European river cruises - Vantage vs. Viking

Hi

We are a 74 year old retired couple, informal by nature, who have never cruised before except for 2 international brief ferry trips. We are not interested in either spending a lot of money on a deluxe suite or staying in a closet-size cubbyhole. We've been to most of Europe by air and land, bur want to try this instead. Your thoughts, and anything you've heard from others, would be appreciated. Thank you.

Richard Rosichan, Miami Beach, FL

Hi

 

 

We are a 74 year old retired couple, informal by nature, who have never cruised before except for 2 international brief ferry trips. We are not interested in either spending a lot of money on a deluxe suite or staying in a closet-size cubbyhole. We've been to most of Europe by air and land, bur want to try this instead. Your thoughts, and anything you've heard from others, would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

 

Richard Rosichan, Miami Beach, FL

Hi Richard, welcome to CC. I am a Vantage person, in your age range, and have taken 7 trips with them so far. I recommend them because they deliver an excellent product and do not deal with travel agents, which suits me fine because I am a control freak who had a bad experience with a TA. They do have deluxe suites (about 4 + owner's suite), the other cabins vary in location but most are the same size, which is quite comfortable. We prefer a french balcony (you can look out but not sit/stand on it) , the decor is very comfortable without being garish; food is terrific with wine at dinner on most itineraries, most excursions are included with a few optionals, atmosphere is informal, and on board customer service is very good. Please read the first timers page on this forum. Jazzbeau has done an excellent job and it is very informative. I have never sailed with Viking but there are plenty of posts about them on this forum...they seem to have a love/hate relationship with many posters. :) If you want more info on Vantage you can e-mail me directly at Chydro564@yahoo.com.

Although you didn't specifically mention them, GCT (Grand Circle) is probably a good fit for informality, and your age is the sweet spot of their demographic. Take a look at GCT.com to see their itineraries and ships. Stop back here with any questions.

We have done 4 GCT cruises, have one scheduled for fall on the Elbe and also a Vantage scheduled for 2016. No experience with Viking.

Richard,

Welcome to cruisecritic.com!! I'm a 3-time cruiser with Viking who's about to leave on my first Vantage cruise next week (Rhine & Moselle). We've been satisfied with Viking, but decided to give Vantage a go based on itinerary and the loyalty Vantage cruisers tend to show on this board.

A couple of quick differences: 1) Viking serves free beer/wine/soft drinks at lunch and dinner, Vantage they're only free at dinner. 2) Payment: Viking pushes for full payment immediately on making your reservation. Vantage does not. We paid a year early with Vantage and got a 10% discount on the cruise and airfare.

In late August I'll post with my observations on differences between the two lines.

FuelScience

Viking longships seem to be the only boats on European rivers that have true verandas as well as the "French" veranda that is really just a full sized glass door that you can open. The Viking veranda does provide more personal space at a reasonable increase in price. Regarding privacy on riverboats, with much side by side mooring (sometimes called rafting) it is quite easy to awaken and find a neighboring boat tight against your veranda, either true or French so your view of shore might be impacted.

Vantage and Viking both use an artificial 2 for 1 pricing where a brochure price is given and then cut in half. (I doubt if any cruise line, ocean or river, has ever sold a cabin at this artificial price.) Vantage touts their cost per day, but it uses their cheapest cabin on the cheapest date to get this number for each cruise. One needs to compare the cabin and date for each cruise line to determined the lowest cost per day. Neither line includes tips.

Many people note that the Viking longships carry 190 passanges while the newest Vantage boats carry 176. This equates to 7 fewer cabins.

Both lines do a large amount of discounting and special sales, often times tied to airfare provided by the line. With its shear size Viking offers far more dates to choose from for the start of a trip.

Vantage does seem to want you to book directly with them and they do offer discounts for early pay. They each give a discount for paying with an echeck but then you do lose protections that a charge card gives you. Both lines offer referral benefits that are similar.

MY feelings are that a either line will offer a good product for a reasonable cost.

One thing to keep in mind when it comes to discounts for paying by check or e-check, if the company should go out of business you do not have much recourse for getting money back. If you pay by credit card you have a good chance for recovery from the credit card company.

Most travel insurance policies do not cover the provider going out of business.

This came up most recently with the failure of Tom Harper River Journeys. Many of their customers took advantage of the discount for paying by e-check or check and are now pretty much out of luck in getting their money back.

Tom Harper's CEO Bret Gordon was a former Vantage Deluxe World Travel Executive. That might be where he picked up the practice of discounting for check payments.

This is not a comment in any way about the stability of Vantage who I think is quite stable, only on the risk one assumes, but not think about, when they pay by check instead of credit card.

Financial default travel insurance is readily available.

Viking longships seem to be the only boats on European rivers that have true verandas as well as the "French" veranda that is really just a full sized glass door that you can open.

This is incorrect. AMA, for one, has included "twin balcony" cabins that have both a French balcony and a true balcony on all its European river ships built starting in 2010. The true balcony is smaller than full-width, but the French balcony can be used in all weather and doesn't steal space from the cabin.

Financial default travel insurance is readily available.

Yes, if you know the risk is there and you specifically look for it. However, the majority of policies people tend to buy, usually do not have that feature in it.

Financial default travel insurance is readily available.

A bit of clarification to my answer.

Yes they are available if one thinks about the risk and makes sure that their policy contains the feature.

Most travel policies purchased through the supplier (cruise lines) do not have it.

A little less then half of the policies on insuremytrip.com have the feature. Of those that do most require the policy to be purchased close to full payment date (14 days seems to be the most common), most also have a waiting period before they kick in( again 14 days from date of purchase seems the most common). They also tend to have other limitations such as having lists of companies that they either will or will not insure for. They also tend to require specific legal actions to have been taken such as a bankruptcy filing or similar actions.

