Francis M

Hi there My Dang Cruise,

My wife and I are 2 time Viking cruisers and like you, tend to be more independent and want to plan out our own days. While we enjoyed many of the included tours, we also left wishing we had simply done a lot more on our own. Now, for you , time to make lemonade out of the Coenhaven lemon.

By now Viking should have available a time specific itinerary telling you where and when you can board a shuttle to the boat on embarkation day. Just pick the one that suits you best and spend as much of your flight day as you want in Amsterdam.

In all of our Viking cruises, where an itinerary says something like, "morning tour and afternoon at leisure" that has meant that Viking provides shuttles back to the boat at various times in the pm. The ship has printed a time schedule and the place to pick up the shuttle. You would just take the shuttle into Amsterdam in the morning of day 2 and stay until the last shuttle returns.

I agree with others who have said a canal boat ride is a super way to see the city for a first time visitor. If you don't want to take the included Viking canal tour there are hop on- hop off canal boats that would take you to all of the prime destinations.

The Riks Museum was one of the absolute highlights of our trip last year.

BTW - on our Basel to Amsterdam cruise last year we ended up docking in Rotterdam so it could be worse lol. We still had a terrific time and you will too.

FM

We did a Viking Grand European Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam in August. I hadn't heard about a welcome back gift. It would be a nice touch. We celebrated an anniversary during the trip and did receive a box of candy for that and there were two tiny bottles of cologne on our last day.

Interesting - we celebrated our 43rd anniversary aboard the Kvasir in August. I did tell the (is it the hotel manager?). We didn't get anything on the day other than the restaurant manager stopping by the table to wish us happy anniversary. There are obviously differences ship to ship.

Still waiting for whatever the welcome back gift might be.

FM

We did the pre cruise in Lucerne with Viking this year and have done a couple of Viking cruises so I'll try to help in case you don't get anything more pertinent.

All transfers will be on a regular sized bus. Very comfy and efficient. Both Basel to Lucerne and Lucerne to Zurich are about an hour +/-. Viking will normally try to get you to the airport about 3 hours prior to departure, so I'd plan on a 7am or so disembarkation.

BTW - Lucerne was our favorite city on this itinerary. Are you at the the Schweizerhof? It was spectacular.

Have a great time,

FM

I'm not sure if this counts; on our Rhine Getaway last month (2nd Viking cruise) we were invited to a cocktail reception for returning guests. Captain and all the management crew were there. Nice nibbles and top shelf liquor.

They did an aquavit tasting and when we returned to our room there were 2 aquavit glasses and a thank you note.

Frank

Hello Francis M,

 

good to hear you enjoyed your little trip out. The place you mentioned is Winningen on the Moselle, about 17mins by car or 10 mins by train from Koblenz. Stunning views, I agree. Winningen is famous for its white wine (Riesling) and it has got a public airfield in the hills. Last weekend they celebrated their famous wine festival.

 

notamermaid

Our excursion took us up the hill, past that airfield where we stopped for a beautiful view of the vineyards with the town and the Moselle below. Our favorite view of the trip.

And brought back a couple of bottles of Winningen wine to help remember,

Frank

We were just there a few days ago Notamermaid. What a beautiful place and important perhaps to the German people.

We had a chance to take a little side trip up the Moselle valley to the vineyards at Wittengen(?). Stunning views and very nice wine.

Make travel - not war,

Frank

It still amazes me that they aren't talking about the Rhine! We missed one port on Aug. 10th due to low water and everyone was expecting parts of the Rhine to be shut down the week of the 16th. I can't imagine that they got enough rain to correct that much of a water shortage. Maybe someone who has been on the river the past week could comment?

As I mentioned in a different post, we were on Vikings Rhine Getaway - Basel to Rotterdam last week - 8/15-22. I noticed no issues with river traffic. I did not notice any unusual low water indicators and even asked our Captain who said the river was in good shape.

Frank

#1 wife and I are just back from the Viking Kvasir / Basel to Amsterdam cruise. I'll do a review later but had to share this funny story,

Because of a big Sail event in Amsterdam harbor Viking had to port the last night in Rotterdam. Those doing the extension with Viking were notified weeks before the cruise. For us this just meant that we would bus from Rotterdam to the hotel in Amsterdam and get on with our day.

Those of you familiar with Viking know the disembarkation drill. Different colored bag tags denote departure times and destination. The first sign of trouble was when two buses brand named "YO YO Bus" pulled up to take the red taggers to the Marriott Renaissance. Our driver, a burly round faced gentleman I'll call Nikita because he reminded me of that other famous one, seemed affable and competent. The drive was uneventful. The couple next to us were gushing in their praise for how seamless and perfect Vikings execution of every detail of the cruise had been. And we did not disagree.

So now we're in Amsterdam, a place that large buses ought not to be. We're enjoying our first look at the scenery when we pull into an area with other large buses. The doors open and Nikita announces that we are here - welcome to Amsterdam.

Now I can't tell you at exactly what point it occurred to someone that this was not the Marriott, but I soon heard a rising chorus of "where's the hotel?", "where are we?" Nikita was not overly conversant in English but could see trouble brewing. " Hotel over there" he said, pointing generally off in the distance. "This drop off point." One enterprising traveler enabled his Google maps and approached Nikita. "Look - we're here and the hotel is way over here." Nikita looked as if the man were holding a fistful of spiders. "I must go now" "Have orders" "This is drop off point - here - not hotel"

About now it occurred to me to call the hotel and try to reach the Viking rep before Nikita pulled away. I had to move away from the crowd to hear. At this point the pitchforks were out and the torches were lit. My last view of Nikita was of him making his last stand in the doorway of his YoYo Bus- arms crossed and defiant. And then, he was gone.

