Viking Legend!!!

[no fuss travel]

Dean

 

They actually have a cover over the plug that says shavers only. I would stick to the flashlights as that way you will not blow any fuses.

[ddean52]

No Fuss,

I agree with you. flashlights it will be. Thanks for your input! thanks for the great pic show!!

[no fuss travel]

Glad you enjoyed the pictures. It just took me a while to figure out that I had to close another applications to make the pictures appear on Cruise Critic site.

[billinyucatan]

Unfortunately, there are two threads marked Viking Legend. Thus, I may have been thinking I was posting to one thread but was actually posting to two. I do not want to be redundant.. but yes, those on the upper decks are much happier than those on deck one. The so-called scraping sounds that deck one folks have complained about are NOT the ship scraping but the metal floats along the walls of the ship.. heard more on deck one than other decks. Most people that we have talked to on the cruise love the ship and cruise.. but not all. Bascially, a river cruise is not for everyone, I guess and everyone has different opinions. To us, we love it and rank it very HIGH. The Viking Legend is as nice or nicer than any ship we have seen along the river. It is certainly nicer than any other Viking River Cruises ship that we have seen. I think it is nicer than most if not all other ships. It is certainly new, clean, with wonderful and friendly service.

 

Be prepared that on the Main and Main-Danube part of the trip (Mainz to Passau), the top deck of almost any cruise ship will be CLOSED. That means that your time will be spent in your cabin or in the dining room or bar or in the small area of deck 3 that is in fore and aft, Plan on 6 days without a top deck. When the top deck is open it is MUCH better...at least on this cruise in August where the weather has been wonderful. I am presently in Linz, Austria. It was great having the top deck finally open agian as we cruised through the beautiful Austrian hill-country.

 

Some people like to be in a herd of slow-moving folks. We do not. I suggest reading up on the history and culture of where you are cruising .. do your homework, and take your own self-tours to intersperse with the provided tours.

 

The domagraphics is older cruisers than I thought. Most are much older than us. However, there are also younger.. including about 6 teens (most of them bored), some in 20s and 30s. The vast majority are from US, but there are some from UK, Austrailia, New Zeland, Japan, and even Germany and Czech Republic. 90 percent or more are from the US. We live in Mexico and find outselves at the more international tables when eating.

 

Some cruise boats end up going partway by bus because of high or low water. However, Viking does a neat thing. They send a boat from Budapest and one from Amsterdam so they meet at the Main-Danube canal where most problems occur. If a ship can not pass, they simply turn the boats around and change passengers from one ship to the other.. while other cruise lines are often stuck to busses. Our cruise went through fine.

 

There was some posting of problems with the first Viking cruise. There were problems. However, on our cruise, everything is great. THe crew is very friendly and work together well. The ship is new, clean, and wonderful. The trip will be great if you are on an upper deck. Lower deck in almost any boat will not be as nice. On a river cruise, I think it is VERY important to book an upper deck.

 

Much of the crew is from Slovakia. Some is from Romania. A few are from Germany. Learn some phrases in these languages (go to youtube or other sites) and get a big smile from the crew when you greet them or thank them in their own language. If you know some German, the people on shore really appreciate it and open up. You can get by fine with just English, of course..but go the extra mile by studying some other languages and doing homework, and it will pay off big time.

 

The Viking Legend gives out small maps and sheets to help you tour the ports on your own if you wish.. but I find that usually, you can get better maps (for free) by going into a local hotel.

 

We are loving our cruise on the Viking Legend and already sad that it is over 1/2 done. We think you will too. If you are an older cruiser and most are, know that the hills and cobblestone narrow streets in many locations can be problematic.

[ddean52]

Great job Bill! Will see you in Budapest!!!!

Dean

[steamboats]

Some cruise boats end up going partway by bus because of high or low water. However, Viking does a neat thing. They send a boat from Budapest and one from Amsterdam so they meet at the Main-Danube canal where most problems occur. If a ship can not pass, they simply turn the boats around and change passengers from one ship to the other.. while other cruise lines are often stuck to busses.

