Trip Report - Lyon & Provence - Viking Denning 15 - 21 August 2023

[pontac]

Introduction

 

 

This was our 13th river cruise since 2012 and the 12th with Viking. We’d originally booked the Great Lakes cruise from Duluth, Minnesota to Toronto, Ontario but after seeing it on Viking TV realised it was too active for us. We’d have lost our deposit by cancelling but a phone call to Viking told me that we could transfer to another cruise for an admin fee of £100 each. Asked which cruise we wanted I plumped for the Rhone, and since we’d cruised downriver in 2015 I chose up-river from Avignon to Lyon. Not losing the deposit was such a relief I didn’t realise till later that the cabin they’d suggested wasn’t a Veranda Stateroom but a Veranda Suite.

 

The Veranda Suite has a bedroom with a French Balcony and a living room with a Veranda. So now this was the fourth type of Viking Longship cabin we’d stayed in. Surprisingly it had less personal storage. The other cabins had two sets of three drawers under the desk, plus two drawers in the wardrobe: the Veranda Suite had just the two in its wardrobe. Also there was a lack of power points. The living room had a 220 (Europlug socket) and 110 (USA flat pin socket) at the desk, but the 220 was used to charge the Quietvox. There was one 220 by the bed. The USB socket didn’t charge devices quickly, if at all. I’d brought a Europlug with four USB sockets and used the bedside 220 socket. Thus we could charge two Kindles and two phones.

 

But there was a bottle of Champagne Jacquart Mosaique Brut NV in a cooler with two flutes, and the fridge was filled with soft drinks and two 250ml bottles of white wine and on top were another two 250ml bottles of red wine and wine glasses. These were refilled daily, but since we only drink wine now, and the Silver Spirits Beverage package was included we didn’t make much use of them. Since we could have glass of Champagne anytime the bottle of Jacquart came home with us and will be drunk in memory of this cruise.

Daily shoeshine and free laundry was included, and the wardrobe had towelling robes and sandals. This cruise, as is usual currently, included free Silver Spirits package and gratuities.

 

 

 

The boat was Viking Delling, the same boat we’d cruised down the Rhone in 2015. Four Viking boats cruise up and down the route, crossing at Tournon where both sets of passengers go on the steam train ride.

 

Note: All times are in 24hr format, thus 03:00 means 3 am and 15:00 means 3pm

Edited September 11, 2023 by pontac

[pontac]

Lyon & Provence - London to Avignon

 

 

DAY 1 Tuesday 15 August - London>Avignon

 

 

 

Check-in was quick and flight from Heathrow to Marseille was on time. It was an afternoon flight and I’d calculated that with the extra hour time difference that we’d reach the boat at the start of dinner at 19:00. We’d checked in two identical cases and one was the third or fourth to come out on to the carousel at Marseille. We waited for the other case till the carousel powered off and the lighted sign showing our flight number was extinguished. A lot of people were missing their bags, and a long line was forming at the missing bag desk.

 

When we exited Arrivals we were greeted by the Viking rep who led us to some tables she’d commandeered at a café and we sat with the others till all remaining Viking passengers had reported missing bags and exited Arrival.

 

It’s just over an hour’s drive from Marseille airport to Avignon where the boat was moored. We got to the ship at about 20:20 and went straight to the restaurant for dinner.

 

 

 

 

After dinner Joan rinsed  her clothes in the bathroom.

[pontac]

DAY 2 Wednesday 16 August - Arles

 

Joan received a text to say her bag would be delivered 10:00 – 20:00

While we slept the boat departed down-river for Arles, arriving there at 08:00. We took the included walking tour at 09:15, Joan wearing one of my shirts. 

 

 

 

Temperature was in the high 30˚s and Joan bought a hat from a street stall. Arles is most famous for two sites; its amphitheatre (not Coliseum insisted our guide who said there’s only one and it’s in Rome) and the hospital where Vincent van Gogh stayed and painted that and around 300 other Arles views. There are other Roman ruins and the town centre is close to the river, compact and easily walkable.

