CDNPolar

For us Budapest! We cannot wait to get back to Budapest which is where our River cruise disembarks in early December.

Agree... We went to a local restaurant two nights ago for dinner. This is a quiet - no blaring music - white tablecloths, intimate Italian specialty restaurant. Even without wine you are going to be looking at $250 for two with tip. This was always the type of restaurant that you got a little bit dressed up for, and we did. Not a tie, or jacket, but just cleaned up a bit like we would for a Viking evening meal. The guy that was in my view for the full meal was in jeans that looked like they had not been washed in months, and a thin (washed too many times) stretched out t-shirt. I put on better t-shirts for working in the garden. All around him were folks that were in from elegant casual to actually dressed up. This is what we see everywhere today. I am getting to the point of not fighting it or being worried about it. We will dress how it makes us feel good and to heck with everyone else. We will continue to follow Viking's dress code because we tend to be rule followers.

We have been talking about this a lot at home. Our view is that Viking to this point has presented a product that we love and because of that have sailed 10 or 11 times now (have to go back and count) and we have 4 future cruises on the books. We feel that Viking have controlled their product and kept their product reasonably dependable. I do believe that the pandemic hurt Viking like most other companies and had lasting impact, but somehow they kept the product in tact and that we as the guest did not see too much of that impact. We are afraid that with shareholders to please, that the product will start to erode and we will see a decline.

Was looking for this on one of our upcoming tours, but all are still open. There is a Sold Out banner somewhere over the shore excursion tile even before you click. Our experience is to book what you think you want - included or optional - and pay for the optionals immediately. If you decide you don't want one later, cancel it and you will get a refund to your credit card. Don't play the waiting game. Book sooner rather than be disappointed later.

Yes! And we sleep well because of that 30,000 steps a day

Great way to spend an OBC! Make it multiply!

Viking's lunch and dinner menus always have the "always available" at lunch and dinner, then the locally inspired 3 courses, then the dishes of the day... there is LOTS of selection on Viking's daily menus on River Cruises.

Stuff happens at any age. We had a major medical event happen this past December that was found by chance. By Chance!!! Had to cancel our January trip and without the insurance we would have been out over $17K

I think that Basel is always where you will fly into. It does not make sense that they would shuttle you to any other airport. The Silver Spirits Beverage Package is $25 USD per night per person. Not per day, per night. Just want to clarify that even if you do not purchase the SSBP you still have access to all spirits and wine and beer on their extended list, you just pay per drink. Most all Viking drinks are very reasonable in price. With the included beer and wine at lunch and dinner we don't purchase the SSBP anymore because the additional drinks we might want in the evening in the lounge never surpass the $50 USD per night that we would pay for the package and we have always been happy with Vikings included wines. You can also buy a bottle of wine or liquor off the ship and bring it on board a Viking ship. There are no restrictions on this. You can ask the restaurant to chill your wine and serve it to you at dinner. We have often purchased wine during a winery tour and brought that back with us. We have friends that bring their own Gin on board and make their drinks in their cabin and carry them to the lounge. All good. You can also at the end of dinner ask for your wine glass to be topped up with the included wine (to the brim) and then carry that to the lounge for your evening after dinner sipping.

Agree with everything you are saying.... The only saving grace with a River Cruise, is if you do miss the embarkation you are generally not that far from the next port opposed to an Ocean cruise that may be in a different country and hours away by air by the next day. But, we generally always budget to go one day early.

Like @pontac said, YOU don't have to be privileged to access this. My understanding is, and I could be wrong, that this is an excursion that Viking Cruise Lines is offering that other cruise lines do not offer. I have been under the impression that this would be something that would set Viking apart and is usually delving deeper into a culture or historic site. I also think that generally these are Optional excursions that you are going to pay for too.

Is this perhaps the way the more "discount" operators keep costs down? I don't consider them a discount line, but when we sailed to Antarctica with Hurtigruten, we were surprised at the limited dinner menu which was one meat dish, one fish dish, and one vegetarian dish ONLY each night. We came to Hurtigruten from Viking Ocean having extensive menus and many choices nightly.

