Viking River Cruise

[cbo111]

Anybody out there do a Viking River Cruise recently? We are interested in Europe travel in July 2018 and want feedback from you knowledgeable travelers. Thanks,
chuck

 

[audreyh1]

Lots of threads on this topic. It's worth a search.

 

[cbo111]

Tried to search "Viking River cruise" and got a bunch of unrelated junk. Anybody out there with actual experience?

 

[Souschef]

IMO, there are better cruise lines, such as Vantage, AMA, Tauck. If you e-mail me which route you are planning, I can send you details of our river cruises.

 

[misanman]

We did the Grand European Tour with Viking one year ago and were very pleased. Many of our friends have also cruised with Viking and have had positive experiences (no complaints that I'm aware of).

 

[Meadbh]

I have not cruised with Viking, but I have heard mixed reviews. In particular, one couple got food poisoning on the ship (as did other passengers). It’s a large company, and perhaps the quality is not consistent.

 

[btdt22]

We did the Yangtse, Moscow to St Petersburg via rivers and lakes, and the Nile, with Viking. First two cruises were great, but the NIle cruise had some issues and Viking Customer Service never stepped up to the plate so no more Viking for us.

 

[OldShooter]

I have a bad taste in my mouth about those guys. We took a river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2009. We enjoyed it and have no real complaints.

But what I found is that they are constantly offering deals. BOGO, free air fare, etc. So when you look at an offer it is impossible to know whether you are getting their best price or you are getting cheated because you don't know the secret handshake that gets you the best deal available on whatever cruise you want to book. Some people may be OK with this but I am not. If I want to play shell games I will go to Times Square. If I want to buy something I expect honest and transparent pricing.

The other issue is that after the cruise you will be bombarded with advertising. Now, eight years after the trip we are still getting a constant stream of postcards offering deals, trip brochures, and thick catalogs. I don't think a week goes by without a Viking mailing. It is not at all uncommon to get two pieces in one day, though today I think we just got one.

They are an obnoxiously aggressive marketing company, and one I sincerely regret doing business with.

 

[KM]

My friend and I did the Viking cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam back in 2014. It was by far the best cruise I've ever taken and would do it again in a heartbeat. But that was mostly because of the actual towns we visited more than the actual cruise line.

We actually had to change boats after our third port. Boats couldn't get through the locks the week before, so we were on "the wrong boat" to begin with and they needed to get things back to plan. Not a big deal - just a pain in the a--, as we had to repack and board a new boat. But I think Viking handled it as well as could be expected. Everything was well planned and well organized. We also used the pre- and post- cruise airport shuttles and they went very smoothly.

Just be prepared for lots of walking. Some people complained that there was "too much walking" - but given the nature of the cruise.....of course there's lots of walking. I really liked how Viking had a walking tour/excursion arranged (for free) every morning for every port. Not sure if the others do this or not?

Food was good, but this is coming from someone who will eat anything and be happy with it.

Wasn't a fan of our "cruise director" (competent, just not overly personable), but overall we had no complaints and would are looking at going with Viking again next year.

 

[braumeister]

We did Viking’s Paris to Prague last year. Basically a positive but river levels were high so the itinerary had to be modified and we spent way too much time on buses. This year we did their Rhine Getaway from Amsterdam to Basel. Much better experience. We may or may not do another Viking trip but no strong negatives and some points of praise. Their local guides are mostly excellent and eating onboard is as well.

 

[Bamaman]

For the price of one European river cruise, I can take three ocean cruises.

And they move so slow along the rivers. I have already been to many of the larger river cities.

 

[nwsteve]

We did Viking's Elbe River trip last Fall. It was an acceptable experience but we really did have anything to compare it. The food was excellent, the free wine, not so much. We probably had 10-15 local guides--40% of them not much better than reading a travel guide, 40% provided worthwhile insights not readily available and the remaining 20% were outstanding.
We are using Avalon for a trip starting this week from Amsterdam to Budapest. If you would like a contrast, please ping me after the 25th or I may not remember ;-)
We have traveled with Tauck but never on their river boats. We consider them as our "golden choice"--as in need lots of gold but get golden experiences!
As previous poster mentioned, Viking is a big company and some trips will be great and others not so much.

 

[Sunset]

......

But what I found is that they are constantly offering deals. BOGO, free air fare, etc. So when you look at an offer it is impossible to know whether you are getting their best price or you are getting cheated because you don't know the secret handshake that gets you the best deal available on whatever cruise you want to book. Some people may be OK with this but I am not. If I want to play shell games I will go to Times Square. If I want to buy something I expect honest and transparent pricing.

.....

So I guess you don't fly either, as airlines are super famous for changing their prices dozens of times per day.

 

[Sunset]

We did the Viking cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam this past Spring, in June, 15 days.
The weather was perfect, and kids were not yet out of school, so "less" crowds.

I LOVED it.
Yes it is expensive, but it was GREAT..
We are able to walk, but not mountain hikers, the town tours were easy for us. We also went off on our own to see a few castles, the Schobrunn Summer Palace in Vienna, etc.

It was our first trip to Europe, so it was a nice icebreaker to the various cultures.
We had the cheapest room and found we spent most time up top where you can see both sides of the river (compared to people who sat on their balcony).

We did get great pricing, it was $4,900 each with free airfare and free gratiuities (which is worth ~$250 Euros). We booked it about 5 months before the sailing, just because they kept sending books and the price was the same as last year but now had free air, so seemed like a deal.

