chlives60

Mostly 50's up but on our last Christmas market cruise, a group of us who met on the cruise ranged in age from 83-40's and we called ourselves the fantastic 8 as we were very active lounge friends. Most people are seasoned travelers and enjoy meeting people and fun. Enjoy

We have been on 4 Viking river cruises and as for dinner attire some nights most people don't change from what they wore on shore, jeans, capris, but for captain night I put a nice top and dress pants (black pants) but no real dress code, very casual, and you can ask the waiter to fill your glass and take it up to the lounge. On the Portugal cruise I loved the "green" verde wine and my husband liked the bitburg beer and we would ask for it at lunch, dinner and always got it. We found people we liked on each cruise and ended up sharing time with them, some we still vacation with. I think the lounge time is a great time to meet some very interesting people. Entertainment is low key, from dance contests, to local groups and the house piano player. days are very busy so come 11pm the lounge emptied out but he will stay and play till the last person leaves.

We did this trip late April 2013 and wore a light jacket, didn't have any rain, one day cloudy, sat on the top deck after dinner most nights, met friends we are still vacationing with from UK and NC, wasn't real crowded at stops. We did the Swiss Alps after taking a train from Basel and we had wonderful weather, one day we were in short tops in the valley and the weather was great.

I can't quote Viking Ocean but on our Porto river cruise we had a 4pm flight and we stayed on board till 1:30pm with a few others and Viking offered us a light lunch and we could sit in the lounge till it was time to leave on the bus for the airport. We have an early flight out of Stockholm we booked on our own so we will be leaving early and booking a taxi for early.

I have done 4 Viking river cruises and 3 were on the lower deck which has a larger room than the French balcony does, also was on a regular balcony room but in December it did little for us. Also keep in mind that on a river cruise most of the social aspect of the cruise is in the lounge and the top deck if weather is nice, not many stay in their rooms. Also rafting is common so when in port you will probably have the curtains closed as you may not want to see people on the other boat. I have never had my window below the water line on the lower deck, but did see birds swim by. I go for the value as Viking treats everyone the same and there is no class of room distinction.

We are sailing on the May 14th Viking Sea. We are thinking of doing a 2 day tour of St. Petersburg with TJ tours, it has great reviews on TripAdvisor. The two day tour Viking offers includes the ballet, and we just feel it is too exhausting to go for the evening program after all day sightseeing. Has anyone ever used an outside tour company while on a Viking Cruise? This is our first Viking trip.

HI we are also using TJ's for St. Petersburg and Berlin with a group of CC people on the May 6th Homelands cruise. We based it on prior reviews on CC about TJ and trip advisor. I believe most of the Russian tour companies are the same as in what they offer but we have had great communication with TJs and they also tell you that if you pay in crisp US$ it is better than the coversion rate offered if you pay with credit card on Russian Rubles. You pay for both trips at the end of the St. Petersburg trip which sounds easy.

Thank you for all the replies, I guess I will have to change from acrylic to gel nails!

Looking forward to our cruise

Hello All we are sailing Homelands out of Bergen on May 6 and will be in Europe a month before we sail, so I am wondering what are the services provided in the Salon. Specific to hair (cut/color) nails do they do more than just manicure as in acrylic nails? Thank you to any ladies that have use the service on board.

Dear Cruzessentials, as for nightly entertainment it is a small boat and all things happen in the lounge after dinner. Some ports they will bring in local entertainment, you will be notified of it, but most nights it is the house piano player. You will make friends quickly as before dinner everyone gathers in the lounge for the daily talk about tomorrow and the first night the crew will have some kind of entertainment (dance contest,, guessing game) but we found most of the people we met to be very interesting, some we are still friends with and vacation with. One cruise (we have taken 4 river cruises with Viking) a younger guy had his harmonica and he and the Russian house piano player would start to jam when most of the people when to bed. He will stay and play till the last guest retires but usually around 11pm people go to bed as the day starts early on the river. Don't expect Ocean Cruise type entertainment as the River Cruise offers more low key type but like everything else on a river cruise it is casual and you go with the flow.

This is an interesting thread, I had an issue as we are leaving for Europe at the beginning of April and not taking our Viking Ocean Cruise till beginning of May. The first time I called Viking they assured me I would have my travel documents by the end of March, second time I called they said absolutely not that the documents are mailed 15 days prior to Cruise, no exceptions. So I emailed Viking and was told my TA had to handle any request (I have taken 4 Viking River Cruises and never had this run around). My TA contacted Viking and was told I don't really need my travel documents and there is nothing I need to board the ship other than passport, end of story. Well within 3 hours I received an email from Viking that had all my travel documents including all shore excursions booked to date and where the ship will be docked in Bergen. Only thing missing are my luggage tags but hey why did I have to jump through hoops and called all these people just to have someone at Viking (thank you Brian Singer) email me the basics that I was looking for.

As for included tours, I found I could only cancel one then book the one I wanted.

