Choose Viking Air Plus and you can choose your flights. Its worth it. We usually try to do a pre-cruise extension as well. We are getting ready for our third river cruise with Viking. The last one was from Amsterdam to Basel with a post-cruise in Lucerne. Best decision ever. Have enjoyed everyone. We took our first Viking Ocean cruise last year and enjoyed it as well. It is different on a river cruise but that is due to the nature of being on a river vice ocean. What keeps us coming back to Viking is the all-inclusive costs and seeing towns you'd never be able to see on an ocean cruise ship. No trying to sell you diamonds or watches or whatever on the river cruises. We get the French balcony and frankly aren't in our rooms other than to sleep. Otherwise we are in the lounge, on the top deck or off the boat exploring. One thing to consider is the time you river cruise. In the hottest times of the year the rivers can run low and you might have to disembark your boat to be bussed to another boat down river. We cruise in early October. Weather is usually fantastic that time of year, crowds aren't as much and water levels are no problem.
Thanks for your comments. Being a newbie, I didn’t know we had an option to pick our flights. We did the pre-cruise extension in Prague and Nuremberg and it was wonderful.
Thank you for your experiences, we'll try our first river cruise end of Oct. this year with Viking- Amsterdam to Base.l And we're wondering the weather at that time and how to pack, any suggestion will be appreciated.
I adored my first river cruise on Viking and would do every single one of them if I could afford it. No interest in ocean going cruises at all but river cruising is so relaxing and comfortable. Viking takes care of you from the minute you get off your plane until you get back on to leave. I can't recommend them enough! LOVE VIKING!
River cruises are the best! We have always had a great vacation with Viking. What we love... Small ship, Number of passengers, local foods (definitely not "cruise" food), knowledgeable tour guides in every port, no casinos, no silly photos everywhere you go. Viking is quality through and through. I wish I could cruise with them yearly!
One rule with traveling: be prepared for anything! Weather, inconveniences, flights that may not be perfect and cultural experiences that might seem strange. If you happen to have perfect weather and travel, that’s fantastic. We travel to experience something different and patience is a must. There definitely are disappointments along the way, but hopefully not too many. Safe and adventurous travels to all!
Well said! We had cold/wet weather but it did not deter us at all. We visited cities we'd never been to before and our river cruise was well worth the time and cost we invested.
We have done 10 Viking River cruises!!! We have often done Viking air plus and have been happy with the arrangements. Ships have to dock next to each other due to limited docking space at the small towns.
We went on a Rhine Christmas cruise last December. Thouroughly enjoyed it. I would recommend a river cruise to my friends. We found Viking lives up to theiir ads.
If you pay a relatively small extra fee, you can choose your own flights. Also, pay close attention to the stated itinerary. You may or may not be spending any time in your embarkation or disembarkation port. For example, if the itinerary for the last day says something like 'have breakfast and disembark for the airport', you will not be spending any time in that port. BTW, my husband and I have been on many Viking cruises and have always enjoyed them.
We have taken two river cruises with Viking, the Grand European Tour with an extension in Prague and southern France with an extension in Paris and one with AMA which is very similar to Viking, in Portugal. Loved them all but we also had excellent weather. Leaving this week for our first ocean cruise with Viking, the British Isles Explorer. Many friends have raved about the Viking ocean ships. Looking forward to it. Sorry about your bad weather.
Oh that France with the Paris extension sounds wonderful. I think I’d like that. Enjoy your ocean cruise. I did the British isles with Princess and it’s one of my favorite memories.
Interesting video. We have never done a river cruise, only a few Viking ocean cruises which we loved. I’m still not sure after seeing this that I would like a river cruise.
I definitely prefer ocean cruising but I would consider another river cruise now that I know what to expect. I would pick something completely different though, like maybe the Nile River. I have fond memories of my Danube River cruise but it’s not an experience I feel like I have to repeat.
Viking river x 3 and plan many more. What stood out for us as exceptional was the staff, new friends we made, essentially everything included (wine and beer with lunch and dinner), cordial relaxed dining, and did I mention the exceptional staff? The demographic is aimed at 50 years and older and no underage children on board. This is about as relaxing, informative, and fun as you can imagine if you fit the intended demographic.
We took the Grand European from Amsterdam to Budapest. Everything was great except for the food. We are strict vegetarians and conveyed this to Viking over and over. Some meals were fine while others, like German Night were terrible. Our servers did their best to accommodate us, but sometimes we ate cookies and bread for our main course. We quickly learned to buy some food at each port and bring on board or we would have starved. We were not the only ones who had dietary restrictions and we mostly ignored.
We did a Viking Ocean cruise in February from Australia to New Zealand. We met one gentlemen on the cruise that is vegetarian. I asked him if he thought Viking did a good job and he was very pleased with the food selection he had. I like lots of salads and vegetables and I don't eat red meat. Everything I had was very good. I am not a huge foodie, my husband is though.
@@desire2travel we heard that their state rooms are larger, they have a jacuzzi, and all excursions are included. Just started doing river cruises this year.
Thank you for the video. We did a Viking cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam also in October 2022. However, we experienced very little rain. Would I do another Viking river cruise? No. Because I want to do something different. Did I enjoy it? Yes and no! We had two nights at each end in luxury hotels, the Viking service arranging transfers between airports, hotels and ship were excellent and exceeded expectations. Our room was small but we expected that, it was however, very clean and well laid out. Room service and dining room service was average. Breakfast and desserts were good, unfortunately, we found the main courses horrible. We were told later that it is to suit American tastes. The excursions were all very good, interesting and well planned. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
We also booked 4 nights with Viking pre-cruise, but no meal plan. The hotels were very nice and well located so we could find our own choice of restaurants. I found the excursions included in the pre-cruise extension to be the best of the whole 12 days! For me, I need more time to immerse in the city we are visiting than the included tours on the ship allow. Lesson learned. There were lots of extra tours we could have booked (and we did book a few) but next time, I won't rely on the included tours as they are more introductory than immersive. ETA: Just realized you may have been referring to the ship food. I thought the soups and lunches were good but I agree, dinner was less than expected and I am American LOL. Thanks for watching and thanks for your comments.
@HarrTravel has a comprehensive video on their channel of the standard cabin ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bdFd5URheT8.html. It looks to be the same as the veranda stateroom, without the veranda. Hope this helps.
