Partially due to inclined weather conditions, the cruising part of this trip has been dramatically reduced. Majority of the excursions fall under the side of 'a bit boring' category. Fortunately, we booked the pre-cruise excursion that highlighted the whole experience, otherwise, the river cruise part alone would not earn my praise at all.
While the executive chef made the daily dinner ...
We recently completed the Bordeaux river cruise with Viking. The overall experience was good, but a couple aspects of the cruise were disappointing.
Firstly, the staff were generally very courteous, professional and well trained. A couple exceptions, but overall excellent service.
The Forseti is a beautiful boat, but the ship was missing a gym, hot tub and bikes. I noticed the Uniworld ...
We chose a river cruise that included Bordeaux as its main attraction. The problem was that the only wine we tasted was white wine--The tasting included less than an ounce of WHITE wine (no RED)!! A woman requested a little extra wine because she did not have enough in her glass to taste the wine. The hostess said no!!
We drove in a bus over two hours and passed MULTIPLE wineries only to stop ...
Neither of us had been in that region of France before. We like wine so it seemed like a good choice. It was less than expected. This was our first time on Viking, though we have taken other river cruises with other companies. Viking has a reputation of being more "top of the line" but we did not experience anything overly special about the cruise, the ship or the crew. The food was excellent. ...
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 ...
Wanted to explore the Bordeaux region of France. Interested in the wines and wineries there. This cruise was kind of disappointing. Not enough wine tasting for the region we were in. There wasn't a lot of entertainment like other cruises we have taken. I enjoy the locals coming on board with their product or entertainment. Only 2 wine tastings for the trip was not what I expected. Wish ...
On whole, the trip met our expectations and we will most likely take a future river cruise with Viking, but there were some quirks that folks should understand if they are not familiar with Bordeaux or if they are new to river cruises (or Viking river cruises in particular).
From prior posters' reports, we knew in advance that there would not be much cruising on this trip. If that had been a ...
Excellent cabin and top quality service and cleanliness. (Note that such river cruises do not have entertainment or fitness facilities, so the forced rating of these should be disregarded as irrelevant). The ship and staff were truly outstanding, particularly the dining room staff. Viking provides absolutely top-notch service, food, wine and overall cleanliness unmatched in the industry. The ...
We chose this cruise because it was going to Bordeaux, where we wanted to go, in Sept., when we wanted to go, and a large suite was available. This was our second and last cruise with Viking.
Viking considers itself Deluxe. At best, they are "Deluxe Light." There is no WOW! factor. Maybe I'm jaded, but nothing on Viking feels special, and the on-board activities are poorly paced. Viking is ...
This was our 8th Viking River Cruises river experience. If the "Chateaux, Rivers, and Wine" itinerary had been our first Viking river experience we might have come away unimpressed, disappointed, and perhaps not excited about taking other river cruises. We were not alone in our assessment of the cruise. So, if you are doing your first river cruise with any river cruise provider don't choose ...