I will admit that one of things that bothers me is the “includes tours” high pricing at Viking seems to be just a morning tour. Looking online it seems the more extensive paid options could be $100 (or even $200) per person.
The good thing though is that on a river cruise you are probably close enough to town to do easy self-touring, which was not always the case on our Western Med cruise. Our days in 2012 at Naples (Pompei, Sorrento, farm lunch), Rome, Florence included expensive and exhaustive shore excursions with long bus rides. It was worth it, but in that case the actual cruise price was pretty affordable.
The days we were in Cologne and Strasbourg, if you did not take an optional tour in the PM, you could stay in town and wander indepedently. Heidelberg had a morning tour, with a 2PM meet up at the drop off site, giving everybody some free time. The morning we visited Kinderdijk was followed by an afternoon of cruising on the Waal, heading to the Rhine.
Obviously my comments apply to a Rhine river cruise. Was your cruise on the ocean I assume?
Thanks. Those are helpful comments. Yes, the prior comments about 2012 Western Med cruise were on an ocean liner. Like the idea of river cruise at the city ports themselves.
Thanks for all your good help, Deb! We just got back from our AAA appointment, with Rhine Getaway (Amsterdam —> Basil) booked for two couples for late Sept 2023.
More details below in case it is helpful to anybody else contemplating first-time Viking travel……
We had to put down $500 per person, with all but $100 each refundable if we change our mind prior to the payment-due date in late. The deal was almost as good as online (with discount codes), and then there were some extra AAA travel agent credits, including knock-out of the $100 flexible airline fee, to make cost about the same.
We did opt for the cheap lower level staterooms with teeny high windows at water level because 1) we don’t plan to be in the room much 2) it’s lots cheaper 3) we’d rather spend money on the extra shore excursions 4) it’s pretty much all that was left during our desired timeframe of late Sept /early Oct 2023.
Our travel agent will help us arrange 2 nights prior in Amsterdam, for what she says will be approx half the cost of the Viking pre-cruise offers. After Basil we hope to have tbd travel for 5 to 7 days… possibly train to Italy. Will plan more over the next month.
Yea, I think we both think the same way…. it makes sense to get as much local experience as possible, mostly just sleep in the room.
For those new to Viking terminology, I’ll point out a confusion factor i had. The “French Balcony” rooms have a beautiful huge window that opens. But you can’t step out… that would require a Veranda room. In the following link, you can scroll down to see photos of stateroom types on example river ship.
My husband was able to succeed in a trip to Europe-France and Italy- using a Rollator equipped with outdoor wheels and a handle in the seat to pick it right up to fold. A seat so he could sit while listening to the guide or admiring a site, etc. It was our saving grace. He could not have gone otherwise. It also was nice in that it let him “cut the line” most places. Comes with a large bag for transport which is free on most airlines. He took a wheelchair in the airports.
The river cruise sounds fantastic! At the conclusion of your river cruise in Basel, you may be better off flying to Italy. Take a train to Zurich Airport and fly from there. Check out flying into Florence as that airport is much closer in to the city than Rome. See Florence then take train to Rome and fly home from Rome. Check out easy jet and Ryan air for inexpensive flights (though you will pay for overweight luggage, etc). Sometimes a larger airline costs more but includes luggage, etc. A train from Basel to Italy could be more complicated unless you want to visit Milan which would be about 5 hours on trains from Basel.
Thanks for the feedback I was hoping to get some post-Basel ideas here. Actually Basil—>Milan by train was one of the travel agent suggestions. The Rome2Rio site (an excellent travel estimator aid) shows the train ride is about 4.5 hours. But much like airports, train stations in Europe can involve extra waiting time. I do like the fact that train stations are often near the city center.
The idea of hopping on a plane mid-vacation had never sounded appealing to me. BUT in 2018 we did that to get from Barcelona to Toulouse with two other couples before embarking our our Canal Du Midi houseboat week. It was actually not too bad, especially in the company of lighthearted friends.
Yes, most of the extra tours are under $100/person. (Examples - windmills by bike $89, Mercedes tour $69… hubby excited). That is not horrible, but feels a bit of bait/switch considering we entered into this research not realizing the free shore excursions are typically just a 2 hour morning tour. Nonetheless we will be doing the trip, selecting TBD extra tours when it gets closer.
A few of longer length with food/wine cost more (Example- Flavors of Alsace 7 hours with food and wine $229).
On our 2019 Rhine Getaway cruise we opted for only 2 of the optional excursions: Bruhl palaces (instead of spending extra time in Cologne) and the Medieval Colmar tour (which was excellent). Those who took the Colmar WWII tour raved about it. None of the others appealed to us, so we spent the extra time in Strasbourg instead (which was lots of fun, strolling the streets eating macrons, etc), and the included tour at Kinderkijk was very good (we might take the barge tour if we return there on a tulip cruise).
Because we booked with AAA, they gave us about $100 each in credit, which paid for the entirety of the Bruhl tour and half of the Colmar tour.
Thanks for the helpful info! Printed it it for excursion planning later.
Brainstorming our self-travel options after the cruise. Before our “Rhine Getaway”, we plan 2 nights in Amsterdam. The 5 or so days after are still TBD. The travel agent suggest that Milan is a good option for return airport, so I’ve been thinking about perhaps 2 nights in Basel and 3 nights in Milan (with possible daytrip to Lake Como).
I would do Lucerne as opposed to Basel. Viking will arrange a taxi to Basel train station. It is a hour hour train ride to Lucerne (they run hourly, you buy a a ticket good for any train that day). Lucerne is drop dead gorgeous–lake, Alps in the distance, medieval town squares and a medieval wall with about 9 towers. Train station is right across the river from the medieval area, famous Chapel Bridge is visible.
You might consider a few nights in Lucern and the Alps and the last night in Zurich then fly home. If you really want to go to Italy, try to fly to Florence for 2-3 d then train to Rome for 2 d then fly home if you have never been to those cities. Or the Lakes district in Italy for 4 nights. Milan is great but not if it is your first trip to Italy. The other cities have SO much more to offer. You could do Milan for 1 day then Verona for a day then Venice for 2-3 days as an alternative. Or Milan for a day then Cinque Terra for 2-3 days then home. No matter what, you are going to have an amazing time!
You don’t even have to move from Lucerne to Zurich the night before you fly home from there. Just as there are hourly trains from Basel to Lucerne, there are hourly trains from Lucerne to Zurich (takes about one hour). In fact there is a train station in the lowest level of the Zurich terminal (the Zurich Flughaven station).
If you’re staying a couple of nights in Lucerne, you can send unneeded luggage ahead to Zurich Flughaven, for easy pick up before your flight when you get there. We got off the river cruise in Basel and sent luggage we didn’t need ahead to Zurich before heading out to Lucerne. When we got to Zurich Flughaven, picking up that luggage was easy.
@sevmom@gouf78 Thanks for the suggestions. I agree that there is lots to see. We are interested in Bruges, Ghent, and Flanders Field as a day trip and Waterloo and the Ardennes American Cemetery as another day trip. Renting a car seems to be a good idea so that we are not delayed waiting for public transportation.
I was hoping to get some post-Basel ideas here. Actually Basil—>Milan by train was one of the travel agent suggestions. The Rome2Rio site (an excellent travel estimator aid) shows the train ride is about 4.5 hours. But much like airports, train stations in Europe can involve extra waiting time. I do like the fact that train stations are often near the city center.