magellan2022

Thank you, the lists are helpful!

I think your review is the best I've seen. The pictures were great and the narrative clearly presented the positives and could be betters. Thank you!

We'll be on the Summit May 7th for a 7 day Bermuda cruise.

I'm psyched!

Thank you for your comprehensive review! We will be going on the Rivers of Gold cruise in July, our 2nd with Viking. We are wine lovers so our 2014 Viking Chateaux, Rivers and Wine (Bordeaux) was fantastic. Hoping to enjoy some Portuguese wines on this voyage!

Hi - great thread! My husband and I are looking at doing this cruise in July 2015. It will be our first cruise.

 

Question for those that have been. Does it make any difference what side of the ship you are on? Odd or even numbered cabins? Any other cabin advice?

Great time of year! The cruise was our first, as well. Now we are spoiled! Definitely book an even numbered cabin since 90% of the time you are docked with that side toward the river. We liked our French Balcony. With the sliding door open, it seemed like a real balcony. By the end of the week we would have liked a little more room, but it was really comfortable! Viking has done a great job.

Yes, thanks FotoPeg for keeping the thread going all this time. When did we start communicating about the "new itinerary?" There were many kinks to straighten out. Know that the rivers control the cruise!!

I listened carefully to everything that was shared and did some of my own sharing. It was valuable. We knew what to expect. However we did not know how much the Viking cruise experience would exceed our expectations!!

It's now four months after the cruise I still experience a rush of warmth and fond memories when I'm asked abou the Viking River Cruise!!

We continue to explore Bordeaux wine. I am still amazed at the amount of knowledge we accumulated in such a short time.

To all you upcoming cruisers, my good wishes for a wonderful time!

I haven't checked in for awhile and found myself reading all the posts and getting quite nostalgic! The fact that Rose is on the Forseti now and sharing is special!! All of the postings on this roll call, led by FotoPeg provided useful information and greatly enhanced our experience on the July 5 cruise. Thanks, everyone!

We had a wonderful time and though we did every tour, came home feeling relaxed. How is that possible? Wonderful staff who sincerely wanted us to have the best experience possible, friendly passengers who were open to conversation and beautiful surroundings. We met and dined with others who had purchased the drink package. We accepted the opportunity to taste. The wines served on the package were indeed wonderful. Would I buy the package on a future cruise? It's a definite maybe. I'll have to let you know next time!

Peg, your cruise is in less than 5 weeks! When do you leave for Paris? We loved Paris and can't wait to return. I am really excited for you! As for the cruise, relax and know that you'll be well taken care of on the Forseti. Just have your notes on things to see in each town handy! I did but realize that we missed a few sights in Bordeaux at the end of the cruise. I think we were just too relaxed!!

Enjoy!!

Jackie

FotoPeg

As usual, I cannot write a short answer!!! We enjoyed each guide and learned of history, culture and wine. I know there were other guides who were equallly as good (please chime in here).

We did too many walks in Bordeaux. I agree with the advice to choose one on Saturday.

Saturday day walking tour: Diane Enjoyed Diane but did not realize we'd do a similar tour in the evening.

Saturday evening walking/tram tour: Lori (originally from California) Learned that she would be taking her group to Chateau Lynch-Bages for tasting the next day and I had read it was a good Chateau to visit. I requested that we be assigned to Lori's tour group (good choice for wine and guide)!

Sunday: Lori. Chateau Lynch-Bages plus directed bus tour of the Chateau of Medoc. We stopped, got out, took pictures or just gazed. She guessed correctly that we had reached our collective limit and delivered us to Chateuax Kirwan. We were the first bus to arrive so had time to soak up the wonderful atmosphere!

Monday: Citadel at Blaye - our guide was adequate for the job. Short morning with significant history included! A good historical base for the region.

Tuesday: Diane (moved from England in her teens with great stories of learning the culture): Liborne, Chateau Siaurac, and St Emilion. She knows her Bordeuax and wine making history. I can still hear her voice saying, "ladies and gentleman, please..."

Wednesday/Thursday: Christine (embarrassed to have forgetten her native english speaking country) Bordeaux bus/walking tour. (bus tour showed us more than we could have seen on our own). She was with us in Cadiallac and Sauternes. Enjoyed her wit and insights to the Castle and the Sauturnes the next morning. She resides in Cadillac!