 

[DrRoy]

For the price of one European river cruise, I can take three ocean cruises.

And they move so slow along the rivers.

I have not been on one, but I do think about this. I read on another thread a complaint abut waiting a long time at locks.

 

[Meadbh]

For the price of one European river cruise, I can take three ocean cruises.

And they move so slow along the rivers. I have already been to many of the larger river cities.

River cruising is a totally different experience from ocean cruising. If speed is your criterion for enjoyment, I suggest some other mode of transport.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

For the price of one European river cruise, I can take three ocean cruises.

And they move so slow along the rivers. I have already been to many of the larger river cities.

Funny, I think European river cruises are head and shoulders above any Caribbean cruise I've taken. The Caribben cruises seem to me like hotel stays with stops at shopping malls.

The river cruise we took on the Rhone river was memorable, with walking tours of Lyon (and a meal on our own in the gustatory capital of France); exploring Roman ruins at Vienne; the papal palace at Avignon; the coliseum at Arles and Van Gogh's sanitarium room; and a visit to a private home in a medieval Provencal village, to list a few high points.

 

[cbo111]

Thanks everybody for your insights. We appreciate hearing from you wise travelers.

 

[Nemo2]

Caribbean cruise

There's your first mistake.

 

[LRDave]

I have no advice to give as I haven't done it - I am just following the thread.


Based on my research, our current thinking is that we are shying away from what once seemed like (based on those glossy brochures and fancy TV commercials) a really neat travel experience. The comments above about bussing some legs and changing boats would seem to move the river cruising experience over to the negative column for me.


I have read some advice to just train (first class) between the cities on the cruise agenda for a cheaper, more flexible travel experience and to then maybe take a day cruise (during the daytime) between two stops to experience the river.


I am not poo-pooing anyone else's positive experiences - I could be totally wet (see what I did there ). I understand that rail travel means sschlepping your belongings and that a big advantage of the cruise is not having to do so.

 

[audreyh1]

We have explored sections of rivers, doing a half-day cruise in one section, visiting various cities, but moving around by train.

I got some good ideas from the Viking itinerary for the Danube section, but decided that I wanted to be able to spend more time at various destinations, and found a terrific combo-ticket out of Vienna that covered a lot of it. We were already somewhat experienced Europe travelers at the time.

That was ultimately the issue for us - time allotted for visiting sites was too short. We tend to move more slowly, using major tourist destination cities as bases and taking day trips out to regional must sees as well as exploring the cities themselves of course. We often will sign up for a full or half day mini van tour which limits the group size to quite small - usually 8 max, often less, and sometimes a popular small group walking tour.

We're quite experienced Europe travelers now, but I will spend several months researching and planning such an excursion - note my sig line! It's worth it though. We stay in nice hotels chosen by proximity to best sites and public transportation. We have a blast, even though it's often a whirlwind.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

There's your first mistake.

DW wanted to go. Now we can say we tried it. Millions of people apparently love the experience. Not for me.

There are some stops on Inside Passage cruises that are pretty similar to the Caribbean experience, BTW, like Ketchikan and Skagway.

I haven't been on a Euro sea cruise, but considering the ports of call, I suspect that one sails away wishing for another several days in each port to get a real feel for them. It's kind of the opposite condition vs. the Caribbean, where there's often very little of distinction to see.

Not that river cruises can't leave you hungering for more. We've stayed off the Danube in large part because cities like Vienna and Budapest demand far more attention than one can devote in a day. We did enjoy a cruise on the Main in Germany, where daylong stops in Bamberg, Miltenberg and Wurzburg probably hit most of the high points each city has to offer. Wish we had had more time in Frankfurt, though.

 

[misanman]

Switching boats because of low (or high) water levels was almost a non event for us. We did have to pack our suitcase but then went on a tour and were delivered back to the boat #2 with our luggage already in the room. The ships were identical and we were in the same room. Viking handled this as seamlessly as you could imagine. Also, it's hard for me to imagine someone complaining about the locks. Sure, there are lots of locks and it is possible that you might be aware of passing through a lock at night, but no big deal as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Nemo2]

I haven't been on a Euro sea cruise, but considering the ports of call, I suspect that one sails away wishing for another several days in each port to get a real feel for them. It's kind of the opposite condition vs. the Caribbean, where there's often very little of distinction to see.

Although I've been through the Med a number of times, (and arrived/departed on transatlantics), I've only done one Med/Adriatic cruise, (in 2015 with a French line), which was to give DW some exposure to particular areas (with a minimum of hassle) that she may want to return to.

As audreyh1 indicates, such cruises, (and I've never been on a river one but the same rationale applies), can be used as an introduction to places you might want to revisit independently at your leisure.

(100% in agreement with your assessment of Caribbean cruises. I took one in the early 1970s, simply because I'd seen the particular ship anchored by the Sydney Harbor Bridge and wanted to ride on it. Although our transatlantics might start/finish/call in en route in this area I wouldn't take one that went nowhere else.)

 

[nwsteve]

One of the biggest pluses of our Viking trip, I failed to mention, was the absolute joy of only unpacking once for the trip. We view the short stays as more exploration of options for future longer visits without the hassle of car rentals and their various "challenges" and the multiple hotels necessary to cover the wide variety you get on a river cruises.
Now ocean cruises are another whole thing--did one (Inside Passage to Alaska) and not likely to do another. Way too many people and long board and depart queues and hassle.