River cruise

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
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Viking is not all inclusive. They offer one included tour per day. Other lines will include all excursions which might be better for us because we liked the guided tours.

Absolutely you can tour on your own. Some of the places we went, we weren’t docked right at that place but others like Cologne we docked right in town. Probably a 10 or 15 minute walk to the cathedral.

Strasberg was a short bus ride away from the dock but Viking ran busses until 4 pm on the day we were there.

I will say that a river cruise is different than an ocean cruise in that docking times are more fluid. Depending on the river currents and the lock schedules. So I wouldn’t say that you could book an independent tour like you would on an ocean cruise.

We like tours, we do when we go on vacation anywhere. We feel like we learn so much from the guides and we thought we had great guides.

We also loved the tour we did in Rome to see the Vatican which was on our own. So that’s our choice. But lots of people on our trip did just the included tours and did their own thing afterwards.

If anyone wants to price out a Viking cruise. I have a code. For free flights and beverage package. Till the end of the year. Anyone can use these.

VHT22

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Thanks for providing more details!

I wonder if the cruise planner was trying to push their own stuff, although it was along the Adriatic so maybe different?

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We’ve done one river cruise, a 14-day Amsterdam to Budapest on Scenic in 2019. Scenic is an Australian company and a competitor to Viking. I’m copying my trip report that I sent to my travel agent afterward. It’s lengthy but maybe helpful for someone considering a river cruise:

Two Ship Swaps: About a week before we boarded we got an email from Scenic saying that we would need to board the Scenic Pearl in Amsterdam on 6/10 and swap onto the Jewel on the 13th. The explanation we were given onboard was that the Jewel (the ship we booked) had been delayed in getting to Amsterdam due to high water earlier in the week. So we boarded the Pearl on 6/10 and then on the morning of 6/13 we had to have our luggage packed up and it was swapped onto the Jewel while we passengers were all on the ship’s excursion to Rudesheim. Unfortunately that was not the only ship swap we had to do. There had been an accident in which a Viking ship damaged the lock at Riedenburg, forcing the lock to be completely closed for a couple of weeks which meant no ships could get through. So we ended up spending just four nights on the Jewel before we had to swap to the Scenic Jade. After our excursions in Nuremburg we were bussed to Regensburg to board the Jade.

It was inconvenient to have to pack up twice to swap ships, since obviously one of the attractions of the river cruise is the idea of taking your hotel with you and only unpacking once. But as our cruise director pointed out, we didn’t actually lose any touring time and were lucky that Scenic had enough boats on both sides of the broken lock to accommodate their passengers. The cruise director said she had a colleague with Crystal who told her they had to turn several of their cruises into bus and hotel tours, which I would not have liked at all. None of it was Scenic’s fault but just one of the risks of river cruises, and Scenic handled everything very well.

General comments on Scenic: This was our first river cruise after many ocean cruises. Scenic is an Australian company and the passenger mix was about 55% Australian, 20% Canadian, 10% American, and about 7% New Zealanders and 7% Brits. I’m guessing the average age was about 68? So definitely an older crowd although most people seemed reasonably fit considering their ages. Australians of course hate tipping so the cruise is all inclusive including virtually all alcohol. The only things we paid extra for were (1) a massage, and (2) extra laundry above our 1 kg allotment.

The food was good although I would not say that it was any better than Princess, and with considerably less variety. There is one sort of “specialty” dining area, but we only got to eat there once. We definitely prefer the variety of food options on Princess or Celebrity.

Onboard entertainment was pretty minimal. There was a keyboard entertainer every night and several times local “acts” came onboard for some local type of performance (e.g., a zither concert, a violinist, folk dancing, Viennese waltz lessons). There were two outings where we were taken to locations for dinner/entertainment events. One was for a “medieval” dinner at Marksburg castle and one was for a dinner and Sound of Music/Austrian music performance near Salzburg. In both cases the dinner was mediocre and the entertainment a combination of being a bit tacky but still fun. DH was especially surprised by how much he enjoyed the Sound of Music performance.

