Viking Idun "Grand European" Day-by-Day Review

[coralcruzer]

Enjoying your reports, Bill! My wife and I are taking the same trip in reverse (Budapest to Amsterdam) next year on the Viking Skadi and are really looking forward to it. I've read about double docking, or "rafting," of the Viking river boats and am curious if your boat has been tied up alongside another one in any of the ports, because doing so blocks views for people like you with balcony staterooms. Also wondering if you could weigh in on the optional shore excursions offered by Viking. Lastly, you clearly are enjoying the meals. Any possibility of uploading a dinner menu or two to get an idea of what the options are? Hope the rest of your trip is fantastic!

[jiminyC_fan]

I've read about double docking, or "rafting," of the Viking river boats and am curious if your boat has been tied up alongside another one in any of the ports, because doing so blocks views for people like you with balcony staterooms. Also wondering if you could weigh in on the optional shore excursions offered by Viking.

 

I was wondering about the double tie up as well. Just this morning I was wishing we knew in advance of the optional shore excursions so I could do research.

[travelfirst]

On the first river cruise I went on I was tired one afternoon so I laid down on my bed and went to sleep. When I woke up a boat was tied next to us and I could see a window on the other boat...

 

The next time when I went to China, we boarded the boat in the dark and I went to the cabin. When I opened the door a boat was tied up next to us and two guys yelled hello.

I was confused at first after all that travelling and thought they were on our patio and then realized they were on their own boat...

 

You never know when another boat will tie up to yours.

[H2Otstr]

[jiminyC_fan]

WOW, they sure get close! Great picture. I'm not worried about it just curious.

 

Edited to ask a dumb question. How do you embark or disembark when they park so close? I'm guessing you must board from the rear.

Edited May 3, 2013 by jiminyC_fan

[Bet & Peg]

jiminyC_fan ~ embarking/disembarking is easy - you just walk THROUGH the other boat(s) - that's the reason they're SO close!

 

As a matter of fact, on our cruise last October on the Rhone River, we were double docked only 2 or 3 times. But one time one of the women we had met decided to stay on board during a tour. She was relaxing and reading and decided to go shopping on the other ship! She had a ball and even bought Christmas gifts for some friends!!

[jiminyC_fan]

Oh my goodness FotoPeg, loved your story. That is so funny.

My husband jokingly said that you walk through the other boats. Guess he was right!

Edited May 3, 2013 by jiminyC_fan

[CelticMutt]

2OB,

I had read all of your posts in preparation for our own cruise. We had assembled them into a date by day book along with some of the other suggestions from posters. It was one of the reasons that I decided to do this report. So thanks!

[CelticMutt]

An early morning - we got up, had a quick breakfast and proceeded outside to the buses for the optional excursion to Rothenburg, a medieval walled city. The ride to the city was about an hour long in by bus but we had a good guide who kept us entertained along the way. If you only do one of the optional tours, opt for this one! There is a saying "if you haven't seen Rothenberg you haven't seen Germany" and it's true. The city is very cool with the wall proceeding entirely around the old city. We had an opportunity to get up on the wall and walk it much like the ancient guardsman once did. Included in the tour was a great lunch with bratwurst, Wine-infused sauerkraut, mashed potatoes (or smashed potatoes as our guide said!). On this optional tour you also get to do a somewhat abbreviated version of the day walking tour of Würzburg. After lunch we proceeded back to the city to tour the Bishops’ Residence, one of Germany’s largest baroque palaces. The Hall of Mirrors will take your breath away! The tour let us off outside the palace and we did the 20 minute walk back to the ship immediately. Long day, but it is great that you have the opportunity to do both tours even though you picked the optional.

As of this point we have elected to take about 75% of the optional tours. (Including Prague). It's probably costing us another grand or so, but up to this point at least worth every penny and considering total cost - hey, how many times will we be back?!

