Short cruises on Viking

[CILCIANRQTS]

Does Viling offer any short (i.e. 4 days) cruises?

I know many of the ocean lines do.

It would be a good way for people to try river cruising, although airfare may be a prohibiting factor.

[Donray]

No!

[garycarla]

I know some folks suggest short cruises to get a feel and if they like it.

 

I am in the camp that thinks it gives me a false impression. The first day of the cruise is getting settled in. The last night and day are getting off. Just not enough time to really get a feel of things.

 

And of course, for some folks, you spend lots of time and money to just get there in the first place.

 

 

Somewhat related - those short cruise from Florida are bad news. Older ships, party time, not getting settled and enjoying.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I think I read a recent post [from notamermaid?] about some German lines that offer shorter cruises -- but you would have to be fluent in German, and I think in many other ways such a cruise would not be representative of the cruises on North American-oriented lines.

[notamermaid]

Hello CILCIANRQTS,

 

jazzbeau is right in that I mentioned such cruises with companies in Europe. I replied to a question about the Moselle I believe, but I think short cruises have been mentioned by others. I recall a conversation with one of the British folks here on CC, that person I seem to remember went with Arosa. But for shorter cruises on the English-speaking market CroisiEurope is a good option. They are French and offer short river cruises, for those advertised on the UK market you do not need to speak German. Here are some examples: http://www.croisieurope.travel/en-gb/cruises/rhine-main-moselle

 

Viking only operates on the English-speaking market now and I think - as most travellers are from North America - it makes sense for them not to offer short cruises.

 

Arosa, a German company, does have short cruises and they operate on the US market (have been doing for a few years) but most of those cruises are shared with Germans, etc., i.e. you have a ship that might have 30 % English native speakers. For those there are announcements and guided tours in English. These tend to be the seven day cruises. You can look up the cruises for the European market on the English version of their German website: https://www.a-rosa.de/en/river-cruises/index.html

 

Note the information starting with the headline: "Selected cruises are accompanied by international hosts."

 

In Germany, indeed, you can get "taster-river cruises" that last only one or two nights.

 

There are other cruise lines on the German market that may have international customers, but with those companies it is more difficult to determine if you could get an English-speaking group together on such a ship. If you would like to book a short river cruise from North America I recommend searching the UK market and what is on offer there.

 

notamermaid

Edited September 6, 2016 by notamermaid

[Redtravel]

I have taken more than 30 ocean cruises. Many were 2 weeks or longer. I am retired and have time and money. The best advice that I got before I booked my first river cruise was to not take a long one. Many people who love ocean cruises are not ready for river cruises. They are very different. My first cruise was on Amacello for a week followed by Paris and London. after that I knew that I liked river cruising. I still take one week cruises with extensions on land. My last cruise was 2 weeks on Viking. While it was nice, it was very long. If I book a riverboat again, I would take no more than 10-11 days followed by land stays.

[Shmoo here]

I have taken more than 30 ocean cruises. Many were 2 weeks or longer. I am retired and have time and money. The best advice that I got before I booked my first river cruise was to not take a long one. Many people who love ocean cruises are not ready for river cruises. They are very different. My first cruise was on Amacello for a week followed by Paris and London. after that I knew that I liked river cruising. I still take one week cruises with extensions on land. My last cruise was 2 weeks on Viking. While it was nice, it was very long. If I book a riverboat again, I would take no more than 10-11 days followed by land stays.

 

We got the same advice or our first ocean cruise.

 

We took a 15 night cruise for our first ocean cruise. And a 24 night (B2B cruises) for our first river cruise.

 

We loved both. I'm glad we didn't go the typical "let's start with a short cruise to see if we like it, before going on a longer one". We would have wasted so much time.

[Roz]

I kind of knew I would like river cruising, but I still took a shorter cruise (8 days) for my first one. Another consideration was time off from work. My next river cruise is 10 days.

 

Roz

[Hoyaheel]

Our 2014 Christmas Markets cruise on Avalon was composed of multiple segments - many of which could be booked separately. We were on from NUE-BSL. Some people boarded in Frankfurt and disembarked at BSL. Some people boarded in Vienna and got off in Frankfurt. And so on. I didn't necessarily see all the separate segments online (sometimes websites are a mess to navigate and I wasn't looking for the shorter segments) but we spoke with people getting on and getting off so we know some were only on for a few days...[Frankfurt to Basel is 5 days, but considering you disembark the morning of day 5, it's really 4 days, isn't it? ;-)]

Edited September 6, 2016 by Hoyaheel