beanpittsburgh

We left Lisbon early Tuesday morning at 8:30 on four buses. One of the buses was reserved for the optional excursion going to Fatima. The other three buses drove for about an hour and a half to a rest stop. After the rest stop, we had another hour Drive to Coimbra, a university town. The city was similar to Lisbon with steep, narrow streets. We visited an old, beautiful library and took a few pictures. We spent time also in town and enjoyed a bakery there. After the tour we stopped at a Fado restaurant. They served us a three-course dinner with all the wine you can drink. They had some Fado musicians for a short excellent show. It was a slow paced meal, as we were probably there for two hours. After dinner, we had an hour and a half drive to the ship.

Onboard we had a short fire drill to start things off and then we had the welcome toast and introduction to our captain and crew. The crew seems very young and very fun. The crew was from 8 different countries. From reading past reviews I was under the impression that everyone was from Portugal. But that is not the case. Plenty of joking and carrying on during the presentation. We just absolutely love the crew so far.

Dinner was fantastic tonight. Lots of wine, lots of good food. I’m not going to go into all the different varieties of stuff they had, but we loved what we chose. We had a real good starter of soup, followed by Châteaubrian, with chocolate dessert. The wine kept flowing all night. A little bit more on the wine. It looks like they will only have one red and one white every night and this will be the same wine every night of the cruise. The waiter said that one night of the cruise they will offer a special wine. The wine was OK, but I would like to try some different wines every night. We did not buy the silver spirits package. I really don’t think it would be worth it but that’s up to each individual. I think you would be better off buying wine in town and then having them open it at dinner if you wanted something different. Viking does not charge a cork fee.

The rain has finally started, we’ve had fantastic weather so far this week but tonight the rain started.

Tomorrow we tour Porto at 8:30 in the morning.

The program director said Wi-Fi will be good while we are docked but spotty when when sailing on the river. I don’t recall seeing any ATMs at the hotel. There were several nearby though

We met several passengers today (and in Madrid). A lot of well traveled and interesting people. I’ll revise my estimates a bit and say there are at least 10 couples in their 50’s with maybe only 2 couples in their 80’s. Have met 8 couples from Philly, 2 from Texas, 1 each from CO, SC, Tenn, Ottawa, and London. Half the fun is meeting someone new. It might take me all week to remember their names though.

Day two Lisbon.

Today we had an included Viking tour of the Maritime Museum. We also went to the Belem tower for a few minutes and took pictures. We spent about 20 minutes walking through the Alfama district. This area of Lisbon is very narrow with buildings that are 500 years old. The guides were very informative and interesting. Portugal has a varied history.

This afternoon at 4 o’clock we went on the excursion a ‘taste of Lisbon’. Viking took us to three different places up in a very scenic part of the city with great views. We stopped at three different places. First we went to a small bakery and had the cream tart made famous in Lisbon. Next we had a steak and garlic sandwich. That was OK nothing special. The tart was wonderful. Lastly we stopped at a wine bar and had cheese and meat from Portugal along with generous pours of two different wines. Again, very tasty. The total time was about three hours and Cost about €70. The sky bar on the ninth floor of our hotel has very wonderful views of Lisbon. We stopped up here after our tour for snacks and sangria, what a beautiful view at night. Of course we have had beautiful weather so far this trip. 75 to 85 degrees daytime temps to 60 at night. No rain so far. We don’t expect our luck to last much longer.

Tomorrow at 8:30 AM we leave for Porto and the cruise part of our vacation. We have had a total blast for the first five days so far this vacation.

I will try to update this review daily depending on the Internet and free time. Please excuse any spelling errors as Siri sometimes makes mistakes lol.

We started our trip Thursday. We flew from Pittsburgh to Atlanta then into Madrid and got into Madrid about 8 o’clock in the morning. A Viking representative drove us to the hotel where another Viking representative was waiting to meet us. We had paid for Viking air and Viking transfers.That was about 9 AM. We stayed at the Intercontinental hotel which is a very modern five star hotel. Our rooms were ready as soon as we got here, which was fantastic. We decided to start an early tour of Madrid on her own so we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon traveling around by ourselves. Madrid is very modern. The metro is very easy to use and goes all over the city. That evening, the Viking representative, had a meeting for the 16 of us that signed up for the Madrid pre-extension trip. She had wine and tapas for us to try and explained the daily activities to us. We had signed up for the excursions ahead of time, but if one wished to sign up at the last moment you could sign up with the representative then.