Just a quick aside about the crew on the Embla: they are uniformly excellent. Service is quick and efficient and the personnel friendly and outgoing. Everyone speaks English well and most seem delighted to practice. There are a couple of standouts. The Program Director, Lucia, does a wonderful job of informing us in daily briefings and and keeps the passengers in line on our daily excursions. Moreover she performs her duties with enthusiasm and charm. She's ably assisted by the concierge, Mercedes, who's a real gem as well. The guys at the bar, Gilbert, Richie and Sava are all personable and knew names and drink preferences by our second day out. Housekeeping has been equally efficient, friendly and accommodating. These folks truly are a step above the crew you'd see on a typical ocean cruise!

Gonna bolt and answer a couple of specific ?'s from other posters.

I'll use a phrase from my "ad men" days, "dictated but not proofed"! Damn poor connectivity! Probably my only real complaint so far!

Slainte!

Bill

[ingo_e]

As of this point we have elected to take about 75% of the optional tours. (Including Prague). It's probably costing us another grand or so, but up to this point at least worth every penny and considering total cost - hey, how many times will we be back?!

 

Have you signed up for the WW2 tour at Nuremberg? Because I know who'll be your guide ;)

[2onboardagain]

2OB,

I had read all of your posts in preparation for our own cruise. We had assembled them into a date by day book along with some of the other suggestions from posters. It was one of the reasons that I decided to do this report. So thanks!

 

Bill,

 

I am honored to have been your Muse because you are doing an excellent job and we are greatly enjoying your descriptions of this wonderful itinerary!

 

P.S. We are formerly from the Garden State so we have a common link.

 

John

[nordski]

Re: your positive comment concerning Alexander, your guide in Miltenberg.

 

We enjoyed his services as a guide a few years ago, and you reminded us of the wonderful tour of that town.

 

Thanks for bringing back those memories.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[CelticMutt]

Have you signed up for the WW2 tour at Nuremberg? Because I know who'll be your guide ;)

 

We actually have signed up for the store and are looking forward to it today. I'll tell him/her that you said hello!

Bill

[CelticMutt]

(Should have been "tour" not "store"!)

After yesterday being off the ship all day (9:30 - 6-30) with a lot of walking, it was nice to sleep in a bit this morning. They had a very nice lunch with grilled hamburgers on the back deck. We cruised through the morning and arrived in the town of Hassfurt where we disembarked for the busses to Bamberg. The ship carried on through the locks on this final stretch of our time on the Main River and caught up with us in Bamberg.

Bamberg is a beautiful city that has elements of historic Germany and modern Germany both at the same time. Our tour guide, Alex, was a historian by trade so his lecture was especially good.

My wife is a fan of an old tradition that you will have good luck if you say a prayer every time you enter a new church. After this cruise we're going to have an awful lot of good luck! Bamberg has heck of a lot of churches but the main cathedral dating back to about 1200 really is spectacular. As an American anything dating back this far carriers with it a certain sense of awe.

We did the optional beer tour And I'll give you a hint here - don't bother. The tour is tacked on to the end of the city walking tour and is performed by the same guide. At €29 apiece it was a bit steep and we could have opted to simply go to any one of the many local breweries and sampled the local smoked beer (which is basically the rationale behind the tour) by ourselves. There is an advantage, however. Our tour group was the same from the start of today and included far fewer people than the other tour groups. Having only 12 people in our group was actually pretty nice but I don't know if it was worth €29.

An interesting aside here. I was puzzled by the difference between the "berg" and "burg" that end many different German town names. Berg actually means mountain in German and burg means castle. So if a town was built on the hill it became Berg and if it was built around the local castle it became Burg. And while in English the two words sound pretty much the same, the German pronunciation of the two is startlingly different.

Lucia emceed a funny game called liars club in the lounge tonight. Our group won and we hardly used the smart phone at all! :-)

Oops, I hear on martini calling my name so I'll sign off.

