The ultimate guide to Viking cruise ships and itineraries

Table Of Content

• Excursions on a Viking River Cruise
• Night New Orleans & Southern CharmsDetails
• Don't Feel You Have to Do Everything on Your Viking Rhine River Cruise
• Which Viking River Cruise Ships Sail France in Bordeaux on the Garonne?
• Night Rhine GetawayDetails
• Which Viking Ships Sail on the Rhine, Main and Moselle?
• River + Ocean Combination
• Stateroom Options

Coffee stations and some snacks are usually available during the day. Room service is limited -- it's breakfast only and only available to passengers in the Explorer Suites. All of your meals and snacks are covered and on a Viking Rhine River cruise, the onboard menus will also feature delicious regional specialties from Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.

Excursions on a Viking River Cruise

The line also draws a wide range of interesting and accomplished people from all walks of life to serve as guest lecturers, including well-known academics, diplomats and even astronauts. You'll also find live piano music in the evenings in river ship lounges. In general, you'll find a lot of couples on Viking ships and some solo travelers. You'll also find the occasional multigenerational group — a retired couple traveling with their working-age adult children, for instance. In general, it's an educated crowd, with many passengers coming from professional backgrounds or a life of running their own businesses.

Night New Orleans & Southern CharmsDetails

This means that your ship could be the first, second, or third ship docked. Furthermore, this means that you may have to walk through another ship to get to shore or people are walking through your ship to get to and from theirs. The ships are designed for this — to have travelers walk through the common spaces.

Don't Feel You Have to Do Everything on Your Viking Rhine River Cruise

Plus, some travel agents provide onboard credit to cruising clients. Since we booked through our travel agent, Viking sent her the final travel documents, and she checked them before passing them on to us. Cruising is a social experience as you chat with fellow passengers on excursions, at the social hour before dinner in the Lounge, and at meals. An easy way to begin a conversation is to ask where people are from, about their past travel experiences, and what excursions interest them the most. We’ve found there are a lot of commonalities as well as interesting folks to meet.

Expert Review of Viking Star Cruise Ship - Cruise Critic

Expert Review of Viking Star Cruise Ship.

Posted: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 16:14:48 GMT [source]

In all ports, passengers have at least one free sightseeing option, with several extra-fee choices as well. Onboard, there are few activities to engage in but the occasional onboard presentation (usually a lecture, or local dance or music troupe) draws a crowd. Evening music (typically a piano player) may or may not be popular depending on the crowd onboard. You will need to pay extra for tips, laundry and additional shore excursion offerings. On vessels with hair or spa services, or any retail offerings, you'll need to pay extra for these as well. My husband prefers to jog each morning, and he was able to when we were docked in the early morning before excursions began.

Viking reserves the right to correct errors or omissions and to change any and all fares, fees and surcharges at any time. For up-to-date prices, please call Viking or your Travel Agent. Complete terms and conditions may be found in the Passenger Ticket Contract.

Which Viking Ships Sail on the Rhine, Main and Moselle?

At Arles, known as the place where Van Gogh cut off his ear, we did a walking tour, saw the incredible Roman ruins, and walked the lovely sun-drenched cobblestone streets. Here we also went to Les Baux to see the “Carrieres de Lumières” exhibit in the quarry. The Viking Longship is an absolute masterpiece of Scandinavian design.

River + Ocean Combination

Also, Viking offers options to add a few days in the first or last destination before and after a cruise. Always expanding and improving, Viking Ocean Cruises is the opposite of what many people consider ocean cruises to be like. There aren’t any casinos on board, no white-gloved butlers or formal nights outs.

Stateroom Options

It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with tables for six and eight. Breakfast and lunch are buffets that are served during set times, although you can also order cooked-to-order items off the menu. There was a broken lock near Regensburg, about halfway between the two big cities. Viking had a sister ship sailing the same journey in the opposite direction — from Budapest to Amsterdam — so we switched ships.

They want you to get off the ship and find out more about the places you're visiting. What it is is a line that has focused very specifically on "thinking person's cruises" that offer a deeper dive into the destinations that its ships visit than is typical at many lines. It's all about exploring the world and doing so in comfort. Whether you use a travel agent or not, make sure to maximize your credit card spending when paying for the cruise by using a credit card that offers extra points for travel purchases. This could be the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which offers 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on travel and dining (excluding the annual $300 travel credit).

Let's dive into what you'll find on a Viking river cruise ship. To avoid unnecessary stress from flight delays or cancellations plan to arrive at least one day before your cruise departs. You should also allow plenty of time for airport transfers at the end of your voyage, especially if you're going to be traveling during the morning rush hour. We opted to book through our travel agent with whom we could meet face-to-face, ask questions, and learn from her knowledge of cruising and different cruise companies.

In addition, in early 2022, the line began its first cruises to Antarctica with its first expedition ship, Viking Octantis. That summer, the same vessel launched the line's first voyages in the Great Lakes — a destination that only a handful of cruise operators visit. Viking also recently began sailings on the Mississippi River with a new ship specifically designed for the river and its tributaries. Viking's two expedition ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, are smaller than the above vessels, as is typical for expedition ships, and carry 378 passengers at maximum occupancy.

For your best first time river cruise experience, don't be tempted to miss the daily pre-dinner port talk about the next day's port of call and activities. They also provide the opportunity for you to ask any questions. When it comes to Rhine River cruise tips the single most important item is a comfortable pair of shoes as you will be walking -- a lot. Leave behind any formalwear as river cruises are much more casual than ocean cruises and there is no formal dress code. We learned this the hard way one day, and we realized that we actually prefer exploring the little towns that we dock at more. Our preferred day at a town where we were docked included a morning walking tour (an included excursion) to get the lay of the land.