With no disrespect intended, Americans are known for larger portions and since the majority of Vikings guests are Americans we find (as Canadians) that Viking really does cater to Americans. I have also heard onboard and read here on Cruise Critic that The Chef's Table is not as popular because the portions are too small. But, this is what a tasting menu is all about. Tasting menus are about the variety of courses and the attention to detail and execution, not the portion size. You cannot please everyone on the food front for sure. My only concern is if the food quality is going down, not the portion size. We have always been pleased with the quality. As far as portions in both the Restaurant and Manfredi's, we have often asked for a couple of appetizers and then the main being made into an appetizer portion as well. In the end we are eating 3 appetizer size dishes and end up quite satisfied. When we started cruising we thought we had to be gluttons and fill our bellies with both food and wine, but now we are looking at restraint while still enjoying our meals. It is not about stuffing our faces because it is included... We now leave a cruise at the same weight we boarded.

I hope I don't offend anyone with these comments, but my husband is Chinese and we have done some extensive travel to a few major cities and sites in China... and I would say this: It does not matter if you are travelling with 900 cruise line guests or not. The Chinese themselves are huge tourists in their own country. Every site you go to, whether you are with 900 Vikings or not, there will be thousands of Chinese tourists at the same site. And, in my experience, they are a friendly but "aggressive" tourist group. Aggressive in the nicest way possible. If you want to see the main site that you are there to see you have to be ready to move yourself through the crowd elbow to elbow to get to the front. If you are shy or not aggressive enough you will not see what you are there to see. I learned to "shuffle" my feet constantly and in a direction through the crowd. When you get to the front you take your pictures and shuffle out of the crowd. Now, not every site is like that, but when you are at a site where one of the view points into a roped off building is only 10 feet wide, this is where the thick crowds are. I was educated by a private guide that we had on one day's outing that I was leaving too much space between me and the person in front of me as individuals see this gap and they butt in. This is just normal behaviour in China. This is my experience at the largest tourist sites. I certainly visited places that were not like this, but there are always a lot of Chinese tourists in the mix. They love their country and travel it extensively.

We have land travelled to China a couple of times now with a land trip in the development stages including Tibet for next year. We personally have not been on the Viking's river cruise in China but our dear friends have and they said the execution of the land and air portions were seemless.

I agree with the planetarium. We have sailed twice with a planetarium and the first time we were so excited and rushed to sigh up and wait at the doors, and were totally underwhelmed and almost fell asleep. The last time was as @CCWineLover indicated a 3 out of 10 at the most. I came into this from a city - Toronto - that had a full scale planetarium connected to our Royal Ontario Museum. This was a massive dome and you were almost lying down in your chair. It was one of the most memorable experiences that I have every had in "theatre" and the Viking experience was meh. Even if we sail on a ship in the future with a Planetarium, we won't even bother to sign up unless they were offering OBC to do so!

I think that this kind of question has been discussed a few times on CC. I have not been on Windstar, but have researched the line. Personally I don't think that they have a comparable product. I believe that you choose a cruise line for the itinerary and of course other aspects, but would be easier to compare other "like Viking" ocean lines than Windstar to Viking. Just my opinion.

That is a good idea, because when most are travelling in 2's trying to join a table that is set for 6 or 8 can be difficult.

I should not make it sound that bad.... It may work for you... who knows. We just found that there was a core group that "reserved" the tables every night when we looked. We were looking for a quiet dinner for two a couple of nights instead of sitting with 4 or 6 others. River Cruising does not have room service, however, it is my understanding that you can request a tray and pick it up yourself and carry to your cabin. We also noted that sometimes people who wanted to sit in the Aquavit Terrace and it was full, would sit on the side sofas in that area or just inside the lounge. They may or may not allow in the lounge, but the side sofas are technically in that terrace. The Captain sat here a couple of nights that we noticed.

