jnew55

Very interesting!  I am also waiting on a Viking cancelled excursion refund from 5 months ago.  I call every month and am told I will receive my check in two weeks.  Still waiting.

As I read various accounts of people’s experiences, it really is interesting how even the same company varies in the way each cruise is handled. It seems some work out better than others.

MSKAUFMAN, I would have been quite happy with your trip, and I am happy for you that Viking handled your trip so well. I was NOT happy with the way Viking handled ours. No boat swaps, no hotels, just lots of buses.

We were basically just bused back to the ports that we missed, meaning we spent many, many hours on buses.

Since we were often on buses and when in port, rafted to other boats, we saw very little of the river traffic. I really couldn’t tell if other river boats were getting through.

Komarom is a tiny town about 60? miles from Budapest. There was nothing to do there—we were just bused into Budapest from there.

We were docked the first 4 days in Passau, sailed from Passau to Vienna, and then were stuck in Komarom the last two days. It was quite disappointing, to say the least.

Our recent Viking Romantic Danube “cruise” on the Gullveig was a bus tour—no ship swap.

Hello Bruin Steve,

I for one really appreciated your very balanced review of your recent cruise experience. My husband and I had experienced two previous excellent Viking river cruises (Paris to Normandy and Rhine Getaway) and had anxiously awaited our recent one from which we just returned, Viking Gullveig Romantic Danube. Although we did NOT have a dinner buffet on our cruise (except for German night which was a bit of a zoo with very long lines), I could identify with many of your other positives and negatives.

The other travelers on our ship were simply delightful, which made a very difficult situation somewhat more bearable. The crew worked very hard under stress as well. Our issue was low water on the Danube, which turned a river cruise into a bus trip. We only had two "normal" days of sailing. We noticed the often slow service in the dining room at times, but chalked that up at the time to the overall stress of the experience. Now I wonder if staffing numbers have changed? There were also a couple of nights that I had to go with the alternate menu choices (although the beef that I had was great). It does seem perhaps that things vary from ship to ship.

When we received our "dreaded emails" about the sailing changes (after we were already in Prague), a discount on a future cruise was offered. At that point, only the first 4 days were to be impacted. We were bused to Passau instead of Nuremberg and spent the next 4 days docked there (much of the time in an unsightly docking area). Later we were told that the ship would also not get to Budapest, which negatively impacted the final 2 days. On the final day, we were told to contact our travel agents or Viking Customer Relations when we got home. I took that to mean than the discount offer would be increased significantly due to the major additional inconveniences. I just got off the phone with Viking Customer Relations and I was wrong. Their offer was increased slightly, but not to a meaningful degree. Overall, the discount is quite small. There was no additional consideration for the fact that we paid for a French Balcony that we were only able to use two days (rafting was a constant on the trip).

I KNOW that all of the cruise companies' fine print protect them from low water issues. It just made me sad that they didn't seem to care that a once-loyal customer would never sail with them again. Oh well, live and learn and buyer beware, I guess.

Thank you for your report, Kenster! When exactly did you get off of your ship?

I have been trying to track several ships on the Nuremburg to Budapest itinerary for the past several days (not sure how exact the tracking sites are). There seems to be some movement at times, but many ships seem to not be moving. I haven't seen any movement between Nuremberg and Regensberg for many days. The Viking "Updates on Current Sailings" seems to indicate there have been no issues after July 14. Are you saying you HAVE seen issues after July 14?

Thank you so much for this update, pete_coach!

Thank you for the update Bruin Steve! Any word yet on what will happen with your own cruise?

We are supposed to be on the Viking Gullveig (Romantic Danube) leaving from Nuremburg July 28. Any update on the current situation on the Danube/Danube Main Canal between Nuremburg and Passau? Any news as to how cruise lines are handling things?

It was VERY easy to do on our own, and no need to get your tickets ahead of time. I did a little research ahead of time to know what to expect, and then our hotel Viking rep filled in all of the details.

The folks who did the Pearls of Switzerland enjoyed seeing lots of different things, but we really enjoyed exploring Mt. Pilatus at our own pace.

You will love Lucerne! We did Mt. Pilatus (which included a boat trip) on our own. The "GoldenTicket" was about $120 per person. Your hotel/Viking rep can give you all the details.

We begin our cruise in Nuremberg. Which brings up another question! For past cruisers who began their Viking cruise in Nuremberg, does Viking provide shuttles into town on boarding day?

Thank you!! Your detail is very helpful. Love your report and pictures!

We have booked Viking's Romantic Danube and want to maximize our time in Nuremberg. We are planning to take the optional WWII excursion. For those who have been on that excursion, did you also spend any time in Old Town and the Castle?

We just got back from the Viking Kvasir Amsterdam-Basel trip May 24-31. My wife has some mobility challeneges, mainly stairs, but did pretty well. We did not sign up originally, but they have a "Leisurely" group for people with mobility issues that tries to avoid stairs and other obstacles.

 

- Kinderdyjk is maybe a mile of flat out to the windmills and back. Biggest hazard was the traffic on the path (May 25 was a National Holiday). EDIT: If you want to do the optional cheesemaking tour, you HAVE to sign up for that before the trip. And make sure you do as soon as you can because they close the online optional sign-ups a couple weeks out from the cruise departure/

 

- In Cologne, the buses pick you up at a stop downstream, and drop you basically a block away from the Cathedral. You can get picked up again at the same location, or walk across the "Lover's Bridge" to the other side to pick up the ship. We did the latter, and my wife was NOT happy with me when she had to go down a bunch of stairs to get from the bridge to the river level. Make your way to the sun deck when the ship departs Cologne to see the cathedral lit up.

 

- If you are not physically up to Marksburg castle (and they warn the you need to be in GOOD physical condition for that tour), do not miss the optional tour to the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein. You take a cable gondola across the river and up to the Fortress grounds, and from there it is all flat. And you will be greatly entertained by the actor that leads the tour. We did not go on the evening optional into Rudesheim as my wife was starting to feel the walking.

 

- For Heidelberg, you pick up a bus that first takes you up for a tour of the old castle. This is the day we started the with the "Leisurely" group, and they kept it on the flats up in the castle area (option to walk down the ramp to see the gigantic wine barrel). Bus then takes you down to Old Town Heidleberg, where you can have some free time. But make sure you are back to the bus on time, as you have to take it to pick up the ship in Speyer (we had one couple that misinterpreted 2:00 for 2:30 and had to catch train to pick up ship in Speyer!!)

 

- They ship is only in Speyer for a few hours before sailing, but take advantage of walking into to see the Romanesque cathedral. Our cruise director Gavin did it as an optional "welcome walk", but said not all of the cruise directors do that.

 

- In Strasbourg, the ship docks across the river in Kehl. Depending on what docking location you get over, there can be a considerable hike to get to the buses that take you into the city. For the Leisurely group, they called taxi's to get us to the bus. After a bit of a bus ride around Strasbourg, they drop you off close to center of old town not too far away from the cathedral. There is option to stay in town and catch shuttles back, but we took the bus back as we were headed out for the Alsace Wine Tasting in the afternoon (about 45 min buss ride each way).

 

- We skipped the Black Forest Tour, as I was getting tired of banging my knees on the buses (I am 6'3"), and we knew we were going to be on the bus a lot in the afternoon for the Colmar WW2 excursion (the travel guide said it was "moderate", but really not that much walking).

Mark, we will be on the Kvasir in a couple of weeks! Overall, did you enjoy the crew and food? How was the Colmar WW2 excursion?