pontac

I forgot to add that there is a choice of cabins and on some lines the more expensive cabins include extra services. Regarding pre/post extensions; while they may make sense for those who come a long distance, I've never found them good value when all the European cities are so easy, quick and cheap to get to from the UK

@Celtic Fringe The cruise companies offerings keep changing. Assume you are going to see roughly that same sights which ever line you go on. I suggest you get a sheet of paper, write down the name of the companies at the top, and the offerings down the side. Make a grid and put a tick in relevant box under the cruise line that offers that. Highlight what is essential to you. Everything a line offers that you do not want you pay for. My friends who mostly travel by Viking did one cruise on Riviera and had no complaints tho' drinks were not included. If you don't drink alcohol that is a plus, if you do that is a negative. The lines that advertise in the UK have current offers for 2024, They all offer large discounts against the catalogue price (Though I'm not sure if anyone pays the catalogue price). I've cruised with Viking and Scenic and currently Viking are offering their drinks package free (means you can have drinks any time without paying. Scenic include dinks and are offering free business class air travel. They also include free chauffeur car to/from airport. This is a pretty good offer of you like business class, and you should look at how much transport to/from the airport would cost you if you go on another line. As I recall Riviera also have an offer on. Also remember people here have their favourite lines. Viking is not American owned, it's Norwegian owned, and they advertise different tours in the US, UK and Australian markets, so if you book Viking you'll be travelling mostly with Brits.. And Viking have the most boats, so if a bridge is not passible or a stretch of river is not navigable they can swap passenger from one boat to another identical one on the other side. I've done the Grand European Tour with Viking and I loved it. But if this is your first river cruise maybe you should pick a week long one in case river cruising is not for you. However the increasing number of people, cruise lines and cruise boats suggest that people do in fact love river cruising.

I've been thinking about something @Host Jazzbeau said earlier in this thread. Sorry @mozfoz this isn't relevant to your query. As I understand it @Host Jazzbeau thinks there is too much emphasis on wine in the trip. Some people on my recent Bordeaux cruise thought that about that cruise. For myself, there cannot be too much when in such iconic wine places . But... why don't cruise companies have cruises on different dates focusing on different things, e.g. a wine focused tour in Douro/Bordeaux and a non-wine focused tour in Douro/Bordeaux. And if you pick the wrong one - as the Muslim couple did who were on a wine tour of Southern France I went on - then they have no cause for complaint.

The Portuguese company that operated the Viking boat had a very relaxed attitude. Whereas Viking would close the sundeck when passing under low bridges, on this cruise crew just suggested that those on the sundeck should duck.

A pedant writes:- Unless the Scenic boat is an awful lot slower than the others, you'll do the same amount of cruising -- from Porto to the Spanish border and back to Porto. The difference is Scenic spend extra time docked and do more land tours. As you say in an earlier post (and in a different context) - Port, Port and more Port. 😁

We took a cruise of the Douro with our friends in 2014 on Viking. The holiday started with three nights in Lisbon. Lisbon is a pleasant city but Mrs Pontac and I had been there many times before on business so ... I see Uniworld offer both an 8 and 11 day holiday, 8 days being Porto > Porto, 11 days being Porto>Port then coach to Lisbon. Be aware that it's an all day coach ride from Porto to Lisbon; the Viking coach broke the journey twice, one for lunch and one to tour Coimbra. Looking at the scant information on Uniworld's site, they promise Dine on traditional fare in majestic Coimbra so it looks like lunch will be in Coimbra. The Douro is dramatic with steep high banks on either side, terraced with grape vines and with wineries along the way. It's the home of the famous Port (Porto in the USA) fortified wine, but there's much more than Port. Lack of demand from current consumers means much table wine is now produced and they can be sublime and are very good value. The further you travel from Porto the narrower the river so in places it seems you can touch both banks. But the navigable river is short, it stops at the Spanish border then you travel back to Porto. The day trip to Salamanca (a city worth seeing) involves a long coach trip. There aren't many places on the river that ships can moor. And there lies a problem. When we travelled in 2014 there were few tour ships. Our friends went back in 2022 and they were constantly rafted because there are now so many tour ships.