 

 

 

The amphitheatre is impressively large. We sat on one of the seating tiers while the guide told us its history and showed picture of how it looked in Roman times. It is still used to day for public shows.

 

Then a few minutes later we were in the courtyard of van Gogh’s hospital. It had several different roles subsequently before coming into public ownership. The garden was recreated from van Gogh’s paintings and letters. 

 

 

 

Our guide mused on the various pronunciations of van Gogh’s name. Go (o as in ‘owe’) is usual in USA, while Goff (o as in ‘ox’) in UK and Gock (gh as in a cough crossed with throat clearing) in his native Netherlands.

 

During the walk the guide pointed out where van Gogh had rented rooms, the café terrace in his 1888 painting Café Terrace at Night and other scenes.

We made our own way back to the boat for a coffee instead of waiting around in ‘free time’.

 

 

 

After lunch we walked the short distance back to Arles where Joan bought a t-shirt.

 

 

 

The boat cast off at 18:00 to return to Avignon. Joan’s bag did not arrive.

 

 

[pontac]

Day 3 - Thursday 17 August - Avignon 

 

 

 

When we woke we were moored again at Avignon. The city is surrounded by a serious wall, with battlements and regular forts along it. The included excursion ‘Avignon Walk and Pope’s Palace’ set off at 09:00 but we didn’t join it. We’d done it in 2015 and Joan didn’t want to trudge again through the crowds packed in the palace which would be very stuffy in the current temperature. Instead we had a lazy breakfast during which Joan got a text that her bag had arrived, but reception said it hadn’t arrived.

 

We decided to explore Avignon ourselves, but tried, without success, the two cruise boats moored next to ours in case Joan’s bag had gone to the wrong ship. 

 

 

 

The marble pavements in Avignon, polished by generations of feet, were very slippery. After viewing the outside of the Pope’s palace, glad we were not in the crowds queuing for entry, we returned to the boat.

 

At 14:00 we joined the coach going on the optional excursion ‘Chateauneuf du Pape Wine Tasting’. For 70 years in the 14thC Avignon had been the home of the papacy and seven Popes had ruled there. 

 

 

 

They built a chateau (now a ruin, above) among vineyards on a hill to escape the summer heat of Avignon. That new chateau now gives its name to the wine of the surrounding area, which is made of a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre but 18 or 13 (sources differ) are be allowed. 

 

 

 

Millennia ago the region used to be the Rhone river bed and the soil comprises large smooth river-bed stones. These take in the day’s heat and release warmth during the night, adding to the richness of the wine. 

 

Chateauneuf du Pape wines, in bottles embossed with Papal keys, are expensive which explained to us the high cost of the optional tour. We were taken to the ruins on the new Chateau, surrounded by vineyards and had a short time to take photos, before being bussed down to the village below. 

 

 

 

 

We were led from the coach to Chateauneuf du Pape village centre and given just over 20 minutes ‘free time’. The blurb for this says this is where we’d  ‘meet the vintners whose families have lovingly cultivated these vineyards for generations. They invite you to browse their winery cellars and learn the delicate blending process behind their extraordinary wine. Toast your experience by sampling the distinctive bouquet and finish of these very special wines in the place of their birth'. There was not enough time to ‘meet vintners’, ‘browse winery cellars’ ‘learn the delicate blending process’ and sample their wines. I didn’t see any vintners, let alone receive any invitations. The description was highly misleading.

 

 

 

Then we were bussed to Alain Jaume & Fils winery where we were shown their cellars before going for a tasting. Only three wines were presented, one not exported white and one red Chateauneuf du Pape wine. The third wine was a €10.20 rosé from Tavel. The hostess seemed keener to encourage wine shipments to the USA than to tell us about the wines.

