<p>Who has been on one and do you recommend it? It’s at the top of our list for when we retire. I want to do the one that goes all the way from Amsterdam to…Budapest, I think it is.</p>
<p>We looked at those! They look fabulous but a lot of people told me the crowd is older. Not sure that would stop me but we decided to do a Rick Steve’s tour in Italy instead since we are still in pretty good shape.</p>
<p>I have a friend who has been on a couple and he loved them - highly recommended it.</p>
<p>We almost chose Viking for the trip we just completed, but in the end went with AmaWaterways. Our next will possibly the one you describe. There are many great both companies offer.</p>
<p>My young travelagent took the Viking cruise for her honeymoon. She said she and hubby could ride bikes to next docking port. they had great time.</p>
<p>This is on my list too ! I am interested in the Nuremberg / Budapest / Vienna loop ( I know there are other cities on that tour, but can’t remember them at the moment ) I am thinking about arranging a trip with my husband next year for his birthday. I know a few people who have done it and rave about it. The food and wine are supposed to be excellent as well as the service. I was told by an acquaintance that they used their airline service that was part of the package and really didn’t care for that. She said she would take another trip with them, but arrange her own flights. </p>
<p>There is one that goes from Paris to Rouen, then ground transport to Normandy, D-Day sites, etc, that looks amazing.</p>
<p>@Madad , so many of them do ! I had a quick trip thru Germany about 6 mod ago and it was sobering to contemplate the history there, yet I am drawn to it</p>
<p>We are doing Prague, Nuremberg to Vienna on Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Company- in June 2015. The reviews on Cruise Critic, along with several travel agents, gave Uniworld the edge over Viking. This will be our first river cruise.</p>
<p>Edit: The one thing in Viking’s favor is that they contract their airfares, giving you very competitive rates that you won’t be able to get on your own.</p>
<p>We did the Romantic Danube in 2012 from Budapest to Nuremberg, with a front-end add-on in Budapest. Had a great time. Service was excellent, although we had a few complaints about the food–it was good but thought, for the cruise price, it should have been excellent like the local food we ate in the towns. We booked the flights through Viking as the prices were competitive and the timing for transfers worked out quite well. However, we bought our own trip insurance–definitely worth it for a trip in these price ranges. My sister and her dh, who traveled with us, bought Viking’s insurance which was exactly the same as we bought but twice the price we paid. There is a website out there (can’t remember the name right now) which offers many different trip insurance types at very reasonable rates.</p>
<p>The daily walking tours in ports offered 3 different activity levels, which we really appreciated since we had been a bit afraid of getting stuck in tours with slower, older people. We always took the most active tour, and all of the planned tours were outstanding. We are generally not ‘tour’ people and prefer doing things on our own, but the tours worked out very well. There was a wide age range on the ship with about a half-dozen kids–a couple of them were way too young to be there but some teenagers seemed to really enjoy it. We were all in our mid-50s which seemed the average age. </p>
<p>I would do one again, although I have other trips I need to do first. I think the Christmas Market cruises would be fun! </p>
<p>kpmom06, this is the exact trip I want to book. My husband and I are pretty spontaneous when we travel…no hotel reservations or itinerary…we just go where we want. Good to know that you aren’t " stuck " with tour group that you might not be compatible with </p>
<p>OMG these sound awesome.</p>
<p>On my bucket list for sometime in the next couple years</p>
<p>Me too</p>
<p>this is on my bucket list wouldn’t it be fun if one CCer said, I’m taking this tour on date X, and then others of us did too?</p>
<p>bookworm, when is the CC river cruise? :)</p>
<p>There are group rates. Get a group, get a deal.</p>
<p>I’m looking at the Amsterdam-Basel+4 days in Switzerland on AmaWaterways. Less than a month ago we got back from the Paris-Normandy one. Can’t say enough good about it.</p>
<p>Wishing… Not this year, unfortunately…</p>
<p>Some have spoken about the high cost–if you book very much in advance, there are 2 for 1 prices. And daily shore excursions are included–the costs of those can add up very quickly on ocean cruises that island-hop.</p>
<p>Viking’s 2 for 1 is how they market themselves year round. The discounts really depend on your departure month/day. If you are flexible, say early March- April- early May, this is where you can really save. River cruises can typically book up OVER a year in advance.</p>