Viking River Cruise Review | Viking Rhine River Cruise

hey everybody it's Angie from trips with Angie and I am here on the Viking grassimi we are docked just outside of Old Town in Cologne Germany we are almost to the end of our seven night Rhine River Cruise and I'm gonna share everything with you tips tricks what you need to know about this ship the ports we stopped at the excursions we did are all gonna be in this video so let's start with the reason people take River Cruises the itinerary we sailed the rinds we served it in Basel Switzerland and ended in Amsterdam seeing cities in Germany and France along the way Viking includes an Excursion in each of your stops and you can access those by going to myvikingjourney.com and accessing your reservations click on shore excursions and then once they become available you'll be able to see them you have these quiet vaxes in your cabin that give you an earphone so you can hear the tour guides and we were so excited when we boarded to find out there was going to be an included tour in Basel so we got see the cathedral our first official Port was in Germany brisac Germany which is the area of the black forest and the famous bass or bodens the included Excursion was a motor coach Excursion and there were several other options one thing that's really important to know about biking including excursions is that the entire ship could be on the Excursion with you we're talking 190 people so the places you're going to visit have to allow motor coaches they have to be able to accommodate around 200 people at the same time so they're going to be more touristy than other things you might find if you want more of the off the beaten path you want to look at the paid Excursion so for example today we took a motor coach an hour and a half here we had an hour and a half on site and then we'll take a motor coach an hour back whereas there is an eight hour e-bike small group 15 people explore the Black Forest as a option to pay extra for so it's just what you want to see if you just want to get a taste of the port then the included Excursion will do that but just know you're going to be going to more touristy places that can handle a lot of people at the same time in addition to the e-bikes you could go to a World War II museum or a medieval village for an optional extra charge so on this excursion we decided to go our own way from the beginning so the options here are a cuckoo clock demonstration a hike and a black forest cake demonstration in addition to a glass blowing Studio a couple souvenir shops and a small Cafe so we decided to head straight to the hike we checked the map and then headed up to the waterfall it took about 15 minutes to hike up to the waterfall including a set of about 25 to 30 stairs then on the way back we had a bit of traffic because the large group that did the organized hike was just starting up the trail we had got back here around 10 40 so we were able to grab a cup of coffee go to the bathroom before the 11 o'clock cuckoo clock [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] Studio relax for a bit and it was time to get back on the bus for 11 30. now if you want to do all three things doing the proper cuckoo clock demonstration you could do that then I would say head out on the hike on your own hike in as many minutes as you can to be able to get back in time for the 11 10 black forest cake demonstration you could do all three doesn't leave you a lot of time for shopping though from Germany we headed to France Strasbourg France where we took the included Strasbourg highlights Excursion we had about a 20-minute walk to the bus and then we took a 40 minute tour of the outer neighborhoods before getting dropped off near the main old medieval medieval city and then we took a tour through the streets and went into the Notre Dame of Strasbourg here's a glimpse into the Notre Dame of Strasbourg an absolutely incredible cathedral but a pro tip if you're trying to take a selfie go low hold the phone below you and now we have free time so we're exploring the petite Frost this adorable neighborhood offers shops and restaurants and even some tremendous bakeries and other activities and it has a lock I think you guys know how much I love lock so let me give you a closer view of that a lock is when you want to move a boat from one water level to another so you go into this chambered doors close on either end and then the water level goes up or down we found this adorable restaurant right on the river and scored a beautiful window table you had to go right when it opened and the best thing I had was this monster cheese croquette Strasbourg also offered a shuttle bus to and from the ship so you could spend more time in the city the other options were a wine tasting a food tasting or a longer City tour then we headed to Spire Germany this was a split day so we started the day Inspire but we ended the day in rudishime we sailed in the middle of the day so in rudishime you could do a dinner or a wine tasting and then you also could opt for a full day tour to Heidelberg so you would have skipped a lot of spire and rudishime but we opted for the walking tour one of the highlights of the Spire walking tour is the Spire Cathedral this is an enormous Romanesque style Cathedral now we visited on a Sunday so we couldn't go inside but the perk of that was we