Viking river cruise- not all meals included?

[crimmj]

I have only been on ocean cruises but have been looking at a Viking river cruise in Europe. There seem to be many with a hotel stay of 2 days before you get on the boat and another 2 days off the boat at the end. These are stays in hotels and only breakfast is included. After ocean cruises, with ALL meals included, this strikes me odd to have to pay for more meals while on the cruise itinerary. Is this common among cruise lines?

[Roz]

@crimmj, I haven't sailed with Viking, but on a Uniworld cruise from Bucharest to Budapest, we had 2 nights at a Bucharest hotel.  Only the hotel breakfast buffet was included, so this is not uncommon with river cruises. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I don't think it's uncommon with Ocean cruises either, if you book a pre- or post-cruise hotel stay.  Three meals a day [or six, who's counting?] is only the rule onboard ships...

[Gourmet Gal]

It’s the norm on river and ocean unless it is an extension that includes group tours when some additional meals may be included.  Also, as in the case of my recent Tauck cruise there were 2 nights in Paris that included breakfasts, one group welcome dinner, a food tour but there was one dinner and 2 lunches on our own before boarding the ship.  Perhaps Viking just allows time for you to enjoy some meals on your own.  That’s can be fun in an interesting city.

[SometimesCruiser]

13 hours ago, crimmj said:

this strikes me odd to have to pay for more meals while on the cruise itinerary. Is this common among cruise lines?

That is the same deal we have with Avalon.  Breakfast-only included during our two pre-board days (land portion), and all meals while on the ship (cruise portion).

[pontac]

15 hours ago, crimmj said:

There seem to be many with a hotel stay of 2 days before you get on the boat and another 2 days off the boat at the end.

 

I don't know about there being 'many'. I've been on 10 Viking river cruises  and there's been two which had hotel stays - Portugal which starts in Lisbon with a couple of nights in a hotel (and then a long coach ride north to Porto for the cruise) and Eastern Europe where there is a stay in Budapest at one end and Bucharest at the other.

 

The full board -meals and drinks -  covers on board only. In hotels it's B&B only, lunch dinner & drinks are up to you. Some go to restaurants, others buy a sandwich and have it in their room.

 

I think the hotel stops are to do with airports that have flights from US combined with timings. If a long-haul has to go to one airport and then use a another flight to get to a smaller airport by the boat then timings might not fit. 

 

Personally I prefer going to and from the boat direct to the airport, thus unpacking and packing once, but extensions are  popular, which is understandable if you've flown a long way and want to see more of Europe.

Edited May 22, 2022 by pontac
to correct a spelling error

[ctjon]

I would think most people would want to eat our anyway.  One of the attractions of many cities is local restaurants

 

[Roz]

13 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't think it's uncommon with Ocean cruises either, if you book a pre- or post-cruise hotel stay.  Three meals a day [or six, who's counting?] is only the rule onboard ships...

 

Good point.