A Viking River query...

[Parsley Cruises]

I can't find a section now which covers Viking River Cruises, there used to be a section, but now I can't find it.  So, here's my query - I have looked on the VR website to ascertain what the dining situation is, but I can't find that either!  I suppose that breakfast and/or lunch are in a main dining room, and that it's hopefully fairly 'standard' fare (of a high quality), but what is the evening food like?  Is there a choice?  Does it have to be 'destination themed food?  Are there standard items like the wonderful Chairman's Salmon or chicken or steak of some sort?

 

I'd like to think about making a river cruise reservation during our next ocean cruise, but need a couple of replies first.  Many thanks for all assistance in advance, and apologies for posting on the VO section.

[Clay Clayton]

My info is several years old but I think it will still be accurate. 

 

Breakfast and lunch both include a self serve buffet section (fruits, pastries. Yougurt etc at breakfast and salad, meats and cheeses at lunch) along with menu items ordered from the server. Breakfast also includes a chef preparing eggs to order. 

 

Dinner is similar to the fare on VO except with a few less choices for each course. As with VO there is an always available menu-salmon, chicken and steak?

 

During our Danube Waltz we had one evening that was a German buffet including stations in the kitchen (tiny-I don’t know how they prepare all the food they do in such a small space) and roving entertainment.  It seems like they also tried to theme at least one appetizer, entree and dessert to our port each day. If you want to see some of the food, we find YouTube a great resource for our cruise research. 

 

I would not met food be an impediment yo booking a river cruise. Enjoy your cruise!

[knoxclone]

Continental breakfast for early risers, buffet breakfast ( along with made to order  options including salmon Eggs Benedict ( my favorite!), pancakes, omelets etc.

 

Lunch in the restaurant was both a buffet  - or you could order from the menu.  The Aquavit terrace was open most days for lunch where they had a grill  serving hamburgers/fries, sausages etc along with light salads.  

 

And you always had the option of Chairman's salmon, steak or chicken available if you did not care for the entree selection for that evening.  And of course, they are quite happy to swap out any sides/salads etc if requested... or give you an additional portion... or dessert 🙂 

[CCWineLover]

You might try looking at the Viking River Roll Calls Thread (different than Viking Ocean)

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/851-viking-river-roll-calls/

 

 

[Jammy Bun]

We got back from Romantic Danube river cruise last week, and the food was pretty much as Clay and others describe above.  Unfortunately, due to low river levels we spent a lot of time on buses rather than cruising, also had to switch boats halfway through the week, and would advise anyone considering a river cruise to think about the time of year and likelihood of drought after hot summers!  If we were to do it again (highly unlikely, as we prefer the space on Viking Oceans) we would go before July.  

The food was OK, but not as varied as on the ocean ships, and not available outside the set meal times, apart from room service of course.

hth

janet

[Peregrina651]

There is no forum dedicated to Viking River cruises; general questions about Viking River like this one are asked and answered in the River Cruising forum. Viking River Roll Calls have their own forum where you will find that because the capacity of the river ships is so small, roll calls are by year and itinerary. Attempts at single date roll calls tend not to work.

 

28 minutes ago, Jammy Bun said:

apart from room service of course.

 

Keeping the record straight: Room service is available only for the 2 Explorer Suites and only for breakfast:

 

Complimentary Silver Spirits beverage package, Viking Air Plus services, laundry service,

room service (during breakfast) & shoe shine service

 

[Parsley Cruises]

8 hours ago, Jammy Bun said:

We got back from Romantic Danube river cruise last week, and the food was pretty much as Clay and others describe above.  Unfortunately, due to low river levels we spent a lot of time on buses rather than cruising, also had to switch boats halfway through the week, and would advise anyone considering a river cruise to think about the time of year and likelihood of drought after hot summers!  If we were to do it again (highly unlikely, as we prefer the space on Viking Oceans) we would go before July.  

The food was OK, but not as varied as on the ocean ships, and not available outside the set meal times, apart from room service of course.

hth

janet

Hi Janet, 

 

Thanks for that.  Funnily enough, we're just back from a trip to your part of the country, we had a grand time and look forward to returning and exploring some more.

 

We knew about the water-level situation, but we couldn't really do main holiday times due to grandparenting duties.  We did wonder about the availability of food river -v- ocean, and what you describe is pretty much as we suspected.  I think we're going to try out a VR cruise, mainly because we're lucky enough to be needing a break from ocean cruises.  

 

If there's room service we'll survive, the main other question is will there be enough 'berthed up time' to do some running?  

Do passengers 'have' to do daily set excursions?