 

Then back to the boat. I felt we were overcharged at £154 for a couple and that while two Chateauneuf du Pape wines might technically be a Chateauneuf du Pape Wine Tasting, it wasn’t in the spirit. Alain Jaume makes four different red Chateauneuf du Pape wines. Not recommended.*

 

When we got back Joan’s bag was in our room. The boat left at 18:30 heading up-river to Viviers.

 

*On my return I wrote to Viking about my concerns with this tour – as detailed in the post. They offered  generous On Board Credit for our next cruise, and said that the excursion and my comments would be discussed by the board. I am satisfied with their response

[pontac]

Day 4 - Friday 18 August – Viviers

 

 

 

We arrived at Viviers at 01:30, and after breakfast we took the included excursion ‘Viviers Walk’ starting at the civilised time of 09:45. As we waited by our guide I heard laughing from one of the other groups. Their guide seemed to have them in stitches.

 

 

 

Viviers is small sleepy riverside town of fewer than 4,000 inhabitants and in August there were few people about and fewer moving cars. It had once been important and there was a cathedral on a high rocky crag that overlooks the town.

 

 

 

Untouched since 1546  is the ornately carved façade of the ‘Knight’s House’, all the more strange as it is in a long terrace of houses with plain frontages. The house was owned by a salt merchant who wanted to flaunt his riches. He was given the job of tax collector by the Bishop, got even richer and ended as ruler of the town.

 

 

 

Our guide took the group up a steep, cobbled street to the cathedral. I stayed behind looking at the façade and heard laughing people coming towards me. It was the leisurely group. Their guide was a short wiry Frenchman, in his late 60s or early 70s, and I listened as he told the history of the Knight’s house. But, unlike the guide with our group, he peppered his explanation with jokes and shrewd comments. 

 

While the earlier guide had pointed out the carving of knights with lances as a joust, he said that as some of the knights were using the lances on fallen men it was surely a battle scene as jousts were a contest between mounted knights.  

 

He moved the group on to the nearby small square to get everyone seated, before telling a tragic story about his mother’s family who were living in Viviers in the 1940’s under German occupation and of an American commando raid through the town that fought German troops as they headed to destroy anti-aircraft guns sited on the rocky crag. 

 

If you go on this excursion I recommend leaving whatever group you’re in and joining his laughing one. If it’s the leisurely group you won’t get to the cathedral but you’ll have a great time and learn a lot.

 

We cast off at 13:00 and we lunched as the boat cruised, Most preferred to eat inside where it was air-conditioned, but we revelled in the heat and took every opportunity to eat outside.

 

 

We started with Champagne, and got refills during lunch.

 

 

During this cruise we went through several locks. Some had pairs of doors that swung open (like this one) some had gates that sank below the water and some had gates that lifted high out of the water and dripped on the boat.

 

At 18:15 was the Viking Explorer Society Party for passengers who’d travelled before with Viking. I remember when this was a minority of people, but now it is the vast majority and there was no move to exclude anyone. Trays of cocktails were there for the taking. 

 

The Programme Director was absent dealing with an emergency so it was an unstructured gathering, during which the Captain explained about Aquavit having to twice cross the equator and anyone who wanted shots got them. 

 

 

 

Dinner today had my highlight starter of the cruise -  Red Pepper Tartlet.

 

 

 

Although it looked nothing special  such was the intensity of flavour that the first mouthful made me stop and go 'wow'.  From the regional specialities menu I had an excellent coq au vin as the main course and a delicious decadent walnut tart as dessert. The wine was a local Cozes-Hermitage by Maison des Alexandrins.

 

 

 

After dinner we found two shot glasses in our cabin. 

We moored at Tournon at 22:00 at the end of a most enjoyable. day

[pontac]

Day 5 - Saturday 19 August – Tournon

 

09:00 was the included excursion for a ride on the Tournon Steam Train. This is a heritage railway with a one metre gauge. 

 

I’d been tempted by the optional Vineyard Hike, but decided it was too strenuous for my current health after viewing Viking’s “Beyond the Brochure,” video featuring Jean Newman Glock.

