Viking (et al.) river cruises in Germany
 

A friend of ours came up with the idea of taking a river cruise in Germany, run by Viking Cruises.

From what I can gather, they run for about a week, and the boats are small (as cruises go) -- about 150 people.

Anyone ever taken one of those cruises, with Viking or anyone else? Interested in your opinions.

We have enjoyed two of Viking's river cruises. They

They do a very nice job, cabins are comfortable, good meals, excellent guides. We took their Danube cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest and Russian cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow. We found the Russian cruise more interesting.

Thanks, Happy.

Our friends are considering the Nrmbrg-Bdpest route, just because they're interested in that part of the world, so it's good to know that you actually took that one and were satisfied.

BTW: Somone said the off-boat tours are included in the price. True?

I took a Danube cruise with Grand Circle Tours (which some people love and others hate, for various reasons) and had a marvelous time. The price was all-inclusive, meaning nothing extra for land tours except an optional one to Salzburg.

Go over to Cruise Critic and look at the column that is titled "River and Canal Cruises." Grest source of info on these types of trips. Just got back from a trip starting in Vienna and ending in Regensburg.

We had a wonderful cruise on Peter Deilmann (in France).. but they do Germany, of course, (being a German company.) They're a little more expensive than the others but we found it worth it. (Had previously done Grand Circle.)

I did go to the cruise critic site and found it helpful, but I figured firsthand comments from Fodorites would really help, and they have.

Thanks.

We did Vienna to Nuremburg with Viking in 2003 and really enjoyed it. Currently booked on a Passau to Vienna cruise with them for next year. The majority of excursions were included. I think there were 1 or 2 optional ones offered on our cruise.

My wife and I have been on two river cruises with UNIWORLD and have enjoyed both. The first was the Po River in Italy which ended up in Venice. The second, and most recent- about this time last year was the Christmas Markets on the Danube. Wonderful from Regensburg to Budapest. As someone mentioned- comfortable, good food, nice tours in each town where you dock. All in all- a nice experience. We are planning to do the Rhine from Amsterdam to the Black Sea next. One thing to remember- this is not a cruise as in large vessels. They are small but have a nice lounge area and a top deck to view the towns as you pass! Great experience- which can even be better with a friend or two although the people on board were very friendly.

Oberost: You are going to love the Rhine. We went with Uniworld in May 2007. Amsterdam to Basel with 3 extra days in Lucerne. VERY scenic.

Thanks all. It's looking as if our friends will be talking us into going. Also, appreciate hearing about other companies besides Viking.

If time to actually see and experience things on land is important to you, just be sure to check out the actual amount of time you have on land in each landing place. Some stops on some cruises are very short--to the point of being a waste of time.

The GCT Danube cruise ships travel during the night and are moored fairly early in the morning. So there's usually most of the day to visit the towns along the way, such as Passau and Regensburg. On my cruise we usually had a 1-1/2 hour guided tour, with local guides, in the morning and then the rest of the day on our own. Sometimes there were concerts or other special activities.

We've also been considering a Danube cruise offered through M.S. Symphony. Some have said, though, that it can be a bit boring whereas others have highly complimented the ship and destinations.

Has anyone taken this cruise or the Danube cruise from Nurenburg to Budapest with additional days in Prague?

My husband and I took a Viking River trip in 2004 from Amsterdam to Vienna and had a fantastic time--we had been on many cruise ships before and were very weary of the 3000 plus people on board. We are planning another cruise on Viking in April doing the Tulips and Windmills itinerary. We were very impressed with the dining and with the nice size of our room. What a relaxing way to travel!

Underhill--I guess your comment "So there's usually most of the day to visit the towns along the way," does point out that we all have personal preferences/needs in travel. To us that would be WAY too short a time and very frustrating in most locations. But for others it would be just right. For my father it would be way too much time in one place--he always wants to be on the move! Everyone is different.

4 of us did the Viking River cruise from Passeau, Germany to Budapest and back and loved it. Viking was excellent from the amazing food to the staff. We loved the small personal passenger size. We did this 4 years ago and in 2 weeks are doing another one from Basel to Amsterdam. We could not get on a Viking cruise at this time frame (we were booking this back in Sept. of 2007) as they were all sold out and we wanted to see the tulips. This time we are going with Globus so it will be interesting to see the comparison. We loved Viking though and would go with them again.

We just returned from a Basel to Amsterdam river cruise with Avalon. As I posted before about our Danube cruise with Viking, I will compare the 2. The Avalon Tapestry is 2 years old and beautiful with lots of storage in the cabins while the Viking ship was older but very nice as well. There were the same 4 people that did the Danube cruise on this Rhine cruise. We found the scenery on the Danube way more interesting than on the Rhine. While there is an area around Coblenz, the Rhine Gorge that is beautiful with castles, Lorelei and her legend, and nice countryside, the Rhine cannot complete with the Danube scenery. Loads of castles, vineyards and small villages. From Basel onwards for the first couple of days, the scenery was very industrial! Whether it was that there were more miles to cover (500 on the Rhine cruise) but I found we did not have enough time to explore each city on our own. Once the guided city tour was over, you had an hour or 2 on your own. Just not enough time. On the Danube we docked overnight some nites and went off to explore in the evening and try dinner off the ship at a local restaurant. We had an amazing dinner in Vienna and Budapest that were both recommended by staff that were from that area. No time on the Rhine cruise to do anything like that. The food on Viking was a bit plainer but still quite fancy and delicious while the Avalon dinners were very artsy fartsy and we found we chose the alternative, chicken, more times than choosing the fancy meal. Enjoyed the meals way more on Viking. Dress for dinner was fancier on Viking and very casual on Avalon, with 2 fancier evenings. Lots of people would just wear jeans or whatever they had been wearing for the city tour in the afternoon. You never saw jeans at dinner on Viking. Now I have to say it might have changed as we did the Viking cruise 5 years ago. Wine was included with Avalon and not with Viking. All tours were included in both companies and both offered optional tours which you paid for. All in all we did enjoy both companies and would go with either again. I would only say that the Danube's scenery is more interesting than the Rhine.