Just returned - Viking Passage to Eastern Europe

My husband and I and our friends (another couple) just returned from Viking's 11-day Passage to Eastern Europe cruise, our first river cruise. I won't be able to do a full trip report, but wanted to provide some feedback to the forum, since I got so much good information here before we cruised.

1. We were really pleased with Viking over all. The longship Aegir was clean; our balcony stateroom was comfortable; the crew were friendly, helpful and did an excellent job; things were generally very well organized; local tour guides were outstanding; waiters were generous with included drinks; and the food was very good. We had low water in our embarkation city of Bucharest, so had changes to our first two days' itinerary. Viking handled it very well. On one land tour our bus broke down, and our guide was completely unflappable, handled it beautifully and Viking had another bus to us in 10-15 minutes. Very impressive. We would sail with Viking again.

2. We two women are in our 50s and our husbands in their 60s. We were definitely among the younger people on board. Cruisers were mostly from the US, then Britain, Canada and Australia, in that order.

3. Tables in the dining room are for six, eight and 10 (maybe more?), and seating is wherever you want to sit. We typically chose tables for six and almost always had another pair join us - most of them we really enjoyed talking to.

3. Eastern Europe is not Western Europe. We found the itinerary to be a very interesting cultural experience and very educational; less about beauty and charm. The area has a tumultuous history, some of it quite recent, and it was fascinating to travel from one country to another and hear people from each country tell different versions of the same time periods (some were with Germany in WWII, some with Allies; all were communist after WWII, but some with Soviets, some with Tito in Yugoslavia; Serbia, Croatia and Hungary have their own versions of more recent history (the Yugoslav wars in the '90s and the current migrant crisis). All very interesting.

4. We very much recommend doing this cruise in the direction we did — from Bucharest to Budapest — rather than the other way around. This area is still recovering from communism and recent conflicts, and they're having a tougher time the further down river you go.

5. Most tours were pretty large group tours. The audio boxes they provide worked really well, so you didn't have to stay right with the guide, but it was our first experience with group touring and we found we prefer more independent traveling. But as I said, most cruisers were older than we were, so that may be a factor.

Over all a really great experience - If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to try and answer.

I won't be able to do a full trip report, but wanted to provide some feedback to the forum, since I got so much good information here before we cruised.

Thank you for your feedback. I have a coworker who's taking a Viking cruise soon and recommended he look into Cruise Critic as the members here have really helped me prepare for our recent past and upcoming cruises. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!

We've been on Viking before so we are familiar with the longships and river cruising. My question is what did you think of the ports in between Bucharest and Budapest? The website does not have a lot of detail about the excursions in the smaller places.

I have done several river cruises. Groups had been small until my most recent cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. In some ports there were 5-6 groups. In a few ports, there were only 4 groups. With a full ship (190) making the tour groups very large. In some places, there was a leisure slow group. In most places, the groups had every ability or disability included. Too slow for some people and too fast for others. It was not the best way to tour. I am interested in the Eastern Europe Passage cruise. How many people were in each group? Did they have a separate slow group?

Any response from anyone who has done this cruise?

Hi TV6,

I did this cruise in August on the Viking Embla.

My first comment is that I would never suggest this if it's your first river cruise.

Having said that, the port stops were interesting. I found I had more free time than other cruises. It was interesting seeing what Croatia and Serbia looks like after the war. I liked this cruise because after it was over in Romania, we spent 4 nights in Brasov. Dracs castle and all. I always enjoy a place were the local beer costs no more than $2.25!

Hi TV6,

I did this cruise in August on the Viking Embla.

My first comment is that I would never suggest this if it's your first river cruise.

Having said that, the port stops were interesting. I found I had more free time than other cruises. It was interesting seeing what Croatia and Serbia looks like after the war. I liked this cruise because after it was over in Romania, we spent 4 nights in Brasov. Dracs castle and all. I always enjoy a place were the local beer costs no more than $2.25!

I want to echo what you said, we sailed this route w/ Vantage recently, also ending with 4 nights in Brasov. Easy to get to from Bucharest by train, and a great base for seeing Transylvania. The town square and pedestrian zone were great.