Viking Mimir Grand European Tour 7-1-22; "Live"

[StartrainDD]

We made it to the airport and this crazy check in line. Viking had several representatives at the airport to assist folks. I thought that was very helpful. 
 

Air France took our two large bags and one of our carry ons as checked at N/C. We had to keep the one with electronics and meds. 

[StartrainDD]

Friday, July 15; Budapest – Home; continued

 

We tried to sleep a little more as our new departure time was 9:15, but I don't think I ever actually feel asleep. By 6:30 we were up and I tried to see if I could do any preliminaries on the Air France AP, but was not successful. To be honest, the flight arrangements on Air France made more sense than our original routing (but of course they ended in Miami). When I originally booked the trip I asked about leaving and returning to Miami and was told there were no flights available. We enjoyed one last breakfast on the Eistla and then just killed time until our group departed. There were about 14 folks on a full size Viking motor coach.

 

We arrived at the Budapest airport to find a very long line for check in. Viking had representatives there to make sure we got into the correct queue. It took about 40 minutes to reach the front of the line. We were checked in and handed a single boarding pass for each of us for both flights. Our checked bags were taken and they offered to also check our carry-ons. Thinking that could happen I made sure we had nothing we couldn't live without in one of them and let them check it. The other, with my camera and computer equipment of course we needed to keep with us. The Viking representative saw that we were all set and told us to have a good flight.

 

Through my Priority Pass membership I had access to the “Platinum lounge.” Even though we only had an hour I never use my entire allotment of lounge visits so we went there. We missed the time for “Hot meals” but I did have a couple of pancakes and drinks and DW enjoyed the coffee with Baileys. We left to board our flight and there was no clear queue. What a mess! Air France needs to take some lessons from Disney or Southwest.

 

Of course, with this being a last-minute replacement flight we had the worst seats on the plane, middles in the last two rows. These were also the tightest seats in the way of legroom we've experienced in years. I never thought of French people as being shorter than average, but from their airline you would think they are all no more than 5 feet tall. Departure was delayed as a very mobile handicapped person was the last to board. Three crew members had to carry him in a wheelchair all the way to row 20. It then took them fifteen minutes to get him situated. Why all airlines do not do like Southwest, and allow mobility challenged folks to sit near the front I will never understand. So we ended up leaving and arriving in Paris 30 minutes late. On the plus side, the snack served was quite tasty.

 

Arriving in Paris we pulled up to a gate. But then we had to walk down stairs and board buses that took us for what seemed like an extremely long ride around the airport. Finally getting off the bus who knows where, we tried to follow signs for the “L” gates but then found a board showing our flight had the gate changed to “K” gates. It was a 30 minute walk to the K gates and we passed through passport control, I assume to check us “Out” of the EU (although we were never stamped “In” in Amsterdam).

 

We had one hour until the flight was supposed to board and searched for an eatery. The Paris airport had all kinds of very high-priced designer shops, but little in the way of places to eat. We ended up buying a liter bottle of water and some almonds from an airport shop. We had macadamia nuts in the carry on from the Vienna market, so that was our “Lunch.” I also asked at the counter if there was any chance for upgraded seating for a fee and was rather rudely told no, the flight was sold out. While waiting I reserved a car rental to get home from Miami, which we will 'return' to Palm Beach International the next day and retrieve my car.

 

Despite the plane sitting at the gate for hours, boarding started 30 minutes late so guess what? We left 30 minutes late. The nine-hour flight to Miami was simply brutal, being stuck in middle seats was UGH. The served dinner was decent for me, but all DW could eat was the chicken and cheese. I gave her my cheese as well. We arrived in Miami and deplaned at about 9:25. We went through Global entry and reached baggage claim.

 

We were surprised that baggage was already on the belt. Some folks were actually leaving. But our three bags were nowhere to be found. Then more bags started appearing and just before 10:00 our three bags came through. Next we headed out to try to get an Uber or a Lyft. I haven't done that from an airport for some time, and for whatever reason it wouldn't go through, and the prices kept going up. So we trekked to the 'people mover' (quite a walk dragging the luggage) and found the National rental car I had reserved.

 

We arrived home at 12:20 AM. So from the time I woke up to discover our original flights were toast, the transit time was 26 hours and 50 minutes. If I only count the time from when we left the Eistla, the transit time was 21 hours and 5 minutes.

