steverhodes

Great pictures! I loved going through them especially the Portugal album. I am planning Portugal for next year and Viking has the perfect dates but I just can't stomach the payment terms.

If you ask, they will usually arrange for final payment 6 months in advance.

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We did the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam on the Viking Kvaser in November. What an incredible experience. We are ready to plan a similar trip on another river. Which river is as good as the Rhine? Is there one? Appreciate your feedback.

I would recommend the Viking Romanic Danube trip next. Here it is in pictures:

http://www.RhodesVacations.com/danube

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We are taking my mom and sister on this cruise with us. It will be a first river cruise for all of us, and I am wondering about the dress code for dinner onboard. I have a feeling a nice pair of pants or skirt, with a nice top would be more than satisfactory. At least that’s what I am planning, but any insight that I can share with mom and sis would be most welcome.

Here we are at dinner with friends on a Viking river cruise last December. Think casual. NO sport coats.

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Trying to decide which one to choose. Their trips are comperable

We have taken 9 Viking trips and have 3 more booked. We love them. No reason for us to try others.

You can see pictures of our trips here:

http://www.RhodesVacations.com

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We are looking at our first Viking Cruise (have done many Ocean cruises) in 2019. My husband's bucket list includes seeing the Swiss Alps. We are thinking of doing the reverse itinerary, Zurich to Paris, with the Switzerland add-on. Our travel agent said we would spend 2 nights in Geneva, 2 nights in Zermatt and 2 nights Zurich before moving to Basil to board the ship. Has anyone done this itinerary? If so we would appreciate your feedback. Does this direction give us any nights in Paris included, or would we have to do add-on? Also I have read many negative hotel reviews on the Paris Pullman and Zurich hotel. Again, as a total Viking newbie, would so appreciate your thoughts.

FYI - I think you’ll have a great time. We have taken 8 viking river trips and have 3 more booked.

Here is Zurich:

Here is sunrise on the Matterhorn in Zermatt:

Here is one of many castles you’ll see cruising up the Rhine:

Among the many oys of the cruise are the long leisurely meals with fantastic views through the big picture windows:

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We are looking at our first Viking Cruise (have done many Ocean cruises) in 2019. My husband's bucket list includes seeing the Swiss Alps. We are thinking of doing the reverse itinerary, Zurich to Paris, with the Switzerland add-on. Our travel agent said we would spend 2 nights in Geneva, 2 nights in Zermatt and 2 nights Zurich before moving to Basil to board the ship. Has anyone done this itinerary? If so we would appreciate your feedback. Does this direction give us any nights in Paris included, or would we have to do add-on? Also I have read many negative hotel reviews on the Paris Pullman and Zurich hotel. Again, as a total Viking newbie, would so appreciate your thoughts.

The hotel in Zurich is fine BUT you have to take a tram about 15 minutes to get to the central part of town.

For Paris Pullman, it has a great location but standard rooms are basic. We arranged directly with hotel to upgrade our room for about 80 Euros more so we could get a view. I took this picture from our balcony.

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We are looking at our first Viking Cruise (have done many Ocean cruises) in 2019. My husband's bucket list includes seeing the Swiss Alps. We are thinking of doing the reverse itinerary, Zurich to Paris, with the Switzerland add-on. Our travel agent said we would spend 2 nights in Geneva, 2 nights in Zermatt and 2 nights Zurich before moving to Basil to board the ship. Has anyone done this itinerary? If so we would appreciate your feedback. Does this direction give us any nights in Paris included, or would we have to do add-on? Also I have read many negative hotel reviews on the Paris Pullman and Zurich hotel. Again, as a total Viking newbie, would so appreciate your thoughts.

You can see pictures of this cruise here:

http://www.RhodesVacations.com

Great photos! What time of year were you in Russia?

We were there in Early July of 2016.

DW and I are planning a Danube river cruise and on a number of sailings all that is left are "river view" cabins on the lowest deck. I understand that you can't watch the river go by and that the floor is below the water level. We tend to use the cabin for sleeping and changing and otherwise are off or around the ship. Is there something I am missing as to why these cabins are undesirable?

It comes down to how much do you want to pay for a cabin you are almost never in (during waking hours.)

Steve, your pictures are fabulous. Thank you for sharing them. To what cities did you go and what tours/free exploration did you do in each? I would love to see some of your same sights one day.

 

 

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Cologne

Koblenz

Miltenberg

Rothenburg od der Tauber [optional]

Wurzburg

Bamberg

Nuremberg

Only other optional I did was top of Cologne Cathedral.

Thank you steverhodes for the lovely pictures. Good to hear you had a magical time. Beginning of December often sees a few days of snow on the Rhine. This time it was actually cold enough to stay long enough for photographers to take some great pictures. And you caught those days, really lucky. :)

 

Which town is the photo with timbered houses, cobblestones and lights?

 

notamermaid

Miltenberg which was wonderful and guide was hilarious.

First I would to thank the people on this forum who helped us choose the right clothing for our cruise. Although temps got into the low thirties a lot and we got rain and — yea! — some snow, we were never cold because you helped us be prepared.

