The Viking River Cruises Experience | 2019 Rhine Getaway
This year we have taken a total of three Viking Cruises. In April it was the river Grand European Tour from Budapest to Amsterdam with a pre-extension in Prague. In June it was the ocean Mediterranean Odyssey from Barcelona to Venice. Both of those were paid in full by yours truly.
But then something awesome happened.
We partnered with Viking for our third sailing. We took the river Rhine Getaway from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam and for the next few months we’ll be sharing our experience in all of the ports.
But first, we’re sharing with you a comprehensive post about the Viking River Cruises experience told from the lens of our 2019 Rhine Getaway itinerary.
We’re covering everything from booking your trip to enjoying an extension to boarding the ship and experiencing the ports. Since this is such a behemoth of a post, we’re splitting it up into sections, and you can click any of these to be directed to that spot in the post. Or just scroll through and enjoy our take on the Viking Experience.
Itineraries
Booking Your Trip
Pre-Extensions
Viking Longships
Staterooms + Amenities
Public Areas
Silver Beverage Package
Onboard Dining
Shore Excursions
Itineraries
If you visit the Viking River Cruises website you’ll find 33 itinerary options. Kind of overwhelming, right? Luckily they make it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. You can sort your search by the duration, price or countries that you’d like to visit. They have everything from week-long trips to a month on the rivers of Europe.
Our itinerary was the beautiful Rhine Getaway (Basel to Amsterdam), which was eight days on the Viking Alruna and we visited four amazing European countries: Switzerland, Germany, France, and
the Netherlands.
Here is a link to the Viking River Cruises website where you can find your next adventure.
Our ship, the Viking Alruna, docked in Rüdesheim, Germany.
Booking your Cruise
Booking a Viking Cruise is easier than picking out your favorite itinerary.
But once you’ve accomplished the big feat of choosing your next adventure, you can request a quote directly from a Viking representative. Just type in your info and within 24-48 hours a rep from Viking will email you and help you through the booking process.
This rep will walk you through everything from choosing the right date and stateroom to possibly choosing an extension to your cruise (in the next section). They’ll also book your airfare and tell you everything there is to know about your Viking experience.
Out of all of the sites we’ve used to book trips, Viking definitely has one of the most streamlined and simple processes. There is always someone on the other end of the phone or computer to answer your questions or concerns. And in your booking forms, there are emergency phone numbers for everything!
The beautiful Black Forest in Germany.
Pre-Extensions
When you book your cruise, you’ll see there’s an option for extensions, either pre or post. These are pretty self-explanatory, but we’ll give you a quick rundown…
If you don’t want to stop at just an 8, 12, 14, 22 or insert length cruise, you can choose to add an extension on to the beginning or end of your trip. This usually takes place in the first or last city on your itinerary (there are exceptions) and you are transferred either from the airport (pre) or ship (post) to a hotel for (on average) 2-3 nights.
For our Rhine Getaway we chose the Basel, Switzerland pre-extension. We were transferred from the airport to the gorgeous Hyperion Hotel where we spent two nights before being transferred to our ship (which was docked in Basel).
The pre-extension (when booked fully through Viking) includes all of your transfers to and from airports and hotels. It also includes a stay in some of the finest hotels much like the Hyperion. This was one of the most incredible places we’ve ever stayed with an entire wall of windows greeting us when we walked into our hotel room.
The extension also includes one or more excursions (depending on how long and where you are) with a fully trained guide. Our guide, AnnMarie, was also our contact person within the hotel. She was such a joy! Not only did she take us on the most exciting walking tour of Basel and teach us to use the public transport, she also made reservations for dinner on our last night in Basel. We were looking for delicious cordon bleu, which only required phone calls to two different restaurants. But for some of the other guests AnnMarie called dozens of restaurants to make a reservation. And she did it all with a smile.
The pre (or post) extensions are a great way to immerse yourself into cities you would otherwise only have a few hours in. Since Switzerland was a country we had never visited we wanted more time and that was such a good choice! Basel is a stunning city worth spending extra time in.
Viking Longships
We won’t get into detail on the specs of these beautiful ships, but there are some interesting things to note about Viking’s classic longships, specifically the ship we sailed on, the Viking Alruna.
