Trade Routes - Bergen to Barcelona: Itinerary excursion help: Monet's Garden and other tours for the mobility challenged

[May B]

7 minutes ago, msualum said:

I’m confused about not all river boats having the same construction.  We’ve always been docked next to Viking ships.  And as said, there are crew members there helping everyone get off.  We’ve never encountered any problems.

I wasn’t the one who said all river boats aren’t the same, so I don’t know about that, although I’m sure it’s true. Vikings probably are! All the ones in Europe, anyway.

 

you would always expect to be docked next to a sister ship, especially if you’re on Viking, since they have so many, and sometimes have their own docking area.

 

I’ve actually only been on AMA and Uniworld. I am quite sure we went straight through sister ships, but up, over and down on different lines’ ships. In fact, one of those went through, one way or another, was a Viking, b/c I do remember noticing some details of it.

 

At one dock, there were three AMA ships together, and I thought that would make a nice photo. When we got back after our tour, the other two had left!

 

Even without a balcony, having a ship next to your stateroom can be disconcerting. 

[May B]

To see a great variety of river boats, go to the docks in Amsterdam! We were actually on an ocean ship when river ships first caught our eye.

[Pegct]

Viking has different riverboats on Mississippi, Douro and China rivers. Think all the others are same.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Pegct said:

Viking has different riverboats on Mississippi, Douro and China rivers. Think all the others are same.

 

Also Nile are different.

[dd57]

3 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Also Nile are different.

And the ones on the Seine are shorter to make one of the tight turns in Paris.

[formernuke]

And the Elbe is different 

[nikitty]

On 7/20/2024 at 6:19 PM, OneSixtyToOne said:

The Chilean Fjords expedition cruise is a leg of the repositioning between the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica. It occurs twice a year for two ships so only 4 sailings a year. If you book it at the right time, it's usually heavily discounted with free air, stateroom upgrade, and if you are lucky, free SSP. 

 

Antarctica seemed a little too extreme for us and this cruise was the sweet spot. Patagonia is beautiful and we had some amazing wildlife encounters as well as watching glaciers calving. Trip of a lifetime. 

 

Oh, it's on sale now...

https://www.viking.com/reservations/start?voyageType=expedition&cruiseId=Q2hpbGVhbiBGam9yZHMgJiBTY2VuaWMgU2hvcmVz&sc=vxp&country=US&originCountry=US&office=US&currency=USD&voyageName=Q2hpbGVhbiBGam9yZHMgJiBTY2VuaWMgU2hvcmVz&promoCode=CSA24&cid=EML|AJO|999|Email+-+240711_vxp_csa24&utm_source=email&utm_medium=AJO&utm_content=Email+-+240711_vxp_csa24&correlationId=d5ba48eb-f9e9-45bb-869b-6461b12bfd94-0

 

I think this cruise might be too extreme for even myself but I do love the way it sounds! 
 

On 7/20/2024 at 6:03 PM, May B said:

My advice for an expedition trip is just bite the bullet and pay the single supplement. Look at it as paying the same as if your husband were going, but he doesn’t have to suffer! 

 

I doubt they’d ever give you four hours of free time. The best to hope for is a tour where you can stay in town at the end and take the Viking shuttle back to the ship. If that won’t work, pay for an Uber. In either case, do be sure to tell your guide that you’re not going back with them.

I don't love traveling alone so I'll wait until my son is off to university and I should be able to wear my hubby down enough that he'll go with me by then. 🤣

My husband is used to suffering after 18 years of marriage so I hope to convince him that this "suffering" will actually be fun and turn him into a convert.  😂

 

On 7/21/2024 at 12:44 PM, OneSixtyToOne said:

They are talking about rafting. You may have to dock next to another company’s ship and walk through it. We’ve been on 3 river cruises, including the Grand European, and this happened exactly once. It was no big deal. We did get a look at some of the gaudy interior of a German riverboat. German Imperial decor is not exactly our style.

 

Viking has a well established presence on European rivers and tend to get preferential docking locations. Rafting has never been a concern of ours.

From the sounds of it, based on all the glowing comments, a river cruise will definitely be in our future the next time.  I think one of my main concerns has been worrying about water levels. What happens if the ship gets stuck? Sounds like a nightmare to me so I didn't want to run the risk of dealing with that.  I don't know how typical a scenario that is though.

 

So an update on our tours...based on the info shared in here, we are changing our Monet's Garden tour to the Viking Honfleur one unless we are able to arrange a private tour of the gardens.  The cost for two people is a little too high (between $1,500 and 2k) but if we can find a better discount, we might jump at it. (But you get what you pay for so I am keeping that in mind.)  Ideally, we could find one or two couples to share with us but so far no luck with that.

I have booked a tour to London but I have to contact Viking to find out how much free time we have.  

I'm going to change our tour to Brussels instead of Bruges. The long walk into the city center won't work and it sounds like the Brussels one is mostly on the bus.

I'd like to change to the Porto tram ride based on the advice of @OneSixtyToOne which sounds like it would be a very interesting tour!  I have a friend that lives in Porto so I'm hoping to meet her for a drink.  Ideally, I can stay in town and my mom can go back to the ship without incident.  I'm a little nervous as the ship leaves quite early that day and the port isn't that close to the city center.

