Viking River Cruise
In November of 2023 we went on our first Viking and River Cruise we had ever done. You can take River cruises all over the world from the Nile to the Mississippi River. They are quite a bit different from Ocean Cruises but we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Viking. Our Cruise was during Thanksgiving week and went from Amsterdam in The Netherlands to Basel in Switzerland on the Rhine River. Viking River Cruises are adult only so its a little quieter. It was a wonderful experience and one we would like to do again elsewhere in the World.
Purchasing the Cruise and the Cost
Like any cruise you can purchase it online and Viking has a very well done set of websites. They have Viking.TV where you can watch videos about the different destinations and cruises. Viking makes a point to make sure you are educated about where you are going. Their main website also has a lot of good information and you can see the sales available. We used the website to research our cruise but we had also signed up for emails with Viking and we jumped on a 25th anniversary sale where we got free roundtrip airfare to Europe and money off the cruise itself. We called Viking and got a great travel agent that helped us through the process and make sure we got the best deal.
While Viking River Cruises are more expensive than the average cruise line I can tell you they are top of the line and go well above an beyond. We love many different cruise lines but Viking is probably at the top in luxury.
Viking Air Reservations and Boarding the Ship
Most of the time we do not use the airfare provided by cruise lines as its very restrictive and you can end up with some bad flights with tight connections or flying at odd times. With free airfare to Europe that was a deal we couldn’t pass on. We found that especially if you book the Airfare+ for an extra $100 a person they are flexible. Our flights got changed a few times and we did not like the flights. We called and got them changed to flights that better suited us. We flew United non-stop from Houston to Amsterdam and then coming home we flew KLM from Basel to Amsterdam and then back to Houston. Viking will help you all along the way and they provide you an emergency number if you run into flight issues. Viking goes above an beyond to try to make sure all goes smoothly for you as a traveler.
Our flight into Amsterdam was pretty un-eventful and once we got through Passport Control and baggage claim Viking Representatives were waiting for us immediately outside. From that point on we didn’t have to worry about anything. The representatives handled our transfer to the ship and handled our bags. We got on a bus on the rainy day in Amsterdam (normal in my experience for The Netherlands) and headed to our ship. The crew handled our bags for us and we headed up the small gangway into the ship. Our check in process was very easy. There was no metal detectors and we checked in no different manner as we would a hotel by going to the reception. Our room was not yet ready but they let us know that we had been upgraded as we had a guaranteed French Balcony or above room. We went and had a nice buffet lunch and then headed out to visit the Dutch Resistance Museum on our own.
The Ship, The Viking Alruna
The majority of the Viking River cruises in Europe all use the Viking Long Boats. They are the largest river cruise ship allowed to cruise in Europe and hold around 200 people so its a relatively small group cruise. Each ship is named after a Viking legend from mythology. Our ship was named the Viking Alruna. Alruna was a Valkyrie in Norse Mythology. Each ship is relatively the same in layout with some small decorative differences. Room wise they go from a few top end suites to Veranda Balcony rooms (what we ended up getting) to French Balcony Rooms to window view rooms. The French Balcony rooms allow you to open your windows like a balcony but you do not have seats in the balcony. The window rooms have small windows almost at the waterline you can look through.
After lunch our room was ready so we dropped off our luggage before heading to the Dutch Resistance. Our room was maybe a little smaller than a ocean cruise room but still had plenty of room for us. It has US and European electric sockets, a king sized bed, many drawers for our clothes, a small balcony with two chairs, and a small but very nice bathroom. It had heated floors in the bathroom and the soap, lotion and shampoo where all very high quality. The room had a TV that you could use to check your account, book excursions, watch videos about Viking destinations, look at the food menu and watch on demand movies and live tv (news channels only). They also had some different music channels.
The ship itself is fairly small compared to an Ocean cruise but has plenty of room for the guests. The 1st floor are the window rooms. On the second floor is the reception, gift shop, rooms and the dinning room. The third floor has the 24 hour coffee/tea and snacks, and the lounge with a bar. The Sun Deck had a walking track and seating area outside. The Wheelhouse (bridge) was up there as well. We used the walking track and the putting green while onboard during some of our downtime. There is a small elevator but being small its very easily walkable.
The Food Onboard
The food on the ship was top notch. They served breakfast each morning for a couple hours, had lunch available for an hour and then dinner was always at 7pm. For breakfast they have a buffet and a short order cook that cooks omelets and other things. They also have things you can order from the menu like French Toast and my personal favorite the banana pancakes. For lunch they had a rotating menu of soups, main dishes and things like hamburgers. The Pulled Pork sandwiches were very good and would be great BBQ even in Texas.