The first is the size. There are 95 staterooms (double occupancy). Since the longships are designed with luxury cruising in mind, there are no inside staterooms. We’ll talk more about the classes and categories in our staterooms section. But just know that no matter which class you get, you’ll be cruising in style.
On top of the ship there is a beautiful 360˚ sundeck where, on the second to last day of our trip, we stood in the freezing cold watching castles pass us by. Although frigid, it was pretty stinking fabulous.
There’s a library onboard where you can either snuggle down and read or pick books to take back to your room. Just make sure to return them before the end of your stay.
The onboard store is quite small, but has some really cute Viking merchandise you can take home with you like fleece jackets, t-shirts and more.
Most people take the stairs, but it is important to note that from the mid deck (lobby area) to the upper deck there is a small elevator for those who can’t make it up the stairs. There is no elevator to get you to the lower deck (standard staterooms).
Two other important features are the laundry service (not self-service but available from housekeeping for a charge) and the WiFi. On our first river cruise with Viking, the WiFI was kind of sad but on the Rhine Getaway it was moving and grooving. This is a hit or miss situation since you are, in fact, on a boat. However, something that is always true is that WiFi is better when you’re in port. Usually you can scroll through Instagram and Facebook but there’s no video streaming. Don’t be that person slowing down
the connection…
And for the last fact about the longships… they have “ecologically friendly hybrid engines producing less vibrations for a smoother ride.”
All of that comes together in a beautiful ship decorated with streamlined Scandinavian design.
The beautiful Viking Alruna and our ROAM suitcase. Use our link for $50 off.
Staterooms + Amenities
There are five categories of staterooms on Viking longships: Standard, French Balcony, Veranda, Veranda Suite, and Explorer’s Suite. If you want to know details about each type of stateroom, you can visit this link. We’re going to be talking about our room, which was a port side veranda stateroom on the middle deck or a class B stateroom.
Our veranda stateroom was a massive 205 sq. ft. and it included a sliding glass door that opened to a full-size veranda with two chairs and a small table.
For entertainment, there’s a 40 inch flatscreen that has pre-selected TV shows (i.e. Downton Abbey) and movies (i.e. Mary Shelley) along with some live TV options (i.e. TNT).
You’ll also find the rooms have both 110 and 220 volt outlets and USB ports. There’s no shortage of space to charge all of your electronics.
Of course you’ll have the basics of a telephone, hairdryer and a safe along with a fun mini fridge.
In your beautiful bathroom you’ll find a glass enclosed shower, anti-fog mirror, and the most luxurious heated floors. If you don’t want to bring your shampoo and conditioner, you can rest assured your hair will be fine with the Premium Freyja® toiletries that are replenished daily. This is all we used for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion. We even brought some home so we could relive the luxury.
If you want to make your stay even more comfy and cosy, you can request a fluffy robe and slippers. We find that our stay is luxurious enough with the twice daily stateroom cleaning and awesome steward (who also provides bottled water daily).
If you want a full 360˚ tour of the veranda stateroom, you can visit this link.
Public Areas
If you’re looking for a comfy place to chill out on a Viking Longship you have a few options.
Our personal favorite was always the lounge, which is on the upper deck. This is where you’ll find the bar (see next section), lots of seating for relaxation and gawking at the views through the walls of floor-to-ceiling windows, port talks, and onboard entertainment. This is definitely the place to be if you want some quiet time during the day, a drink at anytime, or some fun after dinner.
You can also sit in the library (also on the upper deck), which has a few chairs and lots of books covering topics of historical interest and fiction books you might want to curl up and read.
If you want some fresh air, you can step just outside the lounge onto the aquavit terrace and take the staircase up to the sundeck. This spot has the best views on the ship and it feels like you’re stepping into another world.
Since we were cruising the Rhine in November/December it was quite literally freezing, so the sun deck wasn’t the preferred hangout. If you choose a warmer time to sail, you’ll find comfy lawn chairs and a few lawn games for your enjoyment on the sundeck.
If you want a full 360˚ tour of the Viking Longships, you can visit this link.
Silver Beverage Package
First things first: what is the silver beverage package?
So glad you asked.