 

 

 

It’s a short coach ride to the railway station and we are there with ample time to spare before the train is due to depart. There is a gift ship and a separate (free) museum and the steam engine itself attracts attention as the crew get the steam up.

 

 

 

Train carriages are open, more like goods wagons with roofs and have wooden benches. There are many groups on the trip. Some have their name on chalkboards, but the carriages that Viking uses have a metal holster that takes Viking’s paddle. Each of the four groups from our boat has their own carriage. Guests from Viking Heimdal that departed Lyon to go to Avignon on the same day we departed Avignon to cruise to Lyon are on the train. Capacity of the train is 500 passengers.

 

 

 

We are given a map of the route and can see where the track crosses the gorge. The best views are from the right side, but our guide asks us to swap sides coming down, so everyone gets view from both sides.

 

 

 

It’s been a dry summer and when the train sets off it is closely followed by a diesel locomotive pulling a water bowser to extinguish any trackside fires that sparks from the steam engine might cause. We are told that in flood the River Doux sometime reaches the height of the track, but on our August trip the river consists of pools separated by dry stony river bed a long way below.

 

 

 

After 35 minutes the train stopped and we can get out. Many rushed to the turntable where the de-coupled engine reverses onto and is turned so it is ready to pull the train back down. We swapped sides in the carriage as the train headed back down reaching the terminus in 26 minutes.

 

 

 

Delling departed Tournon shortly after we left so the coaches took us up-river to Andance where Delling is waiting for us to embark for lunch before setting off again. During the afternoon the wheelhouse is open for visits and there are French pastries available in the lounge and a demonstration of how to make Chocolate Fondant.

 

 

 

We enjoy a relaxing afternoon cruising and pass vineyards of Cote Rotie.

 

The boat is scheduled to moor at Vienne 16:45 for an included walking tour of this historic town, but it is delayed and arrived after dinner so the Vienne excursion is cancelled.

[pontac]

Day 6 - Sunday 20 August – Lyon

 

Viking Delling departed Vienne at 05:00 and three hours later moored in Lyon, our final stop.

 

At 09:00 is an included excursion. A coach tours us through the city and up to a high promontory with a cathedral and fine view over Lyon and its two rivers, Saone and Rhone.

 

 

 

 

Close by is the Eiffel look alike tower now used as a TV and radio transmitter.

 

 

 

 

Saone is the foreground river, Rhone is shown by he horizontal line of trees  in the middle of the picture. Viking Delling is moored to the right of the four white light towers

 

 

When the coach takes us down to the Saone and the guide prepares for a walking tour we bale out and make our own way back to the boat. It is stifling hot in the city and the prospect of a coffee on board is more attractive than looking at buildings followed by ‘free-time’.

 

 

 

We miss the afternoon Enrichment Lecture on WWII Lyon and the Resistance in the lounge and also the Programme Director’s disembarkation briefing at which 'at least one person per cabin' is supposed to attend. But we need only to know three things: when to put cases outside our cabin, when to vacate our cabin and when we’ll be taken to the airport. As we have an afternoon flight and we know from experience that the answer to the first two questions is 08:00 and that everything we need to know about disembarkation will be placed in our room.

 

 

[pontac]

Day 7 - Monday 21 August – Lyon

 

This is the last full day of the cruise.

 

Mount Brouilly

At 08:45 we join an included excursion to Beaujolais Wine Country. We travel north as the guide tells about Beaujolais. The appellation Beaujolais, which includes the once famous young wine Beaujolais Nouveau, but the best wines come from the ten ‘crus’ which use their name instead of Beaujolais – although all the red wines of the region are made from the same black grape variety Gamay. About 5% of production, rarely seen outside the area, is white wine made from Chardonnay.

 

 

 

 

We go to Chateau des Ravatys in the hills about Mount Brouilly which gave its name to two of the ‘crus’, Brouilly and Cote de Brouilly. 

