That’s probably a cardinal rule of smart travel–buy travel insurance from a third-party, NOT from your cruise or tour company.
We also use Allianz—they paid off quickly when we did put in a claim, and treated us well when a trip we had insured was cancelled before it left (not enough passengers). They refunded the entire policy, not just the portion for the time left. I requested a 1/3 refund (policy purchased 6 months prior, trip cancelled 2 months before it was to begin) and Allianz offered a full refund.
We have a Viking Ocean cruise booked so I’ve been following the Viking Ocean board on Cruise Critic. There have been a lot of complaints about one particular feature of the travel insurance sold by Viking. As I understand it, if you have to cancel (for a covered reason), you get a voucher, not a refund. The voucher has to be used on a new cruise in a fixed period. So far so good, as long as you know that’s what will happen. The problem comes if the “new” cruise has to be cancelled. Then you are apparently out of luck. Better to have 3rd party trip insurance in my opinion.
Our Rhine Getaway week was wonderful! I’ve added some info about our Florence/Tuscany travels afterward in Italy thread, but I should add some info to this Viking thread.
I’ve been pretty active in a Facebook group, “Viking Rhine River Cruises”. Learned a lot there prior. Really do like the whole river cruise concept. The other wife in our foursome did have some struggles with stomach bug and stamina, so she (along with my husband and sometimes all of us) shifted to Leisure group. She also did miss out on some activities. I did all of the free excursions and the Colmar Pocket WWII paid tour (which was wonderful). I also did Marksburg Castle paid tour along with the other husband. It’s nice to be able to mix/match activities. We ate together most meals and sometimes joined up to meet other people too. The total trip (Amsterdam prior 2 nights at Hotel Roemer, train to Florence - 4 nights at Palazzo Dei Ciompi, rental car through Tuscany with last night at Rome airport) was probably too ambitious. But this was 50t anniversary celebration for the other couple… and we will never be younger than we are today
Which itinerary for your November trip? I am up early (still adjusting) and peeked a while ago at a Viking email promotion - so fun to dream!
We are doing Cities of Light. 4 days in Paris, 7 day river cruise on the Main and 4 days in Prague. The cruise includes 2 days in Paris and Prague and we added 2 additional days on each end.
The only city that overlaps from the Rhine is Kolbenz, I’ve signed up for Marksburg castle which is a repeat. We will see how we feel that day.
I had such a feeling that life is short so I booked this very last minute.
I am thinking that last minute booking sometimes results in lower cost (unsold rooms). We booked in April for our Sept Rhine Getaway. There were only the standard/swan water level rooms then… fine, since that was what we wanted to save money for other travels.
Many people book a year or more in advance. And since Viking knows there is strong demand, they require full payment way ahead. If we do another one, it will likely be one booked not too far out since we like to keep the calendar open.
LOL - We thought we got a lot of Viking catalogs before… but we had 3 in our held-mail (including ocean cruise). Also some email offers. It’s fun to dream.
We’ll want feedback on the Paris to Prague itinerary. At first glance last year we thought we might not like being on a ship in Paris. (We enjoyed staying near Notre Dame for a week a few years ago, with all the city vibe.). But now that we’ve seen how Viking works, I think it might be really nice. I do like having them do all the planning!
Cities of Light is a bit different than some other Paris itineraries. I think
The basic cruise is 2 days in a hotel in Paris. A bus ride to Trier, Germany. With a stop halfway at the American cemetery in Luxembourg. 7 days on the Main River and another bus ride to Prague, with 2 nights in a hotel. We added additional days on the beginning and the end.
If you want a cruise only itinerary, this isn’t the one for you. If you aren’t thrilled with bus tours, this also isn’t for you.
The one thing I tell people looking at river cruises, to really study the trip. See if that’s what you want. It’s such an easy vacation to have them do the planning.
I would add if you are an experienced ocean cruiser, do not try to compare river cruising to ocean cruising in any way. The only thing they have in common is that the boats float on water. <180 passengers vs. thousands, everyone eats in the same dining room, included excursions every day, no real sea days, no charge for WIFI, wine and beer included with lunch and dinner, no sales pitches disguised as ‘lectures’ to buy art, jewelry, very low key evening entertainment, etc. This list goes on.
That’s a really good point. We’ve done a few ocean cruises and enjoyed them. But it is a totally different vibe. In 2012 we did a Norwegian Western Med cruise. It was a great way to sample different cities/countries. But it was often a long way from port to city (I think 90 min or more for Rome, Florence), and the shore excursions even then could be over. $200 per person. River cruise ports are at or close bus ride to town, and Viking includes free tours each day. Also optional paid tours… but we skipped most of those.
