Viking Rhine Rhapsody here we come Apr 25!

[remydiva]

we are packed, boarding passes printed and fly to Basel, Switzerland tomorrow on Viking Air.:)

 

This is a new itinerary for 2015 and altho i have done the Rhine AMS to Basel, it was 2001 and different itinerary. Some ports will be the same but many are different from my first Rhine cruise. I am looking forward to getting up and into some of the castles ?Markenburg? that i only drifted by before.

 

I am hoping Viking has improved their food and wine quality from my last Danube cruise; everyone has a bad day...or days..right?.. :cool:

 

I shall report back my thoughts and impressions when home or along the way if particularly news worthy. Feel free to ask me any questions and I shall attempt to answer.

[notamermaid]

Aah, the good old days of 2001. :D When Viking had just jumped the ocean to North America, getting bigger and bigger. When ships still looked like ocean liners and did not need innovative designs. KD Viking Flusskreuzfahrten has ceased to exist, but the Deutschland is being lovingly maintained by another owner and chartered out to a German company. She sails the Rhine under her new name Alemannia.

 

The info sheet in Dutch, but you can guess most of the info, on the bottom right hand side you can read the ship owner's names:

 

http://www.debinnenvaart.nl/schip_detail/213/

 

Have fun, remydiva, especially at the castles at Cochem (19th century!) and Marksburg (old!).

 

notamermaid

[Muyet]

we are packed, boarding passes printed and fly to Basel, Switzerland tomorrow on Viking Air.:)

 

This is a new itinerary for 2015 and altho i have done the Rhine AMS to Basel, it was 2001 and different itinerary. Some ports will be the same but many are different from my first Rhine cruise. I am looking forward to getting up and into some of the castles ?Markenburg? that i only drifted by before.

 

I am hoping Viking has improved their food and wine quality from my last Danube cruise; everyone has a bad day...or days..right?.. :cool:

 

I shall report back my thoughts and impressions when home or along the way if particularly news worthy. Feel free to ask me any questions and I shall attempt to answer.

 

Aloha!

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking this cruise leaving on April 7. Would you please share your thoughts about your experiences? Do you feel like it was worth it? Likes and dislikes? Thank you so very much!

 

Muyet

Provo, UT

[remydiva]

Aloha!

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking this cruise leaving on April 7. Would you please share your thoughts about your experiences? Do you feel like it was worth it? Likes and dislikes? Thank you so very much!

 

Muyet

Provo, UT

 

If you are talking April 7, 2016, this must be a last minute 'sale'?? We booked 5 months in advance for our April 2015 trip which in Viking terms is 'short notice' considering many people book..and pay in full... 1 - 2 years ahead!

 

But to answer your question..yes we enjoyed the cruise...me for the second time...hubby and other couple for the first. Was it worth it? Price wise and value wise yes, we felt it was 'worth it'. We got an airfare deal which made it rather attractive $$ wise.

 

Happily the food and wine was 200% better than our last Viking cruise on the Danube New Years 2012...likely that one was so poor as it was the last cruise of the season and it seemed they were 'eating down the fridge' and they had actually run out of the wine I wanted.

 

This Rhine trip, the 'house' wine was a Riesling and the house red was a pinot noir from Germany and both were excellent...and plentiful. The food was excellent as well and we enjoyed the outside eating area at the back..on nice days you were outside; on windy or cool days they closed the glass doors to still enjoy the views in comfort.

 

We decided to NOT book a balcony for the first time in our cruising life because of our past experience with the ever growing popular river cruising means at least 50% of the time we couldn't/didn't use our balcony due to rafting to another boat.

 

We were satisfied with our 'aquarium class' of cabin which had a long horizontal window and wide ledge to let in natural light but you couldn't open it as it was at water level. I am 5 ft tall so couldn't see out the window unless I stood on the bed..not the end of the world.

 

What we didn't like was the location of some of the docks--some were not in pleasant pedestrian park like areas which had been my first experience on the Rhine. Some docks were in industrial areas and seedy. Others were a long walk 'to town'. When you got on a bus for a tour, no problem. But it was when you had free time and wanted to wander into 'town' to explore that sometimes wasn't very pleasant.

 

Strasborg in particular was a pain as you had to shuttle into the town and the times weren't very convenient. The Strasbourg cathedral the big draw of that town was closed when our tour was there in the morning due to a holiday celebration but in order to see it when it reopened at 2 pm meant either a long wait in town or trip back and forth.

 

However, Kehl where we docked for Strasbourg was actually a delightful little town so instead after lunch we walked there and discovered a climbing tower that gave a fabulous view of the river and town. So we turned a negative into a positive. Plus we bought the best ice cream in Kehl for 2E that was to die for.

 

The long bus trek from Trier to Paris was broken up by a stop in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Not the most exciting but the American Cemetery with George Patton's grave was interesting even for we Canadians.

 

The hotel Le Meridan in Paris at the end of the tour was in decent enough location altho not my first choice of where to stay in Paris.( we changed to our usual hotel at the end of the tour)

 

Le Meridan is like any big US chain hotel -- this one had no ambiance, bar furniture quite worn and the rooms are rather futuristicl. But it is located an easy 10 min walk to the Arc de Triomphe and then onto the Champs D'Lysee. We were there on a Sunday and most stores are closed on Sunday but not the ones on Champs D'Lysee so that was good.

 

Hope that helps. Any travel is 'worth it' as it always adds to life's experiences whether good or not so good.....both scenarios make for some good stories to tell the folks once you get back home!