To put it simply, the package allows you to order any drink you want at any time. This includes soft drinks, speciality coffee drinks, and alcohol. Soft drinks, beer and wine are including during mealtimes but specialty cocktails are always an extra charge unless you have the package. The price for the package depends on how long your cruise is, but you can check it out here. For our Rhine Getaway, which was nine nights, the cost was $199 per person. We were very fortunate that Viking gifted us each the Silver Package so we could tell you all about it.
We used the package mostly for drinking Coca Cola at all hours of the day because we’re #addicted. But we also tried a new cocktail every night, which is way outside of our comfort zone!
We’ll do a full post about the cocktails we tried, how we ordered them, and all of that fun stuff. But what we can say is that anything you order with alcohol from the bar is of the highest quality. There’s no gross alcohol mouth-wash taste.
Jenni also used the package to drink as many speciality coffee drinks as possible. Everything from cappuccinos to iced lattes.
So if you think you might be thirsty for something other than water between meals, the silver package is definitely worth it! It also allows you to try new things you may otherwise stray from because of the price. Try it. If you don’t like it, you can always get something different.
The Viking Alruna bar, ladies and gentlemen!
Onboard Dining
On the ship there are two places you can dine: the Restaurant or the Aquavit Terrace.
The Restaurant has enough seating for everyone onboard, but they aren’t assigned seats. So, you can sit with someone new every meal if you want. There are buffet options at both breakfast and lunch, but you can also order speciality items from the menu. Dinner is menu only.
The Aquavit Terrace is an al-fresco dining experience with minimal seating. Breakfast and lunch both have smaller buffet versions of the Restaurant buffets, but no menu options. Dinner on the Terrace is exactly the same as the Restaurant.
While on the Rhine Getaway we only dined in the Restaurant because we ended up finding a lovely group (of 6-8 people) that we sat with at almost every meal. That kind of group seating isn’t possible on the Aquavit Terrace.
At breakfast you can find a large selection of pastries and bagels with various spreads and jellies. There’s also a cold section of the buffet that has things like yogurt and fresh fruit. On the hot side of the buffet (our favorite) there are a variety of sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and more. You can also get a freshly made omelette! Our awesome omelette maker was Judy and she was easily the most loved person on the ship. Ask anyone!
On the breakfast menu you’ll find classics like french toast, specialty pancakes, etc.
For lunch you’ll find a delicious salad bar with a few pre-made appetizers (i.e. caesar salad, open face sandwiches). Judy trades her omelettes for pasta and mm-mm-good! It’s a different pasta every day but it’s always delicious!
On the lunch menu you get to choose a starter, entree and dessert. There are always regional options based on where the ship is sailing, but you can also get a classic hamburger, hotdog, etc.
For dinner, since it’s menu only, you’ll find the same starter, entree, dessert situation but the options are a little more upscale than lunch. There is always a regional menu (for each section), a chef’s specialty (might be regional, might not) and classics like a ribeye or chicken. There is something for even the pickiest of eaters on Viking ships, trust us.
The night before we arrived in Heidelberg, we got to enjoy the Taste of Germany dinner. The crew dresses up in traditional German outfits and you eat all of the German food. There’s sausage and sauerkraut. There are pretzels. There's lots and lots of bread. There’s cake. There’s beer. And, there’s schnapps… this became a running theme on our trip from that night on. All in all, German night is just a fun time to spend in the Restaurant and let loose.
Here’s a slideshow of photos that show some of the meals we ate on the Viking Alruna!
Excursions
Naturally the excursions are different on every itinerary, but one thing remains the same across the board. At every port you stop in you get an included excursion. It’s usually a walking tour of the town you’re visiting. Sometimes, in larger areas, you’ll receive a panoramic bus tour. We’ve found that these excursions are a great way to get yourself acclimated to the area before going off and exploring on your own.
Our cruise had a total of seven included excursions. In addition, every port has optional excursions you can pay (usually between $50-$200/per person) extra for. We did a total of two extra excursions, but let’s just talk a little bit about every excursion we went on, shall we…
For those who didn’t book the Basel pre-extension, there was a walking tour excursion available (included). Since we booked the extension, there was a longer tour complete with entrance into one of their gorgeous churches. AnnMarie was our guide and she walked us through the streets, sharing the history of this region with us through our QuietVox devices. After about 4-5 hours we were released for free time.