The next days included tour was OK. We drove around the city for a little while, and then stopped and had coffee at the Plaza Mayor. We then spent about 1 1/2 hours at the Prado Museum which was a lot of fun.The total time of the tour was four hours. This left plenty of time to explore Madrid on our own.

That evening, we went on the optional tapas excursion tour. We stopped at three different tapas restaurants throughout the city. Each stop included wine or beer, and tapas. The tapas were all different depending on what part of the city you were in.The cost of the tour was €99 and well worth the expense.

The next day we did the optional Toledo excursion. Toledo is the complete opposite of Madrid. Madrid is very modern and new, while Toledo is more old European. The streets are narrow and made of cobblestones. The architecture is absolutely beautiful and the scenery breathtaking.The cost of the tour was €119. Again the trip was well worth it. Toledo is about an hour and 15 minutes away so we spent a little bit of time on the bus. Walking in Toledo was moderate while walking in Madrid was easy.

A few words about the Hotel Intercontinental. The rooms were nicely laid out quiet and comfortable. The staff was most helpful. Breakfast was delicious with many options. Susanna, the Viking representative, was there a good bit of the time. She led the tapas tour.

We got up at 3 o’clock in the morning for our flight to Lisbon this morning. Of the 16 of us on this pre-extension trip, only four of us had that early of a flight. The rest had various flights later in the the morning. Unfortunately this means we got into Lisbon at 6 AM in the morning. Of course our hotel room was not ready till two in the afternoon. The Viking representative was there but she was tied up with the people leaving for the cruise part of the trip. So we were not able to see the next Viking representative for another 1 and a half hours. The hotel Trivoli is another 5 star hotel in a great location. The hotel let us have coffee in the breakfast area for no charge so we killed time till the shops opened up at 10 o’clock. Lisbon is a beautiful city also. It is much more old world than Madrid. We again explored on our own. A marathon started about 10 o’clock so we had fun watching the runners cross the finish line at 11:30.We met the rest of passengers at 7 o’clock for a speech by the Viking representative. The details for the next two days were explained to us. We are a couple in our late 50s, traveling with a couple in their early 40s. We were the youngest people there.

Can't wait! We leave in 3 weeks. Viking has an excursion to the Dow vineyards for Port tastings and dinner. I will do a review when we get back

No sympathy here. Hotels in USA usually have check in after 3pm. I agree with others -- check luggage at Hotel and get out and explore. We do this as soon as we land. We usually crash early in the evening and get a long nights sleep. We wake up the next day refreshed and ready to go. We are on the same trip in October with Viking, only taking the Pre-trip extension in Madrid. Our flight gets in at 830am. I don't sleep at all on the overseas night flights so I am already exhausted when we land. Thank God for Coffee! I hope the rest of the trip goes Great! Keep us posted with a review.

We have been to Lucerne twice. Once on the Viking Rhine extension and once on a Globus multicountry land tour. I can't remember the exact cost but I think the Titlis tour was about 200 euros. That excursion was the highlight of the cruise for me. The day of the tour, it was misting on the ground and I thought we had wasted our money. The first leg up the mountain we could still see the ground. The 2nd and 3rd cable cars we saw nothing but clouds. By the end of the 4th leg we broke through the clouds and saw the most spectacular sight I had ever seen. The sun was shining with about a foot of snow on the ground. Skiers everywhere. The tops of the Alps were peaking through the clouds. We also did Mt Pilatus and enjoyed that as well. The weather was clear that day so we could see everything. Loved Lucerne, although I think it is a very expensive city. The Viking guide directed us to a 'lower cost' dinner that cost us about 80 francs for 2 pizzas and 3 beers. Being on vacation in a beautiful city - who cares about the cost -- well worth the price for the experiences!

Question about Porto. We are taking our Viking cruise in October and I am just starting to do some planning for what we want to do in Porto and Lisbon on our own. I would like to know approximately where the Viking Ship docks in Porto. Is it within easy walking distance to cafes and things to do? We were not planning on any extra excursions while in Porto and thought we would just look around and experience the afternoons on our own. Thanks in advance

To each their own. We are just the opposite - we will never take another ocean cruise. Too boring with days at sea, expensive drinks, and too much food.