So far all the other tours that are left are the included ones which we thought would be sufficient.  Still toying with changing the Barcelona one as well.

On a completely different note - does anyone have a favorite hotel in Bergen?  We booked the pre-cruise extension which is at the Bergen Bors hotel but I just found out it's a standard double. That's a lot of cheddar for their smallest room so it's definitely not worth the cost.  I was hoping I could justify the price based on a swanky room and transfers to the hotel and then to the boat on the embarkation day, but sadly, I just can't.  😆  Right now I've booked a reservation at the Thon Bristol. My mom enjoys modern sleek hotels so hoping that will do the trick but very interested in what hotels others enjoyed.  I was considering possibly a Scandic property as I liked the one I stayed in last time in Trondheim.  The only requirements is two beds and a fridge to store medication.

 

 

 

 

[Mich3554]

6 hours ago, nikitty said:

 

On a completely different note - does anyone have a favorite hotel in Bergen?  We booked the pre-cruise extension which is at the Bergen Bors hotel but I just found out it's a standard double. That's a lot of cheddar for their smallest room so it's definitely not worth the cost.  I was hoping I could justify the price based on a swanky room and transfers to the hotel and then to the boat on the embarkation day, but sadly, I just can't.  😆  Right now I've booked a reservation at the Thon Bristol. My mom enjoys modern sleek hotels so hoping that will do the trick but very interested in what hotels others enjoyed.  I was considering possibly a Scandic property as I liked the one I stayed in last time in Trondheim.  The only requirements is two beds and a fridge to store medication.

 

 

 

 

We stay at the Clarion Havnekontoret in Bergen.  It’s an older hotel, but charming and adjacent to the Raddison Blu.  It’s walkable to the port (but last time we took an Uber as there was about 1’ of snow on the ground…..Uber was about $10) and at the end of a long line of stores and restaurants along the waterfront.  
We like it because dinner is also included with breakfast, and a few nights it’s been nice just to have soup and bread without going out again to find dinner.  
I can’t remember if there was a fridge in the room though.  
 

ETA:  Your mom might like the South American and Chilean Fjords as  an ocean cruise rather than expedition.  There are a lot of sea days, many easy excursions and the scenery is spectacular.  

Edited July 25 by Mich3554

[nikitty]

On 7/25/2024 at 11:57 AM, Mich3554 said:

We stay at the Clarion Havnekontoret in Bergen.  It’s an older hotel, but charming and adjacent to the Raddison Blu.  It’s walkable to the port (but last time we took an Uber as there was about 1’ of snow on the ground…..Uber was about $10) and at the end of a long line of stores and restaurants along the waterfront.  
We like it because dinner is also included with breakfast, and a few nights it’s been nice just to have soup and bread without going out again to find dinner.  
I can’t remember if there was a fridge in the room though.  
 

ETA:  Your mom might like the South American and Chilean Fjords as  an ocean cruise rather than expedition.  There are a lot of sea days, many easy excursions and the scenery is spectacular.  

 

Thanks for the recommendation!  This one didn't even pop up in my search, or at least it wasn't on my radar until you mentioned it!

I haven't heard of many hotels including dinner along with breakfast so that's wonderful!  I'll have to check what time they're open until as we booked a Flam train/ferry ride and we won't get back to the hotel until after 9, so their kitchen might be closed.  

Is this area of the city busy in the evening?  I have booked a backup hotel at the Thon Bristol and was hoping to be in a neighborhood that had some shopping/restaurants that stayed open a little later,  Being directly by the waterfront sounds like it would be quite beautiful though! 

Re: The expedition cruise.  My mom doesn't like a lot of sea days and I had to cancel a Norway cruise I booked for us because she said it would be boring.  "If you've seen one fjord you've seen them all."  I do not agree with this sentiment but I enjoy nature scenery whereas she prefers bustling cities. 😁

Edited July 26 by nikitty

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, nikitty said:

Re: The expedition cruise.  My mom doesn't like a lot of sea days and I had to cancel a Norway cruise I booked for us because she said it would be boring.  "If you've seen one fjord you've seen them all."  I do not agree with this sentiment but I enjoy nature scenery whereas she prefers bustling cities. 😁

Sounds like she would enjoy the Grand European river cruise. Something new every day and most of the time you literally dock in the city.

[ljandgb]

On 7/25/2024 at 4:09 AM, nikitty said:

From the sounds of it, based on all the glowing comments, a river cruise will definitely be in our future the next time.  I think one of my main concerns has been worrying about water levels. What happens if the ship gets stuck?

 

My understanding is that on Viking you usually just transfer to another ship.  Because there are so many Viking river ships, this is fairly seamless.  The staff move your luggage over to your new stateroom while you're out and about.  The issue is generally that either the river is too low in some spots, or that it is too high in others, making going under certain bridges impossible.  So the ship you transfer to just shuttles back and forth in the area it can.   Depending on factors, I suppose you could need to transfer more than once.  For more info, it's best to post over on the river cruise part of the boards.

 

If not on Viking (and there are plenty of other great companies) it may mean hotels and buses, or ship transfers.

 

As far as rafting, it is quite likely that you'd be rafted with another Viking ship, but if not, getting off/on can involve up/down/over on any deck.  Even without rafting, the gangway, which has rails, can be at any angle due to relative water/dock levels in different ports.

Edited July 26 by ljandgb