Viking Rhine River Cruise Menus

[TominNC]

We'll be on a 2024 Rhine River Christmas Market cruise.  Basel to Amsterdam.

 

Does anyone have pics of a recent Rhine Cruise on Viking?  Would the Christmas Market cruise likely have different menus than other times of the year?

 

Just curious to have an idea of what they'll be serving.

[CDNPolar]

I believe that the menus are always changing.  We had a different menu each lunch and dinner (other than the always available) and then there were the locally inspired dishes each day.

 

I think it also depends on the Chef onboard.  

 

I might be wrong, but don't think a menu from this year would be any indication of next year for so many reasons.

[pontac]

It's not often that I find myself disagreeing with @CDNPolar

 

But it's par for this board that when someone asks a question they rarely get answers that agree.

 

It's my understanding that the menus are decided by Viking HQ centrally and each boat in Europe has the same. The head chef is responsible for producing those meals, but may have some leeway especially on cruises that feature an excursion where guests can accompany the chef to a local market.

 

Ingredients are ordered centrally (levering the number of Viking boats to get value)  and delivered to each boat at certain stops, usually when guests are away from the boat on an excursion because all the ships crew are involved in unloading the truck and making a human chain, passing boxes to each other through reception to the storage spaces.

 

I've just returned from a Viking Tulips and Windmills cruise and many of the dishes on the menu were the same that were on menus on previous years.

 

For amusement compare this years Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich on the lunchtime menu with  one on our 2023 Rhine & Moselle cruise. The description was 

 

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich

Pork & coleslaw on kaiser roll, french fries

That's 2023 on the Rhine, here's the same menu item in Holland in 2024

 

Same dish, different interpretation. This chef didn't have kaiser rolls - or didn't know what they were. (I've only encountered kaiser rolls in the USA, I have never heard the term outside the USA -and Viking).

 

You'll have a different menu every day, both lunch and dinner, plus the 'always available' dishes. The dinner menu will have 3 local dishes, then a choice of international starters, mains and desserts. You can pick from each menu as you like and make substitutions - for instance I loathe mashed potato so I swapped that with fries from the 'always available' menu.

 

Some people have two starters instead of a starter and main. Some people have two mains and quite a few have two desserts.

 

Now to answer your question, you'll find copies of Viking menus and some pix of their realisation in my trip reports.

 

Trip Report - Rhine and Mosel Discovery - Viking Hild 25 April - 1 May 2023 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community

 

Trip Report - Lyon & Provence - Viking Denning 15 - 21 August 2023 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community

 

Report on our 2024 cruise being written now.

[CDNPolar]

@pontac thanks for the "correction" and why I put "I might be wrong" and always happy when someone comes in and gives a better account of reality.

 

Cheers!

 

I have read that change of Chef does impact sometimes... and that modifications happen from time to time.

Edited April 9 by CDNPolar

[TominNC]

Thanks for the info.  Now I just need someone who has done the Basel to Amsterdam cruise and has lots of pics.

[CDNPolar]

42 minutes ago, TominNC said:

Thanks for the info.  Now I just need someone who has done the Basel to Amsterdam cruise and has lots of pics.

 

We have done it - just recently - but unfortunately we didn't take pics of the menus...

 

Perhaps we will start.  We are doing West Indies in October (ocean) and Grand European in November.  We will take pics of all the menus and archive them.

[Nippy Sweetie]

I do love a menu! Thanks for posting.

The food on our Douro cruise years ago was so dire that I actually complained. I got a sort of, 'There, there, pat on the head' from head office. I didn't expect much but thought it right to complain. I still remember some of the dishes. Yuk!

Subsequent cruises have been fine.

[pontac]

1 hour ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

The food on our Douro cruise years ago was so dire

 

I did the Douro on Viking in 2014. At that time all  the river boats, no matter which line or the costumes the staff wore, were operated by a Portuguese company. I was surprised, on such a short 7 night trip, how many meals were off boat. We had dinner one night in the cellar of a monastery -(urgh - potato soup), an indifferent barbecue dinner another night, lunch at a winery and in Salamanca. That's what I remember from ten years ago, but I also remember the stunning scenery cruising.

 

We're going back in June, but with Scenic this time because they spend longer on the river.

 

I also understand the monopoly the Portuguese company enjoyed then is now ended and the boats are operated by the cruise line whose name is on the boats. I hope so.

[pontac]

3 hours ago, TominNC said:

Now I just need someone who has done the Basel to Amsterdam cruise and has lots of pics

 

I've done that cruise twice. If you don't fancy something on the daily menu pick from the 'always available' menu, that's the same on all cruises.

 

Menus are posted outside the restaurant so you have advance notice. Notify any allergies to the Restaurant Manager.

 

I'm a picky eater and I've not starved. Relax and go with the flow.

[Nippy Sweetie]

@pontac I remember eating off the ship in a variety of places. They were fine by me and certainly better than on the ship.

Just remembered a revolting dish of black pudding mixed through rice. Yuk.

[pontac]

1 hour ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Just remembered a revolting dish of black pudding mixed through rice. Yuk

 

Gross. Always available for me  if I was faced with that.

[CDNPolar]

18 hours ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

I do love a menu! Thanks for posting.

The food on our Douro cruise years ago was so dire that I actually complained. I got a sort of, 'There, there, pat on the head' from head office. I didn't expect much but thought it right to complain. I still remember some of the dishes. Yuk!

Subsequent cruises have been fine.

 

Interesting!  The Douro was our first River Cruise and it made us fall in love with River cruising and specifically Viking's river cruises.  (We had already done VO)

 

We have had a few diets over the years and on this cruise specifically we were hard core Vegan for perceived and and anticipated health benefits.  We were terrified of the food portion of this river cruise because we thought we might be eating salads, potatoes and tomatoes for our complete meal plan.

 

We emailed Viking in advance and got a vague "we will try" answer from them with a disclaimer that they do vegetarian but not vegan.

 

We spoke with the restaurant manager on embarkation and he introduced us to one of his Chefs who specialized in vegan/vegetarian cooking.

 

This was some of the best food we ever had on Viking.  The Chef would modify for us or would cook something special for us each night.  We most often went with the Chef's offering and we were never disappointed.

 

We cruised with 6 others and they were regular menu and they loved the food.  What I saw on each plate looked spectacular and they said it tasted great!

 

We were all pleased with the food.

 

We are not vegan now because too many of the countries that we travel to (APAC region specifically) don't get vegan...and it is just too difficult to travel.  

[TominNC]

Appreciate the answers.  I'm not looking for the menus for any reason than adding to our anticipation.  For ocean cruises on the big lines the daily menus are regularly available.  We'd just like to see the daily menu for the Rhine cruise for the fun of it.