Should we take the Viking Rhine Getaway Optional Tours?

[ninaks]

We are going on the Viking Rhine Getaway On Sept 16th from Basel to Amsterdam. There are 4 optional tours I am hoping people who have done them can let me know if they are worth doing or not. The tours are Colmar, Alsation Wine Tasting , Rudusheim evening mini train tour and Beer culture tour. thanks for your help!

[phoebecat]

We are going on the Viking Rhine Getaway On Sept 16th from Basel to Amsterdam. There are 4 optional tours I am hoping people who have done them can let me know if they are worth doing or not. The tours are Colmar, Alsation Wine Tasting , Rudusheim evening mini train tour and Beer culture tour. thanks for your help!

 

Just back from this same cruise and we, along with our table companions covered off all these tours, so here are our thoughts ...

 

Colmar is pretty but not as lovely as some of the other places you will visit that are included. The guide, Martin, was rubbish. Long winded and very slow. You go on this tour and you will miss out on doing Breisach where the ship is moored, on your own. Opinion was that Breisach was superior to Colmar and it's not with the money paying for the optional excursion.

 

The same time there is an excursion to WW2 sites near Colmar. This was very well thought of, excellent and knowledgeable guide, but as you don't mention it, I wonder if it is offered!

 

Alsatian wine tasting was deemed to be superb and very enjoyable. Our table mates did it a d enjoyed some good wine and fabulous scenery.

 

Rudesheim mini train, dinner etc, don't bother. You can do all that on your own at a fraction of the price of you research it. To be honest, the best thing in Rudesheim is the cable car from the town to the pleasure park, and then walk down the Drossellgasse on your return, calling in at the Christmas shop at the top of the street, and listening to the percussion bells play from the building when the hour strikes.

 

Beer culture tour .. Again this is just a glorified pub crawl and you can do it on your own after dinner no problem. You will be moored very close to what was the old town in Cologne, and within five mins walk there are good beer kellers and stubels, so save your money for more beer and do it on your own!

 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

[Rxgrad98]

Phoebecat,

 

Thanks for this post and your thread on the Viking Sun. We're going on the Sun at the end of November and I was excited to see a good review on it. Viking seems to be taking a beating here lately with some of the posts, although some I do take with a grain of salt.

 

Ninaks,

 

Hope you have a wonderful and safe trip and hope you're able to post on your return.

 

Happy sailing,

Tim

[ninaks]

Great information, just what I was looking for. Thank you so much

[phoebecat]

Phoebecat,

 

Thanks for this post and your thread on the Viking Sun. We're going on the Sun at the end of November and I was excited to see a good review on it. Viking seems to be taking a beating here lately with some of the posts, although some I do take with a grain of salt.

 

Ninaks,

 

Hope you have a wonderful and safe trip and hope you're able to post on your return.

 

Happy sailing,

Tim

 

Tim, I agree with you entirely that Viking are taking a beating and to be honest I don't know why. I think a lot of river cruisers are first timers and having done an ocean cruise or several before compare it unfavourably. They are two entirely different breeds so it's unfair to do that. I think too that Viking make a rod for their own back in entering into correspondence on here with complainers. I did mention this in my follow up call from them and suggested they concentrate in the positive reviews and customers and not the moaners unless they have a genuinely fixable problem. Low river levels are a fact of life on river cruises and I'm afraid that isn't a justifiable reason for compensation which I believe is what many of the whingers are after.

 

There was no one on our cruise who had a bad word to say about the ship and the service and the itinerary. It was a great cruise and I loved every second of it. I'd go again in a heartbeat! Bon voyage for your trip and have a wonderful time,

[SFO-F/A]

Just back from this same cruise and we, along with our table companions covered off all these tours, so here are our thoughts ...

 

Colmar is pretty but not as lovely as some of the other places you will visit that are included. The guide, Martin, was rubbish. Long winded and very slow. You go on this tour and you will miss out on doing Breisach where the ship is moored, on your own. Opinion was that Breisach was superior to Colmar and it's not with the money paying for the optional excursion.

 

The same time there is an excursion to WW2 sites near Colmar. This was very well thought of, excellent and knowledgeable guide, but as you don't mention it, I wonder if it is offered!

 

Alsatian wine tasting was deemed to be superb and very enjoyable. Our table mates did it a d enjoyed some good wine and fabulous scenery.