were treated to a 15-minute basically Bells concert as they called everyone in the village to church the cathedral is very simple compared to the Catholic Cathedrals we had been visiting but it was still absolutely beautiful and had a lot of interesting history and touches the other thing you don't want to miss when you're headed to Spire is looking for The Stumbling Stones these were all up and down the main street that runs from the gate to the cathedral now these commemorate when people were taken during the Holocaust and so it tells their name when they were born that they lived here that this is where they lived and then if they know what happened to them so very powerful very meaningful look for those when you visit spire and here we are entering koblins after a morning of cruising by the castles of the mid Rhine let me show you a few of the castles we saw the castle spanned all different types of time periods stories some are still castles some are privately owned some are hostiles and so it was really a wonderful day we had beautiful weather and the program director Nancy in our case gets on the overhead speaker and just tells you about the towns you're passing and the castles you're passing and what their current status is so I absolutely loved it you want to walk around the ship find the best angles for you and get those photos but my absolute favorite place to be was on the agui Terrace for some reason a lot of people didn't want to be there they wanted to be up on the sun deck so head there it'll be wonderful and then you end up in koblin's Germany so there are several different options here of course like anywhere else there is a historic koblins included tour now we decided to do the Mozelle wine tasting so this took us out into the wine region and it was fascinating seeing these Vineyards they are very steep Vineyards there's so seep in fact that the grapes all have to be harvested by hand and then we went to visit a local Winery the way Winery that they have been generations of wine makers and we got to try their rieslings and it was absolutely delicious if you like wines especially where you sing this is a great option cologne was our next stop and this was a wonderful experience we did the included walking tour but you also can climb the tower and there is a beer culture dinner that everyone raved about everyone who went said they had an absolutely incredible time and so our ship docked right in the Premier spot in Cologne right along the walkway you definitely want to check out some of the local breweries like fur and then the cathedral is really the draw here it's absolutely incredible the architecture and this is all made of limestone and it just looks dirty because of the pollution there's also a Love Lock Bridge you can visit so you might want to bring your own lock to love on it and then you definitely want to visit some of the local establishments try some German food and some beer we were there late at night kindredick was our final port to this is famous for the windmills there was an included tour or you could go by bike or barge or do uh she's making and then visit the windmills we did the barge and this was totally worth it this was the best experience I think for visiting the windmill we got on this bar this was actually a historic barge that they have redone over the years and we sailed by the windmills we actually got to see more windmills than the general included tour and then this was a highlight we met a Miller so this gentleman had learned how to take care of windmills from his grandfather right now what he's doing is he is turning the top of the windmill to face the wind using his leg and a wheel it was absolutely incredible he showed us around the windmill the inside is set up so you could see how the Miller used to live with his family and what the windmills did is they moved water out of the field so that the farmers could grow crops our crews ended in Amsterdam if you're spending any extra time in Amsterdam and I hope you do I highly recommend taking a Canal cruise to explore the canals of this great City and I highly recommend doing a private cruise I will link in the comments and in the descriptions to the one we took it's absolutely incredible we did two hours just going around the city learning about the history learning about the different buildings it was great another key part of a Viking river cruise is the dining so breakfast lunch and dinner you always have the option to order off of a menu or for breakfast and lunch there's also a buffet here's the dining room everyone on the ship eats at the same time for dinner and then you have a small window of an hour to an hour and a half for breakfast and lunch so let me give you a little look at the breakfast buffet so you have your made to order omelets you made to order eggs you can also have you know scrambled eggs your breakfast meats there was fried rice some days you have your oatmeal and your porridge your smoked salmon if you love that different yogurt options mues you'll also find your cold cuts if you want more of an English breakfast and the cheese was absolutely incredible they had the best cheeses at breakfast you'll also find fresh fruits both whole and cut up then there's a lot of bread available so the Sesame Bagels do not miss them there's also homemade jams Butters and muffins as well