 

Oh well, thanks sincerely for your reply.

 

[Jammy Bun]

4 minutes ago, Parsley Cruises said:

We did wonder about the availability of food river -v- ocean, and what you describe is pretty much as we suspected.  I think we're going to try out a VR cruise, mainly because we're lucky enough to be needing a break from ocean cruises.  

 

If there's room service we'll survive, the main other question is will there be enough 'berthed up time' to do some running?  

Do passengers 'have' to do daily set excursions?

 

 

As Peregrina notes - I incorrectly stated that room service is available to all.  My 'room service' consisted of cookies or muffins brought by OH from the self-serve coffee stations at the end of the corridor!  They're usually available during waking hours.

Regarding berthed up time, I think it depends whether your trip is affected by low water levels and rescheduling.  We had very little time berthed in picturesque or convenient locations.  We started at Nuremberg, berthed on the canal on the outskirts of the city overnight, in a not very pretty area. In the afternoon we sailed down the canal to Regensburg and stayed there for the day.  Day 4 found us berthed at a small, unscheduled spot, where we stayed for two nights.  There was a path alongside the river where you could walk or run, but nothing of interest in the vicinity. We were bussed from here to take our included trip to Passau that day (an all day trip, rather than the scheduled 2 hour walking tour had we managed to reach Passau by river!), and on Day 5 (having packed our bags) were bussed 4.5 hours down river to another non-scheduled tiny place to get on our second ship.  After lunch we had a choice of getting back on a bus to take our included trip, or staying onboard for our first bit of proper Danube cruising... we skipped the tour and enjoyed the scenery, stopping briefly later in the afternoon to meet the coaches.  The following morning we were in Vienna (berthed outside the city, not near enough to walk in), tours were rearranged as we now only had a day stop there.  Day 6 was another choice - take the included tour or stay onboard for the sail into Budapest.  We stayed onboard again, as we wanted to see the river.

Hope the above gives you a flavour of our non-relaxing week!  We saw some interesting sights, and stayed in Budapest for a couple of nights after the cruise, so it wasn't a total disaster, but definitely not what we had expected or paid for.

Viking did their best to keep us happy, and gave impeccable service, but we did feel at times that things could have been planned better.  We have already received a token future cruise credit from them, in acknowledgement of the disruption, and I am currently looking at the brochures to choose our next Viking OCEANS cruise.  

We did the Rhine river cruise in July 2016 with no disruption at all and I remember berthing at small towns along the way where we walked off and did our own thing - at one place I even went to get my hair done!  You don't have to do the included excursions, it's entirely your choice.  Hope you have a good holiday, whatever you choose. 🙂

 

[pontac]

On 10/2/2019 at 8:56 AM, Parsley Cruises said:

If there's room service we'll survive, the main other question is will there be enough 'berthed up time' to do some running?  

Do passengers 'have' to do daily set excursions?

 

 

Room service question has been answered. 

Yes and No respectively to the other questions.

 

I haven't been on an ocean cruise but I've read feedback at CC from those that have, and it seems to me that they are quite different experiences. You do not get the same ocean cruise offerings on the river. The reason is clear if you compare the size of an ocean ship with a river boat. 

 

On Viking you can dine at all three meals either in the main restaurant or in the lounge. We tend to have a light breakfast and lunch in the lounge and dinner in the main restaurant.

 

On all the trips I have been on they local dishes as an option on the menu, and often a themed night of food and drink, e.g. in Germany a strolling band, German beer in barrels, sausages and pretzels and a huge host of foods...and staff in lederhosen. 

 

On tours, you now sign up in advance for those you want to go on, even the included tours, on 'My Viking Journey' but there is no compulsion to go on any of them even if you've booked. You can decide at the time. If you want to go, deposit your key at reception, collect your bus assignment and off you go. If you don't want to go then don't. They don't call out names.

Edited October 4, 2019 by pontac

[Parsley Cruises]

2 hours ago, pontac said:

 

Room service question has been answered. 

Yes and No respectively to the other questions.

 

I haven't been on an ocean cruise but I've read feedback at CC from those that have, and it seems to me that they are quite different experiences. You do not get the same ocean cruise offerings on the river. The reason is clear if you compare the size of an ocean ship with a river boat. 

 

On Viking you can dine at all three meals either in the main restaurant or in the lounge. We tend to have a light breakfast and lunch in the lounge and dinner in the main restaurant.

 

On all the trips I have been on they local dishes as an option on the menu, and often a themed night of food and drink, e.g. in Germany a strolling band, German beer in barrels, sausages and pretzels and a huge host of foods...and staff in lederhosen. 

