First Time Viking River Cruisers and Others

[Bet & Peg]

Bruin Steve ~ welcome! We've never met but I've followed you all over the Med and Baltic!! You always had/have great advice and suggestions!!!

 

We did our first RC last year mainly because of Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris"!! DH suggested Paris and Rhone River cruise. I was apprehensive feeling I'd miss toomany aspects of an Ocean Cruise but, instead, I feel in love with river cruising!! My only complaint - almost no pre-cruise activity on a roll call!!

 

We did pre-cruise - Paris - and post-cruise - Avignon & Nice - on our own so there was much palnning in all that! But I also understand your feeling of being more comfortable planning in Europe. We took our first-time tour where everything was planned for us in January when we went to Israel with our Church. Fabulous trip but stange that there was nothing - but packing - that we had to do!! But again in a country that's SO different it was great not to have had to plan anything!!

 

China sounds fantastic - have thought about it but haven'tmade the plunge yet - maybe some day!!

[V'sGirl]

The best movie ever! I'm an English teacher, and the portrayal of the icons is everything I have always imagined them to be. DH and I have researched the hotels in the movie, and will be paying them a visit. Another excellent reason for a river cruise.

[WarEagle76]

Add us to the "first timers"...

After around 35 ocean cruises, we just booked the Viking China trip for June 2014...

 

My wife has always wanted to try a river cruise...We've both always wanted to see China...we've never done this before because, with my wife's school district calendar, we've only been able to go in July/August--the hottest time of the year...they recently shifted the calendar to go August to May rather than September to June...and, even though June won't be that much cooler, we figured we may as well go...besides, we're running out of "new-to-us" Europe ocean cruise itineraries...so this mixes it up a bit...

 

I am really not expecting to be "blown away"...too many things about the ocean cruises I love that I already know are different with river cruises...

Besides, I really don't see this as much of a cruise...more of a land tour with a small river portion as we'll be on this tour for 17 nights with only five of them on a ship, the rest being in big hotels...

 

I am guessing that China will be far different than a typical European river cruise on the Rhine, Danube, Seine, etc. We're doing everything through Viking, just to keep it all in one tidy package--air, basic package, four night Hong Kong post-cruise...trying to keep it simple as possible...

 

My travel agent recommended Viking as her preferred line of choice for this trip, so we just booked it...

 

We did book the cheapest category on the ship since ALL of the cabins (except the suites) on the Emerald are identical--same size, same balcony...and it is only five nights of 17...

 

I really expect to be more blown away by the destination than by the cruise...My biggest concerned was in having five-star hotels and having everything per-packaged and arranged--especially since it's all so foreign and so new to us (I am far more comfortable traveling on my own in Europe where I've been so many times and understand a lot of the languages and am more familiar with the culture)...

 

In a way, I am going to appreciate not having to plan out my own pre- and post-cruise stays and arrange a bunch of private yours and not having to rent cars, etc...though I may miss a lot of the fun of planning all that...

 

But, overall, I am looking forward to this...it will be a nice change of pace for us, in the least...

 

And we probably will book at least another river cruise or two...likely the Danube...just to get to some places we haven't been to that you can't reach on an ocean cruise...I've even considered trying to mesh the schedules of, say, a river cruise down the Danube and a big ship Black Sea cruise back to back...

 

But, now I'm getting WAY ahead of myself!

 

Our first river venture was in Egypt which was part of an Insight tour. Our first Viking trip was China, followed by Russia, then Danube and Seine. We were in China on Viking in 2005, in May. The trip was very well organized, great hotels, and food was excellent. You are correct in that is is more of a tour with a river cruise in the middle, but all parts of it from Beijing and the Great Wall, to Xian and the terra cotta warriors, to cruising the Yangtze and seeing the new dam, to the westernized city of Shanghai were awesome.

 

Regarding the river cruise/ocean cruise comparison, for us the river cruises are much more laid back. In Europe you will usually dock close to the center of town making it easy to explore on your own and easy to walk off and on with such a small number of passengers. You can take part in the inclusive tours at each port or work with the program director to customize something on your own. As you noted, Europe is a great destination to combine several trips or extend the trip pre or post cruise (especially with the high cost of airfare to get there).

[Bet & Peg]

V'sGirl ~ I'm sure I don't even have to mention it - but do not miss Shakespeare and Company Book Store!!! I had to hold my emotions in check as we walked through this very, very crowded small iconic store! We were there the middle of October last year and tables were set up outside with volunteers registering mostly students to vote!

 

For my Paris impressions ~ Paris Part I

[AF-1]

Steve. You should enjoy China. I have been there many times in my job and the county is beautiful. Beijing is the most polluted city way worse than LA; but there is so much to see and do there. The other cities including your river cruise there will be worthwhile. Enjoy.