Financial default travel insurance is readily available.

Yes, it is available, but not that easy to find and you have to know where to look. When Tom Harper went under a few months ago, I remember looking for it in the policy I bought through Vantage (it's not included) and went on line looking for a policy....first of all, I could not beat Vantage price for the same amount of coverage....and I really had to search for ones that included financial default...and it's not cheap. For ME, and not for everybody, I believe companies like Vantage, AMA, Viking....the bigger ones that all of us are familiar with, are pretty solvent. I would really be concerned if I was going with a new company (less than 10 years old); or a relatively unknown company; or a company that was a little too cheap and/or a little too anxious for me to pay in full by e-check.

Viking longships seem to be the only boats on European rivers that have true verandas as well as the "French" veranda that is really just a full sized glass door that you can open. The Viking veranda does provide more personal space at a reasonable increase in price. Regarding privacy on riverboats, with much side by side mooring (sometimes called rafting) it is quite easy to awaken and find a neighboring boat tight against your veranda, either true or French so your view of shore might be impacted.

 

Vantage and Viking both use an artificial 2 for 1 pricing where a brochure price is given and then cut in half. (I doubt if any cruise line, ocean or river, has ever sold a cabin at this artificial price.) Vantage touts their cost per day, but it uses their cheapest cabin on the cheapest date to get this number for each cruise. One needs to compare the cabin and date for each cruise line to determined the lowest cost per day. Neither line includes tips.

 

Many people note that the Viking longships carry 190 passanges while the newest Vantage boats carry 176. This equates to 7 fewer cabins.

 

Both lines do a large amount of discounting and special sales, often times tied to airfare provided by the line. With its shear size Viking offers far more dates to choose from for the start of a trip.

 

Vantage does seem to want you to book directly with them and they do offer discounts for early pay. They each give a discount for paying with an echeck but then you do lose protections that a charge card gives you. Both lines offer referral benefits that are similar.

 

MY feelings are that a either line will offer a good product for a reasonable cost.

Regarding river boats that have 'true verandas' on the European rivers - APT and Scenic also have full balconies with glass sliding doors on all levels except the lower level. Scenic also have 'sun lounges' on their balconies so the balcony can be partially enclosed if the weather is not good, but still allows you to sit outside on the sun lounge. The number of passengers on Scenic Space Ships range from 128 to 169 and on APT approximately 158 - 164, all depends on the make of Space Ship. We have done two APT river cruises and will be doing our first with Scenic in September - Amsterdam to Basel.

Hi Madda any reason you decided to use scenic this time? The reason I ask is because I have a B-A with APT in August and you are the first person I have found on cc that has been with them 😃

Hi Madda any reason you decided to use scenic this time?

We are doing Majestic Britain and Ireland for three weeks with Scenic before the cruise and then fly to Amsterdam to commence the cruise. Scenic were the only company that combined the land and river cruise that we could find and we have heard excellent reports about them, we also like the idea of combining the land and river cruise with the one company. It will be interesting to compare the two companies. Price wise they are very similar. We have booked though with APT for Canada and Alaska for next year.

I would have to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our two cruises with APT, we made friends on our first cruise with them in 2008 and we are still friends to this day, they also have cruised again with APT

Thanks Madda relived to hear it. Did you have any problems with water levels on your other River Cruises and if you did how did APT handle it?

You will love Canada & Alaska we did that in 2005 with Scenic. I still talk about that trip today. We went in May first tour for the season and was blessed with stunning weather. But as always it is in the hands of the gods 😊

Thanks Madda relived to hear it. Did you have any problems with water levels on your other River Cruises and if you did how did APT handle it?

You will love Canada & Alaska we did that in 2005 with Scenic. I still talk about that trip today. We went in May first tour for the season and was blessed with stunning weather. But as always it is in the hands of the gods

Our first cruise was in November/December 2008 and we did not have any problems with the water levels. The next river cruise was in August/September 2011 and there were some problems with low water levels. Our captain was supposed to leave the ship and another captain was going to come on board (can't remember exactly where) but as the water levels were very low, we ended up with two captains for the next 24 hours to make certain everything was okay and that there was no danger to the passengers. The passengers were also informed of what was happening and thank goodness the cruise/tour continued as per the itinerary. We were extremely happy with all the information provided by the Captain/s and crew.

Great thanks for that info. I am glad that there was good communication I think when people are left in the dark that's when situations arise. Looking forward to our trip and keeping my fingers crossed all goes to plan.

The reason that I became interested in river cruising was because Viking sent us a brochure.

However, before I booked, I did a lot of research, including finding stuff on cc.

We have done two Vantage trips/cruises, Russia and China. Two of the best trips we have ever taken.

Never done one with Viking. We did one with AMA because the Vantage tour for the Rhone river was not when we wanted to go.

We are now booked on Vantage's Douro River for May next year.

I did my usual research, and compared Vantage, Viking, AMA and a couple more.

Vantage had the best prices and our pre cruise hotel is a five star hotel in Lisbon.

We always book the cheapest cabin that we can find, since on river cruises there are no sea days, you are always busy touring. When on the boat, we socialize at the bar or watch the scenery go by on top.

We always book the cheapest cabin that we can find, since on river cruises there are no sea days, you are always busy touring. When on the boat, we socialize at the bar or watch the scenery go by on top.

On the Douro all sailing is in daytime, so a balcony would be as useful as it is on an ocean cruise (with better scenery); on the Rhone, much of the cruising is during the day. Yes, you can use the lounge and the sun deck, but it's nice to have the alternative of seeing the scenery from your own cabin.