 

On tours, you now sign up in advance for those you want to go on, even the included tours, on 'My Viking Journey' but there is no compulsion to go on any of them even if you've booked. You can decide at the time. If you want to go, deposit your key at reception, collect your bus assignment and off you go. If you don't want to go then don't. They don't call out names.

Why does one have to leave a room key at reception?  That’s weird ; that doesn’t happen on ocean cruises- don’t the room stewards hold a master key?

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, pontac said:

deposit your key at reception

 

LOL, this might be one of the few forums with travelers old enough to remember the times when it was routine to leave your key at the reception desk any time you were not actually in your room or wondering about the hotel/ship. Now the keys are gone and we have multi-purpose plastic cards.

 

That said, I do remember one or two river cruises with Viking in the past few years where they kept track of who was on board with our keys or by giving us cards as we left the ship that we needed to hand in when we returned.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Peregrina651

[3rdCoastFan]

1 hour ago, Parsley Cruises said:

Why does one have to leave a room key at reception?  That’s weird ; that doesn’t happen on ocean cruises- don’t the room stewards hold a master key?

As @Peregrina651 notes above, the current practice is to hand out a plastic card to each guest as they leave the boat. When you come back, you return the card. That is one way for the staff to know who may not be on board when it comes time to depart. I'm not saying the ship would wait for you - but at least they will know you're missing. 

 

I went on my first river cruise last spring - it was Viking's Rhine Getaway. If you're worried about water levels because of the time of year you're likely to take a cruise, it is my understanding that the Rhine tends to maintain water levels better than the Danube. You may want to review some of the 2019 roll call threads for different cruises - lots of comments there. 

 

I uploaded a few pictures after my cruise in the Rhine Getaway thread - the menu from one night (I meant to take pictures of the menu more often but oh well), the wine list and our dailies. That can give you a sense of how long you may have in a given port. My pictures can be found here: 

 . 

[pontac]

2 hours ago, Parsley Cruises said:

Why does one have to leave a room key at reception?

 

It's a way of recording who is on and who is off the boat. (actually, it's so automatic and anyway  Mrs Pontac does the business, I can't recall now whether one hands in the room key or they hand you a card when you go. Either way it's no problem)

 

I don't know what they do on ocean cruises - I would assume they have some way of knowing who is on board.

 

A few times there have been PA announcements asking a named customer to come to reception shortly before leaving a mooring,when they still have the cards of someone who left and hasn't collected their key, to ensure they don't leave people behind. And I suppose in the case of an emergency they know who is on bard

 

You can walk off the boat anytime its moored; you don't have to let them know but it's in your interest, if - for example - the captain is told to move mooring before announced departure time. If people are off boat they can station someone to guide passengers to the new mooring location.

 

When you leave the boat collect a card with the boat's phone number and the mooring location which you can show to a taxi driver if you're delayed in town or lost

Edited October 4, 2019 by pontac

[Parsley Cruises]

We have many ocean cruises behind us, but no river cruises yet.  On an ocean cruise the plastic card you refer to is multi-purpose, and nowadays it permits embarkation and disembarkation, purchases, and entry to accommodation.  Are you saying that this isn’t the case on the VR boats?  Sounds a bit archaic if you are correct.  

 

We prefer the ocean cruise habit habit of showing the card to the security people on duty during disembarkation and again on embarka and then being able to use the card for purchases and access to our suite as and when we wish without any further formalities.

 

Also, on ocean cruises more often than not the card in question is used to get through the port access point.  We’ll check it out with VR direct probably before wasting any more time hoping for a VR holiday.

[Parsley Cruises]

3 minutes ago, pontac said:

 

It's a way of recording who is on and who is off the boat.

 

I don't know what they do on ocean cruises - I would assume they have some way of knowing who is on board.

 

A few times there have been PA announcements asking a named customer to come to reception shortly before leaving a mooring,when they still have the cards of someone who left and hasn't collected their key, to ensure they don't leave people behind. And I suppose in the case of an emergency they know who is on bard

 

You can walk off the boat anytime its moored; you don't have to let them know but it's in your interest, if - for example - the captain is told to move mooring before announced departure time. If people are off boat they can station someone to guide passengers to the new mooring location.

 

When you leave the boat collect a card with the boat's phone number and the mooring location which you can show to a taxi driver if you're delayed in town or lost

 

1 minute ago, Parsley Cruises said:

We have many ocean cruises behind us, but no river cruises yet.  On an ocean cruise the plastic card you refer to is multi-purpose, and nowadays it permits embarkation and disembarkation, purchases, and entry to accommodation.  Are you saying that this isn’t the case on the VR boats?  Sounds a bit archaic if you are correct.  

