How about a trip to Bruges?
Have fun!
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Mussels, beer and french fries. 650 different beers and 20 different french fry sauces.
The Musical Instruments Museum. It looks small but is not. Truly amazing.
The Grand Place (a square) lights up at night like a light show at Disney. Largest central square in Europe. Beautiful.
Visit the palace.
A trip to Bruges. Window shop the chocolates.
I think you’ll find too many things to do and see and not enough time to enjoy it all!
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Has anybody stayed in a Viking lower level room(narrow partial window, instead of picture window or balcony). They are only 150 square foot, but the nicer rooms are only 135 sq foot… though with the view I’m sure they feel much bigger.
The appeal is that they seem to have more availability for closer in dates…. and it looks like they may be almost $1000/person cheaper on an 8 day trip. I do know there is no elevator to lower level, which would be OK for us.
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We were in French balcony last year but took the Standard stateroom deal this time. The standard room is slightly larger but we did not spend much time in the room. I understand that we might hear the water hitting the window but some report that it was like white noise.
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Our cousins had a room on a Viking River ship on a lower deck with partial window. She said on some days, she felt a bit seasick (dizzy) looking out the windows because of the waves bobbing up and down which is at your eye level. If you don’t have a problem with that, I think it’s acceptable. It’s amazing all the more expensive rooms sell out first. We had to delay our trip by a few months because the types of room we wanted were all sold out early.
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I will echo the comments already posted—we were in our lower level room only to change clothing and for sleeping. During any daytime sailing you want to be either outside on the top deck or in the lounge with its floor-to-ceiling windows. Unless you are in a scenic area (middle Rhine castle region, Wachau valley on the Danube, for example) most sailing is done at night while you sleep. There are no sea days like on the ocean, for all practical purposes.
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Which company does the best Bordeaux (Gironde river) cruise? Who has been on one? Recommendations?
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My husband and I just watched this home video (1hr 12 min) about one itinerary we are considering, Amsterdam —> Basil 8 days. It shows a lot about the ship and the meals. There was also some clips from their time on shore, but I would have liked to see more. Looks like on this route there is often morning touring, then afternoon cruising to the next port (or perhaps they opted to not do or ot show the afternoon tours).
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There are tons of YouTube videos of Viking river cruises.
You can go to the Viking website, this should be the link for learn more.Rhine Getaway - 2024 Amsterdam to Basel - Cruise Overview Click on each days and it will show which excursions are available each day.
This wasn’t always the case but many days, there was an included excursion in the morning and an optional (for an extra charge in the afternoon).
But there were days, we cruised in the morning (the day we saw the castles on the Rhine) and 2 days I think that we cruised after lunch. But don’t quote me on the schedule. We cruised Basel to Amsterdam, the other direction has different plans. And it’s dependent on lock schedules and weather.
So it’s not like an ocean cruise where stops are more scheduled. But we sailed at night and occasionally during the day.
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Thanks. For those considering a similar trip…
My sister also did Basel to Amsterdam on Viking 4 years ago. She enjoyed it very much. They spent time in Amsterdam after the cruise.
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We did this exact trip in October 2019. We cannot come up with any negatives! Though the itinerary is slightly different (Marksburg Castle is replaced by Koblenz, with Marksburg as an optional excursion, and Heidelberg is replaced with Speyer).
We hope to book a tulip cruise for next spring in the next week or so.
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Thanks for the feedback. We have an appointment tomorrow with our AAA agent and the other couple who is considering the trip with us. My husband said there is a “free air” deal til 3/31. I’m under the impression there are various deals that come and go, maybe even buy sometimes one get one free(?). Will know more later this week.
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SGM23. Free airfare and free silver spirts beverage package. Select river cruises. Expires 03/31. Only on cruises taken in 2023.
I haven’t seen buy one get one free lately. The free air and free silver spirits is the best I’ve received. I’ve been looking closely since this time last year.
FYI. They are offering $699 airfare for 2024 cruises. Free airfare for 2023. But when you compare prices, 2024 is $1000 more than 2023 with the code. The price of the room goes up to compensate for the free airfare. So it’s $500 a person cheaper but not the entire $699. I thought that was interesting.
Whatever you do, I recommend spending $100 per person for the Viking Air Plus. Gives you the customer more flexibility to pick your flights instead of Viking picking your flights. That was our experience at least.
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Thanks for the great info! Do you have any experience or thoughts about the Viking Travel protection insurance ($399).
My DH is interested in a River Cruise. However, he has some significant mobility issues (can’t walk very far). He thinks a cruise would be ideal because I could do on the excursions and walk around and he could either do a bus tour or stay on the boat. I am concerned about the amount of walking and not sure it is worth all that money for him to sit on the boat. Just get onto and off of the boat would be a challenge for him. I had mentioned this as an option to a friend and she indicated that on cruises it may be harder to go back and rest compared to a hotel room.
What do you all think about these types of cruises with mobility challenges? What about with an electric wheelchair or scooter (I can’t reliably push him in a wheelchair, especially at curbs).
I think a Viking ocean cruise would be more ideal.
Just getting on and off a river ship isn’t easy. All of the excursions are mostly walking.
I hear that the included excursions on the ocean cruises are more bus tours.
And one of our neighbors was very mobility challenged and did several Viking ocean cruises that they couldn’t be more effusive about. Said that Viking really took care of them
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We took the Viking insurance option but didn’t have to use it.
I think insurance, absolutely! But there are many travel insurance companies you could compare.
But you need to buy the Viking insurance within 14 days of booking your cruise for it to include any preexisting conditions
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I was also thinking ocean cruise could work better for you. There is just so much to do on board a big ship if you do decide to split up. Also lots of variety on shore excursions (usually by bus) - they can be pricey, but it could be easier to get deals on the base price.
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Friend of mine needed wheelchair often and did a Viking Grand European tour, same one we will be on in June. She arranged for private tours at all ports to accommodate her, but there were challenges because the ship didn’t arrive at the designated ports in time so sometimes her tours were cut short and itineraries changed. She was also one of the last ones to get off the ship at each port because of the crowd. But she said she didn’t regret going at all.
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