For starters, we spent four days with a friend in Geneva. The ship left from Basel, so we had to pay a "diversion fee" of $200 to Viking. We still had to pay Lufthansa for the fare to Geneva. Now what the $200 was for, I can't say. We also paid for Air Plus Service, which meant Viking arranged the flights (likely for a discount). That was an extra $100. In our experience, Viking wanted a fee for most everything. We did get their insurance package (Note: Medicare isn't any good outside the U.S.) And, we opted for the two day extension in Bruges, Belgium (more on that later). We ended up spending about $15,000 in total for the trip. That's just a bit more than they advertise!

We left from Basel, Switzerland. Had to get to the ship on our own. Their transfers were only good from the airport. The first TWO days the ship was tied up at the dock in whatever city was on the itinerary. We had a tiring walking tour both days. Then we were on our own for the afternoon. The ship sailed in the evening (when there was nothing to see). That's NOT CRUISING!!

In Breisach, Germany we took a bus ride through the Black Forest. Very pretty. Then we stopped in a little tourist-trap town to see how cuckoo clocks were made and to see a demonstration of how German Chocolate Cakes were made. A volunteer from the cruise helped make the cake. When it was done we had the fine opportunity to PURCHASE a cake. No samples here! Did I mention how much the cruise cost? No samples of cake? Read more