I booked this cruise to have a nice, relaxing time on the river, having been inspired both by a friends past trips and by their wonderful television commercials. Sitting leisurely on the deck, with a glass of good wine and enjoying the gorgeous views along the Rhine and Danube rivers, eating great food with excellent service at meals, and having the occasional guided tours by expert guides was my dream fantasy, and unfortunately, that's what it turned out to be, a dream fantasy. Instead of having the wonderful time on the river I anticipated, we had a series of bus trips to connect with our next of four separate boats. Because of low water, we spent more time on buses than on water which meant that almost all of the actually river was seen only through bus windows occasionally. I understand that Viking cannot control the water levels in several countries in Europe, but they knew about this as early as July and when asked about it before hand, were told everything was fine. Not until approximately 4 days before our plane ride to connect with the boat in Amsterdam were we notified of any problems, and that was for Passau, a city toward the end of our trip. Because of the busing, most of our excursions were reduced by as much as 65% which meant that the 'expert tour guides' were rushed and our 'free time' almost non-existent. The boats were mostly dock at ports that were anything but scenic, especially when we paid for a veranda stateroom with a balcony and the boats were often parked sandwiched together putting us in the middle which gave us a 'wonderful' view of the adjoining boat. Much of the time when we were on water, we were in lochs, which meant that our view was of concrete walls and our upper decks, where on only one night were we allowed outside to take pictures of the sunset while the rest of the time this deck was closed due to low bridges. Supposedly this would not have been true on the most scenic parts of the river, but because we were on a bus, not a ship, we did not have that experience. On each bus they had a guide. I was never sure sure why as there was only one time that this guide gave us any real information about the landscape or history of the area. Mostly, they told us what we needed to know at the potty breaks and when we got off the bus to get on the new ship. For that, we got to tip the guide and the bus driver 2 Euro each for everyone of these bus rides. At the last rest stop, all 7 Viking buses stopped which meant our 1/2 hour break took almost the entire time waiting on line to use the aforementioned potty as the line wrapped around the building. At each of these stops, the potty cost money, and most people got something to eat or drink because 4 hours on a bus takes it's toil on you and the bottle of water given to each of us just didn't do it. That meant more expenses incurred to our already costly trip. On one of the excursions, we were forced to pay for our own lunches for which Viking repaid us 25 Euro shipboard credit. As I did not intend to drink other than wine at dinner, and as I was not interested in their pricey products, all with the Viking name on them, the money was not used. They would not apply it to decreasing anything on the trip, consequently, that meant I paid for my own lunch when all lunches were meant to be paid for on the trip. Another 2 times, we were herded as a group to mediocre at best restaurants because we were not on the boat. Because of the need to continually change ships, we were living out of our suitcases, or repacking every other day. Our luggage had to be out in the halls an hour or so prior to disembarkation to cue at the buses which meant that getting a good nights sleep was impossible as we left early to have any time to see any sights. Meike, our program director, did an amazing job and should be complimented, but at the same time, she was giving us the company line that we had to wait till the day before to know whether we would be changing boats. This could not have been true because in everyplace where we talked with the locals, it would have taken days if not weeks of pouring rain for the water levels to be high enough. Some of the stories about our bus trips are also laughable; the first bus broke down, the second bus back into a tree destroying the back window, and the buses were over 1/2 late picking us up at one point leaving us to stand on the sidewalk on a busy street for over that time. The one saving grace, we were close to a public bathroom. The staff on each ship were obviously frazzled as they had to do so much more work; meeting a greeting different groups of people almost daily and then having to get ready for a new group the next day. As you might imagine, some of the staff was better than others. Out of the four boats, I feel 2 had good service, the other two less than good. The desk staff, however was great on all boats as was Meike. The boats were identical but some were obviously more worn than others. The last one being their 'hotel' as it is permanently moored at Budapest. It did show its wear. We were given a key to open the doors to the room which was VERY hard to use and many of the people around us had to ask for help. Except for the glassblowing entertainment, we did not participate with the planned activities. They held no interest for us and were not very exciting; Country and Western night, an historian, and a musical duo for each separate ship. I must say that I was disappointed in the food. One night we ordered a Ribeye steak that was so touch and gristly, I could barely eat it. Most soups appeared to be made in a Vitamix and were so pureed that there was no substance only a rather bland liquid. When I ordered the potato soup, I was amazed that their was absolutely no sign or taste of potato. The wines they served with dinner, always the same every night on every boat unless you paid an additional price for their special selection, were often cheap table wines that were more vinegar than wine and needed at least 2 hours to breathe to be palatable. Lastly, our flights. I cannot complain about our flight to Amsterdam. Everything went well, but our flight home is another matter. We had Viking book our flight. We live in Phoenix, Arizona, which is one state East of California for those who are in other countries. Our flight was booked through Los Angeles, California, where we also had a 4 hour stopover. When we ask about changing this so that we could go directly home, we were told that would cost an extra $50 each just to talk to someone even though they were responsible for this booking. This meant that we were either in the air or in airports for over 24 hours. As Vikings customers or mostly seniors, this seems like a lot to ask. To summarize a long account, if I had wanted a bus tour of Germany, Hungary, Austria and the Netherlands I would have booked with a company that specializes in them. This tour would have cost much less and also been much better in every way I am sure. Do not believe Viking's hype. They do not put their customers first. They could have informed us in advance of what was happening, offered to decrease the price of the cruise or allowed us to cancel, especially as we paid for cancellation insurance, but instead all we heard was, "We cannot be responsible for the weather." Think twice bout Viking, it is not worth it. Read Less