Walking the Camino de Santiago sounds fascinating and I am going to make a point of watching the movies! Thanks for the suggestion! After reading the posts from other cruisers I realize again that each cruise has its unique pluses and minues. July 5th had no real mishaps, though I do remember thinking about the ropes while watching the process of docking and undocking! We also had a complete crew and the tides and weather cooperated. As we knew from the March/April sailings, taking everything in stride and making the most of what you are given is the way to approach this experience. We did miss the opportunity to have a glass of Crémant in Blaye! I'm going to work on making up that deficit! Sounds like a good birthday treat, Host Jazzbeau!

I wanted to clarify a few points from the last weeks' postings. Wine: Frank was our Sommelier and on his way to his 3rd degree exam. He was quite knowledgable and open to questions and conversation and presented the wine offerings/classes. Per vcgeno and loge23, it sounds like a "wine guy" is not always assigned to the Foresti. Viking, please note this strong suggestion that a Sommelier be on every cruise. It adds to the overall experience of Chateaux, Rivers and Wine!

Guides: not all guides are "created equal." We were lucky to have the services of Lori, Diane and Christine. The guides are sometimes with us for more than one day so request a specific guide if you like that person. For sure, request not to be assigned to a guide that you feel was below par. We found the desk to be accommodating.

For those now booking future cruises, the Foresti almost always docks with the even numbered cabins toward the river. I don't know if that is the case for other itineraries. It's not a must have but we did appreciate the view from 232, our compact french balcony cabin!

Bon Voyage!

Thanks for the book recommendation, FotoPeg. Wine and War is in at my local library so I'll pick it up soon! There's a question I'd like answered, maybe someone on the cruise or going soon would get an answer and post it. Or maybe one of you out there already knows the answer!

All the chateaux that we visited were proud of the fact that all their grapes are picked by hand. A friend who's familiar with other regions in France was saying that she's seen grapes picked by machine, Is it the entire region Bordeaux or just the chateaux that we visited that pick by hand?

Thanks Loge23, for the update. So happy you "got" the Chateau Kirwan experience. It set the tone of the cruise for us!

FotoPeg, you know your Longboats! The coffee, cappachino, mocha..... and tea are always available. Watch out for those chocolate cookies!! I became enamored with the bubble water. There's a still/bubble water dispenser.

I have a book to recommend that's fun, a quick read and captures the spirit of Bordeaux. The Vintage Caper, by Peter Mayle. It's in hard and e-copy. I just reread the book and enjoyed it even more post cruise!

I've been catching up on his thread having been away for a while. I haven't noticed anyone else having gone to Bourg after touring the Citadel at Blaye. Did anyone else do this? I noticed that some cruisers set sail for Libourne in the afternoon after their morning in Blaye. We were given the opportunity to go on an optional free tour to Bourg that afternoon and didn't sail to Libourne until late in the afternoon. We enjoyed the surprise trip to Bourg.

 

While we didn't sail to Cadillac, we really didn't mind the short bus ride there. It's not a really long bus ride, and you do see stuff along the way. So don't stress too much if you don't sail there.

 

I've been enjoying Sauterne since we've been back (2 months now) - something I'd never tasted before. Hint: Sauterne is MUCH more expensive here in the US. I bought one bottle in CDG airport and wish I had bought more!

Thanks, id4elizabeth for bringing up these points.

Bourg: Forgot to mention this little embarkation point after our tasting at Chateau Siaurac (still such a warm feeling with memories of Siaurac), the bus took us to Bourg where we, along with the Truffle group, rejoined the ship. I was not aware of a town tour, but I wasn't with ship.

Boreuaux is a compact area so I can see that taking buses would work, if needed. If you don't sail to Cadiallac, you can see still view the Pond de Pierre, the infamous bridge designed by order of Napoleon (correction to my blog :) from Bordeaux.

We bought a duty free bottle of Sauterne at CDG, as well. While at Chateau d'Arch bought the "tubes" of the three vintages we sampled. I agree with you, id4elizabeth, knowing the status of the Chatueau and the price of Sauternes stateside, wish I had purchased at least one bottle!

Advice: if you became enamoured with Sauterne as we did, plan to make a purchase while at the Chateau. Due to the need to sail on time, we were rushed at the end of our visit. That would be an advantage to being bused!