Cheers,

Bill

[CelticMutt]

Another "early" morning. No sleeping in for us today! After breakfast, we boarded the buses for the 15 minute ride to Nuremberg. We had signed up for the optional World War II historic tour. Our guide was Ralf and he was excellent. We started off with a visit to the **** parade grounds, and then proceeded to the Documentation Center Museum which is housed in one of the remaining relics of the **** building campaign. The granite surfaced, semicircular construction is huge and was only partially completed before the fall of the third Reich. The tour is self-guided with electronic, handheld guiding lecturers in English. The museum itself and the exhibits are extensive and could not be even partially seen in the 45 minutes or so that we were there. (I would have liked to have seen at least another half an hour or so built into this portion of the tour but I guess we could have gone back ourselves with the free time that we had this afternoon.) We then went on to the Palace of Justice, Courtroom 600 in which the famous Nuremberg Trials were held in 1945. It was both chilling and fascinating at the same time to see the very room in which the proceedings took place. Again, Ralf's 20 minutes lecture on the trials were incredibly detailed. After seeing the court room in so many pictures and documentaries it was wonderful to actually experience the real thing. If you're a history buff at all, I'd strongly recommend signing on for this tour. To top off the extended tour we were taken to Nuremberg’s Old Town area, where we had the opportunity of gaining a little bit more good luck with another church visit!

We caught the bus back to the ship for a later than normal 2 PM lunch. Shuttle buses have been running back and forth to downtown from the ship all afternoon (not on a continual basis but on a structured timeframe). We played with the idea of going back into town but some spotty rain showers and a way too big lunch made it just as easy to sit around and do some reading.

Incidentally we have just encountered the Idun on its reverse journey from Budapest to Amsterdam! I'm glad we're on the Embla. The ship could be exactly the same but Embla's people wouldn't have been! The Viking Prestige is also here in port directly in front of us!

In response to a couple of posts, we have not yet been tied up ship to ship with the exception of our sailing from Amsterdam.

The ship is scheduled to set sail this afternoon at 5:30 PM.

I'll try to get a photo or two of the menus as we go but have to admit to having some problem posting photos from my phone.

Na zdrowie!

Bill

[CelticMutt]

Reco: get a good pair of hiking shoes or sneakers. All of Germany so far has been cobblestones - some of which are pretty old and pointy. You might be inclined to pack a lighter pair of sneaks because of weight - don't do it! I wore mine on the plane ride to avoid weight. Your shoes at least are free (well, no extra charge!) I'm using the same pair that I bought for our Alaska trip - big ugly things from Lands End - and I'm happy in them all day. I brought also a pair of soft black loafers for dinners and therefore only had to pack one pair of shoes; more than enough for us guys. My wife...not so easy!

A word about the food on board: wonderful! The food here is much better than that we've encountered on previous ocean cruises and between the two of us we have experience on well over 30. I've read some commentary in these forums about small portions. Not so. The dinner entree is a bit smaller than we Americans are used to, but after an appetizer and soup and saving room for dessert, it all works out fine. (Besides, you can always order 2! Did so last night because I wanted to try one of the other selections.). I think the negative comments to the contrary are from people used to ocean cruises where there is a ton of food available all the time. Not so here because the three meals are served at a set time, but frankly there has been so much to do there hasn't been time for snacking. And there are always great cookies available with varied coffee choices - 24/7.

Someone asked for a shot of the menus. I'll try posting one as an attachment but I fear that the resolution will be too poor to read it well. I'm having a bit of a problem using an external photo host in order to include pics in the post itself.

Will check back in later on. We're currently on our way to Regensberg; on the Danube now having exited the Main-Danube Canal about 2 hours ago.

Cheers!

Bill

[GoInOnaCruz]

Oh my goodness FotoPeg, loved your story. That is so funny.

My husband jokingly said that you walk through the other boats. Guess he was right!

We recently came back from VRC China Imperial Jewels and many times we exited through another ship and once it was even a restaurant/boat that seemed like it must be tied up there all the time. The VRC people made sure we knew when we arrived on our ship and moved us along if we got confused and thought another ship was ours.

