JMorris271

http://www.harvandmarvs.com seems to get the best comments from reviewers and they are out of Juneau. I can't personally vouch for them but I see plenty of folks that do. We booked our excursion on their website ourselves for a May cruise.

Almost everything I have read favors Juneau.

Oops

My DW and I did this European River Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam in May 1012. We loved it. Made several new friends and learned so much. Our ship,The Danube , was smaller than the long ships Viking uses now. They retired The Danube after that trip so I can't comment on the Longship as far as that goes. Anyway on our ship,The Danube, was staffed and furnished nicely as were the the other 2 Viking cruises I have been on. This is typical of Viking ships I think.

Food was exceptionally tasty and beautifully presented. We did have to keep swiping salt shakers from other tables because ours didn't work most of the time. They were the grinder type. But that was the only complaint I had and it was actually funny and got to be a game with everyone as we all had this problem. After a few days, they issued new shakers.

The entertainment was, let me say, interesting and Viking did provide an excellent professor to lecture about the places we visited. It was the activity director that seemed odd.

The rooms are spacy enough though I think the long ships have larger rooms and balconies. Plenty of drawer and luggage space to use.

Room service and our stewards were above average. There were plenty of private areas to get away if you chose to.

All of the stops were very interesting. Be sure to do the Melk Abby tour. I thought Vienna was so so or maybe too brief. We did do a chamber orchestra concert. Bratslavia was ok. More of a novelty type thing for me.

Every bit of Germany was great! The Rhine and it's castles are not to be forgotten once you see them. Holland had the Wind mills and cheese. We didn't stay there long enough to know different.

ll in all, it is a fine cruise, vary relaxing but full of things to do.

Maybe 13 days was a bit long to be on a river.

Have a good cruise.

Jay

While I don't use a wheelchair yet, I do have issues getting around. I wear braces and have terrible balance due to MD. This balance problem is a hazard to others as well as me.

I generally have found most cruise personal and other passengers to be assistive with the usual exception sometimes. I have found that using a walking stick is very useful for encouraging rude people to allow me to move forward. I am not talking about my being aggressive or obnoxious . I believe in playing by the rules and being polite but also lets keep the field level.

If you have every been skiing in Germany and tried to get on a gondola, you will get my meaning. Bring on the ski poles! It is open warfare and kids are the worst.