Viking Pride Grand European Tour review

[ddean52]

Sandy,

i think vienna and nuremberg require transport from and to town. not sure about the otheers.

[ddean52]

in general were most dinners at 7 pm? what time was lunch? and breakfst was 7a-9a?

thanks,

Dean:cool:

[ddean52]

did you bother with a roll call for your cruise? if so did anyone participate? thanks. dean

[BLTSAT]

6-7am-Early riser breakfast- consists of pastries, juice, coffee, hot tea looking at the reception desk to your left. They have coffee, hot tea, water there 24/7.

 

7-7:30am-Qi Gong session on the top deck unless the weather is bad, then it's in the lounge

 

7:30am-9:30am-Breakfast in the dinning room-buffet with pastries, cheeses, meats, breads, box cereal, granual cereal to make your own up, fruit, juices, yogurt, sausage, salty bacon, scrambled eggs(not runny like I had read), another hot item which differs each day. Also you can order off the menu of pancakes with blueberry topping, french toast (one slice of bread), hash browns silver dollar size ( only give you one), corn beef hash silver dollar size(one only), eggs any style, omelets, oatmeal, grits and I think that was it. You can ask for more of anything. Also if you want a lot of syrup, you better ask for a full container because they bring one of those little glass cups like you get in the restaurants only a third full. We laughed when they brought it out.

 

12:30pm-light lunch in the lounge which consists of soup, sandwiches, salad, hot dish of the day, desserts. In the dinning room, buffet of different salads, sandwiches, hot dish of the day. On the menu, soup, entrees, desserts.

 

3:30pm-4:15pm- tea time in the lounge with pastries and beverages

 

5:30pm-7pm- Cocktail hour in the lounge

 

6:45pm-daily briefing for the next day's excursions

 

7pm-9pm-Dinner in the dinning room. Menu only. Choice of two appetizers, two soups, two salads, two entrees and two desserts. They also offer Caesar salad, steak and chicken any time.

 

9pm-entertainment in the lounge with live music with Randy who tries to sing English songs.

 

The times of things usually stay the same but changes at certain ports like Vienna dinner was different for those who went to the concert and those they didn't. They had two different times. Lunch I know change a couple times to 1pm.

 

We didn't have any real complaints on the food. They don't give you huge portions but sufficient for us. I hate to be over filled. You can always ask for more. The steaks and meats all were so tender. I didn't care for the Caesar salad but I have my favorite places for that. The servers were very nice and helpful. Andrew knew to bring my husband ice tea after a couple nights and me my hot green tea.

 

So I hope this helps. I'll try to write more later on to answer some of the questions I think I haven't answered yet.

 

Later, Sandy

[ddean52]

Thanks Sandy, you have been a god-send!

Dean

[BLTSAT]

Dean, you had asked about the subway in Vienna. It was very easy. Viking has info on the director's desk each night for the next day. It has maps, a little paper to take with you in case you get lost that has the director's phone number on it and the the pier location number.

 

Buy your ticket underground. I don't know if you'll be docked at the same place we were but from St. Stephen's look for the underground signs for Red underground line "U1", direction to Leopoldau will take you back to the ship. Underground stop Vorgartenstrasse (which you will get off at 4th stop) is where the ship is.

 

Going into Vienna look for the Red underground line "U1" direction to Reumannplatz will take you to the CENTRE-underground stop Stephansplatz (which is the 4th stop).

 

BE CAREFUL OF PICKPOCKETs!!!

[BLTSAT]

Yes we did a roll call and was disappointed no one answered. On the big cruises we would have a lot of people respond. We thought our cruise might be mostly Europeans since we weren't getting any responses. But no we only had two couples from Australia, one from England and a family from Persia. The rest were Americans. We had a very good group and all got along.