@MVPinBoynton well, your report on your site is exhaustive! In the early bit you say you chose a table for 10 and were served last. As there were 4 in your party, perhaps the waiter was waiting for the other six seats to be filled? A part of the report reads Also in the square is the Soviet monument. It was erected after WW2. It is very controversial since some feel that it is a symbol of soviet oppression, while others view it as a sign of freedom from the soviets. Should the last word be Germans? (This board doesn't allow my preferred word of which this is an anagram - Nzais.) Also a typo - I stayed around long enough to see the lock fill up and the Egil begin to leave it. After seeing it done once, there isn’t much reason to watch it again, since it does get old quickly. I think get cold was meant. I love river cruising and also Viking, and had an invitation from friends to join them on a Christmas markets cruise. Your report confirms my decision not to join them - too cold!!!

None - the ships are all Longships, and are identical apart from their name and the artwork at the top of the stairs. For floorplans and a 360 degree tour (use your mouse to spin the view around and to select the various areas the view.) (As already mentioned, Longships are larger than the Douro boats.)

You don't have to go to the Antarctic or even board a boat to see penguins. All you need is to go to Cape Town. Penguins come ashore and are a feature of Cape Town's Boulders Beach, and there is a colony with more penguins than can be counted at Betty's Bay, a 90 minute drive from Cape Town. Pix taken at Betty's Bay. See penguin booklet (capenature.co.za)

OK, I'm confused. Polaris is an Expedition ship going to Arctic and Antarctic waters from North America. What's she doing in Nuremberg? Oh, a Google has found that Global River Cruising has a boat called Polaris. I guess that's the one you're on. Hearing it has a glass door to the bathroom means I won't be booking it. Glass doors to the loo are increasingly common and I hate them. I guess the designers haven't tried sleeping in such rooms when their partner needs to go to the loo in the night and the light floods the room....

Thanks for that, @Mitina. For @joy1rn it's just a bit further from Szechenyi Baths at 3 miles. The captain of the boat has to moor where the authorities tell him. In the 3 times I have been there with Viking its been moored close by the Chain Bridge - one time partly under - but with the huge increase in cruise companies stopping in Budapest I suppose it's a matter of where a space can be found. Fear not though, @joy1rn you'll still be only a short taxi ride away. Enjoy your cruise, @Mitina and thanks for taking the trouble.

You'll probably be moored by the Chain Bridge. Have you looked at Google Maps? Those baths are so near the river, about 2.5 miles you could walk it and a taxi will only take minutes (depending on traffic 🙂) The tours I've done and can recommend are the Hungarian Horsemen at Lázár Equestrian Park, and (fin Vienna - the Mozart Strauss concert. As you might guess, this question has been asked before so for a fuller answer see my post at Read my view - and see my photo - about the Horsemen here

Again I agree with @Canal archive. Not all ANIZs were German, and not all Germans were ANIZs. I came to the same conclusion as @Host Jazzbeau but all the same it was irritating when it wasn't used to insult anyone but was being used in its factual historical sense. I wonder if anyone using these forums comes from that fine old English town of Scunxhorpe* and has tried to use it in their Profile? I think you can guess what the x should be..........

I see CC software has starred out what I wrote in my post of Day 7, which is what the National Socialist German Workers' Party (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei[ or NSDAP) was known as. It was known by the four letters ANIZ but not in that order

Absolutely nothing to do with the accidents discussed in the above posts. After viewing the video over the weekend on Viking TV on the Great Lakes Collection that we were booked on in September (from Duluth to Toronto on Octantis) we realised that we were not fit enough anymore to undertake kayak trips and treks through wilderness. So we have changed it to another river cruise. Viking charge loss of deposit for cancellation more than 70 days before the trip, but only a £100 admin fee to change one cruise to another, and I was pleased and surprised that there was no problem in doing so and they were so pleasant about it. Enjoy your expeditions, everyone, and note there's now a cabin freed up on the Octantis due to sail on 12 Sep 23 from Duluth via Toronto and down to the Antarctic.

Can anyone who has been on this cruise, in Basel to Trier direction, tell me what time the boat departs Basel?

