Nice move Viking/Hotel recommendation.

So we're doing our second Viking cruise soon. We're going on the Danube Christmas Market cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg. (Enjoyed our first cruise immensely).

The cruise is scheduled to end on December 4th, and we should be flying back to the U.S. on that day. Turns out our scheduled flight on Lufthansa was cancelled that day so the airline automatically moved our booking to December 5th. Nobody was informed of this by the airline and we assumed that the 5th was the planned day to return. So, last night I received a call from Viking saying they were "ticketing" my flight and had noticed the error, and as a result, they were re-booking us on a different flight on the 4th which is the day we would disembark from the ship. They also mentioned that the flight would now be 3 legs instead of 2 and would be arriving at my home destination at approx 1am instead of the original (civil) time of 4pm. Not a very attractive alternate by any standard.

Anyway, I asked them if I could keep my original flight plans and I would pay for my own hotel. That keeps us on a much better flight schedule and gives us an extra day in Nuremberg. Her response was that by doing that, it would involve a change from what the schedule should have been so would incur a "change" fee. But, before I could respond to that, she said she was putting me on hold to speak to her supervisor. Within a minute, she came back on the phone and said they were going to waive the fee. (I believe that fee is $100pp)

So, my point being, Viking seems to get more than it's fair share of criticism, and a lot of it comes from people that have never sailed with them. This is my second trip, and so far I've had nothing but a positive experience. It wasn't a huge sum of money, but a $200 fee was waived unsolicited. I personally think that's pretty classy!

Now, because of what did transpire.....I'm looking for a good hotel recommendation in Nuremberg. :-) I don't mind paying for something nice, and my wife loves hotels with a really nice lobby. Thank you.

Can't help with *nice* hotel/nice lobby - we stayed 2 nights at the Holiday Inn pre-Christmas Markets cruise in 2014 because my stepdad had lots of IHG points. Had a nice room with a kitchenette, very spacious. Best for us - it's in the old town area so we could walk to the Christmas Market. Stepdad had flown in to Munich or Frankfort (he was working in RSA at the time) and took the train to NUE - was able to walk from train station to hotel.

We were on Avalon, but we saw Viking reps in that lobby so I think it's one of the hotels they use.

Wherever you choose, I do think you'll want something you can walk to the Market from - the NUE market was one of our favorites, plus one of the few we saw lit up at night (due to our sailing schedule, we tended to leave in the late afternoon) It's also within walking distance of the DB museum if you're interested (trains:D Husband loves trains, stepfather an engineer who worked in light rail most of his career, so....Mom stayed in the hotel one morning and the rest of us went to the train museum)

That's the kind of customer service one should expect.

Check out the Maritim Nuremberg.

ExCapt

Sorry, no help from me on Nuremberg hotels.

I am NOT a fan of Viking early payments, but I did the Ukraine with them in 2011 (glad I did since thaks to Valdimer this is no longer available). We had one air offer - noon Odessa to Vienna 4pm; with included hotel at VIE with breakfast ( no dinner), and non-stop to DC the next day. LOTS of grumbling from some who wanted single day flights (3:30 departure for airport, two flight connections, late arrival). I was very happy to sleep in, have breakfast on the boat, catch a noon flight, check in to VIE hotel, hop the train downtown, see sights and have dinner, get a good nights sleep and arrive home at a reasonable hour. When life hands you lemons, enjoy the lemonade.

Thom

Bottom line - this is awesome.

You get to spend another day in another city. We never, EVER go home the day the cruise ends. We have already spent time and money to be away, so we enjoy where we are.

There are many places online to get good ideas. We always try to find a place near the train station that goes to the airport if an option.

Budapest to Nuremburg, Christmas Markets was my first European River cruise and we loved it!

Take a look at Le Méridien Grand Hotel Nurnberg. Its less than half a mile to the Old Town, has a beautiful lobby, and gets excellent reviews on TripAdvisor & Hotels.com. I love the modern twist on traditional design in the rooms.

http://www.lemeridiennuernberg.com/en