[BLTSAT]

I'm going to go around the cabin with what is there starting from your left as you enter. There's two door closet with I think 12 hangers, and 5-6 shelves with a safe on one. After the closet is a long counter that goes to the wall with your window. Over the counter is a corner TV, under the counter is a cupboard with two shelves, then 5 drawers, a chair, and another 5 drawers. Your window with a window shelf that you can sit on if you want, a night stand with a lamp and a shelf underneath, your bed, and another night stand with lamp and shelf underneath. Then your bathroom with plenty of space for your toiletries and a recepticle up in the right hand corner. They have a sign saying to hang your towels if you don't them changed every day so save on water. So we hung ours but Ilyia kept changing them every morning and night. They provide you with two white light weight robes and slip on slippers. A small bottle of water on the counter in your room is free and the big one there is a charge. We didn't buy any water. We just filled our soda bottles up every day at the boat or in any town. We didn't have any problems with the water. The hair dryer was fine for me because I have short hair. We had taken our international adapters and a three way receptible which worked fine. There's also a big mirror in your room on the wall. On the bed is a duvet and bedspread. They have a blanket in the closet and additional pillows I think.

 

Oh you can get a little newspaper they print off with news and stock market info from your country. They slide it under your door every morning.

 

I think that's it for the cabin area.

[BLTSAT]

The reception desk/area is in the center of the boat. They have things for sale each day and have a couple display cases with jewelry and other items. Looking at the reception desk, to your left is the beverage area that is open 24/7 and that's where they have pastries in the morning and tea time. On the right side of the reception desk is a hand sanitizer and towards the lounge is a little game room area. The lounge is behind the reception desk which has a bar, a small dance floor and it's where Randy plays his instruments and sings. Everything is done in the lounge area. The charis and loveseats are comfortable. The ice machine is on the second level towards the back of the boat by the stairs that go up to the third level by the dinning room. In the reception area up a few stairs is the program directors desk and a couple sitting areas to read or play cards. Up on deck are lounge chairs that aren't comfortable and some kind of low sling lounger chairs, and table and chairs.

 

Every time you go off the boat, you have to hand in your room key and get a off the ship card and your tour hearing devices. We had problems with the devices and we wrote that up too. It wasn't all the time. The number on the devices are the group you will be in on your tour. The number on your name tags is your bus number for the tours. Make sure to hand in your room keys,any time you get off the boat, even when you go for a walk. We almost left one man behind because he went and took a walk in the morning around the pier and didn't hand in his room key. We started to leave the pier and he saw us and was waving his hands drastically and yelling. Luckily the Captain and other people saw him before we got too far away from the dock. :)

 

Oh, the drapes in our room weren't dark enough, so we asked our room steward if he could find a dark plastic bag to pin behind the drape. He found one and pinned it for us. It worked great after that.

 

Expect to do A LOT of walking!!! Some areas are hilly and a lot of cobble stones. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes!! Oh and you're not able to sit up on deck for most of the second week because of the low bridges. They fold down all the loungers. You can sit at the table and chairs off and on.

 

Oh at night in the dinning room, people would wear anything. Men usually had long pants on and woman slacks or dresses. Welcome and Farewell nights, some people wore nicer things. A couple men had suitcoats on. They do have laundry service on board. Things were anything from 2.50 Euros to 8 Euros per item, depending on what it was for press only and from 1 euro(handerchief) to 6 euros(trousers) for wash & press per item depending on what it was.

 

Well I don't know what else to cover. If you have any more questions, I'll check this site out for a few weeks. I hope I answered all your questions Dean. Sorry if I repeated myself in any of my writings.

 

Have a great trip and it's well worth it. We really enjoyed it!

Sandy

[ddean52]

your postings have covered a lot of ground! In budapest, you spoke of the "the market" 10-20 minutes from your ship. were you refering to the "central maket" housed in a 2 level building??

[BLTSAT]

Yes that's what I was talking about. A huge market area. It also has little eating bars in there. It's where they sell the deli meats, fruits & vegetables.