The dinners were spectacular. We had a different type of bread each night and a varied menu of appetizers, main dishes and deserts. We had a lot of different soups, and a variety of main dishes that were all very good. They had two special nights for us on the cruise. One was German night after we left one of the last German ports of the cruise. They had fresh Bretzels (pretzels), sausage, sauerkraut, potatoes and many dishes I was not familiar with. They also provided Kolsch Beer (beer only made in Cologne) and German Schnaps. The second night was Thanksgiving where we got some of the best Turkey I have had with stuffing, green beans, sweat potatoes and pumpkin pie. Each night before dinner after the port briefing the chef would come and tell us his recommendations on the menu for that evening. Each day they had food options that are local to the port we had just visited so you can learn about the foods.
If you wanted a soft drink, or alcoholic beverage you could get it for free in the main dinning room during the meals but it would cost extra if you went to the bar in between meals. We got some very expensive Ginger Ale and Beer for lunch and dinner that was great!
If you got hungry between meals they have a 24 hour snack area that usually has cookies and some snacks from the area you were in and a fancy coffee machine and teas available.
During our sailing of the Middle Rhine while seeing the many German Castles and nice villages they provided homemade Hot Chocolate with a little rum added and later made a special coffee with brandy for us that was local to the area.
When eating dinner its open seating so you will end up meeting new people like we did each night.
The Ports and Excursions
The cruise had an itinerary of large and small cities throughout the length of the navigable Rhine River. We started in Amsterdam and went to a museum on our own and ended in Basel Switzerland where we booked a Viking two day land extension. One reason Viking is a bit more expensive is an included (no extra charge) excursion for each port is available. We took some of the included excursions but also booked some of the upgraded excursions for an extra cost. In Kinderdijk, The Netherlands we had a three hour excursion we booked the upgraded tour for around $60 a person where we took a restored 1800s barge that cruised the canals while we passed the Unesco World Heritage Dutch Windmills. We got a tour of one of the windmills and got to visit the gift shop.
In Cologne we took the included walking tour of the city where the guide made sure we learned a great deal about Cologne, Germany. We saw the spot of a famous German Panther Tank that was defeated by a US Pershing Tank. We had free time afterward where we went and visited the Christmas Market in Cologne. Before each Excursion Viking provides you a map and a card giving you the address of the cruise ship dock and ship phone number so you can get back on your own.
In Koblenz, Germany we booked a wonderful additional excursion to a large fortress overlooking the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. A guide acting as a British Spy in the 1800s led us through the fortress that was decorated for Christmas.
That night we stopped in the small German city of Rudesheim where some went and booked upgraded excursions to eat at a monastery or a local restaurant. We opted to visit the town on our own and got to see the local Christmas Market that was full of nice things and some good food. We also walked in a nice park and saw the remains of a bridge over the Rhine that was destroyed by retreating Germans at the end of WWII.
In the medium sized city of Speyer we headed off the ship on our own to visit the Unseco World Heritage Site Cathedral that is the final resting place of many of the Holy Roman Emperors and we visited the town museum that had a Playmobil Exhibit. We then took our Upgraded tour of the Speyer Technical Museum that is one of the largest aviation and space museums in Europe. They have one of the last remaining Russian Space shuttles, A Soyuz Spacecraft, a 747 you can climb on its wing high above the museum, a German Submarine, a rare Anotov 22 Aircraft, rare trains, planes and cars. We got a private guided tour with a museum docent. We had free time in the museum before we walked back to the ship on our own.
In Strasbourg we took the included walking tour that took us all over the beautiful French City in Alsace. We saw the huge Cathedral and walked the old town area.
On our final stop in the small city of Breisach, Germany we took two tours. In the morning we took the included tour of the Black Forrest that took us to a small shopping village where they sold Cockoo Clocks and other items. We saw how to make Black Forrest Cake and toured a very old chapel with a Ossuary (bones) underneath where you could see skulls and all kinds of bones. Our second tour after lunch was an upgraded tour that was to the Colmar, France WWII Battlefield where we visited where Audey Murphy fought against the Germans by himslef on a burning tank, other battle sites and a nice museum. We then visited the small Christmas market in Turckheim, France.
Life Aboard the Ship
In between ports we had a good amount of downtime. For example we arrived in Kinderdijk in the morning and left at 12:30pm for Cologne. We had all afternoon and evening to enjoy the ship. We spent time relaxing in the room watching on demand movies and reading. We also took some time to walk on deck and get some snacks. We really enjoyed the chance to relax some on the trip. We usually travel pretty hard and see things throughout the day. It was good to slow down a bit. One day we got a chance to tour the Wheel House with the Captain as well. In the evenings the Cruise Director always had a short port talk where he would give us important information and tell us about the Port we were going to. There would usually be a program at night that had some entertainment. One was a great Classical Duo, another a nautical talk by the captain, and we had a trivia night and a game with the crew. Many people went to the lounge and visited and drank during the down time. We did that a little as well but being tired from the travel and our work schedules we were ok relaxing.
