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Thing I wish I'd known before river cruising.


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We definitely did in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

 

What I was surprised at was the number of boats I had never heard of. For example, there was a Viking cruise I had not seen listed on Viking's US website - it was marketed for German passengers. A lot of the boats I saw were not marketed to US passengers but other European passengers.

 

Thanks. It makes sense, but it's not something that had ever occurred to me. These days (and more so into the future) it's going to be lines marketed to the Chinese.

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We definitely did in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

 

What I was surprised at was the number of boats I had never heard of. For example, there was a Viking cruise I had not seen listed on Viking's US website - it was marketed for German passengers. A lot of the boats I saw were not marketed to US passengers but other European passengers.

 

Yes, the language spoken on the ship is an issue. We did a half English, half German cruise with Viking once. That meant that the crew had to speak both languages and it also meant that some nights you ended up with dinner partners with whom you could not converse. We had three buses--the English bus, the German bus and the bridge players (which was a tour group, so they stayed together--and besides they only spoke bridge, which was a foreign language to the rest of us). It was an interesting experience but I still think that I would prefer a cruise where I could converse with everyone.

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Peregrina651,

 

 

when did you do that trip? Viking has stopped marketing to the German-language market and the German arm of Viking (Viking Flusskreuzfahrten) is defunct.

 

 

Yes, many river cruises in Russia are available on the German market, e.g. by Nicko Cruises, Phoenix Reisen and Plantours.

 

 

To the OP. Thank you for this thread with some interesting points to be aware of before going on a river cruise.

 

 

notamermaid

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Peregrina651,

 

 

when did you do that trip? Viking has stopped marketing to the German-language market and the German arm of Viking (Viking Flusskreuzfahrten) is defunct.

 

notamermaid

 

It was in 2012 on an itinerary in a minor market that they were having trouble filling with just English speakers, so they offered a couple of sailings that year as bi-lingual. I think yacht-style showers and Pullman beds had a lot to do with it--but the price was right and we had a marvelous time.

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What he's referring to is when 2 or 3 ships tie up side by side in port. There is limited docking, especially with low water problems so one ship ties to the dock and others tie to the first ship. To get off and on you have to cross through other ships to get to yours or other folks cross through your ship, but only on 1 level. Rather inconvenient for balcony folks when we were rafting, trying to remember, like 6 of 13 days we did some rating part or all of the day. No bid deal.

 

I’m not. Would you explain, please? We are on a Viking cruise in May 2019 from SPB to Moscow.
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I wish I had understood the dinner ritual/choices. Many brochures will say open seating but that could mean you get to pick your table at the 7:30 seating or it could mean you get to come to dinner anytime between 7:30 and 9:30.

 

Before we book our next RC I will make sure I understand the options for dinner, and am certainly looking for an alternate/casual place to dine for those few nights when we just want an salad and not a lot of people.

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I wish I had understood the dinner ritual/choices. Many brochures will say open seating but that could mean you get to pick your table at the 7:30 seating or it could mean you get to come to dinner anytime between 7:30 and 9:30.

 

Before we book our next RC I will make sure I understand the options for dinner, and am certainly looking for an alternate/casual place to dine for those few nights when we just want an salad and not a lot of people.

 

 

mj--did you sail with Viking? Don't they have the Aquavit Terrace open at dinner for lighter/quicker fare? If you did not, they would give you that more casual option.

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We have sailed on Avalon 4 times on the bottom deck. Never have had a problem with noise.

 

Our luggage has always been handled by the staff. Have even seen the captain moving luggage.

 

Exactly the same on CroisiEurope and not just the captain but chief engineer as well

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