[ddean52]

I just place it into the day plan for budapest!:D

[BLTSAT]

Hey Dean,

In Amsterdam, if you like Chinese, there's a Chinese restaurant that use to be a floating restaurant. I forgot the name of it but it's by the water's edge, towards a building called NEMO with a pirate ship in front of it. It's not far from where the ship is docked if you dock close to Central Station area. It's a little pricey but very good and big portions. Make sure to go to Anne Franks house. Some of the steps are steep going up and a very narrow area. The botanical garden there isn't worth the money. Make sure to go to the floating flower market. Beautiful flowers and lots of flower bulbs. If you're into museums, they have all kinds, even houseboat museum. It's something to see all the houseboats along the canal.

 

Where are you staying while in Amsterdam? Are you doing it with Viking the extended stay?

[BLTSAT]

I see you're from Phillie. My husband is originally from Wilmington, DE and I'm from Maine. His mom and two half-brothers still live there in DE..

 

How many river boat and big cruises have you done? We've done 11 big cruises and this was our first river cruise.

[BLTSAT]

Whoops! The Spa didn't get on. We didn't do the Spa in Budapest. Some people we had met on the cruise did and they liked it. Our guide did take us inside to see one. There's quite a few of them. I thnik I counted 12 in my book of Budapest. We went into one that is into town by a huge park. Our friends had gone to Gellert Themal Bath which wasn't that far from the Budapest Hilton. They took a taxi there.

[ddean52]

I see you're from Phillie. My husband is originally from Wilmington, DE and I'm from Maine. His mom and two half-brothers still live there in DE..

 

How many river boat and big cruises have you done? We've done 11 big cruises and this was our first river cruise.

Sandy, we have done 8 ocean c. andthis will be first river c. we , if we go with viking post cruise it looks like we are at the hilton. im not crazy about the location. i mean i could live with it, however, i wanted to be closer to the center. a. frank's house is on the short list. thanks for dinner recomendation! De..hum...its a small world. how do you like your present location?

[ddean52]

my plan it to get alice to love river cruising so i can sneak a china river cruise in. she refuses to go to china (a moral position)...me, i truely want to climb the wall. so this trip needs to be perfect! lol

[BLTSAT]

Yes, the Hilton in Amsterdam is way out. But in a way, I'm glad it was.

Amsterdam is so noisey and crowded. It was nice to be able to get away from it all after being into the city. It's a nice area where the Hilton is. We had a room facing the canal which was nice instead of the street. Oh another thing that we found out the hard way, is DON'T make a phone call from your room, even if it's local. We called our guide up to let him know we had landed safely in Budapest It cost like around $15 US for a 2 minute call. What a shocker!! Luckily our guide knew one of the head workers and was able to get it half off for us.

 

We don't mind it here in MO. After 28 yrs you have to like it. Our two daughters and their families are here. So it's hard for grandma to leave her 6 grandkids. :) I was ready to leave when we first moved here. It was the summer that the temperatures didn't go below 100 degrees day or night. And the house we had bought, the A/C wasn't sufficient enough. Plus it was humid!

 

Alice will love river cruising. I enjoyed seeing the scenery, instead of water all the time like on the big cruises. It's more calming and relaxing. You're not put into the position of having to rush to go and get a good seat to a show or dance all night long. You get to know all the people on the this boat too! I would do it again some day. Bob, my husband, wants to do the China cruise also. He wants to see the wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors. He'd like to hit Vietnam and Thailand too. He was in Vietnam many years ago, while in the service, and would love to go back and see the places. I'm like your wife. It's not on my priority list. But I'm sure we'll end up there one of these years. I'll give in like I always do. :) I'm sure she'll enjoy the river boat.

 

Sandy

[ddean52]

Sandy, at the risk of repeating myself, again that you for all the info you have posted. I know its a bit of a pain, however, "passing on" makes for good karma! Have a great day and be well!;)

Dean

[BLTSAT]

I keep thinking of these that I forgot to write about that might be of interest to anyone.