 

Bill,

 

Yes, Viking is changing boats in case there are any problems due to river conditions (but others do that as well). But the boats don´t meet up. There usually is a part where you have to be bussed. Otherwise the ships would be able just to go on as scheduled :).

 

And no, there are definitely no problems regarding high/low water on the Canal. A canal is an artificial waterway where you can control the stage. The problems do mainly occur on the Danube river. Low water problems are causing problems in the area around Straubing. Passau and Deggendorf have some pretty low bridges which are causing problems with high water.

 

The sun decks are closed on the Canal which is between Bamberg and Kelheim (not Mainz and Passau, Mainz is on the Main river, Passau on the Danube). On the rivers the sun deck might be temporarily closed for a single low bridge. On the Canal they do have many low bridges so the sun deck is closed permanently. There´s one bridge on the South end close to Kelheim where even the excursion boats advise the passengers to stay seated on the top deck and not to try to touch the bridge.

 

steamboats

[Little Toot2]

Great job Bill! Will see you in Budapest!!!!

Dean

 

Hey Dean, don't forget that you promised to post the Legend dock location in Amsterdam online before we sail in mid-September. Safe journey...

 

LT

[deaconlar]

When I read one of the reviews for the Legend's maiden voyage I was quite worried. Having read all your reviews I once again have that "looking forward to the trip" attitude. As I read your comments I have a pad handy to make notes, like the comment about the outlets. We will be leaving Amsterdam on September 27, 2009. We have an odd number cabin on the second deck. First river cruise after many large ship crises.

Again, thanks for all the great info.

Larry

[no fuss travel]

Larry I did not mean to scare you off with my review of the Legend. It seems that they have now fixed a most of the problems that were encountered when we sailed and hopefully they paid attention to what we told them needed fixing. The food and the service in the dining room was excellent, they just should have tested all the engines and made sure that their ventilation system was working properly before they set sail. Hopefully you are not on the first deck, because it is noisy. I will never sail on the first deck of a any river cruise ship again because of the problems of noise. The first deck is below the water line and yes water is a fantastic sound carrier which penetrates the hull of the ship. Now if you were hard of hearing it would not matter.:rolleyes::D

[Little Toot2]

We will be leaving Amsterdam on September 27, 2009. We have an odd number cabin on the second deck. First river cruise after many large ship crises.Larry

 

Larry, my husband and I will look forward to meeting you on the Legend in Sept! I believe that you're going to love the small river cruise experience... LT

[billinyucatan]

Just returned from cruise Amsterdam to Budapest plus extra time in NL (independent) and Prague. We used the Viking Legend. Great ship. Great cruise. Please note that river cruises differ from ocean cruises in that on ocean cruises most of the touring is once the ship is in port. On River cruises most of the touring is on the 6MPH ship cruising more slowly than bicycles along the shore. Hence, be entertained by the scenery. We brought books to read, but had little time to do the reading. Tours were provided but not liking to be part of a herd, we seldom went on the organized tours.. but those we were on were excellent. My suggestion... do your homework on the history, culture, languages, and tour alone for more fun. However, if you like touring with groups, take the tours. Those who took them said that they were all good and with local guides. We had three sets of friends who live in Europe and met us at three different points.. made the cruise even better.

 

Unlike Ocean cruises, we could bring our friends aboard the ship and show them around. Also, we could go aboard other ships at dock which we did. Our conclusion, other ships smelled more than Viking Legend. VIking Legend is certainly newer. Some others were more ornate inside, but really the Viking Legend was hard to beat, so we are glad that we lucked out in choosing it. We seldom docked with other ships (I think twice with other VIking ships but only for a short time. The other times, we docked alone and in great locations)

 

The Viking Legend is the newest ship on the rivers right now and with excellent docking including private docking next to the chain bridge in Budapest. We couldn't get a better view (but pick an even number cabin).

 

THIS IS IMPORTANT... Since river cruising is different from ocean cruising with much of the touring from the ship... and since low bridges prevent top decks from being open from Nuremburg to Passau... and since most noise is BELOW the water line. NEVER EVER EVER get a lower cabin on a river cruise. Get as high up as possible for the good viewing! Get a room with a french balcony or actual balcony.