Kittiescrap and SueFrankuk, I am so sorry! What a disappointment to everyone. As FotoPeg said and we past cruisers have said, this is not the cruise ship you see on PBS adds! There is little actual cruising, just moving the ship! I would imagine that you are getting the wonderful food, communication and service that we received last week. We had been told that the ship's propellers are vulnerable to floating tree limbs, too and I guess anything in the water. Enjoy the rest of your time in Bordeaux! The time goes very fast!

The spice, "piment d'espelette

Adds spice, not exactly cayenne pepper. Pascal said it was available "everywhere."

Now, you know you can't talk about recipes without sharing! :)

And, what spice were you talking about?

Thanks, loge23! Wishing you a wonderful cruise.

In the Bordeaux area we had brief periods of rain, clouds and sun. Often in the same hour! It was around 70 degrees most days which turned out to be great touring weather for us. Others were cold and some we found in bathing suits on the sun deck. It depends on what you're used to. My advice to you, bring layers! Bon voyage!

We're about to fly off to Paris and board the Forseti on 7/19.

I intend to report to this thread as well and keep the fun going for all those still to depart.

It appears to be quite cool weather so far in Western Europe, but I'm sure we'll bring the FL sun along - we always do. Last year we came home to cool off!

Au revoir, amis!

Thanks to the superb organization of the crew, disembarkation was relaxed and easy. Luggage was placed outside the door by 9:00 with the color coded and stateroom labeled tags attached. We had a relaxed breakfast saying goodbye to friends, acquaintances and crew. Our taxi arrived when we had requested and had an easy 50E ride to the airport.

And the rest they say is history!

Knowing that this board is read on the Forseti, I wanted to mention a few special crew members.

Mihaela - Cabin Steward. Took care of our cabin with TLC! She expertly handled every request with a smile!

Mieke, Program Director - far exceeded my expectations. Always accessible, funny, with lots of knowledge of what's going on locally, totally in touch with every tour and guides. She also shared information about the initiation of the cruise from an officer's perspective.

Bastion - Concierge - You'd think he'd been doing the job for years!

Alexandra - Front desk, always with a smile

Aneka -Our "chosen server" in the dining room at dinner

Lachezar - Wine steward this cruise. Knows his wine and the menu

Frank - Sommelier Extremely knowledgable and loved sharing it!

Bruno - Our "chosen server" for breakfast in the dining room

Michael - Maitre d' Seen everywhere on the ship, always with a smile!

Captain Eschbach - expertly commanding the ship from the bridge; a special memory, helping with luggage, when needed!

Every crew member I met was friendly and helpful! I didn't have room to mention everyone! Many of the crew members we met shared something of themselves and became more than just a name and a job! Thank you.

Thank you!

We had a lovely experience with wine tasting in Graves with three of our ship friends. Bastion, the Concierge set it up with a driver/guide, a visit to two chateaux and lunch in a small local restaurant. What a wonderful experience! By taking advantage of visiting these chateuax we missed the wheel house tour and additional time to sightsee in Bordeuax. All in all we're happy with the choice that we made!

Early in the evening DH easily settled our account at the front desk. Re tips, we gave what was recommended in the literature, without qualm. Though entirely optional, we felt that the entire crew were wonderful and deserved the extra.

Friday night is the time for the farewell toast from the Captain and senior officers. They are leaders of a wonderful crew. The Captain's Dinner followed in the Dining Room with a lovely menu and wine choices, introduced with delight by Chef Pascal and Sommelier Frank. After dinner entertainment was brought onto the ship; three operatic singers and a pianist. They were wonderful!! It was a special end to a great evening!

Thursday morning saw us on a short bus ride to the Chateau d'Arche.

Sauterne is a lovely small town with 460 residents. The appellation produces just 2% of all French wine. You'll learn the reasons this during your time at the Chateau. I'd never tasted a Sauterne before thinking it would be too sweet. During a delightful, well organized and informative time in the cellar and vineyards incorporated with tasting, I changed my mind!!

The disembarkation instructions were given on Thursday evening before dinner. This followed the program director's slide show and wonderful descriptions of other cruises and ships. I agree with the question, can another cruise itinerary/ship/crew be as wonderful?

The answer for us is that we're definitely going to take another Viking cruise! The only question is where and when!

Thank you for those of you who read my previous posts during the cruise. I have created a great journal of our experiences. I'm surprised at how much I had to say! For those that are interested I'll share the highlights of each day in the following posts.