I have travelled on Viking 10 times and I've stayed in both FB C & D.* IMO the answer is no, C is not worth $200 extra. I try and book a cabin as far back as I can. Viking Longboat's engines are quiet and I've found there is more noise from people chatting (which many cannot do quietly) as they pass along the corridor, so the further back the fewer people pass the room. However, it's longer to walk to anywhere, which you realise when you get to the coach and realise you need to go back to the room to collect the listening device. (Speaking here from personal experience). Regarding size of room: if you've read this forum you'll have seen many posts saying how little time is spent in the room, they're primarily used for sleeping and getting dressed. Room design is good, making excellent use of the space. But yes, it's smaller than a USA hotel room (but us Europeans are used to small hotel rooms.) At the rear of the upper deck are stairs to the sun deck, so that's a handy quick way to get there, but IMO that's the only benefit of an upper deck room near the back. So there you have it. Two answers that take different view. When some more are added you'll realise that there's no consensus and you'll have to decide for yourself 😁 *(and veranda rooms and lower deck rooms)

@*Miss G* and @Daisi Thanks for your concern over Krisie's fall. She and Dan are spending this weekend with us, so I asked about her recovery. She says that she took two days off work then was on light duties, but she's better now. It only hurts now when she coughs - unfortunately she's coughing a lot this weekend as she caught a cold - for which she blames Dan!

Yes, two weeks is a long trip, especially if it is ones first. We were crewed by experienced canal cruisers and got the second week at a huge discount. And so we were able to travel a long way without turning back. Most canal holidays are only a week, and indeed Dan takes two 1-week canal breaks annually. One can also book fewer days than a week, and day hire is also possible.

Perhaps Expeditions needs a separate category of its own. It's under Viking Ocean, but we're booked on a Viking Exhibition and we're not travelling on any ocean, just across the Great Lakes, so I didn't think of looking in an Ocean category.

Indeed, they had to have boats built in the US (so the steam engine didn't explode) and employ US crew. All the same, this European that has been on the European rivers so many times intends repaying the compliment so many Americans make in coming on European river cruises by making the trans-Atlantic crossing and cruising US waters.

@rachiem - River cruising is very competitive, for lower costs look at Riviera, or TUI or Saga. Suggest you also decide what you want and draw up a chart of what the competing companies are offering, the more they offer then usually the higher the price. If that higher price includes things you don't need then you may be better off with a less expensive cruise

The fixed window cabins are on the lowest desk and the reason they're fixed is they are at water level. They are also high, so one only gets a view if one is tall enough. Mrs P isn't, so she doesn't want to go in what many on this board call aquarium class. But none of that means you won't get a view. From a room you see only one bank as you pass by. We spend little time in the room, from the lounge you can see forward to both banks and pop outside to take photo's of anything that catches your eye. In good weather you'll want to spend time on top - the sun deck. The scenery in the Douro is spectacular with steep banks soaring up covered with grape vines on narrow terraces. The river gets narrower the further you go from Porto so you feel in places you can reach the sides from the boat. In other words, if the bottom deck is O.K. for you save the money and go for it. There's a lot you can do with £1,600

Would we do it again? Yes, but in summertime. Countryside is beautiful. the people are friendly and slow travel is relaxing. There's a camaraderie amongst boaters and lots of sites on land worth exploring, which in the short cruising days of winter we had too little time to see.

Last Day 15 - Saturday - Braunston to Napton Left Braunston at 07:00 because the boat had to be returned by 09:00. When we got to Napton Marina one of the staff boarded to manoeuvre us in. We then had 30 minutes to vacate the boat. Then a team boarded to replace gas cannisters and clean the boat. After a few minutes in the office for Dan with the final paperwork we said farewells. Dan and Krisie headed home to North Wales with a stop for breakfast while we drove in the opposite direction. Two weeks on Midlands canals had gone by in a flash. We'd eaten better evening meals than I expected in convenient canal side pubs and - apart from the last Friday - we'd been blessed with sunny clear days. Passengers and crew of Annabelle in The Boathouse on the last night. Braunston to Napton - 5 miles - 0 locks - 2 hours