Viking River Rhine excursions

[Michael50]

Hi, we are taking our first Viking river cruise on the Rhine in September.
 Would love recommendations on the excursions that are offered,

has anyone done the e bike tour thru the Black Forest?

also, would like to do one dinner in the monastery but not sure which one to pick,  

thank you for any help given,,,,

[tdl60]

We are also taking our first Viking river cruise on April 5.  We took our first Viking Ocean cruise to the Western Med last October.  I really wanted to do the optional excursion to Marksburg Castle but it shows as sold out.  I wonder if we could do it on our own?   Does anyone have any info on this?

[sharkster77]

We did the Bruhl palaces while in Cologne and Colmar (medieval tour--WWII tour we hear is excellent). Both were very good.  Now, Marksburg Castle and Heidelberg were included tours for us, and I believe are optional for you?  Marksburg was very cool, and intact castle from the 1400's, was not destroyed by Louis XIV or updated.  Heidelberg Castle, OTOH is in ruins, but the view of the city from it is great.  It was extremely crowded, even for mid-October--we wondered what it would be like in peak season.  It's the only place on the entire river cruise where it was hard to keep up with our tour guide, as there were so many people and so many Viking "lollipop signs" in the air.

[AnhaltER1960]

18 hours ago, tdl60 said:

We are also taking our first Viking river cruise on April 5.  We took our first Viking Ocean cruise to the Western Med last October.  I really wanted to do the optional excursion to Marksburg Castle but it shows as sold out.  I wonder if we could do it on our own?   Does anyone have any info on this?

Of course you can visit Marksburg diy - you just have to get there. There are castle tours every hour between 1100 and 1600 hrs in German. They dont write on their website (www.marksburg.de) about English speaking tours, but I guess they do offer them in the high season (on the website theyre looking for a guide with command of the English language right now).

 

To get there, the closest town is Koblenz, you can take a train or bus from there to Braubach, which is the village at the foot of Marksburg. Then either walk uphill or take some tourist-"train" for a couple of Euros. You just have to find out, how long the ship will stay in Koblenz, and at what time of day - an overnight wont help you a lot. They sometimes just drop off passengers at some port for an excursion and the ship will be moving, while the excursion is under way.

[sharkster77]

You might check when you board the ship whether or not they've had cancellations for the Marksburg castle excursion, or if they keep a waiting list, should someone change their minds.

[mhb1757]

I would HIGHLY recommend the behind the scenes tour of the Cologne cathedral. It was the highlight of our trip. They take you up the construction elevator to the roof level of the cathedral. You go inside for incredible views of the cathedral from above as well as outside. Just spectacular. We were the only ones that signed up on our cruise last fall so there was just the 4 of us and our guide. 
 

Also, an FYI about Marksburg…. There are 100’s of uneven stone steps (many without hand rails) so it’s not a good choice if anyone in your group has mobility issues. Personally I’m not a castle lover and I was kind of underwhelmed with Marksburg, but others in the group loved it. But I did feel quite bad for some in our group that struggled with the steps. 

[jrkstl]

On 3/19/2022 at 4:38 PM, mhb1757 said:

I would HIGHLY recommend the behind the scenes tour of the Cologne cathedral. It was the highlight of our trip. They take you up the construction elevator to the roof level of the cathedral. You go inside for incredible views of the cathedral from above as well as outside. Just spectacular. We were the only ones that signed up on our cruise last fall so there was just the 4 of us and our guide. 
 

 

I second the recommendation for the Cologne Cathedral "Top of Cologne" excursion! We did this on our Rhine cruise in 2017, and to date it's still the best excursion/tour we've ever done. Don't miss this one!

 

FYI - I found out the details of this one due to a Viking Cruises produced YouTube video about this excursion, and after watching there was no doubt that we wanted to do this 🙂

 

Jeff

[wandb]

The Colmar-WWII tour is probably the best excursion we have ever taken. We had an outstanding guide, which I’m sure makes all the difference. 