Our takeaway is that we prefer ocean cruising and land trips, but would consider another river cruise for the right itinerary, especially somewhere where we didn’t feel very comfortable doing stuff on our own. Maybe for example the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, or a shorter cruise such as the Douro. We felt that Scenic mostly delivered and if looking at another river cruise, we’d cruise on them again for the right price and itinerary but would also look at Viking. (Our next cruise is a full transit Panama Canal cruise on Viking Ocean.)

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DH and I did the Viking Grand European cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam this past fall. It was wonderful!! We booked a room with a veranda. We loved sitting on the veranda in the afternoon for a bit with a cup of tea and a couple of cookies (which are available all of the time).

We mostly took the included tours, but we did pay for the World War II tour in Nuremburg. It was fabulous-- one of the highlights of our trip. We enjoyed the food. We are in our early 70’s and we were in the middle range of the people on board. Viking’s boats can have 190 people, but we only had 168 for our cruise.

We did have one mishap. A woman (one of the younger ones) was going down the staircase – not holding on, wearing slide shoes and was supposedly looking at her phone. She fell and broke her leg and ankle in 4 different places. It was early in the cruise and we were in Vienna. She needed surgery, but wanted to wait until she could get back to the states. Her care in Vienna was just fine according to her husband. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get home to Orlando because of the hurricane. Hopefully she got home okay, but the husband could not say enough nice things about their treatment.

If you do take a river cruise, I would strongly recommend getting to your city of embarkation at least a day or two before you start the cruise. DH and I took some leisurely walks around Budapest the day before we started the cruise.

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I have a question.

My in-laws did some sort of Baltic Sea cruise several years ago. I’d have to ask the line. Their airfare was included (maybe free on a promo? I don’ really know). What I DO know is that the cruise line booked their air for them, and it was not great on any level. Granted they were starting from flyover county, but they had a three-legged flight, and missed their flight to Europe because they had a tight connection made worse by a weather delay in Houston. They weren’t doing any travel before embarking or after disembarking (my fil was far too cheap for that) so were supposed to arrive on sailing day. They literally missed the boat. Caught up to it eventually, but then luggage issues. A mess.

Okay, that wasn’t a question. The question is: If you have allowed a river cruise company to book your air, how were the flights/connections? Timing, convenience, layover times, number of legs, etc?

I personally would never plan on arriving on sailing day as my in-laws did. Too risky for me. But, the questions apply regardless. Would love to know experiences related to this aspect of river cruising.

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This summer our family went on the Danube river cruise from Passau Germany to Budapest, and we sailed with Adventures by Disney. The trip was 4 of us - which included our 16 and 18 year old boys. ABD is all inclusive and offers more than one excursion option per day. You always have the option to go out on your own. It was by far the best trip we had ever taken.

Since we took our kids, I specifically looked for cruise lines that catered to families. All the excursions were active and engaging for the younger folks on the trip. My kids had more than a dozen other teenagers to hang out with on our boat. Truly, they had a blast! We met so many other parents our age, so we had fun too! There were also couples on the boat who had no children, and chose ABD because they were in their 40s and didn’t want to be on Viking boats with retirees. They fit right in with the rest of us.

The trip was all kinds of expensive, especially for 4 people. Add in flights plus a night ahead of time in Munich at ABD’s high end choice hotel. Beer and wine were included during all meals and cocktail hours. Bartenders didn’t care at all how old the kids were. I guess you could say my kids got a glimpse of college life on that boat! It was definitely the most memorable trip we have ever taken, not sure any trip will top that. Made coming home with Covid worth the trouble! But the cost is high, so not likely we’ll do another one soon.

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Looking for recommendations for a river cruise that stops at wineries each day. What are ones to consider and ones to avoid.

