A friend asked if a few friends wanted to join she and her husband on this trip a year ahead of travel time. Being stuck inside with covid we said yes. Every detail was handled by Viking as time led up to the trip. Once on board every detail was thought about and we had a fantastic time. We were not sure if we would like river cruising, but loved every minute. The service was impeccable , the ...
If you are a novice at wine or an experienced wine lover, there is something for you on this cruise. From wine and cheese tastings to private tours of vineyards and chateau’s with the wine makers. You learn everything about the wine from the grapes and how it is processed and bottled and marketed, to the soil and Appalachians. And then you get to taste it! And this happens on several excursions! ...
Going to Bordeaux has always been a dream -- we love wine and also interesting places with historical significance. We've previously been on Viking cruises on the Danube, the Rhone/Soane (in Burgundy) and Porto, Portugal. We have always enjoyed Viking's itineraries, staff, cuisine and shore excursions and this trip was no different. We especially loved that the meals featured local specialties ...
The cities visited, Bordeaux, Tours, Blay, Bourg, St. Emilion were all charming and beautiful. The food on the ship was fantastic and the wine was superb. The crew on the ship were attentive, the cruise director, Oliver was wonderful and imaginative. The excursions (we took all the included ones) were good and enjoyable. We did the Loire valley pre-cruise add-on and that was a very enjoyable and ...
Wanted to try a Viking Cruise. Excellent on every level. Predeparture information was complete and helpful. Recommend familiarizing with all of the opportunities. Bordeaux and the region is well matched for this journey.
Days were well balanced and well described. Minimum overhead announcements. Menu food/beverage choices were outstanding. Dinners were special. Onboard enrichment and ...
We wanted to visit the Aquitaine and decided this cruise would orient us which it did. We very much enjoyed the trips to Margaux and St. Emilion. We loved the dinner at the Chateau which the crew put on for us. It was extremely special and memorable. We chose this cruise because it featured the wine country and after the cruise we rented a house in Julliac for a week. I loved the trip to ...
Viking’s Chateaux, Rivers and Wine cruise was just as it was advertised in the cruise line’s brochures. We also did the pre-trip including Paris and the Loire Valley, where we stayed at the Clarion Hotel Chateau Belmont, an exquisite oasis in the city center of Tours. We enjoyed some day sailing, which was so wonderful because we were able to see things that we wouldn’t normally see, like the ...
My wife and I took our first Viking river cruise in 2019, primarily because we kept hearing how wonderful Viking was from friends and neighbors. In fact, the trip was as good as we hoped it would be.
This time, not so much.
I don't know to what extent Covid made an impact on staffing issues at cruise lines, but the service in the dining room on our second river cruise wasn't nearly as good ...
We had wanted to visit the Bordeaux area for some time and the improving Covid pandemic gave us the opportunity. The cruise was a round trip starting and ending in Bordeaux but you visited various cities on the three rivers that comprise the area. We gained more knowledge about the wines of the region. The highlight of the trip was a dinner with wine at a Chateaux from the 1700's where the ship's ...
Always heard wonderful things about Viking River Cruises in General, and the Bordeaux cruise put me close to the Dordogne, the section of France I never toured. Unfortunately I caught something on the plane coming over and I had limited energy for the excursions. Nevertheless we did go on some.The tour guides were really good! The food was even better, certainly there was enough! Way more than I ...