Basic, typical day on the river....

[ddean52]

So next June we sail on Viking's Legend...so a typical day is....wake up for breakfast around 7am.....then if your sailing all morning (I'm looking forward to this,ok!)...you sit on the deck and watch the vistas. My question, is it all that special? Do I need to bring a few books along. My tounge is not in my cheek, I just want to know what is like. Saling on a river, does the trip take on its own magic? I can picture sailing at night, seeing the lights and shadows on the river side, the romantic.....I guess Im asking for a detailed, immersion into life on board! Thanks for any light you can shead on my confussion:eek: :) !

Dean

[webfoot]

I can't speak for Viking but on our Avalon cruise we spent a nice time watching the world go by. Several days we went to our next destination overnight and other times we would go during the day.

 

Yes, it is magical sitting and watching the world go by. I am a fairly social person and I found it was nice just to sit and talk to the other cruise passengers. We had lectures several times during the time we were cruising. These were either by our cruise director or someone that they brought on board.

 

I took a book and a notebook so that I could record each day's activities and then another book to read. We sometimes sat in the lounge and had a glass of wine as we cruised along.

 

Each day is different. Sometimes you tour in the morning and other times in the afternoon.

 

Perhaps someone else can add to this ... and maybe give the Viking information.

 

No matter what, river cruising is relaxing and enjoyable.

[paul929207]

We were on a Uniworld crusie across urope. Most of our sailing was done in the early morning (4am an don).

[hockeymadhockey]

Hello,

 

We were on the Viking Sky-Amsterdam to Vienna. Check out your itinerary and then look at the websites for the towns. Just like the other lines sometimes you will travel by day and sometimes by night. Get to love the locks because there are lots of them. Most people said after awhile they slept right through them. The scenery during the day was heavenly.

 

A typical day (night travel):

Awake docked in your port after traveling through the night and have breakfast (buffet)

Meet your group (they divided us usually into 3 for the buses), either walk to the town or take a bus (most small towns you walked in, larger towns you bussed to the abbey or caste or whatever)

Explore the town either with your group or break off on your own (we broke off lots and had a ball)

Sometimes we came back to the ship for lunch and sometimes we ate in town (buffet lunch on ship), sometimes the ship started out and it was head to the sun deck for the best 360 views (no smoking on the sun deck so very pleasant but just two areas to the side of the ship available for the smokers)

At night a more "formal" meal with dress casual to nicer. 3 entree selections (always remember, if you don't see anything you like look to the left side of menu for the stand bys or ask-they are very accomodating).

After dinner almost always some type of activity in the lounge (bingo, lecture, dance group, glass blowing, etc) and then later still dancing.

 

Bring a good camera, good cell phone (calls from the ship are very expensive), umbrella, hat. I took books to read at night in my cabin but the most important thing was my notebook. Every night I made notes about what we saw that day and even drew very bad pictures of places and things we saw. When I got home it was invaluable to help remember what we did where. I loved Amsterdam and Vienna is the most beautiful city in the world (that I have so far visited). If you want more info let me know.

Erin

[ddean52]

Thanks so much! It is a lot different from ocean cruising.........perhaps, an acquired taste, which comes easily, I suspect! I look forward to it! Thanks again for confirming my suspicions!

[beachsandra]

We were on the Viking Burgundy in Provence and Burgundy last month.for 8 days. Everything said in the other posts is accurate. It all depends on what you enjoy. We went on every tour, included and optional, so we were touring everyday, rose early (and went to bed early :^) and loved every minute of it. Some of our fellow passengers strolled into town (we were always docked in town) and visited the shops, cafes, restuarants, churchs, museums, etc, at their own pace. The only condition was that you had to be back on board 15 minutes before the ship sailed (day or night). There were only 2 afternoons and 1 morning when we sailed during 'daytime' - I almost wished there were.more ......sitting on the sundeck watching the beautiful countryside slip quietly by, chatting,with our fellow passengers, dozing, sipping, etc. was wonderful. As a city person, I was fascinated with was going through the locks along the river (we passed through 16), watching the boat raise or lower, depending if we were going upstream or downstream., and seeing the countryside appear again when the lock doors opened. I brought books with me and found that I had only read about 30 pages the entire time I was on the cruise.

[beachsandra]

We were on the Viking Burgundy in Provence and Burgundy last month.for 8 days. Everything said in the other posts is accurate. It all depends on what you enjoy. We went on every tour, included and optional, so we were touring everyday, rose early (and went to bed early :^) and loved every minute of it. Some of our fellow passengers strolled into town (we were always docked in town) and visited the shops, cafes, restuarants, churchs, museums, etc, at their own pace. The only condition was that you had to be back on board 15 minutes before the ship sailed (day or night). There were only 2 afternoons and 1 morning when we sailed during 'daytime' - I almost wished there were.more ......sitting on the sundeck watching the beautiful countryside slip quietly by, chatting,with our fellow passengers, dozing, sipping, etc. was wonderful. As a city person, I was fascinated with was going through the locks along the river (we passed through 16), watching the boat raise or lower, depending if we were going upstream or downstream., and seeing the countryside appear again when the lock doors opened. I brought books with me and found that I had only read about 30 pages the entire time I was on the cruise.

[ddean52]

all this feedback is great!!!!! Thanks

[SanNic44]

After reading these posts, I have to try a river cruise. It seems like an economical way to not only see the countryside, but also the cities. Plus you don't have to drag your luggage, fight traffic, or check in and out. Nice.

[ddean52]

After reading these posts, I have to try a river cruise. It seems like an economical way to not only see the countryside, but also the cities. Plus you don't have to drag your luggage, fight traffic, or check in and out. Nice.

 

I'm not so sure about the economical value, but it still sounds like a great time!! have wanted to do this for a bit!

[NYLady]

One of the things that makes river cruising a great value is that most of the excursions are included. There are a few "optionals" but they really are optional. I'm hoping this will remain true in this new economy.

[Kayelache]

Usually daytime cruising was the "scenic" sort of thing, like the "castle regions" of the Rhine, when we had a running commentary of which castle was what, a little of the history etc. We either sat in the lounge or on the sundeck, there was so much to see, I can't imagine trying to read a book during this. Usually we sailed at night, and spent the day in a city or town. The beauty of river cruising is you get to spend time in the smaller cities and towns. There is always something so magical about them, whether you go with "the group" or explore on your own (which I highly recommend.)

[NYLady]

Today we leave for our trip on the Rhone and I'll be delighted to see what a typical day on that river is like!

[skertso]

Enjoyed reading all the posts about riving cruising. DH and I will be doing our first river cruise in December from Amsterdam to Paris with a few extra nights to enjoy Paris. We are very excited and are absorbing as much info as we can before the trip.

 

It all sounds so wonderful!

:)

[WIT]

One of the things that makes river cruising a great value is that most of the excursions are included. There are a few "optionals" but they really are optional. I'm hoping this will remain true in this new economy.

Usually the optional tour is usually the afternoon or evening event/excursion after the included morning tour.

 

It was nice to get a massage/relax in the room/hit the sauna/ride bikes to meet the boat at the next town(they go slow)/ or watch the scenery while sipping something pleasant in the lounge.

 

If you select every option you may miss the essence of river cruising. Slower is better.

 

WIT