Viking Freya river cruise on the Danube

[rucon4me]

We just booked an 8-day Viking River Cruise departing June 21st from San Diego, CA. The ship is the "Freya" and travels the Danube from Nuremberg to Budapest. This is our first cruise and we're hoping for a wonderful cruise experience. We were not interested in a large ship with thousands of passengers, since we're senior citizens and enjoy a somewhat slower pace. We do, however, enjoy traveling and visiting new and interesting places. Our only other European experience was in 1986. We spent a month traveling from Germany through Switzerland and then 3 weeks in Italy!

 

We would appreciate any feedback on some of the protocols of cruising, such as tipping or any other useful info.

[aquilegia]

We came back a week ago from doing this itinerary on the Viking Freya and really enjoyed it. It was our first river cruise and is very different from ocean cruising. There was a new port every day and the tour guides were all very knowledgeable. In between, it was very relaxing just watching the scenery drift by. We found the food to be good and, as I expect you know, wine and beer are included with lunch and dinner. There were a few talks and on several occasions they brought local singers or dancers on board for evening entertainment. The decor was very attractive and tasteful. We will certainly go on another Viking cruise.

 

As regards tipping, it's not automatically added, but they suggest guidelines of 12 euros pp per day and 2 euros per day for the Cruise Director.

[rucon4me]

Thanks so much for the feedback! We're really looking forward to the trip now that we read your review of the trip. Thanks, again!

[travelfirst]

Have a wonderful cruise. I have been on four river cruises with Viking and I loved them all.

I plan to go on the Danube river next with them.

[rucon4me]

Thanks for the feedback! Can't wait for our first river cruise.

[jojocmcla]

We returned from AMA Lyra Nuremberg to Budapest. It was wonderful! A couple of suggestions that I gathered from this forum.

Rick Steve's Budapest app and TripAdvisor Budapest app, both on my phone. The TA really helped a lot. You can search whatever you're looking for and then "save" it. It will show you a map where it is located and even offer directions and metro stations. It came in handy.

This was a beautiful trip. Now, if I could just get time to go through the 2500 photos and get them onto my computer!:)

[rucon4me]

Thanks for the helpful info. I will check Trip Advisor soon!