Viking Rinda - Paris/Normandy

Viking Rinda

Any other new reviews ?

We are booked for May, 2016

I've looked at Cruise Critic Members Reviews for the Viking Rinda

The only review from the new Paris/Normandy itinerary, dated March 2015, was disappointing.:eek:

(It's too bad you can't ask the reviewer questions)

I was hoping for another point of view.

Edited April 22, 2015 by $hip$hape

It almost sounds like they didn't know what to expect from a river cruise.

 

If they docked an hour from Paris, it most likely means that the Seine was too high for the boat to get under the bridges to get into Paris. It happened to us and we were disappointed too. We were able to sail back into Paris when we returned.

 

If I were looking for "top quality entertainment, shopping, activities on board", i wouldn't choose a river cruise. River cruising is about watching the scenery, hearing about the ports, taking shore excursions and shopping in towns and villages. They do pick up regional entertainers who play in the lounge one evening. I think was an accordion player one night.

 

Choices are limited in the dining room. I seem to remember Viking offered 3 choices for each course and maybe 2 always available as opposed to an ocean cruise MDR with more choices. There was plenty to eat.

 

Paris to Normandy was our first Viking River Cruise. We are doing another in October.

 

I bet you have a wonderful time.

We are booked for August 31st. Our first river cruise. We are staying 2 nights prior. As cruzzzinma wrote, it is all about the sights and enjoying the towns. I am sure there will be many more reviews coming. The season has just started.

I have friends that just got back and loved that trip. They were onboard last week and loved everything about their trip and had wonderful photos of Normandy...

We are booked for August 31st. Our first river cruise. We are staying 2 nights prior. As cruzzzinma wrote, it is all about the sights and enjoying the towns.

I am sure there will be many more reviews coming. The season has just started.

 

Thank you all for your responses.

WE will be traveling with a group from Western PA. Our travel agent's allotted cabins were taken quickly.

For our group discount, Viking wants paid-in-full by June, 2015, 11 months in advance. :eek:

For as much as it's total cost, I hope we are making the right decision.:)

We are booked for August 31st. Our first river cruise. We are staying 2 nights prior.

As cruzzzinma wrote, it is all about the sights and enjoying the towns. I am sure there will be many more reviews coming. The season has just started.

I'm booked for June 29, 2016 and it's our first river cruise. We are going to spend 2 days in London then 1 night in Paris before we cruise. All of us are looking forward to watching the sights from the river and exploring the towns.

 

Judy in MI

We will be traveling on the Rinda in July as part of our own back to back on Viking. After the Rinda we are traveling on the Delling.

 

This will be our 5th and 6th Viking cruises respectively. We have enjoyed everyone of them.

 

On our last cruise Viking upgraded us to a suite. The extra room was very nice.

 

If all goes well I hope to do "live" reports from both ships

We are going to be on the Rinda, Paris to Normandy, in April 2016.

Our one other trip with Viking was the Romantic Danube sailing in December 2014, and it was an excellent experience. I am confident that this trip will be the same.

Thank you all for your responses.

WE will be traveling with a group from Western PA. Our travel agent's allotted cabins were taken quickly.

For our group discount, Viking wants paid-in-full by June, 2015, 11 months in advance. :eek:

For as much as it's total cost, I hope we are making the right decision.:)

 

Native Western PA'er here.... I grew up in Elk County.

 

I'm sure you will have a great time! I took a land tour of France many years ago and loved it.

If they docked an hour from Paris, it most likely means that the Seine was too high for the boat to get under the bridges to get into Paris. It happened to us and we were disappointed too. We were able to sail back into Paris when we returned...

Hidden within multiple layers on the Viking website [ http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/about-my-ship/docking-locations-ports.html ] is the information that Viking Rinda is never scheduled to dock anywhere near downtown Paris, but rather it docks in the far suburb of Le Pecq, well over 10 miles away. The other three Viking boats on the Seine are scheduled to dock at Quai de Grenelle in Paris (about a 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower), and Viking's advertising misleadingly describes the Rinda's itenerary in identical terms as their other three boats.

 

Thom

Rinda is one of Viking's new longships and, my guess, is she's too big to dock actually in Paris. Our first RC in 2012 was on the Rhone River with the Neptune - a lovely, older ship and smaller than the Rinda. I also believe the Spirit & Pride are smaller ship's.

