Viking Spirit/Pride – Budapest to Amsterdam 28May

[Tom2]

My wife and I just returned from the Viking Sprit Grand European Tour from Budapest to Amsterdam. In fact I am still in Amsterdam on my three day post stay. I have taken numerous Ocean cruises both in Europe and the Caribbean, but this was our first River Cruise. In summary we really loved it but it was not without problems that you don’t experience on Ocean Cruises. We spent a four day post cruise in Budapest and loved the city. We stayed at the Hilton in the Castle District and dined at Kiraly’s one night which is very close to the Hilton and another night dined at Gundels both which were very memorable experiences. We boarded the Viking Spirit and found the cabin to be very adequate, smaller then we are used to but very well laid out with plenty of storage. We did not feel that we were suffering at all. We definitely over packed the wrong items but still had plenty of room. The weather was colder then we expected and we didn’t pack enough warm clothes. The guides along the way said that we were experiencing March weather. I saw on these boards where someone said Europeans don’t wear jeans, I found the opposite true, more Europeans touring in jeans than Americans but jeans definitely appropriate for the ships tours. It was too cold to wear shorts at the beginning of the trip but by the end the weather warmed up and many were wearing shorts. We started out on schedule and the first six days went as planned until we got to Passau where that night we were told to please come to the daily evening briefing for a very important announcement. Then we were told that the water was to high to get under the bridge at Deggendorf so we would be bused to Regensburg for our tour, about a one hour ride, and they expected the water to recede by the next day. The next evening we got the same “Very important announcement” message and were told that the water was still too high and that we needed to pack up that evening to be bused to Nurnberg, about a two hour bus ride, where we would do the scheduled Nurnberg tour and then board the Viking Pride for the rest of our cruise. The Viking Pride was currently enroute from Amsterdam and the Viking Pride cruisers would take our place to continue their cruise to Budapest. I think Viking did an outstanding job of making this change over, we never missed a tour and because the Viking Pride is identical to the Viking Spirit, and we got the same room number, unpacking was easy. The rest of the cruise went as planned only on a different ship. The meals were all very good to excellent and Viking did an outstanding job with their shore excursions. We didn’t get the variety of meals available on Ocean Cruises, but still enough variety for our taste. A couple of optional shore excursions not to miss were the Hungarian Horse Show in Budapest and the Mozart Concert in Vienna. To sit and listen to Mozart’s music in the very Palace he composed in, and in the room that he performed in is an experience that I will never forget. I don’t have any other River Cruises to compare this one too but my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably do another Viking Cruise sometime in the future. The Viking staff was extremely professional and did everything in their power to make this a great cruise. My only criticism was that there was no Internet Access but I was able to find wireless access for my laptop at most of the ports. Next year we are booked on another Ocean cruise, London to Copenhagen. If anyone has any questions I will be glad to try and answer them.

 

Tom

[Venturagirl]

Hi, Tom,

 

Thanks so much for posting about your trip -- even while still on it. I have been holding my breath wondering how Viking handled the rainy weather and high rivers we were hearing about from cruisers on other lines who have returned from Danube cruises. You may recall that I was originally scheduled on your cruise but had to delay a month because of an event my DH wanted to attend here at home in early June. So we are schedule to leave on the Pride June 25 from Amsterdam to Budapest. We will spend 2 extra days on our own in Amsterdam before boarding. Can't wait!!!

 

Reflecting back, were there any times when you wished you had gone off on your own to explore a town rather than going with the included tour? What sights have you seen in Amsterdam that you would recommend, and what restaurants? Were there any differences between the service on the Pride vs. the Spirit?

 

Thanks again for reporting back!!:)

[steamboats]

Tom,

 

We Europeans do wear jeans!!! We don´t wear shorts :) (o.k. you will still find some wearing shorts but not like in the US).

 

steamboats

[M&T]

Thanks for sharing. That is clever how Viking handled the high water. Also, I appreciated hearing your feelings about the horse show in Budapest and the concert in Vienna. Did you make it to Passau? Did you hear an organ concert at the cathedral? Thanks. Marlyne

[Tom2]