 

Rudesheim mini train, dinner etc, don't bother. You can do all that on your own at a fraction of the price of you research it. To be honest, the best thing in Rudesheim is the cable car from the town to the pleasure park, and then walk down the Drossellgasse on your return, calling in at the Christmas shop at the top of the street, and listening to the percussion bells play from the building when the hour strikes.

 

Beer culture tour .. Again this is just a glorified pub crawl and you can do it on your own after dinner no problem. You will be moored very close to what was the old town in Cologne, and within five mins walk there are good beer kellers and stubels, so save your money for more beer and do it on your own!

 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

Thanks for this info, I was wondering what the additional trips are on this cruise we'll be taking in Nov with RXgrad. Dh and I will def do the wine tour. That's what we like.:D Thanks for the additional advice.

[Joywrk]

Thanks for your positive comments on Viking. We're doing our first river cruise with them in Sept and were wondering if we had made an expensive mistake. Lots of complaining on the boards---

[Excited to go crusing]

We really enjoyed the Colmar trip, I love Alsace.

 

I agree however, the beer tour is not worth it. It is easy to walk off the ship & order a bier at any of the local beer pubs. I loved our cruise on the Rhine with Viking, & hope to cruise with them again.

[Rxgrad98]

Phoebecat,

 

I think you hit the nail on the head. I think that some people do a river cruise thinking it will be exactly like an ocean cruise and do no research in preparation, and then come away disappointed. As someone who works in retail, I also know that some people will find the most miniscule thing and blow it out of proportion in the hopes of getting some type of compensation out of it. I'm mixed on whether or not it's a good idea for Viking to respond to criticism on a public forum such as this. On one hand, it makes me think they take our comments seriously, but at the same time, I wonder how much it encourages some of the posts we're reading on here. It's almost like "let's make enough noise and get compensated!!" I'm all for negative reviews and negative posts if it's done constructively with the intent of helping others.

 

SFO-F/A - Hi Jacki!! Just over 3 months before we sail!! Can't wait!

 

Tim

[Barbiegator]

We cruised on Viking Helvetia in June from Basal to Amsterdam. After reading other comments on here we took the Colmar and Alsation wine tasting tour.We really enjoyed both of them.We left from Breisach as water was too high to pick us up in Basal. So we toured Breisach on our own as we had an extra afternoon there. Unique town.

We went to Drosseldroff area in Rudesheim on our own and visited pubs in cologne as we were docked near lots of them.Watched first half of world cup Greece vs Germany so lots of fun with many residents out and about.

I highly recommend the rhine getaway. Great crew,food and beautiful views along the rhine. Read my review on Cruise Critic.

[Barbiegator]

Forgot to mention we brought back a French Pinot Noir from the winery tour. Our family enjoyed it last week and high praise by all. Robert Blanck does not ship so sorry I can not get anymore.

[ninaks]

You mention Golden Pass to Lucerne. I tried looking it up and I only find the train portion. Is there one that includes all the other things you listed as well or did you buy those separately? thanks!

[damegolden]

Tim, I agree with you entirely that Viking are taking a beating and to be honest I don't know why. I think a lot of river cruisers are first timers and having done an ocean cruise or several before compare it unfavourably. They are two entirely different breeds so it's unfair to do that. I think too that Viking make a rod for their own back in entering into correspondence on here with complainers. I did mention this in my follow up call from them and suggested they concentrate in the positive reviews and customers and not the moaners unless they have a genuinely fixable problem. Low river levels are a fact of life on river cruises and I'm afraid that isn't a justifiable reason for compensation which I believe is what many of the whingers are after.

 

There was no one on our cruise who had a bad word to say about the ship and the service and the itinerary. It was a great cruise and I loved every second of it. I'd go again in a heartbeat! Bon voyage for your trip and have a wonderful time,

 

Just back from this same cruise and we, along with our table companions covered off all these tours, so here are our thoughts ...

 

Colmar is pretty but not as lovely as some of the other places you will visit that are included. The guide, Martin, was rubbish. Long winded and very slow. You go on this tour and you will miss out on doing Breisach where the ship is moored, on your own. Opinion was that Breisach was superior to Colmar and it's not with the money paying for the optional excursion.

 

The same time there is an excursion to WW2 sites near Colmar. This was very well thought of, excellent and knowledgeable guide, but as you don't mention it, I wonder if it is offered!