 

But that doesn't excuse Viking for not making the dock location much clearer!! And good to know for planning purposes. I'm not familiar with this cruise's itinerary, but if the ship is docked overnight in "Paris" and you're actually 10 miles out - that's a big difference!!

 

As for the Rinda herself - we sailed on her Dec. 2013 on the Rhine Getaway and her sister ship the Forseti, Oct 2014 on the Chateaux, River & Wine cruise from Bordeaux. We enjoyed all our Viking cruises and fine the new longships wonderful! French Balcony is very tight as to room but survivable! And there's an amazing amount of storage space in the room, closet and bathroom.

 

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions about the ship but, as stated, I don't know this itinerary. Tomorrow, when home, I'll try and find an excellent thread about the longships someone posted - although he was on the Rhine, his photos of the ship are the best ever - gives you a real sense of what to expect aboard!

In the Ocean Cruising world, as cruise lines keep building bigger ships they often grow larger than the ports can handle. Every year there are outraged threads about how Celebrity Solstice has to tender in Juneau [moral: do your research on Cruise Critic before booking!]. In areas where tourism is the mainstay of the economy, the port will often build a pier extension for the new ships. But in River Cruising, this doesn't seem to be happening. Viking decided to build ships larger than everyone else's, and surprise! they can't sail in low water or under low bridges or tie up at normal size piers [see moral above.]

WOW--I guess the only way to be sure your ship is actually docking in Paris is to be sure you're not sailing on a longship like the Rinda.

docking positions are indeed an issue. recent river cruise with Avalon we spent from midday to about 11pm in a small town called Roth. Avalon had organised with the locals to christen a pontoon for docking. beer tent music etc.

the locals welcome these opportunities of an expanding economic opportunity.

 

we have done 8 river cruises but know things are changing. we have noticed very large amounts of buses arriving at same time/place. at our last port in Vienna in was not unlike a cattle yard in terms of transport. at least 10 ships.

 

if new to river cruising differences may not be evident. larger groups on walking tours than we have seen previously.

 

we just did the Paris Normandy with Avalon. terminated at Vernon, bussed to Montparnasse Paris. rooms,meals were not of the same standard/amenity, crowded busy breakfast room, buffet lunch/dinner, coffee facilities were a cardboard box with paper cups etc.

enjoy the cruise the scenery in Normandy is lovely. look closely at all details and be prepared for anything.

Hello,

 

Hidden within multiple layers on the Viking website [ http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/about-my-ship/docking-locations-ports.html ] is the information that Viking Rinda is never scheduled to dock anywhere near downtown Paris, but rather it docks in the far suburb of Le Pecq, well over 10 miles away. The other three Viking boats on the Seine are scheduled to dock at Quai de Grenelle in Paris (about a 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower), and Viking's advertising misleadingly describes the Rinda's itenerary in identical terms as their other three boats.

 

Thom

 

this has been discussed in detail here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2215113

 

Le Pecq is mentioned as a distant suburb, however the German wikipedia page on Le Pecq puts it as an "independent small town" in the "departement" (French administration term) Yvelines in the region of Ile-de-France. Ile-de-France might seem synonymous with "Greater Paris" and indeed they overlap to a very great extent. Yvelines is not part of Paris as far as "departements" go.

 

The Le Pecq - website does not "proudly present" the small town as part of Paris.

 

The place has its merits according to google photos. Perhaps it is helpful to have a map of the town, there is a nice one on the official website:

 

http://www.ville-lepecq.fr/le_pecq/acces_direct/plan_de_la_ville

 

notamermaid

Thank you TravelerThom,

 

for pointing out the ports pages. According to the online booklet for the Normandy cruise - information correct as at February 9, 2015 it says - the Viking Rinda docks near downtown Paris:

 

http://wpc.475d.edgecastcdn.net/00475D/passenger_documentation/2015/Rivers/US15PHCDCD.pdf

 

At the new location in Le Pecq you have actually missed three full bends of the river.

 

notamermaid

When we went in winter 2010 (famed on cc boards for the snow and delays and cancellations etc), the captain docked at Conflans and we were bused back and forth into Paris for the days there. It was better than the boat getting stuck in Paris and doing the whole cruise by bus they decided. By the end of the cruise, the Spirit was able to come into the dock near the Eiffel Tower and leave again despite more snow. We were also offered lunch at a restaurant if we did not want to return to the boat to eat. Maybe now with the longships having more passengers, box lunches or something are given.