Just my opinion but Heidelberg was my favorite stop on our cruise. We have been there twice and enjoyed great meals and wonderful pastries both times. Lots of scenic picture taking. If you stay on ship, you won't have many with you besides the crew. I'm guessing but I don't think you will be sailing on the most scenic part of the river either as the ship travels to meet up with those that went on the excursion.

Caviargirl,

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. I still can't see the point of taking a "theme" cruise if you are not interested in that "theme". Regardless, river cruising is a great way to travel and I agree OP would most likely have a good time -her daughter not so much.

My experience with "Theme" cruises is that people with that particular interest will get to have a more in depth experience in the subject matter (art, food, wine, etc). If you are not into wine then you would be wasting your time. Also, I would think a 13yo would be bored stiff. Better to try a regular cruise with an emphasis on historic sites and scenery.

We did the Viking Bordeaux cruise in 2015. We enjoyed the cruise very much but keep in mind that this cruise is very different from most cruises. We only traveled a 100 miles or so in the week and everything is dependent on the tides. The bridges are old and low so the Captain had specific times he had to sail. Bus rides were relatively short and the ship usually docked in a convenient spot for easy walking into town. The WOW for us was Bordeaux itself and of course the wine. If you want scenic cruising with castles and beautiful landscapes, I would look somewhere else

We got in for our Viking River cruise very early -- around 9am. After being taken to the ship, we had several hours to kill before boarding time and meeting the rest of the passengers. We pre-booked AFrank times for noon 2 months in advance and also a wine and cheese tasting at a local shop. Yes we were tired and had jet lag but this was a great way to kill time. We also took a canal cruise but that ended up being too much. We crashed early that night onboard ship.

I'm not familiar with AMA. We did the Viking Bordeaux cruise in 2015 and loved the experience. Bordeaux is not like Napa Valley where most of the wineries have a tasting room open to the general public so you just can't pop in and taste wines. Viking had arrangements with a few Chateau's for tastings(no added fees). I'm sure with advanced planning, most places though would take you with an appointment. I think the difference between a "Wine Cruise" and the regular Bordeaux cruise is that better wines are poured on board, lectures are presented more often, and a Sommelier is on board.

The other thing about Bordeaux river cruising is that the ship doesn't really travel very far in a week compared to say the Rhine or Danube. The ship is more like a floating hotel. The ship schedule is based on the tides so sailing is different every week. Regardless, we enjoyed our trip with all the small villages and wines.

For Viking's Romantic Rhine cruise, we sailed during the day twice that I can remember. Once out of the Netherlands and of course the stretch of the Rhine with the most castles. There were other times that the ship sailed during the day but that was usually with the crew only as most of the passengers travelled to the daily sightseeing spots by bus and caught up with the ship later.

For Bordeaux, we did about half of our sailing during the day. Keep in mind that the ship only travels a hundred miles or so during the week. Times were dependent on low and high tides so times of sailing will vary by time of year.

We are taking a Duoro river trip to Portugal in October. I understand that all sailing will be during daylight hours as the locks on the river are shut down at night.

We spoke with Viking and they were most understanding and helpful. Viking was willing to do whatever it took to make things right. Sadly, our friends have decided to cancel their trip. They were left with a bad taste in their mouths from all the runaround they received in the past week. Viking gave them a full refund.

I know Viking gets a lot of bad publicity sometimes. It appears from our experience that Viking has 2 different ways to solve complaints. If you call personally, your complaints probably won't always be solved to your satisfaction. If you gripe on a public Forum, they hear you loud and clear and bend over backwards to make amends.

I just want to add personally that we were pleased with the quick response and help that Cory from Viking gave us. As I said before, we think Viking puts out a great product. On board ship, we have always been treated great. The Viking ships, crew, Cruise Directors, food, transfers, etc. have always met and exceeded our expectations. That is why we have always recommended them to our friends.

In closing I just want to say thanks to Cory and Viking for trying to help. I just wish it had happened sooner for our friends. We are still taking the trip ourselves with the 2nd couple. I hope to post a favorable trip report next October.