[VirginiaTraveler]

Hello,

 

My wife and I have taken several river cruises on the various lines. We got a lot of help when we were looking into it from this forum and want to pay it forward. If you have any particular questions about the various companies or the itineraries feel free to ask and I'll try to help out with our experiences.

 

We prefer Viking and after going on AMA Waterwars, Avalon, and Uniworld have decided to stick with Viking. We just got back from the Russia one and are booked for the Christmas Markets next year already.

 

HAPPY CRUISING!

 

johnrodriguez1, My hubby & I will be on Viking's China Explorer in May, our first time in China & first time on Viking. We can take optional tours of Peking Opera and Tang Dynasty Dinner & Show. Have you done either? If so, please comment on one or both. Thanks in advance.

[Bob++]

Bob, extended forecast I've seen for Germany next week shows temps in the 50s during the day - that's great for touring.

 

On this side of the Atlantic we use the (dare I say more sensible) Celsius scale. 15 degrees C, is just under 60 Fahrenheit.

[muddlethrough]

We have only taken one river cruise and it was on Viking. Like you, we are seasoned ocean cruisers. However, we decided to try Viking for the 'Tulips & Windmills' cruise last April on one of their new longships, the Idun. We were so pleased with the Viking experience that we have just booked another Viking cruise for 2014. On our ocean cruises, we gravitated toward the port-intensive intineraries, and so the 'Tulips & Windmills' intinerary was perfect for us. For most ports,we were able to walk right off the ship and begin our walking tour, and when the walking tour was over,we had free time to explore on our own. The towns and villages we visited were so charming, and picture-postcard perfect! There were a couple of towns we had a bus ride to, but that only gave us time to visit with our fellow passengers or view the countryside along the way.

I found the windmills at Kinderdijk amazing, and the tulips at Keukenhof just spectacular. We loved the opportunity to explore Amsterdam,both on an included walking tour and also during free time on our own.

The weather during our mid-April cruise was unseasonably chilly,and so we did not get to often enjoy the lovely sun deck or Aquavit terrace on our longship, but we did enjoy the views as we cruised from our French balcony window or from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining room or the lounge. I thought the food was quite good; a good breakfast buffet,or you could order a few menu items made to order. For lunch, there was a salad buffet, but also a menu of sandwiches and soups to order, and fresh pasta on the buffet. Dinner choices were a nice variety; although portions were on the lighter side, servers would always bring additional servings or another choice if requested.

Our cabin was lovely, and although compact, it offered many nice amenities. Our bed was very comfortable, and there was room under the bed for luggage storage. There was a long counter across from the bed with a fridge underneath one end and a bench under the other. There were 220 and 110 outlets at each end of the counter for plugging in appliances. The cabins also had large flat-screen TV's with on-demand movies, and a few cable and news stations. The bathrooms had very nice showers, lots of plush towels and heated floors. A good amount of storage for clothing in the cabins as well.

The service on Viking was excellent, from the greeting at the airport to the Program Director, tour guides, drivers, room stewards and servers.

Hope this helps.

We are booked on a new Viking longship in September and are wondering what size suitcase will fit under the bed. I realize that the rooms are compact; we have booked a French Balcony and want to be sure our luggage will fit under the bed. Many thanks.

[muddlethrough]

Hope this doesn't sound too silly. What size suitcase will fit under the bed on one of the new Viking longships?

[rjscott]

Hope this doesn't sound too silly. What size suitcase will fit under the bed on one of the new Viking longships?

 

Not silly at all. :) Since the cabins are compact, the luggage fitting under the bed is essential to your fully utilizing and enjoying your cabin space. We had a French balcony cabin on the Idun last year. We had two full size suitcases; a softside which maxed out at the 62 linear in. , and a hard- side which was not much smaller. We also had a hardside carryon, and all 3 of these slid under the bed easily.

Hope this helps.

[beachgal]

Our flight arrived in Amsterdam about 7am so we got our luggage, got a cab and arrived

at the dock around 7:30. It was hard to tell which was our ship because many ships were

all lined up next to each other at the dock. He got out to look for Helvetia, and it was

the very last one. When we got to the ship, we walked through another ship to get to

ours. We planned to just drop off our luggage, but the front desk took our names, let us

keep our luggage there and told us to go get a hot drink and offered us breakfast. It was

raining hard so we sat in the comfortable lounge, had a hot drink and a snack and waited

for the weather to clear. We had a chance to talk to others who had just finished the

Basel-Amsterdam cruise and get their feedback – everyone was happy.

 

Restaurants/shops that we tried to use credit card in Netherlands only took Mastercard.

Several restaurants/shops in France/Germany would not take any credit card. Take

plenty of cash with you – we had to use ATMs to get more cash. Also keep 50 euro coin

on hand for bathrooms – some were free, some we had to pay for.