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I’m no travel agent (but apparently I stayed at at Holiday Inn) but Viking has a few river cruises that are in France.

Here’s one for you to explore

Or another line
https://www.scenicusa.com/tours/bordeaux-affair/13271

I know nothing about these. Did read a review on the other CC (cruise critic) about the Scenic cruise.

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Now you’re getting in the weeds! :wink:

Since I’m a nut who researches these things. And disclaimer there are all kinds of Facebook groups (which are good and bad, lots of info, lots of complaints).

Viking offers for an extra price (cruises have all these extra charges) Viking Air Plus. It’s $100 a person. For that price you can basically research your own flights and get the flights you want within Vikings inventory. We flew Delta KLM but they have contracts with the other major airlines.

I thought it was well worth adding that on. I had direct flights from Detroit to Amsterdam connecting to Basel on the way there and direct from Amsterdam to Detroit on the way home.

You are given a number to call and if there are any hiccups, you can call them. My original flight changed until the connection was very short, called and my flight was changed to an earlier flight so I had plenty of time to connect.

This was my experience.

I talked to others from Detroit who had to connect in Toronto and then again at Heathrow. I was so happy I had better choices. All airports can be a mess but one connection was much easier.

I would love to say that a good travel agent would be so helpful, one that specializes in river cruises. But I had a TA who was useless, unless you count her saying I should call Viking every time I had issues.

@dramakid2 i have only heard good things about ABD. It’s extremely expensive but also extremely well done.

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Has anyone used Avalon cruise lines? Thoughts?

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I’d recommend posting this question on the CruiseCritic forums. They have a forum specifically for river cruises. They have their own helpful regular posters, just like we do here on College Confidential. River Cruises: Ask a Question - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

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This happened to my inlaws this past summer with Viking. Thankfully they only missed their pre-cruise excursions but they lost two full days and were very upset. We told them that their connections was too tight but they ignored the advice.

As noted, they paid extra for their next cruise so they could pick their flights.

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We have done 2 Viking river cruises, both pre-Covid, and one Uniworld cruise that was scheduled for 2020, but taken this past summer.

The first Viking cruise was in France and included a lot of wineries, as well as historical sites. The second was mostly in Germany but started in Budapest.

Things we enjoyed: we thought the food onboard was fabulous. We especially enjoyed the way the chef tied in the daily meals to the location, and took care to pair the wines.

We also very much enjoyed the included excursions.

I have to say I enjoyed the first cruise more than the second - part of the difference is the water levels were very low for the second, so the boat couldn’t navigate some of the rivers, so they used buses to transport us instead. In addition, our second tour included a large group from the same town, and their goal was to drink as much as possible on the boat each day. I don’t think they went on many of the excursions! They were loud and obnoxious. Viking did their best to put them in their own private area, probably due to comments and complaints!

I didn’t like that on Viking you had to pay extra for the additional excursions. The extra costs added up quickly.

The Uniworld cruise this summer was to Italy and it was incredible. Food was fabulous. One thing I liked was ALL excursions were included. There were several choices for excursions each day, so you could choose what interested you. And yes, there were some people who chose not to do any of the excursions (as on Viking).

One thing that really impressed me about the Uniworld cruise was we had absolutely no wait times at any of the major tourist destinations we visited. We often visited them before they were open to the public, or after they closed for the day. Our guides were spectacular as well. In Venice we had a guide from England who has her PhD, who has lived in Venice for over 20 years, and is an art historian specializing in Medieval and Renaissance Venice.

This was the first time for my H to visit any of these countries. I visited some of them as a young child, but it was my first time as an adult. I think it’s a nice introduction to an area. Both of us work full time with very demanding jobs, and neither of us had the time to do all the research to plan a trip itinerary, purchase tickets to attractions ahead of time, etc. It was nice to just show up and enjoy.

For the trip this summer, we booked our flights out a few days ahead of time, which was a good idea, because our departing flight was canceled and we didn’t leave until the next day. Our initial plan was to get used to the time difference and also do some touring on our own.