 

We also had some port changes on a Rhine cruise a couple of years later and missed a stop or two but still saw plenty (also late in the year-Nov) but that will not stop us from trying a Viking long ship in France in fall 2016. Just realize that sometimes the rivers do not cooperate-they are either too high (Paris) or too low (Rhine). If Viking does not have buses for Le Pecq, there is probably an easy train or subway connections nearby (there was in Conflans). The Paris-Normandy cruise was my favorite after China.

...We also had some port changes on a Rhine cruise a couple of years later and missed a stop or two but still saw plenty (also late in the year-Nov) but that will not stop us from trying a Viking long ship in France in fall 2016. Just realize that sometimes the rivers do not cooperate-they are either too high (Paris) or too low (Rhine). If Viking does not have buses for Le Pecq, there is probably an easy train or subway connections nearby (there was in Conflans). The Paris-Normandy cruise was my favorite after China.

IMO there is a very significant difference in weather modifications to docking locations, and having what appears to deliberately misleading information in Viking's sales information. The ONLY itenerary I can find for Viking's "Paris & the Heart of Normandy" cruise [ www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/paris-heart-normandy/2016-paris-rouen-paris/itinerary.html ](with identical wording elsewhere for 2015) includes words such as "Lunch aboard your ship as you sail back to Paris this afternoon." When apparently the Rinda NEVER gets closer to Paris than Le Pecq, this is false information. ONLY by clicking through on "My Trip", then clicking through on "About My Ship", and finally clicking through on "Docking Locations & Ports" does one discover that Rinda is scheduled to start and end in Le Pecq, not anywhere near downtown Paris.

 

Thom

I agree, if it weren't for CC, we would have no idea that our docking place changed...we booked a hotel precruise in Paris and will now have to take a cab to LePecq instead of "walking onto the ship"

IMO there is a very significant difference in weather modifications to docking locations, and having what appears to deliberately misleading information in Viking's sales information. The ONLY itenerary I can find for Viking's "Paris & the Heart of Normandy" cruise [ www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/europe/paris-heart-normandy/2016-paris-rouen-paris/itinerary.html ](with identical wording elsewhere for 2015) includes words such as "Lunch aboard your ship as you sail back to Paris this afternoon." When apparently the Rinda NEVER gets closer to Paris than Le Pecq, this is false information. ONLY by clicking through on "My Trip", then clicking through on "About My Ship", and finally clicking through on "Docking Locations & Ports" does one discover that Rinda is scheduled to start and end in Le Pecq, not anywhere near downtown Paris.

 

Thom

Viking Rinda docking place: Quai Maurice Berteaux/ 78230 Le Pecq

 

Thanks for the information.

We are sailing on the Rinda Oct.19. My question is the Normandy excursion. I understand it is a long drive from Rouen but were the stops on the tour good

or should we book a private tour? Seeing Normandy is really important to me.

Thank you for your suggestions.

We are sailing on the Rinda Oct.19.

My question is the Normandy excursion. I understand it is a long drive from Rouen but were the stops on the tour good

or should we book a private tour? Seeing Normandy is really important to me.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I have the same question; how much will we see on the Viking-Normandy excursion?

Just watched an excellent video overview of Normandy and wondered how many of these things will we see and/or do?

We returned from this cruise in April. We opted for the included Commonwealth Normandy tour instead of the American D Day tour. The bus ride is very long and the time at each location is very limited (those passengers who took the American group agreed). There is an included lunch which took up time that could have been spent seeing sights. The Commonwealth tour includes the Bayeux Tapestry and the Pegasus bridge plus the Canadian cemetery. Everyone in both groups felt the tour was way too short, especially since the bus had to get back to the boat for dinner. The boat does not sail out of Rouen until late at night.

 

We had investigated a private tour option, but the cost was too expensive for just the two of us. The expense is due to the distance a tour operator has to come to get you at Rouen, then go to Normandy, and then bring you back to Rouen. If you could get a group that is interested in the tour it would obviously lower the cost. Since the boat sails late you could get back to the boat later then the included Viking tour. Friends who had taken this cruise the previous year and done the American excursion were disappointed in the lack of time to fully appreciate the area.

 

I looked at the YouTube video and you will not see the majority of what is in that video. I would be happy to answer any other questions relating to the tour of Normandy or the cruise.

We returned from this cruise in April. >>>

<<<I looked at the YouTube video and you will not see the majority of what is in that video.

I would be happy to answer any other questions relating to the tour of Normandy or the cruise.

Thank You for sharing your experience !

Michael