Just returned Viking Freya Budapest to Amsterdam...thoughts and tips

[MoneyGuy]

We did a Rhine River cruise (Basel to Amsterdam) on Uniworld Antoinette in September 2011. Enjoyed it very much and am now researching other cruises. Budapest-Amsterdam is high on the list, so I am enjoying your account of your trip.

 

Re: the shore excursions...did you have individual listening devices? (I forget what they called them on Uniworld.) It made the tours really enjoyable because you didn't have to crowd the guide or try to hear over ambient noise.

 

One alternative to spending time in Amsterdam at the beginning or end of the trip is to board the train and spend a couple of days in Bruge, Belgium. It is a wonderful, walkable, medieval city only a half-day away by train and well worth the time. The Amsterdam train station is within walking distance of the docks the river cruise ships use. We changed trains at Antwerp. You could then return to Amsterdam for your flight home. The train takes you right to Schipol. US Flights out of Brussels are sometimes cheaper than other European cities.

 

I have one suggestion re: credit cards. Be sure the card you take with you has a 'chip'. More and more european cards have a chip and some places (Amsterdam train station for one) will not take US credit cards without a chip. Apparently it increases protection against fraud.

 

Yes, there are individual radios on every tour. They work great.

[KirkNC]

Thanks so much Lauren for a great write up. We are planning our first river cruise so you comments were most helpful!

[nana541]

What a wonderful thread! Thank you so much for the time and energy sharing your adventures. Am going to have DH read the entire thread to give him a better picture of what to expect on our first river cruise.

 

The "Glass is half full" is always the way to experience travels... Am also very impressed with Vikings posts on various threads. Says alot about them as a company and even reflects better for all the times they are bashed. Must be a company who is truely intent on making a better customer experience!

 

Thanks again, awaiting our Amsterdam to Budapest sailing in Fall 2013 :)

 

Lauren this thread is truely priceless! The best I have ever read anywhere on CC...

[bobalink]

Lauren,

THANK YOU for taking the time to write this very informative and balanced review.

 

We are researching and planning our first river cruise and I have taken notes from your posts.

 

We are looking at AMA and Uniworld for a Danube cruise in 2013. I can't wait to experience the river cruise.

[Riversanddale]

Am also very impressed with Vikings posts on various threads. Says alot about them as a company and even reflects better for all the times they are bashed. Must be a company who is truely intent on making a better customer experience!

 

As twice (one good experience and one bad experience) past passengers we would love it IF Viking would be as responsive to passengers with problems (on ship and after) as they are to glossing over them on the "public" boards where they give a totally different impression.

[Riversanddale]

Oh Lord......Lauren your review of your cruise gave such wonderful hope for a spectacular trip and then I read Caroldolls review and it scared the he** out of me!

You two differed on just about everything, how could two ships, Freya vs Idun be so opposite???

Either you are highly forgiving or she is highly critical. Polar opposites on 2 new ships, same itinerary and around the same date. What is the deal?:confused:

 

A few thoughts - we were on the Idun on an early Spring itinerary. Viking rushed the Idun into service as they had to postpone the 3rd and 4th ships that were supposed to launch at the same time as the first two. The Idun wasn't ready for passengers (too many untested or flawed systems remained to be fixed) but they must have felt they couldn't launch only 1 of 4 ships after all the big hype. Some of the crew told us that we should have seen the ship 24 hours before it sailed - even they were not happy.

 

We had room problems that weren't fixed all trip even though we saw workmen on the ship in nearly every port fixing things. Some were of lesser consequence and some were not. I suspect that Idun had the plethora of problems simply because of the rush. Hopefully the boats following into service got the full testing and problems were averted before the passengers became the testers. I've noticed that several of our problems were still being encountered on the Idun on these forums mid-summer.