Though the weekly itinerary is pretty much what we expected, it can change with the tides. For example we cruised back to Bordeaux on Tuesday evening and had Wednesday morning had the bus/walking tour. That seemed a positive change. Enjoyed learning and seeing more of Bordeaux.

We had to leave for Cadillac exactly at the right time to go under the "famous" historic bridge. A bit of history, Napoleon XIV built the bridge in order for his troops and supplies to cross the river without having to pay "the ferryman's outrages fees!" It was quite exciting to be out on deck to witness the care it takes for the "tight squeeze." We waited about 15 minutes for the okay to proceed.

Cadillac (pronounced Cadiac) Tiny dock, as yet undeveloped and a small village.

A delight: The Castle; French history coming alive!

A magical moment to share: As I entered the dining room that night, I was holding a copy of the recipe I'd requested for the Lamb Stew from earlier in the week. Chef Pascal greeted me and asked what recipe I had! He shared with me that he had added some lemon to the recipe this time which he really liked. I asked him about a specific spice that I was not familiar to me and he disappeared to the back of the dining room and into the kitchen. He returned with a bottle of the spice and we discussed its exact taste and possible substitute. We found the staff to be accessible!

Actually it is now Thursday afternoon however I want to stay in chronological order so I'm using my notes to catch up.

Tuesday was an amazing day!! We started the day with a market tour in Liborne. The market was in full swing. Beautiful produce, meat, fish, bread, pastry and food being prepared in place! That was the outside market. The inside market was totally full and busy, too! We had some free time to shop or to stop by a cafe.

It was then a short bus ride to Chateau Siauric. As we began to walk down the driveway to the Chateau, owner Paul Goldschmidt, was walking up the driveway to meet us! He's warm and welcoming and enthusiastic about the property and his wines. To condense a magical experience into a few sentences does not do it justice! After touring the vineyards and winery, learning about the winemaking process and tasting a wonderful selection of his wines, we were provided the "light lunch" at beautifully appointed tables with three more wines to enjoy. It was a perfect! There was an opportunity to order wine to be shipped from Sonoma, California. I highly recommend the Chateau Siauric visit. The truffle hunters also had a great time, from going out with the dogs to lunch cooked by the owners wife and served in the dining room by their children! There was room to sign up on board for both excursions.

The village to St Emilion was well worth it! A lot of history, an upper church and the famous monolith church, lots of shops and cafes all built on the hillside. There was a hard street, an easy street and a medium street to walk down to the church square. The view was spectacular!

The meals have continued to have excellent choices both in the dining room and on the Aquavit Terrace. Meika's briefings are informative and complete and her quotes relating to the French and to wine are very entertaining! She is very available, often accompanying one of the groups on tour. There are pictures of the passengers and sights projected in the lounge each evening. There is TV in the cabins and the World Cup was on TV in the lounge, as well. There are movies, TV shows, CNN, US sports, a Viking cruises site and bow and lounge camera channels on the TV in our cabin.

Thanks fellow readers, for your appreciation of the time and energy it takes to blog our river cruise journey! I feel compelled to give back, as previous cruisers have done for our benefit and enjoyment!

Monday: Early morning cruise from Pauillac to Blaye

After docking we toured the citadel in Blaye. It started out raining, then the sun came out and stayed out...umbrellas and sweaters then sunscreen and hats...all in about an hour! That has been the weather so far this week! The citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is full of history from the 1300s to the 1950s and beautiful views. Our guide, Ann, gave us the history as we walked.

We had lunch on board and then sailed to Liborne during the afternoon. The Cognac makers left right after lunch. Sailing friends told me that they had a wonderful time learning about and making their own bottles of Cognac! It was a beautiful day to be on the sun deck for the sail. When we neared Liborne all had to clear the sun deck as we sailed under the bridge. The wheel house was partially lowered.

We had our short briefing in the lounge and a lovely dinner followed by a wine tasting (five wines) led by Sommelier Frank. Over the years we have been to many instructional wine tastings, however we learned some pearls from Frank!

A lovely day!!

Let me tell you a bit about the food on board. Everything is good and many dishes are exceptional! I've asked for several recipes which were provided! Can I do what Chef Pascal does? Doubtful but I will try! The "ship" wine has been good and plentiful at meals, usually a Sauvignon Blanc and a Bordeaux blend! We chose not to purchase the package. With all the wine tastings, we figured that we would purchase a drink if we desired. So far we haven't felt the need.