 

Alsatian wine tasting was deemed to be superb and very enjoyable. Our table mates did it a d enjoyed some good wine and fabulous scenery.

 

Rudesheim mini train, dinner etc, don't bother. You can do all that on your own at a fraction of the price of you research it. To be honest, the best thing in Rudesheim is the cable car from the town to the pleasure park, and then walk down the Drossellgasse on your return, calling in at the Christmas shop at the top of the street, and listening to the percussion bells play from the building when the hour strikes.

 

Beer culture tour .. Again this is just a glorified pub crawl and you can do it on your own after dinner no problem. You will be moored very close to what was the old town in Cologne, and within five mins walk there are good beer kellers and stubels, so save your money for more beer and do it on your own!

 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

Hi Phoebecat,

 

My family and I are going on the Helvetia in a few weeks.

 

Wondering whether we will need to join the optional tours offered by the ship or whether we can get to the places on our own. We are particularly interested in the excursions to Colmar (from Breisach) and to Alsace for the wine tasting (from Strasbourg) but not sure whether we accessible by public transportation.

[SFO-F/A]

Hi Phoebecat,

 

My family and I are going on the Helvetia in a few weeks.

 

Wondering whether we will need to join the optional tours offered by the ship or whether we can get to the places on our own. We are particularly interested in the excursions to Colmar (from Breisach) and to Alsace for the wine tasting (from Strasbourg) but not sure whether we accessible by public transportation.

 

We leave for this trip in a week and a half. I'm starting my packing!

I read in a recent review to skip the ship's Black Forest tour and take a bus to Colmar on your own. We may try this, as it's not too far from Breisach. We want to do the Alsace wine tasting and will do it with the ships tour. Seems easier.

[tvmovielover]

In case anybody looks here again for Colmar info, the Viking Tour did not go to the Colmar museum but met to reboard the bus near it. Colmar is a nice Alsatian town if not as big or interesting as Strasbourg and the tour was well done but mostly about churches, old buildings etc. We left at a certain point after notifying the guide and establishing the meeting place and time to go to the museum which contains a very famous multi-star altarpiece-it was beautiful and many locals and independent travelers were there when we were-there is some additional medieval church art that is also very good. We still had a little time to look at Breisach at some point during the day.

 

We went on the included Black Forest tour in the am for something to do. The ride is nice in the fall when the trees are turning. The place where they stop is a blatant tourist trap with cuckoo clocks, dry looking Black Forest Cake etc. but there is also a trail up the side of a mountain with babbling brooks etc that those of us not interested in retail greatly enjoyed walking and as said scenery on the bus ride was great despite a lot of fog (this was early Nov).

 

The WWII tour was not offered on our cruise because the good guide was not available. I have read good reviews of that tour when offered but mixed reviews about the wine tour. You can also buy wine in Colmar for your cabin.

[SFO-F/A]

In case anybody looks here again for Colmar info, the Viking Tour did not go to the Colmar museum but met to reboard the bus near it. Colmar is a nice Alsatian town if not as big or interesting as Strasbourg and the tour was well done but mostly about churches, old buildings etc. We left at a certain point after notifying the guide and establishing the meeting place and time to go to the museum which contains a very famous multi-star altarpiece-it was beautiful and many locals and independent travelers were there when we were-there is some additional medieval church art that is also very good. We still had a little time to look at Breisach at some point during the day.

 

We went on the included Black Forest tour in the am for something to do. The ride is nice in the fall when the trees are turning. The place where they stop is a blatant tourist trap with cuckoo clocks, dry looking Black Forest Cake etc. but there is also a trail up the side of a mountain with babbling brooks etc that those of us not interested in retail greatly enjoyed walking and as said scenery on the bus ride was great despite a lot of fog (this was early Nov).

 

The WWII tour was not offered on our cruise because the good guide was not available. I have read good reviews of that tour when offered but mixed reviews about the wine tour. You can also buy wine in Colmar for your cabin.

 

Thanks for the information.

[MaggieMe]

Read this thread, but it is old, I see. DH and I and another couple are doing Helvetia, June 1, 2014. First timers on a River Cruise. We will NOT expect it to be like the ocean cruises. Excited. Any new thought? Guess they don't do Roll Calls? Did not see any.

[jacksonnh]

Roll calls

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=685