 

With Idun some of the passengers had cabin problems and some didn't. We all tried hard not to be "ugly Americans" and not raise a fuss but, ultimately, that meant that we were more easily ignored or went unnoticed at the time. It's a mistake we won't make again as only the squeeky wheels got help that we could see. I don't believe they'll address many of the issues until the season is over and they don't have passengers aboard.

 

It's quite possible that particular issues were very ship-specific because of rushing and the way the hotel manager & corporate chose to handle them. We're hoping that's the case as we have chosen to try another ship and passed on the Idun for our next cruise as we had a wonderful experience prior to that when we were on Viking Pride.

[Sittib11]

We we're on the Idun on May 12 for 15 days, and had a wonderful time, our cabin was perfect, had absolutely no problems in it, there were 2 days when ac had some challenges, but in 15 days, that was ok. There was a water leak in the lounge at the bar they had to work on, but other than walking around the little orange cones, no big deal. Service was great, food very good, tours perfectly organized, some port dockings were some distance from center of town, and bused 15 minutes to the center of town..not sure what caused that, but since we were on tours, not a problem, and buses were accessible most of day, and allowed us to enjoy the towns on our own after tour.

Not sure why the bad comments about the Idun, and we are critical when we need to be about travel, but the inconveniences were so few in this incredible trip, we certainly did not focus on them or let them impact our trip. We would

not hesitate to book with Viking long ships again....

[cruisingrammie]

I'm hoping that someone who has does them will join in. When they were giving our nightly talk on the following day's ports they almost always offered a leisurely tour. They said it was the same tour as everyone else, it just went at a slower pace and did not stop and stand very long in one spot. The guides were to talk as you were walking so that standing in one spot was limited. We never chose that tour so can't speak to the actuality.

 

As a Viking passenger, I can tell you that ALL the tours are "leisure" tours. We never took one that was labeled as such but, with the exception of Budapest where we took the local transport tour, they all moved incredibly slow! In Vienna, the "leisure" tour kept up with us almost the entire time! None of them move quickly!

[econnol]

I just joined this site in order to say thank you, Lauren. My husband and I are going from Basel to Amsterdam on the Viking Helvetia soon.....October 7th. Your information is invaluable to me as I am starting to pack.

 

I am a bit concerned that some folks don't like Amsterdam....we are planning to stay a couple of days at the end of the cruise before we fly home. I was wondering for the few who liked Amsterdam ( rjscott and franski) do you have a hotel that you reccommend?

[rjscott]

I am a bit concerned that some folks don't like Amsterdam....we are planning to stay a couple of days at the end of the cruise before we fly home. I was wondering for the few who liked Amsterdam ( rjscott and franski) do you have a hotel that you reccommend?

 

We did not stay in a hotel in Amsterdam, since we had almost 2 full days prior to leaving Amsterdam on the cruise and also half a day to explore on our own postcruise. You might want to check the British Isles/Western Europe port board for suggestions there on hotel stays. I also like TripAdvisor for hotel recommendations.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=233

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g188590-Amsterdam_North_Holland_Province-Hotels.html

 

Hope this helps! :)

[franski]

I am a bit concerned that some folks don't like Amsterdam....we are planning to stay a couple of days at the end of the cruise before we fly home. I was wondering for the few who liked Amsterdam ( rjscott and franski) do you have a hotel that you reccommend?

 

econnol - first of all - Welcome to Cruise Critic!!!

 

We stayed at the Hotel Nadia - and loved it - but it isn't for everyone.

 

It is listed as a 2-star - as there is no elevator, and the stairs are quite steep. They will carry your luggage up for you, however.

 

The rooms were neat and clean - but I would describe them as "80's dorm". We had a double with a balcony - and it was very tight... I had to climb in over my DH as the bed was up against a wall. But, we did have our own bathroom, and breakfast (cheese, bread, muffins, coffee, tea) was included.

 

The location was fantastic. Only a few blocks to the Anne Frank House, and to Dam Square.