A comment we made a few times was how nice it was to have a small ship, easy navigation without following a map of 15 level of big ship! In 2012 we’d have to plan how to have breakfast in time for the 7:30 shore excursion, usually not even time to hike back to the room to brush our teeth. In 2016 we booked a Caribbean cruise because in Europe we’d just not had time/energy to appreciate all the entertainment options.
On Viking, it was all about visiting the locations. There were evening port talks and some low key entertainment (music quiz, guest violinist/pianist, trivia quiz - always also an on board DJ and a dance floor). You get familiar with the others on the ship.
Thinking about doing one of these. We got back from a great but very tiring trip to Europe about a month or so ago. My SIL did one of these back in the spring, and it’s really got me thinking that we are probably ready to do Europe this way and I want to try it out for size.
As small a thing as this may sound to some, one of the attractions (at least I hope) is that we’d be assured of a safe place for my Celiac family members to eat when in those parts of Europe where that is more difficult. For example, as we made our way west from a trip that started in far E Europe, I purposefully skipped over a couple of cities we otherwise wanted to see because we could tell it was going to be a lot of work (e,g., Krakow) after already dealing with it in places where it’s a struggle. I’ve generally assumed Germany would be a lot of work too. I’m thinking this might be a good way around that issue. That is, if we’re not having luck finding a safe place, we go back to the boat. People don’t really appreciate what a source of stress and work this aspect of things may be for those of us who have to account for it. It sucks.
I’d love for this thread to come back to life and hear more about favorite itineraries.
I’ve also thought Viking might be a good way to see Greece and other parts of the Med even though we are generally not ocean cruise people. Would love to hear about that if anyone has done it.
My SIL LOVED the river cruise, btw, and said she’s never going to Europe again any other way. It was not Viking but another company. Forget which one.
Viking is usually pretty good about restricted diet. This FB group is helpful (for Rhine itinerary, the most common… but general info too) Viking Rhine River Cruises | Facebook
try searching there on “Gluten Free” and “Celiac”
We had someone on our tulip cruise this past April who had dietary restrictions. The chef would come out every night and discuss the next day’s menu with her, after initially meeting with her on embarkation day.
Great info, thanks to you both. I figured as much … at those prices, you ought to be able to know clearly one way or the other. We actually appreciate it when service providers are clear about what they cannot accommodate almost as much as we appreciate when they can. It’s the “blank stare” and the quick, “Oh yeah, that doesn’t have gluten” (when you know damn well that it does) that stresses me out the most.
Any favorite itineraries? I assume you’ve both been on at least one - I didn’t read each and every post in the thread.
I personally like the idea of ending up in Lucerne … that would be awesome.
Also, about how far in advance do you need to book for a good shoulder season cruise? Late fall would be good for me.
Lastly, have either of you been on a non-Viking river cruise for comparison? My SIL just text me and it was Amawaterways. She was very complimentary.
We went late Sept 2023 on Rhine Getaway (7days)… really liked it
We’ve heard that it is the most popular itinerary for first time Viking customers. We liked the idea that each day the send a ship from Amsterdam and from Basel… .then swap passengers if the water level gets too high or too low (which does happen). Perhaps other cruise lines do this too(?).
That is not a small thing at all! I totally feel your pain. We have family members with severe food allergies too and are heading to Europe this fall. We also elected to do our first Viking river cruise for that reason. It is a huge burden lifted to know we can just head back to the boat to eat if we can’t find a restaurant that can accommodate the allergies. We have a few days pre and post cruise, and I’m already stressing about those days!
It really depends on where you are. For Celiac, and I continue to be amazed by this, nobody is better about it than the Italians. For many reasons, I found that shocking. But going back to our first trip to Europe, that was the easiest place to be Celiac. France, at the time, was a nightmare. Paris is much better now. London is hugely sophisticated re all food allergies and the restaurants there take them very, very seriously. A dream. Amsterdam was pretty solid, too. Further east and it was very hit/miss. I’m curious about Vienna and Budapest, and also Prague. There are G-free options there, but from what I can tell it’s still strongly the exception to the rule. But with the boat as a fail-safe, everybody is going to have, at minimum, two solids a day. That would be a huge luxury for us.
We’ve travelled to Europe before, so we did self-planned pre and post travel along with the other couple (celebrating their 50th anniversary. Got a free air (economy) deal. To save money and get nearer availability, we stayed in lower level “swan rooms” (you have a small water level window).
Two nights in Amsterdam pre-cruise … could have stayed longer.
From Basel we took the train to Florence and stayed there 4 nights (LOL - could have stayed longer). Then drove through Tuscany and departed from Rome airport early the next day. Italy was on our friends’ bucket list, and it was a fun trip. But Lucerne would be a more logical post-cruise excursion.
I’ve heard very few complaints, other than cost, for the Viking pre-post trips.