 

 

 

First we go to a vineyard to see vines with plump bunches of black grapes, then we get a tour of the underground cellars before being seated in a barrel aging cellar for a tasting. 

 

 

 

We are poured four wines, a white, a red Brouilly and two Cote de Brouilly  and nibbles are passed around. The excellence of the Beaujolais excursion emphasises just how overpriced was the optional  Chateauneuf du Pape visit. And while we can buy the wines if we want, there isn't the hard sell we got in Chateauneuf du Pape

 

 

 

We are moored on the Rhone at Lyon and some people wander off into the city in the afternoon. At 17:00 we attend a demonstration in the lounge given by two people from a silk factory. They explain how complicated pictures are imprinted on silk by multiple additions of dye through a screen. After 25 minutes the talk turns to various ways women can wear silk squares and I lose interest and return to the cabin.

 

 

[pontac]

Day 8 - Tuesday 22 August – Lyon > London

 

The latest time to depart the cabin is 08:00, which means we have only really had the suite for six full days since we arrived so late on Day1. We are not due to depart until 14:45 so have a leisurely breakfast and later the buffet embarkation/disembarkation lunch. 

When not eating we sit, after a short spell on the sun deck, in the lounge. The earliest departure was 03:30 and the latest is twelve hours later at 15:30. Two other couples are on the same flight as us and Viking have booked a people-mover taxi for us.

There is no delay getting to the airport where we have to wait 20 minutes for check-in to open. Then we’re homeward bound. Both cases arrive with us.

 

[pontac]

Reflections on the cruise  

 

I like the heat and we ate out on the prow almost every lunch and dinner, and most of the others in the open were Brits and Australians. The majority of Americans preferred being inside with air-conditioning. It was also the first time I could spend any length of time on the veranda, and some evenings after dinner I sit there with a glass of white wine from our fridge while reading my Kindle.

 

Cooking seemed to have less flair on this cruise. As a non-cheese eater I was most aware of just how many dishes had cheese; there didn’t use to be as many.

 

This cruise the bottle of wine chosen from the wine list was left on the table for us to pour subsequent glasses. We preferred this, rather than the waiter taking the bottle away then coming back to top up glasses.

 

Since we were cruising through the famous Rhone wine region I found it disappointing there were only two red Rhone wines on the list included in the drinks package. The one Chateauneuf du Pape, at €120, was not included in the package.

 

 There were about ten people in their twenties or thirties, the majority in the 40-50 range and a sprinkling of 60-70 year olds. It shouldn’t be assumed that the leisurely walking groups were only for the elderly, one of the youngest women on the cruise was so large she had difficulty walking and chose the easy group.

 

Anyone considering a trip to France in August ought to be aware that French people take their holidays in August and many places are closed.

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I welcome questions about the cruise

[Canal archive]

Thank you Pontac, brings back memories especially about the train trip where as with you the weather was nicely warm but it meant we viewed far more of the French than we expected to!

[Got2Cruise]

Great report. It gives everyone who is considering this cruise exactly what to expect. Thank you for taking the time to attach all the photos, menus and other info. 

[odblnt]

Thank you very much. We're taking this trip next fall (in the opposite direction) and are looking forward to it. 

[soccermom4]

Thank you.  Considering this cruise in October of next year - and have never been on a river cruise before.  Definitely gives me a better idea of "the flow".  

[ural guy]

Great write up, thanks.

 

Nice that Viking took care of you after your poor experience on the optional cruise.

From a business sense, it would be foolish of them not to respond to legitimate issues from such a long term customer as yourself.  Judging by the tone of your writing style, I'm thinking it was a non-ranting style note you sent, and you were taken care of to your satisfaction.  Cheers!

[pontac]

Thanks

 

I didn't rant.

 

I stated what happened, how it didn't match the description, that I thought it overpriced, and proposed an amount I thought it worth, and requested a refund of the difference. Viking were more generous.