[GoInOnaCruz]

I just found this thread today and have really enjoyed the postings! Now I have something to look forward to reading tomorrow. :D

[CelticMutt]

We again had the opportunity to sleep a little bit later this morning as the Embla arrived in Regensburg at about 1 PM this afternoon. The weather today has turned very nice and we had blue skies with big puffy white clouds. As it was so nice we had the opportunity to dine alfresco in the Aquavit lounge for lunch. We then "de-boated" for about a two hour walking tour of the old city with an excellent tour guide named Geraldine, a 20 year native of Regensburg but originally from New Zealand. The city's history dates back some 2000 years to Roman times in which it was the farthermost northern border of the Empire. Geraldine pointed out many of the medieval merchants homes that were built in the tower-fashion of San Gimignano. We also visited the 800-year-old "Stone Bridge". This thing is a marvel of engineering and would have been considered ancient by our standards when Columbus discovered America! The structure is really beautiful and as they have just recently cleaned the stones it is even more so. We ended up the tour at St. Peter’s Cathedral which is magnificent! (Different church ... different day!) When you're there make sure you find the famous smiling angel! We then spent the next couple of hours wandering around town exploring even other different churches. All kidding aside, the Alte Kapella church about a block from St. Peter's is GOLD and white - all done in the baroque style. It's overwhelming!

We then trooped over to the St. Emmerans Palace. We saw the church (naturally!), but got turned around and ended up in the Fursthicles Brauhaus directly behind the museum for a weisse beer and some delightful conversation with a family from Munich traveling in traditional Bavarian garb. We finally ended up at about 6 PM at the Alte Wurstküche (Old Sausage Kitchen) which is supposed to be Germany’s oldest restaurant. We decided to have their traditional bratwurst, kraut and caraway seed bread rolls for dinner. (Make sure you try the sweet mustard; it's excellent.) It was wonderful, but be careful of the basket of rolls on the table - they charge you per roll. Get off the boat and try a dinner here. They have 6, 8 or 10 sausage plates (they're small sausages) or you can "fast food" it by picking up a roll with a couple of sausages, sauerkraut and their special sweet mustard for about 2.5€.

Back on board now and heading for a martini! Interesting to see the lounge empty because everybody else was at dinner. Viking brought in some onboard entertainment – three opera singers and a pianist. They performed opera, operetta and musicals that related to the area in which we are traveling. They were entertaining (funny!) and very talented!

Salud!,

Bill

[candkd]

DH & I did this cruise on The Pride in 2010--great trip. We took the standard, included walking tour of Neuremburg which included some of the **** sites & history along with the old part of the city. We went to the Documentation Center on our own--took a bus from the main square--very easy, don't need to change buses. We spent a couple of hours there and used the audio wands, which were very easy to use. We returned to the main square with plenty of time to catch a Viking bus back to the ship.

[TravelBugM]

Great report. Thank you. Although we are not doing this specific cruise, we are sailing with Viking in late June, so find your comments helpful.

[CelticMutt]

We arrived this morning in Passau which was built at the junction of three rivers: the Danube, the Inn and the smaller Ilz. The ship docked at a perfect location to explore the most beautiful/interesting sections of both sides of the Danube. I really should have created a macro of the phrase "lovely German town with a spectacular cathedral"! It would have saved a lot of dictating/typing over the course of the past week and a half. That's not to say that the phrase isn't a perfect descriptor or that we're growing weary of such "common" loveliness! Our guide for the 90 minute walking tour was Silke who once again did a great job. You'd almost think that we have been singularly lucky in being assigned excellent guides, but I think the truth is closer to the fact that Viking has contracted with some truly great personnel to work with on these visits. Our guide was happy to explain and point out the differences between Baroque and Gothic architectural styles, both of which abound in the city as evidenced by St. Stephan's Cathedral. "Neat church that you really should see" is the other true macro! What is different about the cathedral (Dom in German) is the 18,000 pipe pipe organ - the largest of its kind in Europe. We were treated to a 30 minute organ recital as part of the tour. The music was a bit overpowering (ponderous and a bit pompous), but impressive all the same. (They probably couldn't get the sheet music for "Sweet Caroline"!)

We also saw the Town Hall. There is a really interesting room in the building in which Silke had the perfect venue to explain some German myths and legends. There's both an ATM and a grocery store (selling wine and liquor) in the Resodenzplatz (Gr. Messergasse) behind the Cathedral and on the way back to the ship (if the boat is parked as we were at landing place #5). In leaving our tour I commented to Silke about the Baroque style... I said that "I had never really liked the style, but now I really go for Baroque!" (Barogue... Broke? - our guide didn't get it either!)

We lunched at the ship because it was so close, but this would have been a perfect opportunity to eat local in town if we hadn't done so already.

