mari119

Don't sweat the gondola. My husband has height issues and he was fine. You take this one up to a station near the top

Then you switch to a larger one for the final leg. I kept asking him how he was doing, and he said fine. I think he surprised himself. They are very sturdy and looked well maintained.

Thanks for the encouragement. I hope I'll be too busy looking at the scenery to get nervous!

:)

Don't sweat the gondola! The cog railway is an interesting engineering feat, but the views from the gondola are completely different and well worth the mild agita. If Viking isn't giving you a boat ride on Lake Lucerne, do the gold ticket that includes one. Otherwise you can take a train from Lucerne to the base of the railway and save a little money.

Thanks for your response. I'll just concentrate on the beautiful views!

When we did our Rhine Getaway with Viking in 2016, we booked the Lucerne post cruise, through Viking. It was wonderful having them handle all the details, and not worrying about a thing. We weren’t wild about the hotel (Hotel Flora), but it was conveniently located and the included breakfast was very good. We just had some issues with the staff - which the Viking rep handled. We did the walking tour, and then the Mt Pilatus Golden Round Trip on our own

 

Before the cruise, we did 3 days in Amsterdam on our own. We’d been there before so we were comfortable with that, plus the Viking extensions on both ends of the dates we wanted to cruise were sold out. We had to keep shuffling around just to get Lucerne. Do keep that in mind when booking - and we booked over a year out.

 

We did book Viking Air (with Air Plus) so we paid the deviation fee. I read a number of reviews for hotels and we decided on The Toren - one of the highest rated in Amsterdam. It’s centrally located on the Kaisersgracht, around the corner and 1 block up from the Anne Frank House and the Westerkirk.

 

It’s lovely hotel with a great staff. We booked a Double Canal View and they upgraded us to a really big room with a huge whirlpool tub - same price. It was fabulous! We also arranged with them to have a driver meet us at the airport with a sign. So nice when you arrive early in the morning after a long overnight flight.

 

No wrangling luggage. No searching for a taxi or dealing with a train or bus. He was waiting as we left the customs area, knew right where to go and he spoke English!

 

We went to a concert at the Concertgebouw. Had several delicious meals at various restaurants, including a Amsterdam Jewel dinner cruise (highly recommended - fabulous!). Saw the sights, visited several museums, took another canal cruise, and on the last day had the hotel call us a cab for the ride to the ship.

 

And all that was still less than the Viking extension [emoji16]. So weigh your options carefully. We didn’t do it to save money, but to be able to do what we wanted when we wanted - and we still saved money.

 

 

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We are doing this cruise on Viking Hlin in late June--booked only in February in response to a 5-day promotion with free air. Viking's pre-cruise extension in Amsterdam was sold out, so we booked the post-cruise extension in Lucerne. We will arrive in Amsterdam around 8:45 a.m. on the day of departure. Apparently Viking is not offering a walking tour of Amsterdam on the day of embarkation, so we're on our own. My apologies if you answered this on another thread, but can you tell me when the ship usually departs Amsterdam? We have booked tickets for the Anne Frank House online for 2:45 p.m., hoping that this will give us enough time to freshen up, get a bite to eat, visit the house, do a little more sightseeing, and get back to the ship in time for departure. In Lucerne, we are also thinking of doing the Golden Ticket trip to Mt. Pilatus on our own, if the weather is good. I am a little alarmed about the gondola part, though! Any other suggestions you have about Amsterdam or Lucerne would be appreciated!

After a couple of days with agreeable water levels the Danube has fallen again and the gauge at Vilshofen (part of the stretch that shows up as low first, usually) is at 297cm, just below the official point for mean low water level. Which ships and how many are affected is easier to determine with feedback from current cruisers. The river level can change for the better or the worse at short notice (let us say 12 hours) and sailing is decided at "ground level" by the captains, with the company having a say in it as regards operational procedures, like coach or ship swap at this port or that port.

 

I recommend phoning (if you are getting nervous) your cruise company closer to the date before you leave home and if you have a pre-cruise stay (again, if you want to know beforehand) in the country.

 

 

By the way, if the Avalon Vista is 110m long, then she should be fine normally.

 

notamermaid

We will be embarking at Nuremberg on July 16 (our first river cruise) on the Viking Atla and will be watching this thread. The Viking site only has information on two July 7 cruises, so this is a better source of information. I never look for trouble, but I would be very disappointed not to get to Krems and Melk. We arrive in Berlin on July 12 and I think rain is in the forecast next week. I hope everyone has a successful cruise!

I think Michele might be a guy, not a girl--Michele is Michael in Italian!

Mari119