They have a small gift shop you can visit with books, maps, some clothing and the olive wood bread bowls for example they served you with in the
During the sailing of the Middle Rhine the Cruise Director went to the Sun Deck and gave us information on each castle and village we past. One thing we really enjoyed about Viking is their focus on learning and exploration. It is much less a party cruise and more of a learning adventure.
In general the passengers are a little older but we did have a mixture of people from around the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. There were some people younger than us on the cruise as well.
The downtime also allows you to see many wonder sites along the rivers. Unlike an Ocean Cruise you are always close to land and can watch Europe pass by your window. We saw fortresses, small cities and large ones pass by as we were onboard.
One other unique thing for the cruise was passing through River Locks. It was interesting watching how close to the walls of the locks we would get and the operation of raising the ship within the lock. We could touch the lock wall from our room in many cases.
The Crew and Viking
The crew and Viking in general take care of everything you could need. When they say you are “traveling the world in comfort” they truly mean it. I asked the service team many different things and they would always look into it and give me information. They helped look for museums and other places for me at our ports and helped us with our free time adventures. They were always friendly and would try to help us any time needed. A good example of this was our room steward. I was using a old British Airways Boarding Pass as my bookmark for my book. It got the job done but I came back to find a nice Viking Bookmark in its place (with the boarding pass still there). Such a small detail but they looked into it anyway. She also folded our clothes a couple times and hung up things for us. Without being asked a crewmember took pictures of us by the ship Christmas tree. They always looked out for our safety as well as I’ll explain in the next section and worked very hard to make the best out of difficult situations.
Trouble on the Rhine
Our cruise did have its issues that were completely out of Viking’s control. The region had extreme rainfall in the days before our trip. They like much of the world have been having more extreme weather related to Global Warming. That led to multiple ports being underwater so our crew worked hard and found alternatives so we never missed a city. We were delayed a few times but it was manageable. They had a special meeting letting us know we might have to switch ships since some of the river locks were underwater and some bridges were too low with the water level to pass under. It ended up the water level dropped enough that we did not have to switch ships anyway. They built a temporary dock for us in Rudemsheim since all the other docks were underwater. The crew waded in the water to find the tie off locations that were submerged.
The most wild thing that occurred was we woke up to being in a line of ships at a river lock. They had a special meeting letting us know a drunk riverboat pilot had destroyed one of the locks and it will take a year to replace it. This left only one useable lock at that location. Traffic was backed up so we sat there for hours. In the mean time we had an earlier lunch, and they arranged the Wheel House tours. They did everything they could to make things good for us. They also made special Mulled Wine for us as we waited. No one got upset on the cruise and understood the situation. Some tours in Strasbourg got canceled but we still got our walking tour in. I was impressed at how hard the crew worked to make sure we had a good trip.
The Debarkation, Basel Extension and Departure
On debarkation day we were provided a full breakfast on the ship that included the great banana pancakes. We had to leave our rooms by 8am. Some people left the ship much earlier as some flew home immediately and had 6am flights. We booked an extension with Viking so we left around 9am. Viking offers both Pre and Post trip extensions where they handle all hotel and transfer logistics. They also provide a Viking host that gives tours and helps you with anything needed. They took all our bags off for us and made sure we confirmed we had all our bags before we headed to our bus. We went straight to our very nice hotel (The Hyperion Basel) and they stored our bags until our rooms were open. Our wonderful Viking Guide Helen gave us an included walking tour of the underrated very nice city of Basel. We got to see most of the old town of the city and our extension also included a Basel City Pass where we had discounts to museums and free transportation on all of their trains and trams. So after our tour we visited the historic museum, toy museum and the very nice Christmas Markets. The hotel room they put us in was very nice and modern. On the second day they offered a guided tour to Lucerne but since it was $300 a person we decided to take a train back to Strasbourg and see some of the things we missed due to the river issues. Our guide helped plan out some of the logistics and things went well. The hotel included a nice buffet breakfast which is good in Switzerland due to the expensive price for food there. On our last day we had a very early 6:20am flight so we needed to leave at 4:30am. Our guide who had a desk at the hotel setup met us and helped get us ready to head out. She got us cabs and we headed to the airport and had an un-eventful trip home. We loved our Viking Cruise and its worth the expense if you are considering it. Give it a try!
