Viking Chateaux, Rivers & Wine

[MalibooNewYork]

The Viking website is down and I'll check it tomorrow but I am curious about the tour of St. Emilion. Do we see the ancient monolithic church and the underground tunnels? Thank you in advance.

[Bet & Peg]

Hi MalibooNew York ~ according to the expanded itinerary (page 33) from the Viking website, the St. Emilion tour includes: "visit the inside of the Monolithic Church" doesn't mention tunnels.

 

Here's the site in case you haven't found it: httpwpc.475d.edgecastcdn.net00475Dpassenger_documentation201414CHARIVBOD_Borde

[indianrider]

Please remove me from the sailing schedule. We have decided to cancel this cruise and tour Bordeaux on our own. We got reservations for 3 nights at a classified Chateau and they include a private tour of Chateau Lynch-Bages winery, museum and restaurant afterwards. All this is complimentary in the prices of the beautiful French provincial room at the historic Chateau. We figure we can have a better time than doing this cruise. We also split the remaining time with 3 days in Provence and 2 days at a lovely burgundy Chateau in Beaune. We are staying at LeCep in Provence(very expensive and exceptional) for much less than the cost of the cruise.

It seems to us that this cruise in particular is really nothing special for a cost of more than $8000! We plan to do other Viking cruises in Germany and southern France at a later date. This Bordeaux cruise is too expensive for what one gets in return. I spoke to a friend who does Viking cruises every year and she heard from someone on one of the earlier cruises of Viking's Bordeaux and was told that she was very disappointed with the food quality, cost of excursions and the general foul-ups that occurred. Her friend could not get on the computers because the wi-fi was incredibly slow if it worked at all. She had wonderful things to say about the staff on board as Viking always seems to get nice people but the cruise was not very genuine because there was not much interaction with locals and her tour guides were British ex-pats living there.

All in all, not a very thrilling cruise-so we still will be in Bordeaux but have Provence and Burgundy to add to our repertoire.

Enjoy your cruise and maybe we will cross oars someday.

Au Revoir!

[MalibooNewYork]

Thanks Fotopeg. I was able to access the site this morning although something still isn't working right. I bookmarked what you sent me so should have no more difficulties.

This church sounds amazing--imagine digging for 300 years out of solid rock.

[marazul]

Indianrider -

Great decision! Bordeaux is made for land touring. The cruise only takes you a few miles down the estuary either way, if the tides let you. And you would be missing out on all the great restaurants, wineries, etc. (The cruise's dining room cannot compare to the local fare.)

 

If there is any chance you could add two or three days in the Perigord based in Sarlat-le-Caneda you should do it. It is one of the most beautiful areas in France and the home of foie gras! And don't miss Rocamadour while you are there.

Edited April 26, 2014 by marazul

[loge23]

Please remove me from the sailing schedule. We have decided to cancel this cruise and tour Bordeaux on our own. We got reservations for 3 nights at a classified Chateau and they include a private tour of Chateau Lynch-Bages winery, museum and restaurant afterwards. All this is complimentary in the prices of the beautiful French provincial room at the historic Chateau. We figure we can have a better time than doing this cruise. We also split the remaining time with 3 days in Provence and 2 days at a lovely burgundy Chateau in Beaune. We are staying at LeCep in Provence(very expensive and exceptional) for much less than the cost of the cruise.

It seems to us that this cruise in particular is really nothing special for a cost of more than $8000! We plan to do other Viking cruises in Germany and southern France at a later date. This Bordeaux cruise is too expensive for what one gets in return. I spoke to a friend who does Viking cruises every year and she heard from someone on one of the earlier cruises of Viking's Bordeaux and was told that she was very disappointed with the food quality, cost of excursions and the general foul-ups that occurred. Her friend could not get on the computers because the wi-fi was incredibly slow if it worked at all. She had wonderful things to say about the staff on board as Viking always seems to get nice people but the cruise was not very genuine because there was not much interaction with locals and her tour guides were British ex-pats living there.