 

Cabin very small (smaller than we’re used to on the cruise ships). I know I saw the

picture when we booked it, but when you walk in, there is a single size couch and my

friend and I looked at each other like “where do we sleep?” The room steward quickly

popped the other bed out of the wall and made it up. The beds were very comfortable

for us. Not much room in between to maneuver. Our suitcases would not fit under the

bed (we really tried but they were both too tall). We stood them up behind the door

(our friends in another cabin kept theirs in the shower!) We made it work – after all, we

didn’t spend much room in the cabins. Bottled water was provided in the rooms.

 

There were several 220 outlets in the cabin, but only ONE 110, and that is the razor

outlet in the bathroom at the very top of the ceiling. We were able to plug in our ipads to

recharge, but if you plan to bring any type of heated curling iron, you will need to bring

the converter & adapter. They had some adapters at the front desk, but you would need

the converter & adapter for a curling iron. Hairdryers are provided.

 

Wine was provided at lunch & dinner. Soft drinks provided at meals, otherwise, there is

a charge.

 

Only complaint was with the food. There was plenty of it, but compared to all the other

cruise lines I have been on, the food options were lacking. Breakfast was great, buffet set

up with fruit, steel cut oats, cereal, and you could order hot items off the menu, omelette,

bacon, french toast, etc. You could eat lunch either in the dining room (order from menu)

or upstairs in the lounge where there was a wonderful salad bar, along with soup and

several hot items to choose from. Dinner was the most lacking for me, just not many

choices of entrée (you could always get salmon/steak and a couple of other entrees).

For instance, one night was “surf and turf” which consisted of a sirloin steak and ONE

large shrimp on top. We did have choice of filet mignon one night. We certainly didn’t

starve but just not up to par compared with other cruises (all 8 at our table were pretty

well-traveled and all agreed on the food). The soups were very watery and a lot of the

 

food was just tasteless. The 24-hour beverage station was handy to get tea, coffee, hot

chocolate, water and cookies.

 

The most fun I had was our free time in the towns we stopped at, loved looking in the

shops & stopping at the wonderful cafes/bakeries to taste some delicious pastry with

coffee. Get in shape to walk – we averaged walking about 5 miles a day!

 

Staff was just awesome, very friendly and eager to help. Cruise Director George Nakos

was lots of fun, as was Bobby, the piano player. Viking arranged for 4 new Mercedes

buses to follow the ship en route so when we went out for tours in the morning, the buses

were there. Sometimes the ship sailed on down the river and the buses picked us up

there, very well organized and coordinated. George went with us on tours, along with

local tour guides. Only optional tour we took was the Colmar, France tour, which I

highly recommend. We walked around the very cute town and of course had to stop &

sample the pastries.

 

The Rhine was too high to sail into Basel on last day. Poor George was making lots of

calls to get alternate transportation for all on board. We had arranged private driver to

pick us up at Basel port, so George arranged for him to meet us at the Basel airport –

Viking bus took us to the airport.

 

On last day of the cruise, we received an email from United that our flight was canceled

from Basel to Frankfurt (we did not book our flight through Viking). Didn’t get an

explanation why the flight was canceled, but when we got to Basel hotel, they told us

that Lufthansa (United’s partner) was on strike. So we got to the Basel airport the next

morning at 6am, and they rerouted us – by bus (lugging 2 pieces of luggage) to the train

station, then train to Zurich airport (the train ride was nice). Long day home back to WV,

but we made it (my checked bag didn’t make it until the next day).

 

We all loved the river cruise and will probably do another.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions.

[Bet & Peg]

beachgal ~ thanks your your review - I enjoyed reading it!

 

A few questions about the Colmar Tour:

 

did it include wine tasting?

was it the same day as the Black Forest tour?

if so, was it the same time as the Black Forest tour?

 

Thanks much - we'll be taking this cruise - opposite direction - in early December and I'm anixous to learn all I can about it!!!!

[Go Pack]

We are booked with Viking for a cruise "Chateaux, Rivers & Wine", April of 2014. I learned today that Viking does Not ask you what preferences you would like during your flights to & from the cruise. I would expect them to request from the airlines that I would like a Window seat rather then being placed in the center aisle section of 6+ seats. I do not want to be in the last row of coach in front of the bathroom with passengers standing in the aisle awaiting an open bathroom. And then put-up with the constant flushing. I am disappointed that Viking is not asking me for by preferences. I understand that they cannot gaurantee my request, but at least give it a try. Very disappointed

[beachgal]

FotoPeg, the Colmar tour was in the afternoon so it did not interfere with any other tours. It was a walking tour around Colmar with the guide. We opted out of the walking tour and just walked around ourselves and had a pastry in one of the cafes. Beautiful town.