I will try and answer the questions. We made all of the tours including the Organ Concert at Passau as planned. Nurnberg is the only tour that was cut a little short because of the long bus ride from Passau, and that was our change ship day. In Nurnberg we had lunch at a brewery, saw where the Nurenberg trials were held, and visited a church. As some British friends I met on the cruise said ABC “Another Bloody church”. Although I really did enjoy the churches, especially the Abbey at Melk which was a definite highlight of the trip. Although we missed some shopping time in Nurenburg it was on Sunday and most of the stores were closed so we really didn’t miss much. The day before we changed ships we were bused for an hour from Passau to Regensberg so the ship provided lunch at a restaurant, but during the tour I saw one of the Cruise Directors eating at the Sausage Kitchen by the Old Stone Bridge so we skipped the ships lunch and went there and it was another highlight of the trip. German Sausage in sauerkraut different than I have ever tasted. We initially ordered six sausages for the two of us and then ordered another six because they were so good. We heard rumor that the passengers that we swapped with were bussed a lot and eventually had to be bussed into Budapest because of flooding. From our end Viking handled everything extremely well, and we couldn’t tell the difference between the Spirit and the Pride in ship or crew. We spent 7 days on each and settled our accounts on the Spirit before we switched to the Pride. We took every ships tour, but in some of the locations after we got a good feel for the city we would adventure out on our own. I really felt sorry for the guide in Cologne because it was the start of the World Cup and the city was so crazy it was a lot more interesting watching what was going on around us than listening to the guide. In Amsterdam we ate at the Sea Palace which is an exact replica of the floating Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong and the food was fabulous. It had both westernized Chinese food, which we had, and authentic Chinese food such as fried pig intestines which we didn’t have. Tomorrow night we have reservations at d’Viff Vlieghen which is known as the most famous Dutch Restaurant in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the Anne Frank House is a must see. A very sobering experience. The ship will give you a canal tour and a tour of the Riksmuseum.

 

Steamboats - (o.k. you will still find some wearing shorts but not like in the US). – Agree.

 

 

Hope this helps,

 

Tom

[Venturagirl]

I love the statement that you "adventured" out on your own. In that regard, did Viking provide adequate maps of each town where you had time to go about on your own, or would it be advisable to bring maps with us for any towns that are more than just a small village? (Outside of Amsterdam, I mean; for that, I'm bringing a whole guidebook!)

[Tom2]

Each day Viking provided maps of the city we were visiting.

[Tom2]

I posted pictures along the way at a web site for my family and friends. I hesitated posting the web address so if you look at them; remember the captions have meanings for the people I posted them for, however they might give you a flavor of the trip. The web site is www. msnusers. com /RiverCruise/ shoebox.msnw . I had trouble imbedding a link just enter this as url.

 

Tom

[BJS]

I posted pictures along the way at a web site for my family and friends. I hesitated posting the web address so if you look at them; remember the captions have meanings for the people I posted them for, however they might give you a flavor of the trip. The web site is www. msnusers. com /RiverCruise/ shoebox.msnw . I had trouble imbedding a link just enter this as url.

 

Tom

Thank you for posting the url. Enjoyed your review and pictures.

 

We will be on the Spirit Oct. 14th from Budapest to Amsterdam.

 

While on the cruise and in Amsterdam was there enough time after the canal cruise and museum to go to Ann Frank's house? We have been on the canal cruise before so wondering if we should just skip that and go to Ann Frank's?

 

Do you charge the optional shore excursions to your shipboard account or pay for them at the time? Were the Hungarian Horse Show and the Mozart Concert the only 2 offered?

 

What percent of the men wore sports coats or suites to the Captain's Dinners?

 

How did you handle laundry for the 14 days on the ship?

 

What deck were you on and would you choose the same next time?

 

Thanks

[jgnova]

Tom:

Nice review. I was impressed with how the cruiseline handled the high water/ low bridges situation so smoothly. Very neat. And your photos are great -- some of the places brought back wonderful memories, but we didn't get to half of them, of course (ours was, at least theoretically, Passau to Budapest and back).

S

[Tom2]

BJS

 

While on the cruise and in Amsterdam was there enough time after the canal cruise and museum to go to Ann Frank's house? We have been on the canal cruise before so wondering if we should just skip that and go to Ann Frank's?

 

No – The Canal Boat went by the Ann Frank House and the line was extremely long. The Ann Frank House opens at 9:00 so on our first post cruise day we got there about 8:40, were third in line and were able to go through the house without any crowds. A definitely must see.

 

Do you charge the optional shore excursions to your shipboard account or pay for them at the time? Were the Hungarian Horse Show and the Mozart Concert the only 2 offered?

 

Yes we charged all of the optional excursions to our on board account. We also did the optional Schonbrunn Palace tour in Budapest and it also was very good.

 

What percent of the men wore sports coats or suites to the Captain's Dinners?

 

Probably about 20 – 30% had coats, very few ties

 

How did you handle laundry for the 14 days on the ship?

 

Paid an exorbitant fee on the ship to do laundry, my main criticism on the end of the cruise questionnaire was the price of laundry – Had about 100 Euros of Landry on our bill – but with four days in Budapest before the cruise we got on the ship with a lot of laundry

 

What deck were you on and would you choose the same next time?

 

We were in Cabin 310 on the upper deck and really enjoyed it and would choose it again.

[BJS]

Tom2

 

Thank you for the answers they are a big help.

 

BJS