All in all, not a very thrilling cruise-so we still will be in Bordeaux but have Provence and Burgundy to add to our repertoire.

Enjoy your cruise and maybe we will cross oars someday.

Au Revoir!

 

Sounds like a good plan! Beaune is just a wonderful town, I think you will love it. The Lynch-Bages tour is also wonderful - you will really enjoy their little village. Don't miss a lunch at Cafe Lavinal, adjacent to the winery. You may not want to leave Provence.

Frankly if we hadn't taken a land tour before, I'd also cancel. Have a great trip!

[Bet & Peg]

indianrider ~ while we'll miss you on our cruise list - PLEASE post after your trip and give us a review of your trip - might help others with land plans!!

 

I'm beginning to think this whole cruise was a BIG mistake on our part - but not sure I could reverse plans at this point since it involves others!!!

 

Have a fabulous trip! loge23 is correct about Beaune - its a lovely little town - enjoy!!!

 

If you're interested in a wine tour in the Rhone area, I can hightly recommend Olivier Hickman: Presentation of Olivier We used him in 2011 to take a tour of the Chateauneuf du Papa area and he was fantastic!

 

Look forward to hearing about your trip - have a feeling I'm going to be very jealous and sorry we booked this cruise!!!!!

[Bet & Peg]

Updated Roll Call list:

 

Viking Chateaux, River and Wine

April 12, 2014 ~ id4elizabeth

April 12, 2014 ~ Go Pack

April 26, 2014 ~ tipsygirl

April 26, 2014 ~ ChesapeakeSailor

May 10, 2014 ~ editor@cruisecritic: Carolyn

May 17, 2014 ~ kidfixer: Linda

May 24, 2014 ~ MalibooNewYork Theresa

May 31, 2014 ~ ABQcruiser

June 28, 2014 ~ Le bon vin

July 12, 2014 ~ vcgeno

July 12, 2014 ~ SueFrankuk

July 19, 2014 ~ loge23

Aug. 16, 2014 ~ lovetocruise17

Aug. 23, 2014 ~ MABoat

Aug. 30, 2014 ~ roebud; Rose & Gary

Sept 13, 2014 ~ smokinmike

Sept. 20, 2014 ~ zmjh45

Sept. 27, 2014 ~ parkie

Oct. 4, 2014 ~ FotoPeg: John & Peg, Tony & Linda

Nov. 1, 2014 ~ Laffey724

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ itchyfeetx2

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ sable16

[indianrider]

Thanks and I will give you all the details of our European vacation after we get back. I hope all of your cruises turn out well. Many thanks for the advice and will look forward to seeing the towns and villages and now I have an additional $8000 to spend on a really great time.

Take care all!

[lovetocruise17]

We have been talking about canceling this cruise also and just doing another one in Europe. Did you have insurance and did you have to pay much to get out of this cruise. I'm sure there are lots of people still who are wondering if all the money we have invested is worth it for this trip that seems to be not very well organized, food not very good and not much time on the river. Your trip sounds so much better now. Many thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Please remove me from the sailing schedule. We have decided to cancel this cruise and tour Bordeaux on our own. We got reservations for 3 nights at a classified Chateau and they include a private tour of Chateau Lynch-Bages winery, museum and restaurant afterwards. All this is complimentary in the prices of the beautiful French provincial room at the historic Chateau. We figure we can have a better time than doing this cruise. We also split the remaining time with 3 days in Provence and 2 days at a lovely burgundy Chateau in Beaune. We are staying at LeCep in Provence(very expensive and exceptional) for much less than the cost of the cruise.

It seems to us that this cruise in particular is really nothing special for a cost of more than $8000! We plan to do other Viking cruises in Germany and southern France at a later date. This Bordeaux cruise is too expensive for what one gets in return. I spoke to a friend who does Viking cruises every year and she heard from someone on one of the earlier cruises of Viking's Bordeaux and was told that she was very disappointed with the food quality, cost of excursions and the general foul-ups that occurred. Her friend could not get on the computers because the wi-fi was incredibly slow if it worked at all. She had wonderful things to say about the staff on board as Viking always seems to get nice people but the cruise was not very genuine because there was not much interaction with locals and her tour guides were British ex-pats living there.

