hear. River cruising is a wonderful way to travel, but be careful it can be addictive. We leave on #16 in June. Travel safely and enjoy.

Pat

[Bet & Peg]

This past October, we were in Paris 4 days pre-cruise but on our own, I wanted more time than Viking's package and I wanted to choose our own hotel area - we stayed in the Latin Quarter.

 

We had two friends who took the Viking pre-cruise package and they stayed in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Paris-Republique. They found the hotel to be very nice and bk was included. However there was massive construction in the area combined with rain that didn't please them! (We've run into construction somewhere on all trips! Can't predict it!!) They said there was a Viking rep in the lobby but they chose not to take the included walking tour and booked their own general tour of Paris one day and one of the Louvre the next. They booked them through the hotel. They said there was a very convenient metro stop very near the hotel. They were transfered to the ship (at Chalon-sur-Saone), lunch and a tour were included. They really enjoyed that part!

 

We've never booked pre or post through the cruise lines - prefer to make our own decisions about where to stay and what to see. Althought I was very, very happy with Viking tours while on the cruise. They use a "voxo" so its wasy to wander a bit from the group to take photos. We had 144 passengers on our cruise and they usually ran 4 groups + 1 slower group. So at most there were about 30 people in a group. And the groups were, if possible, not at the same place at the same time - so you didn't get the feeling of 144 people all in one place! You could also choose your group so, if you have friends on board or make friends, its easy to be together - first person there just takes the necessary number of cards. I also found all the guides we had to be very, very good and accommodating - in Lyon we finished our tour just around noon - guide said we could stay in area or be bussed back to the ship for lunch - we wanted to go to an area about half-way back - I asked and both guide & driver said fine and dropped about 6 of us there. We had lunch and then strolled back to the ship.

 

Back to pre-cruise! If I remember Viking offeres one walking tour in Paris. If it were me, I'd decide what my sight-seeing priorities are and then decide how best to use our time in Paris. We were there 4 days and will return in 2014 since we didn't have nearly enought time!!!!!

 

Hope this helps a bit!

[Babo02]

Thanks for the wonderful photo. My husband and I are going on Viking's Danube cruise from Prague to Budapest in May and it was great to see how nice the cabins look.

[Laine]

Hi All. Have found this interesting. We are going on Scenic Cruises in May from Amsterdam to Budapest. Had looked at Viking but had been suggested by some to try Scenic as now completely all inclusive for all excursions etc. Haven't seen any comments on Scenic and would love to hear from people.