[3rdCoastFan]

My wife and I sailed on the Rhine Getaway in April 2019 so who knows what could have changed since then. We enjoyed most of the included excursions and found the guides to be engaging and informative. The standard Black Forest excursion was a bit of a let down. It's a long bus ride, and the countryside is pretty but... it's still a bus ride. Then you have about an hour, maybe 90 minutes, in a tourist center before taking another long bus ride back. This was also our last day on the ship so hindsight being hindsight, I would have preferred to just hang out on the sundeck and otherwise enjoy the ship. On the other hand, I did get to drive through the Black Forest and I don't know when I would have that opportunity again. 

 

The MEDIEVAL VILLAGE OF COLMAR visit was lovely. We had a great guide and plenty of time afterwards to keep wandering around for shopping and a quick bite to eat. 

 

We were not big fans of the DINE IN RÜDESHEIM AM RHEIN event. The food was pretty lacking, especially compared to what was being served on the ship. The "traditional music" wasn't exactly traditional, either - lots of old top 40 hits by way of an "Oompah" band. But the atmosphere was very lively and plenty of others there were enjoying themselves but we just weren't feeling it. 

[summerclouds]

To TDL60 -- In addition to asking whether there have been cancellations for the Marksburg Castle excursion once you get on the ship, you should check your MyVikingJourney account at least once a week before your cruise.  If there have been cancellations, the excursion will once again show as being available and you should be able to book it then.   

 

You will also be able to see if any new excursions have been added that might be of interest.  The Top of Cologne excursion wasn't listed when we first booked our excursions, but it popped in a few weeks ago and we got it, much to my delight!

[eguiney]

14 hours ago, summerclouds said:

To TDL60 -- In addition to asking whether there have been cancellations for the Marksburg Castle excursion once you get on the ship, you should check your MyVikingJourney account at least once a week before your cruise.  If there have been cancellations, the excursion will once again show as being available and you should be able to book it then.   

 

You will also be able to see if any new excursions have been added that might be of interest.  The Top of Cologne excursion wasn't listed when we first booked our excursions, but it popped in a few weeks ago and we got it, much to my delight!

How strenuous is the climb to the top of Cologne? 

 

[knoxclone]

On 3/25/2022 at 1:19 AM, wandb said:

The Colmar-WWII tour is probably the best excursion we have ever taken. We had an outstanding guide, which I’m sure makes all the difference. 

That also was one of the best guided tours we have had.  Guide was  young woman who's grandfather had been liberated by the Allied troops. She really knew her stuff and was able to add a unique perspective. 

[summerclouds]

To Eguiney, we haven't yet done the Top of Cologne excursion, so unfortunately, I can't answer your question.  Our cruise is next September.

[Sun Lover]

On 3/19/2022 at 5:38 PM, mhb1757 said:

I would HIGHLY recommend the behind the scenes tour of the Cologne cathedral. It was the highlight of our trip. They take you up the construction elevator to the roof level of the cathedral. You go inside for incredible views of the cathedral from above as well as outside. Just spectacular. We were the only ones that signed up on our cruise last fall so there was just the 4 of us and our guide. 
 

Also, an FYI about Marksburg…. There are 100’s of uneven stone steps (many without hand rails) so it’s not a good choice if anyone in your group has mobility issues. Personally I’m not a castle lover and I was kind of underwhelmed with Marksburg, but others in the group loved it. But I did feel quite bad for some in our group that struggled with the steps. 

I was looking into the Cologne cathedral tour but it said there are over 500 steps and there was no mention of a construction elevator.  How recently did you do this and do you know if it's offered any time of year?

[Lucky Lady 13]

On 4/18/2022 at 2:27 PM, Sun Lover said:

I was looking into the Cologne cathedral tour but it said there are over 500 steps and there was no mention of a construction elevator.  How recently did you do this and do you know if it's offered any time of year?

I went on the Top of Cologne tour last summer on the Rhine river cruise and it was amazing I highly recommend taking it if it is available; it is not, however, for people with mobility issues. Viking ranks it as demanding for a reason. You take a construction evaluator up part of the way but then there are narrow passages behind the gargoyles and other hidden to the public areas that you walk. The 500 steps (don't think it was that many but it was a lot of steps) is up to a viewing area on the top that was had great views of the cathedral roofs and surrounding area. there are uneven floors and other steps up and down elsewhere on the tour.