The next port was Breisach, Germany and the included excursion took us to the Black Forest. It was a 30-45 minute panoramic bus ride through the Black Forest (which was gorgeous!) and it brought you to an adorable little town. There you had a few options. You could watch a cuckoo clock or glass blowing demonstration or you could go on a short nature hike. We chose the cuckoo clock demonstration followed by a Black Forest cake making demonstration. The demos were held in a cute shop that had a café downstairs where we then tried some delicious cakes. But we’ll have a whole post about this soon… after the 30-45 minutes back to the ship we were able to walk into Breisach, which was a cute little town with a church on a hill (St. Stephens). It was Sunday, so everything was closed. But it was still a nice walk.
Next up was Strasbourg. The included tour was just a short walking tour of the town, but we chose an optional excursion, which was supposed to be a Taste of Alsace. This excursion ended up being a series of unfortunate events, but since we’ll have another post, we don’t want to spoil that. Basically what we did was look around the town (much like the included tour), eat some local cuisine and try a few local wines. The tour lasted eight hours total. This excursion was a little more than $200/per person.
After Strasbourg, the ship docked in Heidelberg, Germany. Unfortunately, this was the day when illness set in for Joanie B., so we did not participate in the included walking tour of the town. However, that night, we had an optional excursion, Dine in Rüdesheim, which turned out to be one of the best nights of the trip! We ate some delicious local food, drank some wine (and a shot of Schnapps), listened to an oom pah pah band, and played some German games. It was really a fun night. This excursion, was about $50-75/per person.
After Heidelberg we were in Koblenz. The included excursion in Koblenz was not a walking tour of the city, but a hike up to the Marksburg Castle. Since Joanie B. was still sick, we opted to skip the castle and explore town on our own. We’d been to Koblenz before, and loved it! They have so many cute cafés, shops and at least seven Christmas markets.
After Koblenz came Cologne, another city we’ve been to before. The included excursion takes you through town and into the cathedral. This was the day when Joanie B.’s sickness really hit the fan, so we took this day as a work and stay inside kind of day.
The last port is Kinderdijk, Netherlands and here the included tour takes you around to see the windmills. We definitely recommend taking this tour, because there’s really nothing else to do in Kinderdijk. You’ll have the chance to take some scenic photos and even go inside a working windmill. It’s an interesting experience to have and check off your bucket list.
When you book your cruise, you’ll get access to the MyVikingJourney website where you’ll have a chance to explore all of the included and optional excursions and book the ones that sound appealing to you!
The Viking Experience
Our experience on the Viking Alruna was probably our favorite Viking experience to date. Everyone on the ship was so nice and accommodating. Anything you needed, they’d get for you. On the Cologne day when Joanie B. was virtually bed bound, they even offered to bring her a meal.
The onboard entertainment was incredible. In Breisach we heard an amazing local choir sing Christmas songs (in German of course)! There was a night of music trivia, which turned into a packed dance floor and hysterical laughter. We made ornaments or, as our Program director Sharon called them, baubles. We drank shots of Schnapps, and even got to listen to a Dutch band sing some oldies.
But every step of the way what made it special wasn’t the luxurious ship or the delicious food and drinks. It was the people.
It was Captain Bartosz who welcomed us into the wheel house to learn how the Viking ships actually work.
It was the bartenders Iri and Yavor who kept up with our crazy requests.
It was Chef Ioan and his amazing kitchen and dining staff who made the most delicious food and even welcomed everyone into the kitchen to see them hard at work.
It was the program director, Sharon, who made even the most mundane port talks fun and exciting.
It was the kind, funny, genuine, and beautiful people we met on day one and spent time with for the entire cruise. The people we were sad to say goodbye to.
It was Liz and Bob.
It was Nancy and Charlie.
You won’t know them, but we do and we only do because of Viking Cruises.
And that’s the Viking Experience. Meeting people who change your life, living your life you’ve never lived it before, and truly being treated like you matter.
Because you do.
From left to right: Bob, Liz, Nancy, Charlie, Joanie, Jenni, and random man.
If you want to book your own Viking cruise, just click this link and find the perfect one for you. Don’t forget to tell them that Joanie and Jenni B. sent you!
A very special thank you to our Patron, Sylvia Vasquez Plexus, for supporting us on this wild ride! If you’d like to become a Patron, we have some awesome reward tiers. Sometimes we even pick up little gifts for you along our travels.
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