 

Fran

[Riversanddale]

We were in Amsterdam before our April cruise and will be returning again in November after a cruise. We stayed at Hotel Fita and loved it - we booked there again. Check it out on Tripadvisor (just google Hotel Fita tripadvisor) and you'll find lots of photos and descriptions. They also have their own web site. It was the best stay of our 3 week trip (3 hotels-2 B&Bs) and cruise. It's located very near several major museums. We aren't walkers anymore but we found it easy to get around from HF. There are some good restaurants nearby and the brothers who own the place are great - along with the food. My husband also loved that they have an elevator.

 

By the way, we enjoyed Amsterdam. On another stay, we used Holland-IS (a local tour company) for a two-day tour to Floriade and a great day seeing the flower auction at Aalsmeer, a castle, a waterworks museum, and visit to a clog maker followed by a wonderful, memorable dinner.

 

Most of all, have fun - the days will slip by too quickly.

[muddlethrough]

jjean:

We will be on the same trip on the Bragi on September 21st. A new ship. Our first river cruise, so many thanks for your insights. Our cabin will be similar in location to yours. Which is better to take--Euros or US dollars or credit card? Would you use a converter for an electric razor? (My husband burned his out on an earlier HAL cruise, not thinking about the voltage.) On the regular tours, how fast is the walking and are there many pauses or stops? I have joint replacements and get around, but sometimes somewhat slowly. Perhaps I would be better on the slower tours? I'm making a list incorporating your suggestions. So very helpful! Looking forward to more of your posts!

[Sylve1]

We also stayed at the Hotel Fita last September. It was very 'Dutch' and just what we wanted. The hospitality was amazing. It was so interesting eating breakfast and watching the children ferried to school on all sorts of bikes. Great area.

We loved Amsterdam. In fact as far as people went it was our favourite city. The canals, the bikes, parks, quaint buildings, museums, transport, flower market, markets - we loved it all. But we did love all the cities we visited on our Prague to Budapest river cruise. So unique! I think also by 3 weeks into our trip we enjoyed hearing more English. :)

We did a bus tour to the windmills and a couple of quaint coastal towns.

Don't bother. Very touristy and a lot of time spent in souvenir shops. I don't mean that touristy places are not good but this one wasn't. It seemed only to exist for tourists.

[jiminyC_fan]

First off, OP, we appreciate all your wonderful advice and things to expect. This thread has been a wealth of information for us. I have taken notes. THANK YOU!!

 

We will be on the Magni going from Amsterdam to Budapest in Nov 2013. We first attended a Viking presentation that our travel agent arranged. It was a Viking employee that gave the talk. She told us that it definitely is laid back and everyone can wear blue jeans to dinner. That sounded perfect for us.....less to pack. Now that I have been researching on TA and CC I have found that was probably not true. I am so confused and quite bummed. I thought finally we found a vacation that we could simply not worry about packing. Please don't turn this wonderful thread sour as clothing questions can sometimes do, but those that have recently cruised in the colder months what are you finding most people wearing in the dining room? Are the dining rooms cold? I definitely will be wearing a dress for the two nice dinners. I have ocean cruised many times and always follow the required dress.

 

Viking if you are out there reading this I would love to hear what you have to say on this matter.

 

Thanks to all.

[Gazelle2]

Dress code (or lack thereof):

 

I hate to get into this controversial subject but it would have helped me to know what to pack. I would say that 70-80% of the men wore khaki type pants and collared shirts to dinner. Women wore capris with a nice top or pants. I'm not sure I ever saw a dress. There is only one dress up night on the Grand European, at least on the boat we were on. It was the Captain's dinner towards the end of the cruise. Even then people were not dressed up. I think I saw about 5 sportcoats and about 4 ties. Nothing fancy on the women either and most people dressed the same as every other night.

 

Unfortunately there were some that (in my opinion) were not dressed appropriately for dinner. I don't think that the his and hers matching t-shirts that were worn all day on the tours were good attire for the evening dinner. The weather was so hot that I don't know how anyone could have toured all day and not showered and changed but there were several people that just appeared in the dining room in their touring sweaty t-shirts. One younger person had the same t-shirt and gym shorts for the entire cruise. You can imagine what those looked like by the end.