We have been on 4 Viking River Cruises and the Douro was different in that all the employees of all the ships on the Douro are subcontractors so to speak from a Portugal company that controls all of this, so even if they have the Viking logo on their uniforms they could be working at Uniworld ship the next month. The cruise director explained to us that since they were not technically employees of Viking the cash method of payment was the only way to tip on that cruise. We had to go with our cousins the last night of the cruise and find a cash machine to get the tip money for all.

On the other 3 cruises we were told about tipping the bus drivers and tour guides in each city, this was before Viking got their own busses. And somewhere towards the end of the cruise the tour director may have said something about charging tips, which we usually do, but give a little extra to our cabin person, and anyone who gave us extra service. One cruise 8 of us sat at the same dinner table each night and the waiter was very good to use so at the end we gave him an envelope from all of us. But never felt any pressure as to tipping only suggestions as to what you should give pp per day.

I am just recently starting to look at river cruises, so I'm not familiar with the pattern of sales and promotions. Currently Viking is offering $295 air. I've seen reference to free air being offered in the past. Should I wait for a better promotion, or do they just adjust the cruise fare up when they offer free air so that the promotions really don't matter?

I think the free air is for cruises they are pushing that month, if you go to the web site you will see which ones are being offered with free airfare. It seems that each month they offer a different incentive and of course always the half price for the cruise

Is there a place for two more people on the St. Petersburg tour? I have two clients that might like to join you in May as they are on this ship. What day are you touring? Thanks

We are going to be in St Petersburg May 16/17. Our CC friend Fred is sponsor of our Viking group on TJ's tours so if you ask to be included in Fred's tour you will get an additional $ off the price.

Oh, did anyone that has done this itinerary gone to Prague at the end? If so, was it hard to get to from Passau?

Not sure about getting to Prague but we had no trouble going from Munich train station getting on a train direct to Passau, check the train lines schedule from Passau, if your boat is parked in town you will be pretty close to the train station I think we took a cab because we thought the boat was docked at the farthest possible spot but when the driver took us to the boat it was about a 10 min. cab ride.

I'm doing this in December, so excited. Any tips? Were the included excursions mostly in the morning?

Christmas markets as each city/town will probably have one.

We purchased Paprika in Budapest and just declared it and also purchased that wonderful grainy German mustard in tubes that is so good, no problems getting it into US. Also remember goulash if made correctly in Hungary is a soup not something over noodles, which we discovered when we took a food tour in Budapest!

I also would caution about the balcony on a river cruise as rafting is usually the order of business and your view will be of another persons cabin and you will have the curtains closed. Also on river cruising most of your time will be spent with other passengers in the lounge or on the top deck while cruising to see all the view and these cruises tend to be very social affairs where you meet people and spend time talking because there is little entertainment and most activity tend to be in the open areas of the boat. Don't let that be the determining factor on the cruise as all rooms are alike with the exception of the most expensive.

I have taken 4 Viking river cruises, including yours and we usually do the included tour but I don't think they would stop you from staying on board, most of the time you will be docked at the town so you will not be cruising. Each town is different and the small towns are lovely Passau was a favorite, Vienna offers so much to see, easy to take the subway, Melk Abbey is beautiful and should not be missed, and Budapest was a lovely surprise for us. We only did the included tours as we usually go early to the start of the trip and stay at the end of the trip so we have spent time in both Passau and Budapest on our own. Also we had been to Vienna before so didn't take the included tour but went out on our own. There is plenty of time after/before the included tours and they are not overly strenuous and it would be a shame to miss each town as they are all different and have something to offer.

I have done Viking Danube at Christmas and love the markets and have done the Rhine also. The decorations in the town are lovely and the Christmas markets are fun, hot wine, sausages, gifts. Most of the included tours will give you enough information on each town and then you can explore. You will be one of the youngest guests, however on our December Budapest to Nuremburg we became friendly with a couple of men in their late thirties/early forties on the tour, I will say you will meet very interesting people some retired and some in their late 40's-early60's as most people mingle in the lounge.

The food is not all buffet. Breakfast is buffet but their is a menu if you want eggs. Lunch is two options either the buffet in the lounge or the lunch in the dining room which we prefer. Dinner is always in the dining room and starts at 7pm. After dinner most people go up to the lounge where their is light entertainment, either the piano player or a few nights local entertainment is on board for a show.

While we have not taken your cruise we have done all the towns but one Nuremburg and Cologne which are the largest towns packed with history, and the small town are lovely too.

Tipping is not included and you will be told about it on the last day.

If you can, have Viking change your airfare home and do your own Prague, it's easy to get to the train station and book your own rooms (check trip advisor for that) as I find Vikings extra days add on expensive as we do our own it's much cheaper and you can find a place where you want to be not where they put you. We did the Portugal cruise with them and just had them do our airfare for the dates we wanted as we wanted to be in Lisbon 4 days before the cruise started, I think we paid about $100 to talk to a Viking air person. I had been on the airlines web site and told them exactly what flights I wanted and where I wanted to sit (emergency exit row). They got it right after a few back and forth calls but it is worth paying a little extra to get the flights you want. My cousins were flying home from Porto same as us and they had to leave the boat at 2:30am and fly to Frankfurt for a 9 hour lay over and then fly to Newark, we chose the direct flight from Porto to Newark (the extra $100 to talk to a Viking air rep) and we left the ship after lunch (Viking provided us and a few other stragglers lunch) and flew direct from Porto to Newark. So all I'm saying is don't put your flight in Vikings hands as they will get you the cheapest flights but not the most direct, however if you call and tell them what flights you want the extra $100 is worth it.