After lunch we took the 1.7€ bus up to the top of the adjacent river bank to the Veste Oberhaus, the opulent bishop's residence that dominates that side of the river - hundreds of feet above. (About 230 steps I was told!). It was built in 1499. Look to the "4" in that date - clearly visible from our ship. It's really a medieval period symbol used to denote "four", but looks like half of an 8 - which, after all is what a "4" is! We took the bus up and the stairs down (they are behind and to the left of the fountain past the Museum entrance) which is the recommended way to see the palace. The views from the Oberhaus should not be missed especially on the way down. The views of the ship with the Cathedral on the background are great!

We hit the ATM and the grocery store :-) after the climb down (pretty much how I knew to do the reco) and then rested on board for an hour or so before casting off for Austria and Melk. We had to get up on the Sun Deck (finally reopened after the past few days of having it closed because of the low bridges) to view the conflux of the three rivers aft. All for today,

Skaal!

Bill

[pingpong1]

Hi Celticmutt (Bill) - I'm really enjoying your travelogue. My Dad and I took this same itinerary last year (but on Avalon) - Amsterdam to Budapest (we disembarked upon reaching Vienna). And I'm actually thinking about doing it again - this time with "wifey-poo" (DW in "Cruisecritic-speak") - but next time on a cruiseline other than Avalon - haven't firmely decided on which one yet. Nothing particularaly wrong with Avalon but think I should try a "change". I have a technical question for you. You're obviously a man who enjoys his afternoon/evening "happy hour" - just as I do. Did Viking offer you the choice of purchasing an optional "full drink package" so you wouldn't be running a "tab" to pay at the end of the cruise? If so, did you consider purchasing it? I decided against it on Avalon after doing the math. Since the river lines have no problem at all with folks bringing their own bottles onboard, and since wine/beer was complimentary at dinner (not lunch) I found the pricing of Avalon's optional "drink package" to be exhorbitant (I could never have drunk enough to achieve any type of "savings" over the pay-per-drink price). Given the fact that we had our own supply of single-malt in our stateroom and just discretely carried a tumbler up on the sun deck in the afternoons/evening, I decided against the all-inclusive drink package. Did you arrive at the same conclusion and/or are you happy with "running a tab" at the bar? Best Regards. Continue to have fun on your cruise.

[CelticMutt]

We were up a bit earlier than normal this morning for an 8:30 AM bus call for the short trip to visit the abbey at Melk. Guess what was there? A church? Yes; you've been paying attention! The structure is actually surrounded by a 900-year-old Benedictine monastery situated up on a very picturesque hill. Our tour guide Sophie was very informative about the Hapsburgs who figured predominantly in the original construction (actually a rebuild to the current Baroque style). We took the 15 minute walk down the hill, through the lovely little town and back to the ship. We arrived back at the ship well before 11 AM but it would be a good opportunity to do some souvenir shopping in town if that's your proclivity. After lunch we cruised through the Wachau Valley. Very beautiful with castles and the ever-present churches dotting the hills walling off the river. It was a lovely cruise - a bit windy though with intermittent sun. It was nice to be up on the sun deck again and interesting to see the crew lowering the wheelhouse and awnings for a pass below a low bridge right outside of the town of Krems. We pulled in to Krems and were transported to Durnstein the next town over on a 7 minute bus ride - optional, but free. We opted for the recommendation to "sample some local vintages from this famous wine-producing region". The town is chock full of sampling sights and also has a very pretty blue baroque...wait for it... CHURCH! All in all a lovely day!

Kampai!

Bill

[CelticMutt]

PingPong, We did not take the Silver package as the cost on the 14 day trip was steep. We also did a "rum run" for inexpensive (but great) vodka 3 times (liters) which as you say has no problem with Viking about bringing aboard. We have found that we've actually consumed more at the bar than we had originally thought - with friends we've met on board. Great bar guys behind the bar - Gilbert is right here as I type! So we don't know at this point whether or not we would have been better to get the package, but I'm thinking we're just better off without. When we get the final tab I'll do the math and let you know for sure.

Bill

(PS: Gilbert makes a great martini!)