For the Viking cruise with the low water levels, we did get a “credit” for a future cruise, due to the inconvenience caused. However, we never used the credit and it has since expired. A combination of Covid halting travel and our desire to try out a different cruise line were factors in that.

We found the people on the Uniworld cruise were a bit younger demographic than the Viking. Uniworld also has some cruises specifically tailored for families. The Uniworld also had more passengers from countries other than the US.

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Thanks for the uniworld comparison. Definitely sounds like a line we would love. Will look into it.

The thing I liked about the river cruise was that drinking didn’t seem to be the main attraction. If I had been on the second cruise you were on, I’m not sure I would have had as favorable an impression as I did.

The plus about Viking is that they have far more boats and far more dates to sail. We went right before thanksgiving as it’s a dreary time to be home. A lot of other lines didn’t have the dates Viking did.

Definitely if you are considering a river cruise, look into low water level time frames. River levels in the summer are historically low. Switching ships is common.

Although the lines try to make it seamless, it was so nice to only unpack once

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I’m so glad you started this thread! Low level times, fluid port times.,.great info you won’t get from the glossy ads they send.

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We sailed the Danube in mid July and did not end up having issues with river levels. However, there was concern early in the week about the stretch between Vienna and Budapest. Staff were talking about the possibility of bussing into Budapest while docking further upriver. Thankfully there was enough rain during the week (much of which came during our 25 mile bike ride in Austria :sweat_smile:) to raise the river to high enough levels for us to sail into Budapest as scheduled.

ABD uses Ama Waterways boats, which are generally newer and more efficient designs for river cruising. They do not sit in the water as deeply as the Viking boats, and therefore can sail in lower water conditions than most Viking ships. We docked next to many, many Viking boats in our ports. At times we had to walk over or through them to get on and off our bus. None of those boats looked as nice as the boat we were on. Their boats were also much bigger. Our boat held a max of 152 guests, which is small in comparison to many Viking boats.

As for flights, we have always booked our own. I want to have as many direct flights as possible, and I want to control when we fly and from which airport. I guess I’m fussy in that regard.

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I always book my own flights so I am not at the mercy of the cruise line. In addition, on overseas trip we always fly business class which is an upcharge anyways. I may pay a bit more but I make the decision as to the flight times and routes. I know most people can’t do this but at least pay for a service like Viking Plus so you can call for glitches and questions.
We have done 10 ocean cruises and 1 river cruise. I like Oceania and Silversea for ocean and the only river cruise I’ve taken is Viking.

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I have to see if I still have my log in info for Cruise Critic!

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My in-laws took the entire family on a river cruise prior to Covid. We started in Prague with a pre cruise portion and ended In Budapest. We went with Ama and we couldn’t have been happier. The staff was youthful and helpful, staterooms were nice and the food was great. We had 7 young adults and they all had a great time. Granted they had each other and they enjoyed interacting with the staff. There was another family with teens and also a big Groupon a Backroads bike trip so not a lot of older folks.We had choices at each stop of several excursions both in the morning and afternoon. Every stop at an active excursion and also a bike excursion as an option. All Ama boats have bikes. What we loved as a group was that we weren’t moving luggage and having to find restaurants for 15 people. I looked at it as an intro into each stop as one day is not enough to really see a place. For our circumstances the cruise was great.

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We did the Rhine with Avalon in 2019 and had a fabulous time! We chose Avalon because it had more active excursions to choose from and carried bikes that were free to use at any port (when not being used on an excursion). Usually one active excursion in each port. We went biking through vineyards, hiked up to a scenic viewpoint, biked through windmill country, etc. I would guess that the non-active excursions are the same for any of the cruise lines. Everywhere we did walking tours, there were groups from lots of other ships – Viking, AMA, etc. doing the same tour. We thought Avalon maybe skewed slightly younger because of the active tours.

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