 

Prices for alcohol ranged from 3.50 Euros for a small carafe of wine to 6 or 8 euros for specialty drinks. They would have cocktails of the day with alcohol (6-7 euros) and non-alcoholic (3 euros).

 

You can get the all inclusive drinking package. It includes drinks in the bar and in the restaurant of 3 different wines and beer, all non-alcoholic drinks, one daily pre-dinner drink or cocktail, one daily after dinner drink or cocktail, espresso, bottled water in your cabin (replenished). You also get a Viking cap or tote bag and a bottle of Viking Champagne and postcard set of the tour. Single Cabin is 299 Euros and Double Cabin is 598 Euros.

 

They also have a non-alcoholic package which is drinks in the bar and in the restaurant of Coke, Sprite, Bitter Lemon, Tonic, all kinds of juices, Espresso, and bottle water in your cabin (replenished). You also get a Viking Cap or tote bag, postcard set. For one person 154 Euros.

 

They did have a station on your TV that had a movie playing at certain times of the day. Mostly at 10am, 3pm, and 9 or 10pm. We didn't watch any of them. They had a stock station and sports station in English. Those were the only two stations we watched. They had others but not in English. They have a station that shows the front of the ship so you can see what is ahead of you like they do on the big cruises. Also a travel channel.

 

You can buy stamps on board and charge it to your room for your postcards and they mail them for you. They have a collectors edition of 20 postcards featuring the Grand European Tour for 7 Euros, that you can buy on the boat.

 

The weather was cool and dreary at times in Budapest but never ruined any of our walking. The sun would shine after a little morning drizzle. On the boat was cool a few days at first during the first week. One day we couldn't stay on deck too long because it was so windy and cold. But after that we had beautiful weather. I can't remember which town we were in but it was too hot. One day we had an awful rain storm, but we lucked out because we were traveling the river and we were in a lock when it came across. It was so windy and pouring that the Captain couldn't see anything in front of us, even the boat that had started to get out of the lock before us. So we stayed there until it passed. The boat that was in front of us, had pulled over against the shore, because he couldn't see where he was going, when he got out of the lock. So the weather is unpredictable there too, like here.

 

Up on the program director's desk will be sheets that have all the technical info about the Main Danube Canal. It is very interesting. It'll name each lock and give you it's depth and kilometer of the canal. So pick one of those up.

 

Until I think of something else. I think I'm pretty much thinked out. :)

Sandy

[BLTSAT]

You are welcome Dean for the info. I wish someone had written up a report sometime before we left, about Viking and what to expect. I was wondering about Viking because there was very very little about them. I would read a lot about all the other river boat companies. We just said to ourselves, we'll make the best of it, if they're not good. We were very satisfied with the service of everyone on board. They just couldn't help you enough. They all would greet you whenever they saw you on the boat and off shore when they were able to get off. Sure they have a few little things we didn't like but we reported them and we'll see if some change. But I know no company will be 100% perfect. There will always be something that you don't like or approve of.

 

Have a great weekend!

Sandy

[ddean52]

Sandy, there is one point, although you have already touched upon it, could you just post which ports you can actualy walk to the heart of the town and back?

[ddean52]

the walk with the director to the beer garden, did it take place right after the excursion? or did folks go back to the ship for lunch and then do the beer garden?

[ddean52]

was there enough shade on the sun deck to please everyone or did you have go up early and 'reserve' a chair in the shade?

 

the food was ok i guess?

 

what were the snacks at 1030p like?

[ddean52]

you posted that in the second week the sun deck could not be used, where did people migrate to?

 

tea service was tea bags and cake/danish?

 

when you leave the ship, the red tags you rec. have what kind of info?

 

did you have french balconies?

 

when you embark the ship for the first time, cabins are not ready till 3p?? you can grab a bite to eat on the ship when you arrive? can you then go off and explore> is the "strectch your legs" walk, on embarkatiion day worth hanging around for? or is exploring on your own the way to go?? Sandy i could go on and on, however. i know you have a life,LOL. wont post a question till next week. have a great weekend!!