Mike R 2018

Very informative.  Thank you.

Greydog-  Please expound on the Bratislava tour was less than exciting, if possible.

My wife and I are signed up for that excursion in July...

-Notamermaid-  Your observations and comments were appreciated on Cruise Critic prior to our 2019 Viking Rhine Getaway cruise.  Thank you once again!

Thanks for the updates.  Sorry things have changed.  We travelled pre-COVID, which may explain the changes...

You're going to some excellent ports.  Take the small boat trip to the oldest windmill at Kenderdijk.  We did- and enjoyed it.  

We took the walking/eating all-day tour and had a grand time in Strausbourg.  I would highly recommend the excursion as you see the sights in the old city and the canals, plus you get to sample the food/wine grown in the region.  I'll add two pics I took.

Lastly, if you are docking at  Rudesheim au Rhine for an evening, please consider finding a great restaurant on your own as we did.  The excursion for dinner at a beer hall was far too "touristy" for us.

I have a set of Nikon Trailblazers 8x25 that are excellent for vacations-  I've taken them on several.  Very compact with great optics.

...Just one reason we enjoy vacationing in Europe.  

I've found a pic that I took that evening.  This was taken at just one of the city squares in Cologne we walked through...

We took the "beer crawl" excursion in Cologne (our third excursion that day :-)).  We had quite a bit of fun as we were bused to an older part of town, then walked to three beer halls, trying the special beer of each.  We also had a nice German meal.  Along with the camaraderie of our group of about 20 from the boat, we truly enjoyed chatting (in both English and German) with several locals.  It was so nice to walk by several hundred, yes, several hundred locals sitting under umbrellas at tables drinking beer, eating snacks, relaxing and talking at the many outdoor cafes we passed while walking.  It was refreshing to see them enjoying the evening with friends and family.  That Friday night is etched in my memory as that experience wouldn't happen in a large US city today...  We were bussed back to the boat at about 10 PM.  Our cruise was in June, 2019.

The Bruel Palace tour was very nice as was the walking tour of Cologne.  The tour guide of the latter was superb.

We enjoyed our cruise/stay in Amsterdam in 2019 so much that we're off to the Prague/Romantic Danube cruise in July...

Hello-  We took that cruise in 2019-  Truly enjoyed it so much that we're going on the Danube in July...

You'll enjoy your cruise and have a lifetime of great memories.  We stayed at the Amsterdam Pulitzer prior to our cruise- it was absolutely grand!  We were met at Schiphol by a driver with a Mercedes, then driven to the hotel.  If you stay there, please consider going on the hotel's private canal boat,  the Tourist, once used by Winston Churchill and the queen of the Netherlands soon after the end of WWII.

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The tours mentioned by others were well-worth it-  we took most of them.

Rather than take a small (carnival-ish) train to eat in Rudesheim, we opted to eat at a very nice restaurant in town (a 20-minute walk from the boat).  My review  of the Ratsstube is on trip advisor.  We had a wonderful and relaxed meal.  Walking back, we spotted the group from our boat at their restaurant- it was very loud with a live band and people were dancing in line or drinking mugs of beer.  We simply walked by and window shopped back to the boat, LOL.   Oh- we're both retired...

...Hope you have a cabin with a balcony.  We enjoyed sipping a glass of wine on ours while discussing the day's events.

We made a dozen friends who live from CA to NY and in-between on our cruise,  Expect to have fun- you will.

My wife and I are on the Viking Var in July-  Possibly the same cruise.  We have booked our pre-cruise stay in Prague at the Augustine hotel which may be where you're staying.  

During our pre-cruise stay in Amsterdam a few years ago (on the Rhine Getaway), we had three Viking reps visit our hotel daily to offer advice on things to do and where to eat.  They were excellent on-site resources. They lived in Amsterdam...  Hopefully, you will have the same helpful on-site Viking staff at your Prague hotel.

We've used Tours by Locals in Sicily... It was a pricey, but excellent tour catering to our specific requirements.

...Hope this info is helpful/reassuring.

If you're arriving in Prague on 7/9/24 and staying at the Augustine, we may meet you there...

Any questions?  I'll try to answer them for you. 

Here's a pic of the excellent Viking staff who visited us at our Amsterdam hotel...

My wife and I are on the Viking Var in July-  Possibly the same cruise.  We have booked our pre-cruise stay in Prague at the Augustine hotel which may be where you're staying.  

During our pre-cruise stay in Amsterdam a few years ago (on the Rhine Getaway), we had three Viking reps visit our hotel daily to offer advice on things to do and where to eat.  They were excellent on-site resources. They lived in Amsterdam...  Hopefully, you will have the same helpful on-site Viking staff at your Prague hotel.

We've used Tours by Locals in Sicily... It was a pricey, but excellent tour catering to our specific requirements.

...Hope this info is helpful/reassuring.

If you're arriving in Prague on 7/9/24 and staying at the Augustine, we may meet you there...