All in all, not a very thrilling cruise-so we still will be in Bordeaux but have Provence and Burgundy to add to our repertoire.

Enjoy your cruise and maybe we will cross oars someday.

Au Revoir!

[marazul]

Updated Roll Call list:

 

Viking Chateaux, River and Wine

April 12, 2014 ~ id4elizabeth

April 12, 2014 ~ Go Pack

April 26, 2014 ~ tipsygirl

April 26, 2014 ~ ChesapeakeSailor

May 10, 2014 ~ editor@cruisecritic: Carolyn

May 17, 2014 ~ kidfixer: Linda

May 24, 2014 ~ MalibooNewYork Theresa

May 31, 2014 ~ ABQcruiser

June 28, 2014 ~ Le bon vin

July 12, 2014 ~ vcgeno

July 12, 2014 ~ SueFrankuk

July 19, 2014 ~ loge23

Aug. 16, 2014 ~ lovetocruise17

Aug. 23, 2014 ~ MABoat

Aug. 30, 2014 ~ roebud; Rose & Gary

Sept 13, 2014 ~ smokinmike

Sept. 20, 2014 ~ zmjh45

Sept. 27, 2014 ~ parkie

Oct. 4, 2014 ~ FotoPeg: John & Peg, Tony & Linda

Nov. 1, 2014 ~ Laffey724

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ itchyfeetx2

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ sable16

 

Fotopeg -

it would be great if everyone on your list would post a brief message as to whether they were able to cruise to all the ports or if they got held up by the tides. That would give everyone else a very good idea as to how often this happens during the year.

Thanks for your work.

[indianrider]

We have been talking about canceling this cruise also and just doing another one in Europe. Did you have insurance and did you have to pay much to get out of this cruise. I'm sure there are lots of people still who are wondering if all the money we have invested is worth it for this trip that seems to be not very well organized, food not very good and not much time on the river. Your trip sounds so much better now. Many thanks.

 

Love to Cruise: we did not have insurance and had plenty of time to cancel. if you are 121 days out from your cruise, it only cost $100 per person as it did us. Since you do not cruise until mid august you may be just under the time line and it may cost you 15% of the trip. We would have cancelled even if we had to pay 15% because it is a significant investment and if you really want to have fun, this cruise is probably not it. I was thinking, what was the one big reason to cancel and I came up with this-We wanted to do a river cruise and really this hardly does any cruising. You basically go up and down the same spot, if you're lucky! This is not like the Danube cruise where you really cruise to different spots. I think Viking is pushing their luck by calling this a cruise. Also, summertime is the dry estuary season. I read that the river has many more dry days from July-Sept than at any time. Sitting in port and maybe getting to cruise a mile or two is not my definition of a cruise. With the money refunded by Viking, we planned out an incredible trip staying at very fine chateau's, touring Provence and Burgundy and seeing Bordeaux on our terms. Imagine sitting in a bistro in Provence sipping some provencal "Rose" wine and looking at the fields of lavender! We just could not got through with this cruise at any cost. I hope for all of you that are still going, Viking changes the itinerary and makes it a joyous trip for you but I am not confident that this cruise will turn out to be a great one.

[indianrider]

We have been talking about canceling this cruise also and just doing another one in Europe. Did you have insurance and did you have to pay much to get out of this cruise. I'm sure there are lots of people still who are wondering if all the money we have invested is worth it for this trip that seems to be not very well organized, food not very good and not much time on the river. Your trip sounds so much better now. Many thanks.

