Phone Calls and Viking River Cruises

[YukonHusky]

First, thanks to all for the wonderful information found on this forum. We have a Viking River Cruises Grand European trip booked for mid June 2023. This will be our first river cruise after many ocean cruises on various lines. I have a question for those of you that have done river cruises before. 

Did you find it necessary to have a phone number available either for the ship to call you or for you to contact the ship? We're not trying to do much beyond the included tours other than walk around the towns where the ship is docked. But it also seems like I'm picking up on a vibe in my research where the ship may move to another location in town or further down the river between first getting off and then getting back on for that day's adventures. Is that all established the night before so everyone is aware or are there cases where travelers may need to be reachable? I'm asking so I know what kind of cell plan we need - data only or include a phone number.

[GoGAdawgsWin]

they will tell you what time and where to meet/be back on board.  On our last trip 4 ladies missed departure in Cologne and had an adventure taking a $100 taxis ride to meet the boat down river.  Boat pulled up to a small dock and they hopped on and away we went.

[Daisi]

You should be given contact info for the ship and your CD either onboard or in your cruise information (sorry, don't cruise with Viking, but I'm sure this is standard with all lines). If you are only doing the organised tours you should be fine without having to contact them as you will be given information as to where to meet up after the tour is over. Yes, the ships can sail on, but they will make sure that you don't miss it if you are with the group.

 

 

[notamermaid]

You should be okay if you stay with the group and only take the excursions with them. However, I prefer now, knowing what happened on my river cruise, to be able to contact the ship if needed. In Bratislava we had just an hour or so spare time, but nearly took a wrong turn while walking not knowing the town. It was not tight for all aboard time, but could have been. If you go out on your own for longer you really should have a phone number. For example, rarely, but it can happen, your ship may need to move or leave early. It would come in handy if the ship could contact you.

 

The Grand European needs to "cover a lot of ground", i.e. the ship uses the time while you are out and about to sail to another port, I think it is twice or three times. That is part of the itinerary and not established the evening before as far as I know. But you will hear all the plans in detail in the briefing the evening before.

 

Some people prefer just posting in the roll call sections, where they share finer details of the cruise. You could also look in the 2022 roll call. Great info in there by river cruisers sailing last year.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[CastleCritic]

I think others have covered it mostly but I would definitely have a cell number.  I don't know how Viking does it but I HAVE been called by the cruise director on AMA when they couldn't find me (AMA has you scan your room card when you leave the ship, they know who is on and off). The reverse is also true, they HIGHLY recommend you take the info with you to call the CD/ship if something goes wrong if you are away on your own.

[YukonHusky]

That's exactly the information I needed! Thank you all!

 

[travelingman]

In the daily that Viking puts out the night before you will find the contact info for the "dock" and for the ship.  Viking has been known to drop off at one dock and pick up at another.  This is something you need to inquire about if you are going to depart the ship on your own.

Stan

[CastleCritic]

56 minutes ago, travelingman said:

In the daily that Viking puts out the night before you will find the contact info for the "dock" and for the ship.  Viking has been known to drop off at one dock and pick up at another.  This is something you need to inquire about if you are going to depart the ship on your own.

Stan

This should be pretty clear in the daily schedule yes as this is going to be "we're dropping you of here for a excursion then there will be a bus to the next place." (or you just get bused first and the ship shows up at the end of the excursion time, I even had both on the same day)

 

This is much less common on some rivers than others (was pretty much every day on the Main, it never happened on my first cruise 11 days on the rhine/Moselle, or my second (Danube)).

Edited April 2, 2023 by CastleCritic

[caradara]

Viking usually has a business size card at the front desk that you can carry if you need to call them.  I always carried it in case I got lost wandering and needed to show it to someone for help finding the ship.

[CPT Trips]

It might be a good idea to install WhatsApp on your phone if you don’t have international calling. 

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 4/3/2023 at 9:35 AM, CPT Trips said:

It might be a good idea to install WhatsApp on your phone if you don’t have international calling. 

Not yet a WhatsApp user.  But don't both the sender and receiver need to be WhatsApp users?  Do all Viking Ships have WhatsApp access?

[CPT Trips]

Perhaps not the ship, but there’s a very good chance that the concierge and/or cruise director will have it. 

[pontac]

You are unlikely to need to phone the ship, but if you do, you'll have the telephone number with you.

When you first board you'll be given your room key. This is a plastic credit-card sized key card that you tap on the pad next to the door handle to unlock the door.

 

You also use it on the screen at reception to indicate you've left the boat and the again when you come back to register you are back on board. The card is personalised, with your name and room number. It also has the name of the boat and its telephone number.

 

 

 

Viking has your phone number on the Guest Information form. You can check/update this form in My Viking Journey.

 

Boat movements and their times are shown on the Viking Daily news sheet placed on your bed each evening. That also has the port for the next night. If exploring on your own it's wise to check with reception whether there are any changes.

 

 

In the above instance the included tour of Speyer left the boat around 08:30 and walked into town, but the boat moved down river at 08:45. At the end of sightseeing there were coaches to take us down river to join the boat at Worms. This was made clear in the previous night's news sheet. If one wanted to explore on ones own one only needed to ask the location and time where to join the coach. But this sort of move is not that common. However, every river cruise can differ depending on water depth and availability of lock places.

 

If the boat is not due to move along the river yet it's not where it was when you left it then, if there is another boat in its place check that your boat may be tied to it on the other side (known on this board as 'rafting', the boat due to leave the mooring first usually take the outer position when rafting.).

 

Otherwise the boat will have moved to a new mooring close to where it was. Captains are sometimes instructed by the harbour master to move position. That happened once to us after being out in the evening. As we returned to the boat we saw it cast off and move down the river. We followed on the bank and it moored at another jetty, to our great relief. Apparently people in houses by our original mooring had complained about the cruise boats making too much noise, so the captain was instructed to move.

 

I have been on 10 cruises with Viking and never had to phone the boat.

 

At each port there are colour maps to take at reception. They will help you navigate the streets on towns you explore. If totally lost, head downhill. The river will be at the lowest point.

 

[pontac]

Correction: as you can see, the key card doesn't have your room number on it. Anyone finding your card won't know which door it opens.