I did manage to reach the Viking rep. After a few unbelieving questions (He left you where?) she said she was on the way. About 10 minutes later a pretty Dutch girl in a red Viking shirt rolled up on her bicycle, stood up in front of the grumbling crowd of unhappy seniors and did what every company that ever encounters a service problem should do. She took complete ownership of the screw up. After a few minutes she had us all laughing. Just another travel adventure to talk about when we get home. Her most memorable line. "This week with transfers from Rotterdam has been organized chaos until today. Today - total chaos."

So go with flow fellow travelers; load important phone numbers into the smart phone before you leave and never, never get on a Yo Yo Bus.

Frank

We were on the Viking Kvasir last week and through the castle stretch last Wednesday. I must admit I noticed none of the indicators of low water that others have mentioned, but I'm sure that's just because I don't know what to look for. Our cruise(Basel >Amsterdam) had no impacts from river levels and river traffic in general seemed very robust.

BTW - spectacular.

FM

Great to hear your positive report. We leave 2 weeks from today and are doing the Lucerne extension as well. Was the Mt. Pilatus trip fairly easy to follow all the way through? How much time did the trip take? We're thinking of skipping the town walk on our 1st day and doing this instead.

FM

The answer is yes. You can get them on line - here's one example

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YNTYOOM?psc=1

Or if you live near a Container Store or Mori Luggage they also have them.

Worst case you should be able to pick one up at the airport.

Have a great trip,

Frank

And to be fair to Viking they should not be expected to cater to the various and sundry whims of every customer.

+1 :)

+2:confused:

Good to know Francis. Certainly helps that Viking has so many ships and usually one going each direction so they can arrange change of ships around a low water level. We aren't doing a Danube cruise but will be on the Rhine end of August so will be closely monitoring what happens.

I agree Betty - I think Viking has 6 ships on the Rhine Getaway itinerary. We're off a week or so in front of you and getting very excited.

I have the utmost faith in old Father Rhine to keep the boats floating along.

Frank

I found this on Viking's web site http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/about-my-cruise/current-sailings.html

I've been watching Viking Kavasir, our ride in about a month, on this site http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:330447/zoom:10

It arrived in Basel today ready for it's departure tomorrow back to Amsterdam. I'll keep watching and let you know if I see any problems.

Frank

When do these European Christmas markets start? Don't want to plan a trip and miss out because some are not open yet.

Here is the go to site for the German Markets -http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/

Our Viking Heart of Germany cruise last December is on our all time list of favorite vacations.

Enjoy,

Frank

You should really be proud of your accomplishment. So many benefits associated with what you achieved:D

I've mentioned this in another CC thread but will repeat it for you. I'm a 67 yr old guy who struggles with eating. I hit a target weight before our Christmas markets cruise this past December. I did not hold back on the cookies, gingerbreads, brats and beers - you get the idea. Weighed in when we got home and ...... lost 3 lbs. You should be in great shape just keeping a brisk pace on the daily walking tours and adding those cathedral climbs.

Wishing you the best trip ever,

Frank

That is so exciting Francis as ours should be arriving in a couple weeks then too! Are you getting excited?:D

Trying to keep from peaking too soon banditoo:) I tried to put in a picture link but didn't work. BTW - thanks again for your site which really simplified our planning.

FM

We received our documents today (7/9) for an August 12 departure.

I expect Mr. Lockwoods 25th anniversary cruise is about to take a decided turn for the better.

My CapOne card has a chip and I got a 4 digit pin directly from them by separate post. No foreign transaction fee but using it at an atm will incur fees.

Again - just to clarify - I have a Capital One debit card that draws on a Capital One checking account that I established for travel. There are no transaction fees of any kind and any fees charged at any atm are refunded.

I also have a Capital One credit card that charges no fees; however, would never use it to withdraw cash anywhere. The "fees" that would be incurred would be charging interest from the date of withdrawal.

Frank

A shout out to Charles Schwab Bank.... Got the tip from travel sites. No ATM fees and they reimburse the fees the dispensing ATM charges.

And their card has chip. Capital one 360 doesn't charge but doesn't reimburse.

I'm not sure if Capital One 360 is different from other of their cards, but my Capital One debit has no fees and does indeed reimburse any fees charged by others. I've tested it and know that it works that way.

Also note that European banks do not charge fees when use your atm. Any fees will be charged by your own US bank.

Frank

I still think something is missing here. Usually if something doesn't make sense, then you don't have all the facts.

.... However, I have learned as I have become older and apparently wiser that it is best to reserve judgement and to take what others say with a grain of salt. (Does that make me wiser or cynical?) I guess I will find out in December!

Wisdom like this is why you are the Queen of Everything. I'll go out on a limb and predict your Christmas cruise will be spectacular,

Frank

The OP's problem, and I don't doubt that there is one, really confuses me. If you book a Viking cruise including air, and do nothing else, you find out the air itinerary about 75 days prior to your departure. When Viking sends your itinerary they offer the option of selecting different flights. To do this you use Viking's special air facility. The cost is $50pp, so I assume that the OP is booking a cruise for 8 people?

I'm sure Viking has a disclaimer about not being able to guarantee certain flights. The OP would likely not have heard about this since it sounds as if everything was handled by the "big box" TA.

Viking is able to offer discounted air by buying blocks of seats at a discounted price. The fact that the airline still has seats available does not mean that they still have discounted seats available.

I used Viking Air for our upcoming trip. I selected the flights at the time of booking and have had no issues (knock wood).

The culprit here, as it often seems to be is the TA intermediary.

I hope this resolves for you, and think you should probably get some satisfaction from Viking based on how I've seen them work in the past. But- doesn't really seem to be Vikings fault.

Frank