 

I counted the days and you just missed the full refund date by only a few days. So, it looks like you may have to pay 15% to cancel. You have to decide if getting 85% back on a refund is worth it to you. Everyone's situation is different, financially and what is most important to you. Anyone who is cruising late August or later, can still cancel and get a complete refund in case there are any of you considering canceling. If it were me, I would try to do another cruise and see if Viking would switch you for a small fee. I don't know how helpful they are but as PaulWheeler said,"In general, the upper management was not top notch."

[indianrider]

indianrider ~ while we'll miss you on our cruise list - PLEASE post after your trip and give us a review of your trip - might help others with land plans!!

 

I'm beginning to think this whole cruise was a BIG mistake on our part - but not sure I could reverse plans at this point since it involves others!!!

 

Have a fabulous trip! loge23 is correct about Beaune - its a lovely little town - enjoy!!!

 

If you're interested in a wine tour in the Rhone area, I can hightly recommend Olivier Hickman: Presentation of Olivier We used him in 2011 to take a tour of the Chateauneuf du Papa area and he was fantastic!

 

Look forward to hearing about your trip - have a feeling I'm going to be very jealous and sorry we booked this cruise!!!!!

 

Thank you for the advice in the Rhone area. We certainly have the time and opportunity now to check it out.

You still have time to cancel and all of your party can get their money back. You could do another cruise or join us in Provence! We are flying half way across the world from Hawaii where we live and to not get every moment out of our UK, France and Italy month long vacation would be a tragedy. You still have plenty of time to plan a wonderful time and I am concerned that all of you still going on this "cruise" are going to end up not enjoying it. It's none of my business so please don't be offended, I am just worried that Viking has not done it's research and many of us are going to regret going on this outing.

[Bet & Peg]

Fotopeg -

it would be great if everyone on your list would post a brief message as to whether they were able to cruise to all the ports or if they got held up by the tides. That would give everyone else a very good idea as to how often this happens during the year.

Thanks for your work.

 

marazul ~ FABULOUS idea!!!!!

Besides Borseaux, I count the itinerary ports as 4 - Pauillac, Blaye, Lilbourn, Cadillac. And, so far, from our Roll Call only id4elizabeth and GoPack have sailed. If they would kindly reply if they missed any ports (think they missed Cadillac) then I could add that to the list.

 

If any earlier passengers are still reading this thread I could add you and ports missed to the list.

 

indianrider ~ would you mind if I replaced your name on the list and add "cancelled" - that way we'd begin to show a true mini "picture" of this cruise!

 

Any thoughts of adding food comments??? Maybe on a scale of 1 to 5 (poor to excellent)??

 

Not sure if Viking will like this but it'll be true-to-life!!!

[indianrider]

marazul ~ FABULOUS idea!!!!!

Besides Borseaux, I count the itinerary ports as 4 - Pauillac, Blaye, Lilbourn, Cadillac. And, so far, from our Roll Call only id4elizabeth and GoPack have sailed. If they would kindly reply if they missed any ports (think they missed Cadillac) then I could add that to the list.

 

If any earlier passengers are still reading this thread I could add you and ports missed to the list.

 

indianrider ~ would you mind if I replaced your name on the list and add "cancelled" - that way we'd begin to show a true mini "picture" of this cruise!

 

Any thoughts of adding food comments??? Maybe on a scale of 1 to 5 (poor to excellent)??

 

Not sure if Viking will like this but it'll be true-to-life!!!

 

 

 

 

I think those are great ideas! Please do list me as cancelled. I think that anyone else that decides that this Bordeaux trip is not worth it and lists as cancelled maybe Viking would get with it and improve this cruise.

[indianrider]

I wonder how tipsygirl and ChesapeakeSailor are doing?

[Bet & Peg]

indianrider - thanks much!!!