Have a great time, all those ports are interesting and the ship is lovely. Remember the river cruise only holds about 190 people so you will get to know a lot of them.

PS we vacation with people we met on our 2013 cruise.

We chose to do the 2 day with TJ's tour (our sailing is 5/6/17 out) as they also stated they would get you to the next port at their expense if we miss the boat. They are very easy to work with and got excellent reviews on trip advisor and here on cc. We have so far received discounts and our 2 day price is USD$240.00pp as we also booked the Berlin tour with them for USD$89.00 as they give discounts for CC people. One member of our sailing has made a CC group with them so that we are traveling with them and hopefully 8 other people sign up. It is a small group tour so you get to more places and includes lunch both days.

HI all we did the Viking Rhine back in 2013 and really enjoyed it. We too book the lowest price room as with River Cruising you spend most of the time mingling with other guests in the lounge. We met 2 other couples who we are still friends with and vacation with, one from the UK and the other from NC. We were all in our late 50's however River Cruising does tend to lend itself to the older crowd. (on our Christmas cruise of the Danube in 2015 we were 4 couples ranging in age from 83 to early50's and we closed the lounge most nights) Just have to find a group of people to click with. You will have time to get to know some interesting people as the entertainment on board is light, usual a piano player and a few nights they bring in local entertainment.

All the ports are walkable with the exception of the Black Forest excursion which Viking takes you on the bus to a tourist village that has a clock maker, glass blower, and café to buy Black Forest cake, and you can take a short hike into the forest, we thought it was a waste of time. We did the optional Colmar tour which we liked a lot.

Before the cruise we did our own air into Amsterdam and spent 3 days, so much to do, then took the train in Basel to Interlaken and another train to Latuerbrunnen and did the Alps in 4 days.

Viking also did a "slow Walkers" included tour in each city so that people who couldn't keep up at a normal pace could have a tour at a slower pace, also they have ear pieces so that you can hear the guide during the tour.

We had no problem with the rooms as they are large enough and the crew was friendly and helpful and the room was always super clean.

I think you will really like river cruising, no sea sickness, interesting destinations, interesting fellow cruisers.

We have been traveling to Europe since the 90's and my husband always carries a backpack with stuff we may need (umbrella, camera, batteries, water bottles, snacks, tour books, place to put purchases as we go). He has a small lock on it and if we are in a crowd he wears it in the front of him or on one shoulder under his arm. I think he has had to put it in a locker from time to time, no worries. We also travel with money belts so no worries and use RFID sleeves for credit cards and I wear a cross body shoulder bag that has a RFID section and has a clasp to keep the zipper secure. Just always be aware of your surroundings and don't look the beggar boy in the eye!!!!ha ha

We have a 9am flight from Bromma Airport Stockholm to Brussels. Anyone know if we book a taxi from the port to this airport how much it might cost and approximately how long of a trip on Saturday.

We have been on 4 River Cruises (all Viking for us) and also tour on our own in Europe and never really found an issue with English. One the boat, everyone speaks English as at least Viking is geared to the American traveler. But learning a few words like good morning/thank you in the native language helps. Most Germans speak English (we only found once when we asked an elderly couple at a tram station which one to get on, they went over to a younger man and he answered us and explained that older Germans may not know English so ask a younger person if you can). In France, the people don't think they speak English well and are often afraid to offer help that's when a few words of French helps break the ice. That said, we have never really found language too much of an issue in Europe. Tour guides are English speaking and while some may have a heavy accent, you can understand them. On Viking you get an ear piece and speaker so that the guide talks into the speaker and you can hear clearly from the ear piece. All the staff on board the boat is very helpful with any questions you may have.

We did the Viking Budapest to Nuremburg Dec. 2015 and the Passau to Budapest Dec, 2011. Focus on your cities as Viking will have very good tours on the river. Budapest as it is a wonderful walking city and do tours that Viking will not take you on. We spent an extra 3 days in Budapest (stayed at Sofitel on the river for very cheap rate and right where Viking docked) and did a walking tour on day one to get oriented, saw the Nutcracker in the Opera House (if you can book a show as it is beautiful) then we booked an all day tour that started as an eating tour in the Central Food Market (not to be missed, basement is where they keep the live fish! and pickles) followed by a lunch in the country and a trip to a winery with tastings. It was nice to get out of the city and see the country side and talk to local people, really enjoyable. The castle area is a nice walk too. If you have time do a thermal bath, when we were there it was freezing and people were out in the swim suits enjoying a swim! Passau is a lovely city to walk around. We did a optional tour which included a boat ride and visit to a small city but not worth the $$ and should have stayed in Passau. Along the river Viking will take you on tours that are really good and you will have free time. Vienna has a good underground that is close to the boats for getting into the city center. The Schonbrunn Palace is very interesting.