Viking Atla Review

Rhine Getaway Cruise aboard the Viking Atla - December 2013

Review for Europe River Cruise on Viking Atla
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aky13
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
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Sail Date: Dec 2013

NOTE: Our cruise started in Basel, Switzerland and TERMINATED in Amsterdam, Netherlands

My wife and I booked this cruise, our fourth river boat cruise and first with Viking, pursuant to an offer we could not refuse. Overall, we were NOT disappointed. Since this was our fourth river boat cruise, I have a considerable basis for comparison. Based on previous experience with two other river cruise companies, I can highly recommend Viking.

A river boat cruise is vastly different from an ocean cruise. River boats transport approximately 200 passengers. Ocean cruise ships now transport as many as 5 or 6,000 passengers. The entire experience is very different. River boat cruising is intimate and personal. Ocean cruising is impersonal and being part of a herd. River boats allow you to get to meet and know many or even most of your fellow passengers. This is simply not possible on most of today's monster ocean cruise ships. On the other hand, the monster cruise ships offer Broadway style entertainment of varying quality and casinos. River boats do not.

Cabin Review

The staterooms were very spacious especially compared with some ships of competing river cruise companies. The bathroom was well designed with a shower large enough to allow movement. If you have ever been on an older river boat, you know what I mean! Our stateroom was equipped with a modern, LARGE, flat screen TV (see comments under entertainment). The bed was comfortable, but the pillows were MUSHY and no firm ones were available. We did have ONE significant problem with our stateroom and understand that other passengers experienced a similar issue. There was something wrong with the stateroom thermostat from the beginning of the cruise all the way through. Regardless of the temperature programmed on the device, the temperature in the room consistently dropped to 64-65 degrees F (about 18 degrees C). This is too cold for comfort; especially when you just come out of the shower. We reported this problem and the staff, both hotel and ship crew, did try to remedy the problem. The ship's engineer investigated the problem twice and reported that the thermostat's programmable ship was likely defective. He did not have a replacement onboard but he said that the issue would be addressed either in Amsterdam or when the ship was docked for the Winter.

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