 

I will write up a summary and final thoughts on the trip, and post some more photos, as time allows over the coming days. We have a lot to do to 'recover' from this adventure!

 

[Ritabob]

Catch your  breath,  we can wait.😉

[need2travel1]

Welcome home, glad you made it!  Now, get some rest.

[milling73]

Life everyone else, I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Thank you for the effort and time it must have taken!  We take this trip in 8 days, from the opposite direction, with the 3 day Prague extension added to the start.  

We are flying  Lufthansa from Orlando International to Frankfurt, for a connecting flight onto Prague.  Checking today on Lufthansa's website, I see that our scheduled connecting flight to Prague has been cancelled, and we are now on a flight 5 hours later.  Thanks for the heads-up notification on the flight change, Lufthansa!!! (Not...no email, no text, not even a red flag of the change when  logged into their website and viewing our flight itinerary.)  Viking was not aware either for the airport / hotel transfer.  

 

This doesn't exactly inspire confidence that all will go well with that later flight to Prague, as in looking back at the new flight history - it has also been cancelled 3 times in the last 7 days.   I have already checked out train connections from Frankfurt to Prague, or alternative airlines.

 

There are stories of flight delays, flight cancellations, lost luggage all over travel sites right now.  Lack of staffing, strikes, equipment failures, etc..  After 2 years of pretty much travel lock-down...the travel industry just wasn't prepared for the mass of travelers hitting them as soon as the gates opened.

 

 Travelers:  As the saying goes "Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst" 

 

[Haqdeluxe]

8 minutes ago, milling73 said:

Life everyone else, I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Thank you for the effort and time it must have taken!  We take this trip in 8 days, from the opposite direction, with the 3 day Prague extension added to the start.  

We are flying  Lufthansa from Orlando International to Frankfurt, for a connecting flight onto Prague.  Checking today on Lufthansa's website, I see that our scheduled connecting flight to Prague has been cancelled, and we are now on a flight 5 hours later.  Thanks for the heads-up notification on the flight change, Lufthansa!!! (Not...no email, no text, not even a red flag of the change when  logged into their website and viewing our flight itinerary.)  Viking was not aware either for the airport / hotel transfer.  

 

This doesn't exactly inspire confidence that all will go well with that later flight to Prague, as in looking back at the new flight history - it has also been cancelled 3 times in the last 7 days.   I have already checked out train connections from Frankfurt to Prague, or alternative airlines.

 

There are stories of flight delays, flight cancellations, lost luggage all over travel sites right now.  Lack of staffing, strikes, equipment failures, etc..  After 2 years of pretty much travel lock-down...the travel industry just wasn't prepared for the mass of travelers hitting them as soon as the gates opened.

 

 Travelers:  As the saying goes "Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst" 

 

Assuming you are embarking at Budapest... so you might want to take a look at the latest post on this thread. 

 

[sfocruiser]

Many many thanks for all the posts. I know how time consuming these live threads  can be but realize how much your comments and insights are valued

[Canal archive]

StartrainDD thank you for your wonderful insights into your cruise and for those of us who have never traveled with Viking they should slip you a little something for your efforts plus on top of it all you’ve learnt a new skill. It shows us were never to old. 

[StartrainDD]

15 hours ago, milling73 said:

Life everyone else, I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog. Thank you for the effort and time it must have taken!  We take this trip in 8 days, from the opposite direction, with the 3 day Prague extension added to the start.  

We are flying  Lufthansa from Orlando International to Frankfurt, for a connecting flight onto Prague.  Checking today on Lufthansa's website, I see that our scheduled connecting flight to Prague has been cancelled, and we are now on a flight 5 hours later.  Thanks for the heads-up notification on the flight change, Lufthansa!!! (Not...no email, no text, not even a red flag of the change when  logged into their website and viewing our flight itinerary.)  Viking was not aware either for the airport / hotel transfer.  

 

This doesn't exactly inspire confidence that all will go well with that later flight to Prague, as in looking back at the new flight history - it has also been cancelled 3 times in the last 7 days.   I have already checked out train connections from Frankfurt to Prague, or alternative airlines.