There is the Aquavit Terrace. One level up from the dining room and in the front of the ship. There are only perhaps 6 or 7 tables inside, which are four 4 person tables, and three 2 person tables. There are more tables outside but they depend on the weather. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner all available. Our only first hand experience is dinner and here is what we found: Same menu - not lighter - just order what you want. A couple of appetizers instead of a main course? Dinner here started 15 minutes later than the dining room. People "reserved" these tables for dinner as early as 6pm (dinner at 7:15ish) by putting coats, glasses, and other stuff on the tables. Often we could not get a table out there. You can NOT actually reserve these tables legitimately. There seemed to be a group of people that ate there every night or even every meal. One night we got there and there was a four table that was not "reserved" and we sat down, expecting that two other people might join us. I guess we caused quite a stir because the foursome that ate there every night came and their table was gone... We were approached by a crew member and asked if we would move to a table of two (which had personal belongings on it) and the crew moved these belongings off and we moved there. It seems to be to be more hassle than it is worth and in the future we likely won't ever eat there again. I suggest that you just go to the dining room. Have your light meal from the menu options and enjoy the company of the people you are sitting with.

Not arguing with you, but for others that are faced with providing evacuation insurance here are my questions: 1) Where cruise ships on expedition normally take you to in Antarctica, there are no runways for fixed wing aircraft to land anywhere close to where the ships sail. How will they get you off the continent? 2) The continent of Antarctica is too far from any land for helicopters to fly for evacuation. Again, how are they going to get you off the continent? Our Hurtigruten ship turned around 16 hours into the Drake Passage on the way TO Antarctica to return a passenger that fell during the Drake Passage segment and broke her hip. No evacuation because winds and seas were too high, we had to go back to Ushuaia for her to disembark the ship. There was going to be an attempt to get within helicopter range of Argentina but the winds were too high. There was next going to be an attempt to get close enough to Argentina to meet a Coast Guard ship for a ship to ship transfer, but the winds and seas were too high. The only option was to go back to port. We essentially lost one day because of this. (We were and are not blaming the woman that fell and she did have a full recovery... but these things happen on this kind of cruise.) A Viking ship with an injured passenger (accident happened while at the Continent) turned around one or two days early to take the passenger back to Ushuaia because no evacuation was available. This was the ship that unfortunately encountered the rogue wave that ultimately killed one passenger. This ship turned around because no evacuation was available. I don't know why these companies are forcing us to pay for this insurance when it is not a viable option if something does happen. For a ship to turn around on the way or early from the Continent costs the cruise line LOTS of money and a lot of very disgruntled passengers. If they demand evacuation coverage, why don't they use it? Because it is not available. Hopefully if someone knows differently they will come in and correct me....?

Many parts to unpack here. Purchasing the Air Plus only gives you the ability to have more control over the air you are booking. Normally Viking fly you in to arrive on the day the cruise ship embarks. If you want to fly in early, then you will have a deviation fee per person to come in a day or two or whatever early. Buying the Air Plus does not eliminate the deviation fee. If you are flying in early, you are on your own from the arrival airport to your accommodation and from your accommodation the next day to the ship. Viking does not provide you transportation. IF HOWEVER you purchase a Viking Pre Cruise package, then the deviation fee is not charged, and transfers are included. Hope this makes sense.

We have met solo travellers on Viking River. Do as @bottomfeeder suggests... go into the dining room and sit at an empty table and wait. Folks will join you and all will be good. On our last cruise what I noted was that for breakfast, many coming in would sit at an empty table rather than join someone. The breakfast crowd filters in slowly. We are always at the door when breakfast starts. Lunch is similar - people filter in a more staggered fashion. At dinner since there is only one seating and it is generally right after the port talk, everyone converges on the dining room at the same time. Take your seat and each night you may have different guests. We sat with the solo traveller many times but not always.

If it is advertised as so on the menu, that is ok. If not on the menu then not ok. Surf and Turf and Scallops wrapped in bacon are typical globally. But if I order a fish dish and it comes with animal meat on it and it is not on the menu then that is something different.

Good on you that you got what you wanted! In the end that is what matters! (Happy Dance)