 

Some men wore shorts to dinner and if they were nice shorts they did not look out of place. Honestly, when they say "casual" that's exactly what it is. No need to bring bling and fancy clothes because you will stand out and not necessarily in a good way. Middle of the road is perfect. Also perfectly acceptable to wear something to dinner more than once. High heels would have been out of place also.

 

Many of the men also wore collared shirts and shorts to tour but t-shirts were certainly acceptable and that's what my husband usually wore during the day.

 

I'm hoping this post is helpful and would not like to see it turn into a big controversy like I've seen happen on the ocean cruising threads. Take it for what it is and wear what you want.

 

Thank you, RiversEdge. That may be the single most useful post I have seen regarding how to pack for a Viking River Cruise.

[Riversedge]

To all of you wo have offered a thanks...you are most welcome. I found it so hard to find information before we cruised that I was glad to help. I am so jealous of all of you that are planning your river cruise. We were looking at our pictures again last weekend and remembering all the fun we had. We are now planning a Med cruise on Holland America but know we'll be missing Viking.

[newcrwsr53]

Hi, we're getting ready for our first river cruise. We were thinking of the 23 day European Sojourn. We're torn as to the cabin choice. So many people say that you're hardly ever in your room. How tall are you that you had to be on your tiptoes to see out the window? My wife is 5 feet tall. We're kind of at a tipping point. If we go to a balcony, then we might have to take a shorter cruise.

[Viking Cruises]

First off, OP, we appreciate all your wonderful advice and things to expect. This thread has been a wealth of information for us. I have taken notes. THANK YOU!!

 

We will be on the Magni going from Amsterdam to Budapest in Nov 2013. We first attended a Viking presentation that our travel agent arranged. It was a Viking employee that gave the talk. She told us that it definitely is laid back and everyone can wear blue jeans to dinner. That sounded perfect for us.....less to pack. Now that I have been researching on TA and CC I have found that was probably not true. I am so confused and quite bummed. I thought finally we found a vacation that we could simply not worry about packing. Please don't turn this wonderful thread sour as clothing questions can sometimes do, but those that have recently cruised in the colder months what are you finding most people wearing in the dining room? Are the dining rooms cold? I definitely will be wearing a dress for the two nice dinners. I have ocean cruised many times and always follow the required dress.

 

Viking if you are out there reading this I would love to hear what you have to say on this matter.

 

Thanks to all.

 

Dear jiminyC_fan,

 

We’re here and happy to help in any way we can! To answer your question, we recommend that you pack comfortable, casual clothing. There are no formal events onboard but some guests do choose to wear dressier clothing to the Captain’s Dinner. With that being said, blue jeans are in fact allowed in the dining room and we recommend that you bring a lightweight coat to keep you warm (just in case the room temperature is a bit cold for you). Please visit the Packing Tips page on our website(http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/about-your-trip/packingtips.aspx) for more information or send an email to TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com if you’d like to speak with us directly about your upcoming trip. You might also like to peruse the photos that guests have posted to our Facebook page to get an idea of what they’re wearing (http://www.facebook.com/VikingRiverCruises/photos).

 

Thank you, and we look forwarding to welcoming you onboard!

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

[rjscott]

JiminyC, we cruised on the Viking Idun last April and I can confirm for you that dress on the ship was indeed casual. Our weather was very chilly during the day, so we dressed in layers, and jeans, for the most part, were the order of the day. At dinner, some chose to wear what they'd worn while touring that day, while others preferred to change into clothes that were still casual, but a bit "spiffed up"; maybe a nice sweater added or a change to khakis, but otherwise few "dressed up". I'm usually cold in restaurants, so took a wrap along, but found I seldom needed it at dinner, as the temp in the dining room was comfortable for me.