This past April I had the opportunity to travel with dear friends to Europe and take a Viking River Cruise called the Rhine Getaway. This is not a sponsored post (although that would be awesome) but rather just my experience on this vacation of a lifetime. Because this was such a wonderful adventure, I will be posting through multiple posts. We spent 10 days in Europe, plus traveling to and from and there is just so much that I want to share.
Map Courtesy Viking River Cruises.
Above you can see the route our cruise took. We started in Amsterdam, where our flight arrived. There were optional pre-extensions and post-extensions, allowing you to extend your cruise, with additional land destinations. We decided for the post-extension in Lucerne, Switzerland. Some of the guests we met had done one of the pre-excursions and some were doing both pre and post excursions. For us, the price for the Lucerne portion was well worth it. As a matter of fact, the price of the entire trip was very reasonable, considering everything that was included.
From the very beginning, from making the reservations to the assistance we recieved while there, the service the Viking staff provided was top notch. Everyone was so friendly, so helpful and so professional. We did not use a travel agency, we did all of this ourselves. And it was easy, without any hiccups along the way or unexpected mishaps. Last fall my friend June saw where Viking was having a two for one sale on early bookings and that is what started the ball rolling. June and I would travel together, allowing us to take advantage of the special pricing and her cousin Betsy and her husband Jerry also took advantage of the special pricing.
Viking handled everything. We told them that the four of us were traveling together (we made our individual purchases separately) and they kept us in a group the entire way, from our flight there to our guided tours to our stay in Lucerne. The flight price was separate on our trip (I think some offers I have seen since include airfare) but it was competitive and we actually had some of the best experiences any of us have ever had on our flight. And, we were always seated together on all of our flights, which was nice on such long flights.
About a month before our trip we each received a package in the mail from Viking. Here you can see where I posted a picture of it on my Instagram account. It contained our itinerary, a book about our trip, our name badge, luggage tags and a nice sleeve for your iPad or reader.
Here is another shot of the sleeve, with the goodies inside (you can’t see them) and a journal from a previous trip with my travel buddies. The itinerary was wonderful, it explained what life of board would be like, what guided tours were included and what optional tours/events were available as well as info on each of the countries we would be visiting. The four of us got together and planned our optional tours and were so excited to start this journey. Our itinerary itself was packed full of exciting things to do in the four countries that we would visit, but there actually were additional excursions throughout the trip and we took advantage of all the we physically could.
Since we chose to arrive and start our cruise without a pre-extension stay, we arrived in Amsterdam, Holland on a Friday (Good Friday, actually) and were met at the airport by a Viking representative. There were several others arriving within the hour and once we all were there, we were taken from the airport to where our ship was docked on the Rhine, right in the heart of the old town. Boy, we were so glad we didn’t have to worry about getting from the airport to the ship on our own. It was about a 30 minute ride and we were able to enjoy seeing the modern and urban part of the city in the comfort of a tour bus.
When we arrived at the dock, our ship, the Ingvi, was actually docked along side another Viking ship. This is a common practice along the Rhine. This is a river after all, and is not hugely wide or deep, so many times when ships for the same company dock, they will dock side by side and you may go through another ship to get to your ship. Which is what we did that first day. Below is a shot of our ship, the Viking Ingvi (taken the next day in Kinderdijk) and you can see why they call it a longship.
We did arrive early in the morning and we had the day to explore Amsterdam. Our luggage was taken to the ship, we checked in with the front desk and immediately we were made to feel like the only guests on the ship. The staff gave us a map of the city, pointed out some sights we might want to see and gave us tips on navigating our way around the city. They also let us know about guided tours that would be available later in the day should we want to come back to the ship and participate. We decided to head out on our own, after finding out that the first place we wanted to see would not be accessible. We wanted to visit the Anne Frank house, but the current wait was 3-4 hours in line since we did not have previously purchased tickets. It was a holiday and was extra crowded. And we never thought about checking ahead to secure tickets or that this would be the thing everyone wanted to see. Note to travelers – visit the website and get your tickets ahead of time if you wish to visit while in Amsterdam.
But, the second area that we wanted to see was open and available. I am sure you can guess what area that was! I will share pictures of our tour of the city in an upcoming post, since this is already getting to be a long post. See, I told you I had a lot to share!
After spending most of the day touring the city, we headed back to the ship where we could now check into our rooms. And, all of our luggage had been taken to our rooms, ready for us to unpack.
Now I did remove our luggage from the beds to take this picture. We decided to book a standard stateroom since we figured that our rooms would not be used that much, just for sleeping and showering, you know, the basics. And we are very glad that we did. We did have windows and yes we were on the lower level, but there are so many other areas on the ship to lounge and enjoy the views as you sail along the river. Unless you really want to spend a lot of time in your room, I don’t recommend spending the extra money on one of the upper level staterooms.
The room looks very tight, and yes it is small, but it was amazingly comfortable and well thought out. There was room under our beds for our empty suitcases. There were drawers for clothes, a huge closet with a safe (not seen in this photo, it was to the right) and even a refrigerator to keep drinks and snacks in. There was a large screen TV, which we did watch some, but mainly we used it to view the welcome video and check the weather each day. And even a desk area for writing, which I did use to update my journal a few times. And, every day we had a fresh bottle of water available (it’s the large glass bottle behind the ice bucket.) And as many bottled waters as we wanted each day for when we headed out on tours. And the closet was also a good size. We were unable to unpack both of our oversized suitcases (yes, we all had to redo them before boarding the planes to avoid overweight fees) and still had hanging room.
Our beds were very comfortable. And they were refreshed and made up each day for us, we had excellent housekeeping staff. We each had our own little nightstand and lights on either side and behind the bed as well. And even though we were in the lower level of staterooms, it was extremely quiet the entire trip. You could not hear noises from your neighbors, it was very quiet room to room. And since we were cruising on the Rhine River, there never was a worry about motion sickness. It was smooth sailing, so to speak. The only noise came at times when we would pass through one of the twelve locks along the Rhine. They are narrow and there is not a lot of room on either side when the captain navigates through and occasionally the ship may bump a side against the lock. But really, it wasn’t that bad. It may have happened twice.
Our bathroom was small, but it was so well designed and thought out, you really didn’t need any more space. There were shelves under the sink and counter, shelves above the counter and I never felt cramped. Oh, and our toiletries were L’Occitane Verbena Collection! Oh my goodness, the {affiliate link} Shea Butter Soap
And it was hard to show the shower, but it was again an ingenious design. The entire bathroom floor was tile and the shower was separated by floor to ceiling glass doors that opened inward and again, there really was an amazing amount of space in such a small footprint. Again, our room was clean, unbelievably comfortable for the small size and what time we did spend in our room we enjoyed.
Stay tuned for more about my Viking River Cruise when I show you pictures from our day in Amsterdam and tell you more about how well Viking treated us while in Europe.
This is not a sponsored post. This is my experience from my trip with Viking River Cruises. Email me to find out how you can save $100 when you book your first cruise with Viking through their referral program. Affiliate links are for products I have used or are similar and that I recommend. Opinions are my own.
Thank you, my sister and I are doing this trip in October, great write up!
Jamy,
I hope you have a wonderful time. Viking is top notch all the way. Enjoy!
Regards,
Teresa