Booked a river cruise on Viking in July of 2012. Flying to Budapest and cruising to Amsterdam. This is our first experience on a river cruise, and need some feedback on the flights that Viking reserves for us. Are we ok with these reservations, or should we book on our own? It seems so easy to let the cruise line book for us, and there are extra costs if we do on our own. Please advise.....

We told them what flights we wanted and would accept and they got them for us. Others complained about multiple legs all over the place but perhaps they'd left it to chance.

We are booked on Viking in spring 2012. Our agent, working with them has booked us on the most favorable flights available. The difference with Viking and some other cruise lines is that they seem to be willing to work with you and not demand that you take whatever flights happen to be in their inventory at the moment.

"agent",can you elaborate? Did you go to a travel agent after you booked with Viking to get help with tickets? Did you have to purchase your own transfers? The more information I have the better. Thanks

We booked through an agent who made all our arrangements and looked after our needs and solved some big problems for us. I like a local agent who I know and who knows me. Some one working for Wowee Cruises in Florida won't do for me. (If there really is a Wowee Cruises, pardon. I meant a generic, faceless cruise outfit.) The savings through discounters doesn't seem sufficient, to me, to give up the services of a personal agent.

We booked with Viking for spring 2012, also. We decided to pay the $50 pp upcharge to be able to have some choice for flights. I found a couple of flights I liked & emailed the info. One thing we wanted was a nonstop back from AMS to ATL & we did get that. To me, it was worth the upcharge.
I also checked the flight costs ahead of time & Viking amount was about the same. Since Viking provides transfers if you book through them, that's a big plus.