 

There are stories of flight delays, flight cancellations, lost luggage all over travel sites right now.  Lack of staffing, strikes, equipment failures, etc..  After 2 years of pretty much travel lock-down...the travel industry just wasn't prepared for the mass of travelers hitting them as soon as the gates opened.

 

 Travelers:  As the saying goes "Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst" 

 

Best of everything for your trip.  The airline issues have got to be affecting all the cruise lines in Europe that cater to North American travelers.  We texted with friends we made on the Eistla that were on the same delayed flight as we were.  They are still "Stuck" in Heathrow two days later, hoping to get on a flight this afternoon.

 

I can't speak for anything in Europe but so far as I, as a US taxpayer are concerned, there is no excuse whatsoever for the US airlines and airports to have these issues.  The government "Gave" the airlines $54 BILLION dollars to NOT lay off their workers when no one was traveling.  U.S. airlines to defend $54 billion COVID-19 government lifeline | Reuters

 

The 'Devil is in the details" so the airlines avoided laying off workers.  They offered early retirement and other incentives to leave.  As a taxpayer, I want my money back.

 

We leave August 2 for a 24 day "Bucket list" cruise on HAL from Boston to far northern Canada, Greenland and Iceland.  When we booked the air (through 'Flight Ease') these issues were not happening.  I now realize that if anything happens to our flight, the day before the cruise, there will be little to no chance of making the cruise.  This is a very costly trip that could be torpedoed by a $200 airline flight.  I really don't know what we are going to do at this point.  I've even considered driving.  The first port is Sydney, Nova Scotia which is "Way out there" and I can't imagine there are many flights up that way.

 

Enough of my ranting...

[Daisi]

58 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

 

 

We leave August 2 for a 24 day "Bucket list" cruise on HAL from Boston to far northern Canada, Greenland and Iceland.  When we booked the air (through 'Flight Ease') these issues were not happening.  I now realize that if anything happens to our flight, the day before the cruise, there will be little to no chance of making the cruise.  This is a very costly trip that could be torpedoed by a $200 airline flight.  I really don't know what we are going to do at this point.  I've even considered driving.  The first port is Sydney, Nova Scotia which is "Way out there" and I can't imagine there are many flights up that way.

 

Enough of my ranting...

 

 

Lol at the "Way out there" comment, as someone who spends a lot of time on the East Coast, I'll have you know Sydney is a large city! 🙂  They do have an airport, with flights coming in from Toronto, Montreal & Halifax. It's called the J.A. Douglas McCurdy.  I would also suggest flying into Charlottetown, but then you would have to rent a car to drive over, and finding a rental on the East Coast is rarer than finding a flight that doesn't get re-routed, cancelled or delayed.  Good luck.

[StartrainDD]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

 

 

Lol at the "Way out there" comment, as someone who spends a lot of time on the East Coast, I'll have you know Sydney is a large city! 🙂  They do have an airport, with flights coming in from Toronto, Montreal & Halifax. It's called the J.A. Douglas McCurdy.  I would also suggest flying into Charlottetown, but then you would have to rent a car to drive over, and finding a rental on the East Coast is rarer than finding a flight that doesn't get re-routed, cancelled or delayed.  Good luck.

Apologies to Sydney.  We have been there several times and I realize it is a good sized city and a lovely location.  These days with every flight filled to capacity I would question how likely it would be for choice air to find us confirmed flights from Boston-one of the three connections-Sydney in order to meet the shipl

[CPT Trips]

@StartrainDD Totally agree with your rant. Best of luck getting to Beantown.

[Fouremco]

9 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

Apologies to Sydney.  We have been there several times and I realize it is a good sized city and a lovely location.  These days with every flight filled to capacity I would question how likely it would be for choice air to find us confirmed flights from Boston-one of the three connections-Sydney in order to meet the shipl

It's only a 12-hour drive from Boston to Sydney, so as long as you get to Boston, even a couple of days late, you have time to drive. Just keep looking for the giant fiddle! That cruise is also on our bucket list, so I know how much it means to you!