Now onto a few brief reflections. This trip from the time we got to Cologne on Dec 8 until we left on Dec 14 in Nuremberg far exceeded our expectations. It was bracketed by two great markets, but Cologne was the one we liked best. We saw snow covered castles as we cruised. And generally we had a fabulous time. Two other couples joined us, and we all agreed it was one of our best trips ever.

Hopefully you can see by the pictures I took that the trip had one magical moment after another. I will never forget this amazing cruise.

If you’d like to see all of my pictures of this trip and of 8 other Viking cruises we have taken, you go to picture website:

http://www.RhodesVacations.com

How was the cruise? Did you have to swap?

 

Happy New Year!

 

Jeff

One day we had to leave an hour early due to rising water so we could get under a low bridge.

But ...

This was our 9th Viking trip and no swaps ever.

It was also one of the best trips ever. Only Viking China was much better.

Only way is if they build a new river cruise boat in the US. And flag it in the US.

Yep. That’s all possible.

I hope you're correct. On our cruise in September, Viking announced the Mississippi plans and we were looking forward to taking that itinerary with Viking because of the great service we experienced on the Rhine Getaway.

They announced on ours just one week ago. I don't think they've given up.

I just got a notification from Viking that the Main River is very high and we might have to transfer ships in the middle of our cruise. I am not a happy camper now even though I know that these things happen. Has anyone experienced this that could soothe me that I haven't wasted my money for a veranda suite on a river cruise when I am going to be possibly taking a bus trip through Germany?

We did this trip on Dec 8 without problems. I’ve heard from someone on the Dec 15 cruise who just did a ship swap. He thinks it WAS BETTER because they added Frankfurt to the cruise. He thinks it’s a win/win.

http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/15/there-will-be-no-viking-longboats-cruisi

I am not convinced that Viking has given up for good on cruising the Mississippi.

I suspect at some point they will find a way to do it within the current law.

Just received our flight a little while ago. Not great.

 

RDU to JFK to FCO to Cairo

Amman to CDG to RDU coming home. We leave at 1:15 AM to come home.

 

All good seats are gone because Viking waits so long to make the arrangements.

For future reference if you pay $50pp for Viking Air Plus you can get reservations 300-330 days in advance and once you ask Viking to ticket you you can choose your seats. We got our December seats in February.

www.marinetraffic.com

I find it easier to use in my PC rather than my phone.

 

 

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I see rivers and ships but don’t know what to do with info.

Try looking at the website Marine Traffic

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums to see if there is blockage on the Main. Put in a port like Wurzberg and then look at the map. The ships on the river show up.

Do you have a link?

That sounds like the explantation, I have not looked at the Main situation recently, and did not hear anything on the news, so more localized rather than a widespread problem.

 

notamermaid

You really know this stuff well. Could you look at the Main for me?

Thanks

I have not heard anything about water level problems which would likely be beyond Nuremberg downstream on the Danube anyway. The Rhine is fine. If you have any uneasy feelings about the swap and what might happen next week do contact Viking and hear what they have to say. Perhaps a problem concerning the ship itself made a change of ship necessary for your friend. Or just pure logistics...

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

They were told she told me that it was because of high water somewhere between Koblenz where they just left and Nuremberg. So the question would be about the Main not the Rhine.

I have friend going Cologne to Nuremberg right now, which is a trip my wife and I will be taking next week. At the start they put them on the Kara rather than the Var that they were supposed to be on. My friend doesn’tknow if that means a ship swap is coming up.

Any idea if there are water problems there? We leave on the Viking Tor next week. (There are only two ships, the Var and the Tor that are scheduled to do the Christmas in Germany cruise.)

Thanks for your help.

Wow!!!

The photos are so beautiful. I am so excited to start planning and doing more research on Lucerne and the other ports of call.

 

We are dropping our daughter first in Madrid and will fly to Zurich. My TA said that Viking will be picking us up from Zurich airport even if we didn't book air with them. Then, we'll be transfered from Lucerne to Basel to board the ship, ending in Amsterdam.

FYI - If Viking arranged for the air that got you to Zurich *OR* if you or your travel agent for you paid extra for the transfers, then Viking will pick you up.

But, if you are not using Viking to get you to Zurich and you are not paying extra for the transfers, then Viking will not be picking you up.

We are in the process of planning and booking our 1st river cruise so there are a lots of things we don't know and will really need your help.

We are considering booking the Rhine Getaway in July 2018 with Viking (Basel to Amsterdam). We are also planning to do the 2 nights pre cruise in Lucerne. On the Viking website, the Lucerne pre cruise details show this itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in Lucerne

Day 2 : guided tour of the town

Day 3: free time in the morning then transfer to Basel to board the ship.

 

We are flying in from Madrid, Spain. We will probably arrive in Zurich around noon or 13:00. Then it will take around one hour by train from Zurich to Lucerne.

 

These are the questions that I have:

1/ Does anyone have an idea of which hotel Viking usually uses for the pre cruise guests ?

2/ What time does the guided tour on day 2 start? How long does it last?

 

We want to do the Pilatus Golden Round Trip. I have read here that it takes 4.5-5 hrs so will we have enough time to do it on day 2 after the guided tour?

 

How far is the starting point if the Golden Tour from Lucerne hotel, if we want to start by going up the gondola?

 

Shall we arrive one day earlier?

 

Thanks

Definitely recommend more time in Lucerne.

See some of my pictures in other reply. But here are more

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