I'm enjoying the comments on this blog!  As a suggestion, if someone wants to learn quite a bit about the Rhine, water levels, weather forecasts and much more, I'd highly recommend the Cruise Critic blog:  Rhine Water Levels 2019 and Similar Topics started by Notamermaid.  I spent hours reading it from page one to the last and was far better prepared for our river cruise than if I had just been a typical tourist 🙂.  Oh, we were expecting temps in the 70's in mid-June..... add 20 degrees!  I wore sandals every day.  Shorts, Capris, knit shirts, ballcaps, sunglasses, etc.  were the norm on Viking.

Yes, I'll bet most middle Rhine cruises weren't like ours LOL.  ...Middle of June 2019.  Almost historic heat wave.  No clouds.  Seating under the canvas tent structures was highly-desired, otherwise you felt like you'd melt!  The Cruise Director had pity on us and provided free ice cream and sherbert to cool us off- which one had to eat quickly.  I believe temps were in the 90's F.   The scenery was beautiful but most of us were sweating.  Hope no one experiences an afternoon like we did😀.

No, there is no "best" side; both sides are very good- especially if one has balcony views 😊.  I agree with gnome 12.  One word of advice:  If you want a seat topside when cruising the middle Rhine, get to your chairs or loungers as soon as possible!  There will be at least one hundred others wanting to sit topside and enjoy the views.  And, yes, there were "chair hogs" on our Viking Rhine Getaway the afternoon we viewed the castles.

Enjoy your cruise!  We did!

...Just to add to the discussion, we had hamburgers/cheeseburgers grilled on the terrace for lunch one afternoon on our June Rhine Getaway.  Yes, they were good and grilled to order 🙂.

Senga - If you can't meet notamermaid, you may want to do what we did in June...   While cruising on the Rhine we raised our glasses of fine Riesling in a toast to her in appreciation of her info, comments and humor on this blog.  We were much better prepared for our Viking cruise thanks to her- and the info she provided was spot-on.

Hello Notamermaid:

We've returned from the Viking Rhine Getaway cruise we took in late June.  I believe you've mentioned the crowds getting larger at the more common excursions (Marksburg and Heidelburg Castles, for example).  There were hundreds of tourists at both sites, just to mention two.  It wasn't Viking's fault that the popular sites were packed with people.  We had a grand vacation on the Rhine, though.  Our 7-hour tour of Strausburg was simply grand- as was the food and wine 😋.  One of our best dinners was at the Restaurant Ratsstube in Rudesheim- we didn't take a tour; we just spent a very nice four hours walking through the town- at a senior citizen's pace 😊.  Again, thank you so much for your information, personal observations and humor.  We knew what to expect prior to our journey by reading your posts.  And yes, we offered a toast to you with glasses of Riesling while sitting topside on the Viking Lofn as promised.

I've been monitoring this thread for eight months in preparation for our Viking Rhine Getaway that begins on Thursday, following our two-day stay in Amsterdam.  Notamermaid, you and G.M.T. have been very helpful with your information and insights- and for keeping this thread focused.  I'll raise a glass of Reisling in honor of you both as we cruise the middle Rhine next week 😉.  Thank you both.

I'll be running all over the deck for both snacks and pics (after I wipe my hands!), so no tripod after all LOL.  Thanks for the advice!

We're taking an A-B Viking Rhine Getaway cruise in a few months- really looking forward to it!  I'm taking my Sony camera and am considering taking a lightweight tripod for photos/videos of the castles (and more) from topside.  Any suggestions re:  tripod placement, port or starboard, etc. from those who've done it? Thanks, in advance!

HI jJarlath115. Thanks so much! I may get an extra pair of slacks or two, but your info is very welcome. You mention it being warm in mid-July. Curious... it's 93F at 7 PM today near Pensacola. It wasn't THAT warm on the cruise was it? :-).

My wife and I have booked the Viking Rhine Getaway Cruise in late June of 2019. We can't wait!!! I do have one question (so far)... Does casual daytime dress at that time of year include cargo shorts for the men/capris for the ladies? We live in FL and I only own three pairs of slacks as a (thankful) retiree!

DECK - Sky (10)

CABIN # - 1210 Silhouette

CLASS - C1

STARBOARD OR PORT SIDE - Aft

BED NEAR - Balcony

QUIET CABIN - Very Quiet

BALCONY VIEW - 180 Degrees Aft - Great

BALCONY SIZE - Largest Aft Concierge Balcony on Deck 10

WAS WIND A PROBLEM - No

SOOT PROBLEM - No soot at all on 7 day cruise.

SPECIFIC PROBLEMS - None, but the cabin is starting to show it's age.

OTHER COMMENTS - Long walk to the elevators. Room Attendant Tania was excellent.

Thanks to all! Very helpful info. Going on the Silhouette next month- now I know what to expect regarding the ciders.

I've seen on Celebrity's website (ugh) that Woodchuck and Magner's ciders are offered in the Premium Package; Strongbow is offered in the Classic Package. Anyone have any info on add'l ciders offered onboard in either package? We're sailing in a month and I prefer cider to beer- but can raise a Guinness if needed :D. Thanks, in advance!

Thanks! Ours is from Celebrity.