[StartrainDD]

Summary, final thoughts, conclusion, and rating:

 

Now that we are home, looking back on this adventure, what do we think? We really enjoyed seeing the places we went. Other than Kinderdijk & Amsterdam, we likely would have never seen these spots had we not done this “Grand European Tour.” We were able to experience to some degree at least eleven UNESCO world heritage sites, these were:

 

• Amsterdam, the ring of canals

• Kinderdijk

• The Cologne Cathedral

• The Upper Middle Rhine Valley

• Wurzburg Residenz & gardens

• Bamberg (the entire town)

• Regensburg (the entire town)

• Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment) includes Passau

• Wachau Valley Cultural Landscape

• Historic center of Vienna

• Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube

 

We managed to do this entire journey without changing ships due to low (or high) water and were very blessed as the Eistla is apparently the last eastbound Viking vessel to complete the journey until river conditions greatly improve. We were told that those coming aboard the Mimir would be alerted that they will be changing ships once they reach Passau, busing to the next ship on the other side of the low water area. I took a total of 1,082 photos and video clips that will surely take me several weeks to edit down.

 

I was feeling rather negative about the overall trip until when we were driving the rental car back to PBI airport the Cody Johnson song “'Till You Can't” came on the radio. That made me realize that I am grateful we did this trip now. We got to be pretty good friends with a couple about 10 years older than us on the cruise, and he was really struggling with some health issues which made it quite a challenge to participate in the outings and activities.

 

However, my opinion is that Viking needs to find a way to minimize the “Leap-frogging” where they drop off their guests hoping to meet them later some kilometers further on. We were left waiting five times for our ship. When you add up those five times, it is well over three hours, and perhaps four, that we were standing at a pier in the 'middle of nowhere' with nothing to do but wait for the ship. With modern communication technology, at the very least the ship's arrival time can be updated and folks can stay in the destination longer, enjoying a coffeehouse, beer pub, or just soaking in the atmosphere in these incredible places. The advertising all implies (at the least) that a huge advantage of river cruises is that they dock in the middle of town and you can walk to most sites. On this sailing, that was the exception and not the rule.

 

No one on board said anything about being shorthanded, but it did feel like they were not fully staffed, at least in the dining room. Our room steward was tremendous. We chatted with him a little and he previously worked for several ocean cruise lines. He said this was his first Viking sailing but he very much appreciated how Viking was taking care of their employees.

 

I really haven't said anything in the daily reports about Viking and how they are handling Covid related things. I was surprised that their breakfast buffet was still a self-serve buffet, with all the guests touching the serving utensils. I know at least two parties (and likely more) left the ship after testing positive. In Germany and Austria the government guidance still requires five days quarantine. Yet there was lots of coughing heard on the ship, on the buses, etc. We didn't develop symptoms of any kind, but who knows? We still read of folks being tested at workplaces or preparing to go on cruises who have no symptoms whatsoever yet test positive.

 

As far as my final rating on my 0-5 star scale, this Grand European Tour sailing rates a solid three (3). Every cruise starts off as a 5. Here the three-four hours standing on a pier takes away one star, and the slow & occasional attitudes during dining room service takes away one star. The rating is only affected by the service of the ship itself, and not the ports. Overall I would rate the ports four stars in total. Some were certainly five, while others much lower. Air travel issues are not Viking's responsibility so nothing was taken off for that, although I will report an opinion that the air travel nightmares of this summer must be negatively affecting all cruise lines that cater towards a North American clientele. I will give kudos to Viking's emergency team for getting us re-routed and at least 'home' on the same day we planned to be home.

 

Would we do this again if we knew everything we know now when we booked it? That is a really tough call. Midway through the cruise I said “No way.” I just asked my DW and it took her a long time to respond. At the end she said no, we wouldn't have.  Like me, she is glad we got to see the places that we saw.  For her the real deal-breaker was the air travel struggles in both directions. We did not buy a “Future cruise” deal on board, but with the right opportunity and if things get better with the airlines in future years, we may consider another Viking trip of some type.

[id est]

@StartrainDD Thanks for you review. From your report did I get it correctly you had invited entertainment only 2 times during the cruise: 2 musicians and dancers the other day?

All other days only onboard piano player?

[StartrainDD]

5 minutes ago, id est said:

@StartrainDD Thanks for you review. From your report did I get it correctly you had invited entertainment only 2 times during the cruise: 2 musicians and dancers the other day?

All other days only onboard piano player?

Yes, you are correct.  The two musicians in Cologne, the two dancers in Vienna, and in-house pianist Api.  Don't know if you would count the glass maker as "Entertainment," but he was very good.