 

Revised Roll Call list:

 

April 12, 2014 ~ id4elizabeth

April 12, 2014 ~ Go Pack

April 26, 2014 ~ tipsygirl

April 26, 2014 ~ ChesapeakeSailor

May 10, 2014 ~ editor@cruisecritic: Carolyn

May 17, 2014 ~ kidfixer: Linda

May 24, 2014 ~ MalibooNewYork Theresa

May 31, 2014 ~ ABQcruiser

June 28, 2014 ~ Le bon vin

July 12, 2014 ~ vcgeno

July 12, 2014 ~ SueFrankuk

July 19, 2014 ~ loge23

Aug. 16, 2014 ~ lovetocruise17

Aug. 23, 2014 ~ MABoat

Aug. 30, 2014 ~ roebud; Rose & Gary

Sept. 6, 2014 ~ indianrider - CANCELLED

Sept 13, 2014 ~ smokinmike

Sept. 20, 2014 ~ zmjh45

Sept. 27, 2014 ~ parkie

Oct. 4, 2014 ~ FotoPeg: John & Peg, Tony & Linda

Nov. 1, 2014 ~ Laffey724

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ itchyfeetx2

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ sable16

[indianrider]

Since we are newbies to river cruising, I would like to ask you what was your favorite river cruise? We have been on one NCL ocean cruise but no river cruises. They are more intimate and seem to be more fun. Any advice would be appreciated since you are well travelled.

Thanks!

[marazul]

indianrider - thanks much!!!

 

Revised Roll Call list:

 

April 12, 2014 ~ id4elizabeth

April 12, 2014 ~ Go Pack

April 26, 2014 ~ tipsygirl

April 26, 2014 ~ ChesapeakeSailor

May 10, 2014 ~ editor@cruisecritic: Carolyn

May 17, 2014 ~ kidfixer: Linda

May 24, 2014 ~ MalibooNewYork Theresa

May 31, 2014 ~ ABQcruiser

June 28, 2014 ~ Le bon vin

July 12, 2014 ~ vcgeno

July 12, 2014 ~ SueFrankuk

July 19, 2014 ~ loge23

Aug. 16, 2014 ~ lovetocruise17

Aug. 23, 2014 ~ MABoat

Aug. 30, 2014 ~ roebud; Rose & Gary

Sept. 6, 2014 ~ indianrider - CANCELLED

Sept 13, 2014 ~ smokinmike

Sept. 20, 2014 ~ zmjh45

Sept. 27, 2014 ~ parkie

Oct. 4, 2014 ~ FotoPeg: John & Peg, Tony & Linda

Nov. 1, 2014 ~ Laffey724

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ itchyfeetx2

Nov. 22, 2014 ~ sable16

 

Fotopeg - just a suggestion. How about when you post your roll call list you also include on top the questions:

 

"When you come back please post:

1. how many ports, if any, you missed due to river conditions,

2. how would you rate the boat's food (from 1 to 5 - poor to excellent)

3. any comments you would like to add on excursions, service, etc."

 

Hopefully many people will answer the request.

[harbourside]

Uniworld seem to be doing it right. Great review for their Bordeaux river cruise on the River Royale in the River Cruise Review section.

Edited April 28, 2014 by harbourside

[Stratheden]

Uniworld seem to be doing it right. Great review for their Bordeaux river cruise on the River Royale in the River Cruise Review section.

 

He only commented on the inclusiveness of the ship, the quality of the wines, what his son learnt about wine but nothing at all about the cruise or the ports.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Stratheden

[MalibooNewYork]

I emailed my concerns to Viking last night. If they say anything important other than the usual kool-aide, I'll report back. I mentioned the quality of the food, not getting the necessary permit for the bridge, and the high cost of the optional tours.

[tipsygirl]

I wonder how tipsygirl and ChesapeakeSailor are doing?

Can't speak for Chesapeake Sailor, but despite the weather we are having a great time. We are sceduled to miss docking at Cadillac bcauses a glitch with the French authorities over rights to sail under "the "bridge". Paperwork was filed long ago, but just not approved yet. We were held back from sailing from Paillac to Blaye at the last moment last night by the maritime authorities due to a weather front that moved in. Had to come back to bordeaux instead. Sail next to Libourne. More later. Got to go to a wine tasting in the lounge.

[nana541]

An awful lot of excuses??

 

 

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