as cereals with different types of milk now one place you can also eat is the aquavit Terrace breakfast had a small buffet or you could order off the menu for lunch and dinner you order off the menu now seating out here is highly competitive so get here early for dinner it's only these five tables that are on the inside for breakfast and lunch they do try to open up the outer deck if the weather will allow it now I have to give a shout out to the bowls on this Cruise the Ahi tuni rice bowl and the salads were just terrific this is tuna Nisswa they also had a daily salad that was so good this one was prosciutto was one of my favorites and then each evening the chef will come out and explain about the menu for the dinner what the regional Specialties are they'll also host special cooking classes with some of the regional Specialties and one really special thing they did during our cruise was this full on German dinner including gluten-free beer for my mom which was so cool and you could either go to the buffet or they prepared you these really cool sampler platters so you didn't have to to stand in line meal times are pretty limited on board compared to an ocean cruise so if you need a sweet treat there is a coffee and tea station just outside the lounge so you can have still water sparkling water espressos cappuccinos your lattes as well as a wide selection of hot teas available all the time Viking also includes beer and wine at lunch and dinner but otherwise you can pay to have a drink at the bar or purchase the silver Spirits packet the third and last very special thing about Viking river are the cabins welcome to cabin 100 on the main deck on the Viking gersimmy this is a standard stateroom and you are at water level so you are kind of below the river on each side of the bed there are Outlets so it's easy to plug in a CPAP machine these are two twin beds pushed together and made up as one bed you also can have them set up as two individual beds but they are going to be very close together this cabin is very small but efficient you have a small reading light a regular light you'll also find two USB plugs a European plug a North American plug your side table has an additional table that pulls out that is not a drawer and then you have a small cubby area you have a desk area with three more drawers the large interactive television and a small mini fridge this is one we bought in Port and brought on board so you can do that you have your quiet boxes which will you'll need with headphones as part of your tours they give you bottles of water every day your ice bucket you can request us distilled water there's a safe a small closet it was enough space for us for a seven night cruise you do need to put your key card in to turn on the electricity your individual cabin controls and then the bathroom is very small but very efficient you have your shelves you have included body wash shampoo conditioner and lotion this dial controls a heated floor and then you have the small shower with the clothesline it is wider back towards the shower head and it is handheld little more space to get in and out and then both close and but it is still a little tight turning all the way around but the handheld does help so if you need to stand sideways so that brings me to my final review for the cabin I'm giving it a six out of ten because of the very small size the very small inset windows and the noise we would get throughout the night especially when we were docking or going through locks for the condition of the ship a nine out of ten she looks great absolutely terrific condition casual dining they don't really have it you can sit down and order off of a menu for all of your meals which I absolutely loved then for sit down dining for the actual meals themselves I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10. we had some issues getting food that was hot we also had trouble with some of the menus there was one night there was only an appetizer that I was interested in they do a tremendous job highlighting Regional Cuisine but on a sailing like the Rhine this means you're going to be eating a lot of German food and I guess I just don't like German food that much for entertainment four out of ten not a fan they had an onboard piano player who was a lovely piano player not the best singer and he would make it so loud in the lounge you couldn't have a conversation with another person just did not enjoy it now they did bring on two guest performers when we were in Cologne they brought on a quartet a classical quartet and when we were sailing back into Amsterdam they brought on a singing Duo which were phenomenal that's the only reason there's a four instead of a zero service 10 out of 10 the crew is absolutely amazing we had the most fun with the crew 10 out of 10 and value I'm going to give it a 9 out of 10. Viking includes a lot you know having the excursions included being able to unpack once and see all these locations having beer and wine included with lunch and dinner so they do a really good job here delivering a great value so overall that brings us to an 8.5 out of 10. what do you think have you sailed with Viking before let me know in the comments

Channel: Trips with Angie

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Length: 16min 43sec (1003 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022