For us ocean cruising may very well be finished for us. There is no comparison to the River cruise we are experiencing. Our ship is small in comparison and we know the staff and other passengers in a way that would be impossible on a big ship. We have made friends on board and laughed and shared! I cannot say enough about the staff and their desire to provide a wonderful cruise experience for each passenger! Every person I meet is eager to be of service.

I have been so impressed with Viking in that they have listened to what their passengers have said and improved on it. Remember when we read that they were reading Cruise Critic and that most importantly, it was asked that they be honest and straightforward with what was going on? At the first briefing on Saturday evening, Meika said that she was delighted to report that the tides were such that we could follow the itinerary. Today she talked about what an influence the Atlantic Ocean weather had on our time in Pauliac...a real gale off the coast (very close) would influence the ship's ability to navigate the waters. The timing of the tides control the sailings and they are different every day.

When we arrived in Pauliac (prononced Poiliac), we were at highish tide. When we returned at 9:15 tonight from a very full day, we were down in the mud! It's fascinating!

Let me tell you, Sunday was a day we'll remember for the rest of our lives!

A short walk in Pauliac after lunch

Tasting at Chateau Lynch-Blaye: the young woman at the winery was an exceptional educator to the process of making wine in Bordeaux.

The views of famous Chateaux as seen from our bus (stops for pictures and driving by)

Dinner at Chateau Kirwan-an unbelievable experience, the jewel of the voyage! Food and wine exceptional, dinner for 190 served smoothly by our excellent staff.

Madam Natalie Schiller - owner the the Chateau, was present all evening and spoke of the wine before each course. A lovely warm woman who's family established the chateau and has "looked after the vinyards" since the 1800s!

Chef Pascal - introduced each course

Chief Steward, Michael - always overseeing the dining room (at Chateau Kirwan and onboard)

We were all still taking about the day on Monday

I am delighted to say that we boarded the Forseti yesterday, July 5th. After an uneventful 3 1/2 hour train trip from Paris (do pay attention to the time of departure and the number of the train since the ultimate destination may not be Bordeaux) and taxi (E20) from the station, we were greeted on the dock by a crew member who promptly took our luggage! Once on board we checked in and were escorted to our cabin (232). We have a french window on the port side of the ship (currently blocked by a Uniworld ship). It was 2:30 so we were able to grab a lovely light lunch and Bordeaux wine for me, beer for DH. After unpacking in our very tight but wonderfully organized cabin (we have extra drawer space and plenty of outlets - thanks for the suggestion of taking an small power strip to use on the desk), we took our first 45 minute walking tour with Diane of the area close to the ship. The evening tour (with Lori) covered essentially the same area plus a tram ride, so we probably could have skipped the afternoon tour. There was time to explore the ship and unpack before the orientation and welcome session at 6pm. Meike Bakker,, the Program Director gave the Orientation aided by the other officers and important staff. We had our welcoming toast with Captain Pascal Eschbach. Dinner was very good with many choices. A table mate needed gluten free and the server worked with her to accomodate her needs and create a delicious meal for her. The house wine was good and plentiful (red-2010 Merlot blend and the Bordeaux white, a delicous and crisp).

Our heads "hit the pillow" and we slept soundly. Many of us shared the same story this morning.

More soon. It's almost 10am. We are docking in Paulliac and time for our mandatory safely drill.

Hello Le Bon Vin

Thanks for the wonderful updates on the cruise. So looking forward to finally doing it instead of just reading about it!!

Thinking of you Le Bon Vin, as you are enjoyimg Bordeaux and startng your cruise! We've been drinking wines from Bordeaux, starting at JFK and here in Dublin. Really enjoying Dublin City. We fly to Paris on Monday. FotoPeg, I'll keep you posted. It will be our first time in Paris together, so hope for some special memories!

Jackie

We're leaving today for Dublin. We'll be in Paris 6/30 and onto our cruise 7/5. A word about travel documents. Ours came just yesterday from Marriott, our travel agent. If you have a distant travel agent, you can request through them that Viking send your documents directly to you (instead of via the agent). This is only important if you are leaving your home 11 days early, as we are.

Looking forward to sharing our experiences with you. The cruise seems to have come a long way since it's inception with many positive changes! Can't wait!!