 

We prefer the ocean cruise habit habit of showing the card to the security people on duty during disembarkation and again on embarka and then being able to use the card for purchases and access to our suite as and when we wish without any further formalities.

 

Also, on ocean cruises more often than not the card in question is used to get through the port access point.  We’ll check it out with VR direct probably before wasting any more time hoping for a VR holiday.

On an ocean cruise, when one does initial check in and embarkation a plastic card is received, to gain access to the ship, make purchases and access accommodation, as previously explained (your debit or credit card is linked with it).  When the card is shown to the gangway staff, they tap dit against their computer screen at the gangway point, and one’s image is immediately shown on the screen, so that they can check that the holder is either leaving or joining the ship, and they can also clearly see that the person proffering the card is the correct person.  

 

We’ve never got lost (too well travelled for that), never been late and never used a taxi when away.  If we need a hire car that’s never been a problem either.  This river boat system still sounds weird though.

[Roz]

There are many differences between ocean cruising and river cruising, even though the same company may do both as is the case with Crystal and Viking.  You will need to adjust your expectations and accept the differences.  

 

Many of us have ocean cruised and we understand about the plastic check-in card, but that system may or may not be available on the ship you choose to sail.  

[Daisi]

Parsley Cruises, you may wish to read the "stickies" at the top of the forum to learn about river cruising. 

 

On the river cruises, you don't need anything other than your room# to purchase drinks etc.  As there is under 200 people on most ships, the crew get to recognise you very quickly, so don't have to confirm who you are.  They only need to know if you are on board or not!

 

Depending on the river you choose to travel, you can skip the included tours and just wander around the towns (or run if preferred), however the tours are usually done in smaller groups and by informative guides, so are often quite interesting, unless you already know about the town.  There will be a few places where you can't dock right in town, but usually you are fairly close, if not right in the scenic area. 

 

Dining is done usually all at one seating, and you will get a couple of choices for appetiser, main & desert, as well as the "always on menu" selection.  Lunch & breakfast are buffet with menus to order extra.  Coffee & tea are available at all times at the coffee stations.  You have open seating, so can sit where ever you wish, and usually with fellow guests, so you get to meet a lot of new friends.

 

One main thing that causes a lot of people to complain about is when the ships are rafted during time in port - you are tied along another ship so your view is not quite what you expect.  However, if you aren't on board, you don't really notice!  Most sailing is done at night, unless there is a specific scenic area ( on the Rhine, that's the middle Rhine with all the Castles, on the Danube, it's the Wachau Valley) but otherwise, you are usually out touring.

 

Hope you do try River Cruising, it's not for everyone, but for those who love it...it's highly addictive!

[Parsley Cruises]

14 hours ago, Daisi said:

Parsley Cruises, you may wish to read the "stickies" at the top of the forum to learn about river cruising. 

 

On the river cruises, you don't need anything other than your room# to purchase drinks etc.  As there is under 200 people on most ships, the crew get to recognise you very quickly, so don't have to confirm who you are.  They only need to know if you are on board or not!

 

Depending on the river you choose to travel, you can skip the included tours and just wander around the towns (or run if preferred), however the tours are usually done in smaller groups and by informative guides, so are often quite interesting, unless you already know about the town.  There will be a few places where you can't dock right in town, but usually you are fairly close, if not right in the scenic area. 

 

Dining is done usually all at one seating, and you will get a couple of choices for appetiser, main & desert, as well as the "always on menu" selection.  Lunch & breakfast are buffet with menus to order extra.  Coffee & tea are available at all times at the coffee stations.  You have open seating, so can sit where ever you wish, and usually with fellow guests, so you get to meet a lot of new friends.

 

One main thing that causes a lot of people to complain about is when the ships are rafted during time in port - you are tied along another ship so your view is not quite what you expect.  However, if you aren't on board, you don't really notice!  Most sailing is done at night, unless there is a specific scenic area ( on the Rhine, that's the middle Rhine with all the Castles, on the Danube, it's the Wachau Valley) but otherwise, you are usually out touring.

 

Hope you do try River Cruising, it's not for everyone, but for those who love it...it's highly addictive!

