Question about docking on river cruises in Europe

[bonniboo1]

I was told that the only line to River cruise with in Europe is Viking as the have the rights to docking first. I was also told that if you take another line such as Vantage that you have to walk onto Viking and possibly others to disembark.

Please advise.

[Rosethorn40]

Not true. All lines have to engage in "Rafting", regardless of cruise line. In 2014 on My Christmas Markets cruise we were often rafted. Sometimes with a Viking ship, and once with an AMA ship.

[caviargal]

I was told that the only line to River cruise with in Europe is Viking as the have the rights to docking first. I was also told that if you take another line such as Vantage that you have to walk onto Viking and possibly others to disembark.

Please advise.

 

That is totally bogus. We have had Viking passengers walk through our boat on multiple occasions as we had primary docking positions.

 

We have certainly rafted with Vantage and walked through their boats as well.

 

Sounds like a Viking marketing ploy to me!

Edited January 5, 2016 by caviargal

[bubbulz]

 

Sounds like a Viking marketing ploy to me!

 

Yep.

[YoungDubFan]

When I took my first river cruise with Avalon, we were almost always the first ship closest to the pier. Other ships, including Viking rafted up to us and had to cross through out ship. On one occasion, we had 1 ship in between us and shore and it was not Viking.

 

Please research your other options before picking Viking. You may decide they are the best fit for you but there are so many other choices / options.

[purduemom1]

We also were told that by more than one Viking rep during travel show presentations......"Viking owns their own docks in Europe and will have the best docking locations". We saw no evidence thst Viking docked at better locations when we were on our cruise with AMA. Rafting is to be expected no matter which line you choose. So as others have said, check out all your options before deciding.

[capriccio]

Viking introduced new (bigger) long ships last year on the Seine and surprised many passengers with changing the dock to one about 10 miles (and up to 1 hour commute) outside downtown Paris while advertising that their ships dock close to the Eiffel Tower. Check out http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2215113. There was also a discussion about Viking docking in an industrial area of Amsterdam on that thread.

 

In response to that thread, Viking responded:

 

We’re sorry to hear that you were misinformed; as a matter of course, we advise guests that we are docked in le Pecq and not at Pont the Grenelle with this vessel. We would like to find out why this information did not reach you and how you were relayed a story of excessive rainfall to have an impact on where it docks. Additionally, we are actively seeking ways to maximize the time guests do spend in Paris, because we understand that time in the city is one of the reasons our guests choose a river cruise on the Seine. For these reasons we hope that you will contact us directly at

TellUs@vikingcruises.com

so that we my further discuss your experience.

 

Regarding KathyK13’s comment about Amsterdam, we’d like to take the opportunity to clarify that in general throughout Europe, docking positions are assigned by the port master and they may change with little or no notice. In Amsterdam, while the great majority of Viking’s port stops take place near the central railway station in the heart of the city, we have been assigned a few stops further out. We are working with the port to minimize the number of times this occurs. While we recognize that the outside docking locations are less than ideal, it is worth pointing out that these occurrences are exceptions to the rule.

[bonniboo1]

Everyone, I thank you so much for your replies. This will definitely help me in my search. It will be fun to research all of the lines.

 

Thank you again .

 

Bonni