[beachgal]

GoPack, yeah, we learned on the first cruise when we allowed the cruiseline to do our airfare, that they will do the cheapest flight they can get, run you through as many airports as they need to do that, and had no choice on seats. Since then, we've always done our own airfare.

[AF-1]

Beachgirl and Go Pack, you may want to look into the air option package with Viking or any cruise line. By paying extra ($75), you get to pick your airline, flight, and seat; cruiseline will book it; if you get stranded or flight cancels; the cruise line will get you another flight. European airlines do no allow seat choice until 24 prior to flight; this is why I will only fly on Delta, and other us airlines; that way; I can make my airline reservations thru travel agent or with cruiseline directly; but still have option to pick my seats.

[Bet & Peg]

beachgal ~ thanks for the info - everything helps!!!

[Mark_T]

European airlines do no allow seat choice until 24 prior to flight; this is why I will only fly on Delta, and other us airlines;

 

It is not quite such a stark choice as depending on which European airline, if you have any status with them that can unlock the ability to pick seats in advance and some allow it for a small fee.

 

Also even with a US airline there may be many seats that are reserved for elites or only available at an extra charge, so it pays to reserve early if you can to get the best choice.

 

We tend to side-step the whole thing and make our own travel arrangements as I have a good stock of miles on AA.

[mathladyca]

It is not quite such a stark choice as depending on which European airline, if you have any status with them that can unlock the ability to pick seats in advance and some allow it for a small fee.

 

Also even with a US airline there may be many seats that are reserved for elites or only available at an extra charge, so it pays to reserve early if you can to get the best choice.

 

We tend to side-step the whole thing and make our own travel arrangements as I have a good stock of miles on AA.

 

I do not know what you mean by European airlines but I am flying KLM , Toronto to Amsterdam in October and have my seats selected already,

 

Why do people not do research before paying money to Viking? I did my own research and by booking my own flights, saved over $300 per person with no weird connections! With so much info available now there is no reason that people should be complaining that they cannot select seats.

[mathladyca]

Beachgal- what were the optional tours in Cologne and Strasbourg? Did you have any free time in Koblenz?

[travelfirst]

I do not know what you mean by European airlines but I am flying KLM , Toronto to Amsterdam in October and have my seats selected already,

 

Why do people not do research before paying money to Viking? I did my own research and by booking my own flights, saved over $300 per person with no weird connections! With so much info available now there is no reason that people should be complaining that they cannot select seats.

 

I booked our flights on KLM for the Viking cruise in March. I chose seats as soon as I could and when we got to the airport they had given our seats away.

They did the same thing on the way home... On the ship I chose our seats and they weren't available when we got to the airport. It didn't matter that I had printouts...

[franski]

I booked our flights on KLM for the Viking cruise in March. I chose seats as soon as I could and when we got to the airport they had given our seats away.

They did the same thing on the way home... On the ship I chose our seats and they weren't available when we got to the airport. It didn't matter that I had printouts...

 

That happened to us on our return flight with KLM... but the did place us in Premium Economy!! So didn't complain too much.

[beachgal]

mathladyca, I will answer your questions later today. In the meantime, if anyone would like a link to view my photos, email me at: jovince at gmail dot com.

[beachgal]

mathladyca - option tour in Cologne was Cologne's Beer Culture, walking tour through Cologne's beautiful illuminated alleys, sampling the city's famous beer (the tour was from 8:45 - 10:45pm) - we did this on our own. Let me just say we had already had a full day, had already walked about 4-5 miles before dinner (Cologne city walking tour, back to ship for lunch, then we took bus back into town to go to Lindt chocolate museum, walked around more & another mile back to the ship). We had dinner, then walked another mile back into town. We wanted to find a pub and go have a beer. It was about 8:45pm and most of the pubs were empty - there were a few places bustling with people, but a lot of the pubs were open, had music playing but no one there except the bartender. We finally went into one, had a beer, bartender gave us a round of shots and we walked another mile back to the ship.

 

The optional Strasbourg tour was alsatian wine tour including Obernai town visit (from 2-6pm). The bus tour into Strasbourg left at 8:30am. We did walking tour, then our group opted to stay in Strasbourg on our own so we didn't go back to the ship for the optional tour. Shuttle buses ran back and forth from ship fro 2:00 - 6:00 p.m., so you could go in the morning, come back to the ship for lunch, then go back in the afternoon. We preferred to try some local restaurants when we had the chance! The tour through the Strasbourg cathedral went pretty fast so I also went back there to take my time to look around and take photos.

 

Koblenz, we arrive at 8:30am, we leave at 9am for Marksburg excursion & the Helvetia leaves at 10 to sail to Braubach to pick us up after Marksburg excursion - it arrives in Braubach at 11:15, so no extra time in Koblenz.

 

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any other questions.

[mathladyca]

Beachgal- many thanks for the quick reply. If I think of anything else, I will post again.