I assume (living dangerously) that room service will be available for the larger accommodation - so no problem there.  Having travelled (and lived) extensively in Europe we've often seen several river boats moored up together - and we have our misgivings about that.  We might do a tentative river cruise booking, but somehow I don't really think it's for us.  Maybe we need to spend a bit of time investigating accommodation sizes, onboard facilities etc.  This business of having to collect a card so that the boat knows the onboard passenger totals is archaic.  Maybe if the accommodation is suitable for us, then we might make a booking.  From past experience we don't want to socialise, we want peace and quiet and relaxation as much as possible, and from the sounds of it, the restaurant is going to be cramped - and now that we've escaped from ships where the seating in the restaurant (that's the 1st class restaurant) is too 'cheek by jowl' for comfort, we're not going to take a backwards step.  Potentially simply 'not for us' - besides which, we'd mainly simply be kicking over the traces anyway.

[Host Jazzbeau]

49 minutes ago, Parsley Cruises said:

I assume (living dangerously) that room service will be available for the larger accommodation - so no problem there.  Having travelled (and lived) extensively in Europe we've often seen several river boats moored up together - and we have our misgivings about that.  We might do a tentative river cruise booking, but somehow I don't really think it's for us.  Maybe we need to spend a bit of time investigating accommodation sizes, onboard facilities etc.  This business of having to collect a card so that the boat knows the onboard passenger totals is archaic.  Maybe if the accommodation is suitable for us, then we might make a booking.  From past experience we don't want to socialise, we want peace and quiet and relaxation as much as possible, and from the sounds of it, the restaurant is going to be cramped - and now that we've escaped from ships where the seating in the restaurant (that's the 1st class restaurant) is too 'cheek by jowl' for comfort, we're not going to take a backwards step.  Potentially simply 'not for us' - besides which, we'd mainly simply be kicking over the traces anyway.

 

Yes, it sounds like river cruising may not be for you.  And especially on Viking, which packs the largest number of passengers on their ships [everybody uses 135m long ships, which are the largest that fit in the locks, so you can compare passenger counts to get a sense of how 'cheek by jowl' your experience will be].  You might look at Crystal, which has the fewest passengers and strives to recreate their ocean cruise experience on their river ships.

[Parsley Cruises]

47 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Yes, it sounds like river cruising may not be for you.  And especially on Viking, which packs the largest number of passengers on their ships [everybody uses 135m long ships, which are the largest that fit in the locks, so you can compare passenger counts to get a sense of how 'cheek by jowl' your experience will be].  You might look at Crystal, which has the fewest passengers and strives to recreate their ocean cruise experience on their river ships.

Thanks for the tip; very helpful.

[Roz]

With just a small number of passengers compared to ocean cruises, it's hard not to interact or come into close contact with fellow passengers on a river cruise. Itineraries are port intensive so there's really not much time for relaxation.

[Parsley Cruises]

7 hours ago, Roz said:

With just a small number of passengers compared to ocean cruises, it's hard not to interact or come into close contact with fellow passengers on a river cruise. Itineraries are port intensive so there's really not much time for relaxation.

When I say that we have no wish to socialize, it's our cruise -  you socialize if you so desire; we don't wish to do so, and we will ensure that we have suitable accommodation on board the boat to provide us with our quite relaxation time.  If we have to 'mingle' there are ways and means of getting through that sort of situation too.

[#1cruiseaholic]

On 10/1/2019 at 7:06 PM, Jammy Bun said:

We got back from Romantic Danube river cruise last week, and the food was pretty much as Clay and others describe above.  Unfortunately, due to low river levels we spent a lot of time on buses rather than cruising, also had to switch boats halfway through the week, and would advise anyone considering a river cruise to think about the time of year and likelihood of drought after hot summers!  If we were to do it again (highly unlikely, as we prefer the space on Viking Oceans) we would go before July.  

The food was OK, but not as varied as on the ocean ships, and not available outside the set meal times, apart from room service of course.

hth

janet

I totally agree. We did Romantic Danube and let me just say I was not impressed. It was on my bucket list, but will not do another. I will just stick to ocean cruising.

[Roz]

16 hours ago, #1cruiseaholic said:

I totally agree. We did Romantic Danube and let me just say I was not impressed. It was on my bucket list, but will not do another. I will just stick to ocean cruising.

 

Would you care to elaborate on exactly what aspects of the cruise you didn't care for?  It may help others reading this forum who are trying to decide if river cruising is for them.

[philw1776]

River cruising is more regimented than ocean cruising.  Mostly set dining times. One or maybe 2 dining site options.  Open seating with few or zero (Viking) tables for 2, so you do meet others.  Not many onboard activities, sometimes a lecture, or a cooking demo, etc.  No production value entertainment at night.  Small cabins vs ocean.  Sometimes, but not often,  you can be docked in a noisy setting.

 

Me, I love river cruising, so if these are problematical, do not book.