[Daisi]

Appreciate your review, I feel you have been honest, being negative where needed, positive where you've enjoyed yourselves.  I guess everyone is having staffing issues these days, but the comment you made about your cabin attendant appreciating Viking's treatment of staff is one that I have heard about from a number of river cruise staff who came from the larger Ocean liners. I guess the smaller the crew, the more personal it is, so they tend to look after each other. 

 

Don't worry about Sydney, not many cities on the east coast of Canada actually qualify as a "defined" city population wise, but hey, we have to recognise the larger areas as something, so cities they are.  PEI proudly claims 2 cities, but the whole province is only about 168,000. 🙂

 

[StartrainDD]

6 minutes ago, Daisi said:

Appreciate your review, I feel you have been honest, being negative where needed, positive where you've enjoyed yourselves.  I guess everyone is having staffing issues these days, but the comment you made about your cabin attendant appreciating Viking's treatment of staff is one that I have heard about from a number of river cruise staff who came from the larger Ocean liners. I guess the smaller the crew, the more personal it is, so they tend to look after each other. 

 

Don't worry about Sydney, not many cities on the east coast of Canada actually qualify as a "defined" city population wise, but hey, we have to recognise the larger areas as something, so cities they are.  PEI proudly claims 2 cities, but the whole province is only about 168,000. 🙂

 

We love PEI.  Our August cruise does not go there, headed mostly further North!

[Daisi]

2 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

We love PEI.  Our August cruise does not go there, headed mostly further North!

 

My "home from home". 

[meg1021]

StartrainDD, I have been following every one of your posts, since we are boarding the Baldur (or maybe a substitute ship) in Amsterdam on July 31st, for our first river cruise.  I would like to thank you, once again, for your detailed and informative posts.  I am looking forward to our cruise, but not looking forward to air travel.  We paid the extra fee to get Viking custom air, so that we could have more of a choice in our flights.  Viking has already changed our air itinerary 3 times.  At first, I was irritated, because they took us off a one connection flight on British Airways, through LHR, directly to PIT.  Now I'm not quite as upset, since LHR seems to be a mess.  Maybe flying through Zurich on SwissAir will be better.  Anyway, not much any of us can do at this point about travel nightmares, other than canceling our trip.

 

I am going to adjust my expectations for the cruise itself.  Staffing shortages are everywhere, so Viking is probably having those issues as well.  Barring the end of the heatwave gripping Europe, and rain replenishing the rivers,  I should be prepared to switch ships.  I will also be prepared for the Sun Deck to be unavailable at times.  I noticed that you followed Rick Steves recommendations in most places.  We have signed up for all included tours, and booked additional tours in most ports.  I'm hoping that communication between the Viking tours and the ship, will be better than your experience, and we won't be left standing, and waiting for the ship to arrive.

 

I'm glad that you made it home safely, and wish you safe travels on your upcoming trip!

[rizello]

meg1021:  I agree with your sentiments about the trip.  If all goes well, we should be on the same ship with you.  Our flights are not as problematic for some reason, they have not changed one bit since we booked, which is quite unusual.

[CastleCritic]

Thank you for your blogging this.

 

I can say that I feel I was fortunate that my April-May airline trip through Paris  (both ways) went pretty smoothly (my last fall trip however,  was a dark comedy ending with a plane they had to literally "jump start" at 11:30PM at Dulles).  But Im still a bit unease for my next one Next May through Heathrow...hopefully they get their act together but its kind of dissuading me from making any grand plans for this fall.

 

You big issue with ship leap-frog I can say from my experience is much more prevalent on that itinerary than any other.  It only really happened once in my first two cruises (Amsterdam to Basel and Vilshofen to Budapest, they dropped us off early to get us to Budapest faster and then the ship followed but it was there when we got to the dock).  It did happen twice this year on the Seine, and one resulted in the longest wait yet (nothing extreme) with the other the ship arriving hours before we came back. I think it did happen 3-4 times on the Main trip last fall,  But in all cases communications with the ship was good and we knew what to expect which makes a huge difference for sure (and to be fair we spent more time watching the ship tie up than waiting for it to get there).

 

I wish you good travels in the future.

Edited July 18, 2022 by CastleCritic