Thanks to all who responded. Lots of good advice on this forum.

I have sent Viking an email to their above response. I'll post here the resolution. We have always thought that the Viking product is great. Our two past trips were everything we could have asked for. We were very satisfied and thought we received great value for our money. It seems like the majority of the negative posts for Viking has always been its customer service and not the cruises themselves(water levels beyond their control). I am curious to see how they handle this issue.

Thanks to all for your comments. This is a great forum!

If we switch to other dates then we would have a cancellation fee plus we lose our early booking discounts(that is what Viking told our friends). We would probably have to wait for the 2018 cruises to become available. The remaining dates for 2017 don't have rooms available for all of us besides the plans for this trip were made 10 months ago. The two other couples have never met so they could not compare notes. The Viking Rep had the names for all us so that we could book the same trip. WE were among the first to book this trip 22 months in advance so that we could take advantage of low cost airfare and the lower cost rooms. One couple has a very modest income and the other is on a fixed income. In hindsight, we should not have trusted the Viking Rep to do her job correctly -- that is our mistake. I'll take 10% of the blame for not checking but the other 90% is on Viking.

I get that we share some of the responsibility. I guess our biggest mistake was assuming the Viking Rep who did all of our reservations would put us on the same ship. There is a cabin available for an additional $5000 which our friends can't afford to pay.

We along with 2 other couples booked a Douro River cruise for October of 2017 back in January of 2016. Inexpensive airfare was the reason for booking early along with the fact that we were able to get the lower priced rooms since we were among the first to sign up. The same Rep handled all of our reservations. Our final payments are due now. When one of the couples went to pay up they noticed that the pre-trip extension was not included so they called us to see if we had the same problem and we did. We got that problem solved no problem. When we checked with the second couple, we found out Viking had booked them on another cruise starting a day earlier than us 4. They called Viking Monday but the representative that handled us originally was not in. Viking assured our friends to expect a call this week from the original Rep with info. After several phone calls from our friends and hours on hold (still no call back from Rep) our friends were finally told by a different Rep that only the most expensive suite was available for $5000 more. Our friends were told to either pay the $5000 more or cancel and hope someone else cancels on our cruise. There is no waiting list for River cruises so they would have to check the Viking website daily to see if something becomes available. Of course if a room becomes open, the discounts for early booking no longer apply and they would still end up paying a much greater price.

We would cancel our trip if the second couple had not already paid in full. Extremely disappointed with Viking for the hours wasted on the phone and no admission of a screw up on their part. This is going to be our 3rd cruise with Viking and everything was wonderful on the first 2. I can assure you this will be our last cruise with them.

Update on our dilemma. Viking booked our friends on the wrong cruise. I guess we could have found this out back in January if we had compared invoices but we only have seen them once since then. Viking (after a week of no call backs from the responsible agent and hours placed on hold) gave them 3 options 1) book the only available suite for several $1000's more, 2) cancel, or 3) go on the other cruise. There is no waiting list for River cruises, only Ocean cruises. Our friends would have to check the web site daily to see if a room becomes available but then all the discounts (airfare, etc) would not be available. We are extremely ticked off as well and would cancel ourselves but we have a third couple involved who have already paid in full.

We and our friends have booked a Viking Douro River Cruise for next October. We were in the process of making our final payments when we found out that we are now booked on 2 different cruises and ships. Whose fault this is no one knows. We booked the trip in January 2016 to take advantage of the low airfare and I guess we didn't compare our trip itinerary's good enough then. Of course, the cruise is most likely sold out. We are waiting to hear back from Viking but I am not feeling too optimistic. Anyone have an experience like this? Would they put our friends on a waiting list in case someone cancels? Any suggestions?

On our Rhine Getaway, Viking used the bus to pick us from the airport in Amsterdam and take us to the ship. I think there were only 4 of us. The representatives have an idea of who is coming in on what flights so I'm sure they plan accordingly. If passengers are arriving on flights around the same time, then they will wait for a larger group to transport. No need to wear ID tags, just look for the Viking reps with their signs. For our Bordeaux cruise, our flight was 3 hours late so Viking had a van pick the 6 of us up. We called to let them know our flights were delayed.