We chose this cruise because the reviews were good and we like to cruise but have only done ocean cruises with Princess Cruise Lines. On this “cruise” we spent a lot of time on busses being transferred from one boat to another, which meant we had to waste time packing and unpacking multiple times. The people on board wouldn’t tell us if or when we would have to jump ships again until after dinner the night before the swap, and we had to have our luggage outside our cabin by 07:00 the next morning, so that evening and morning were wasted packing and traveling by bus to the next boat. The cabins were all fine, although the last boat was kind of dated, the service personnel were attentive and seemed to know their jobs, but the food was mediocre. They spent WAY too much time TELLING us what a great time we were going to have, and wasting our touring time in the process, after all, all of that information was in the bulletin they left in our cabin each evening. This cruise was VERY EXPENSIVE, about $15,000 for two including airfare from the USA and pre and post extensions in Amsterdam and Prague respectively. Changing ships so often took a lot of time out of our vacation, so much time that we only had about 4 hours in Budapest, when we were supposed to have two days. The low water in the rivers wasn’t Viking’s fault, but they KNEW the problem in advance and SHOULD have given us the facts and the option to reschedule to a time when we could actually DO the expensive tour we paid for, but they didn’t! Viking wouldn’t even be honest with us about when and how many ship changes we would have to make! We spoke with customers of other companies and they were given a full refund and sent home, I would have liked that option, but Viking never brought it up, and when asked directly, wouldn’t answer the question. Read Less

This is going to be your most expensive bus tour, if you have it scheduled cancel if you can!! Started the tour on Oct 12th 2018. A week before VRC sent an email stating that there might be a ship swap at Regensburg. Nine days later we are on our THIRD viking boat, Vili. Mimir and Gefjon are a distant memory. Packing and unpacking is the highlight of the day. Had VRC informed us on a timely manner about the low water level on Europe’s rivers I would have cancelled this expensive trip. We will be in Passau for 3 days being bussed around for hours to the tours which have not been canceled. The ships Vili and Embla are docked as a pair, and we have no window view of the industrial docking area. Rumor has it that we will reach Budapest by bus. The crew releases the news one day at a time, so nothing is clearly known. Everybody gets more tired and I am counting down the remaining days while my luggage is ready for the next ship swap. Cancel your trip if you can!!! Read Less

We had never been to Europe and thought a Viking River Cruise would be the best way to see several countries. Viking has a great reputation and they didn't disappoint us. From start to finish, we were pampered and treated luxuriously the whole time. River levels were at an all-time low on the Danube, so we had to swap ships at the midpoint, but even that was handled with such excellence that we hardly noticed. We also did a pre-trip 2-night stay in Amsterdam. The hotel Viking chose for us couldn't have been in a better location. We could walk to absolutely everything! The guides they use for their excursions are always local and absolutely the BEST! The 2500+ pictures we took don't even do the trip justice. The ship overall, our rooms, the staff, the food, the excursions.....everything was A+!!! We didn't want it to end. We will definitely consider another Viking river cruise. Read Less

We chose this particular cruise because it was comprehensive and included wine growing regions. The food was fantastic and the service was excellent. The only glitch was the low water levels on the Rhine which necessitated us switching boats and missing one port. However, the cruise line made the switch as painless as possible- the water levels were beyond their control but they handled it flawlessly. All of the included shore excursions were excellent and the optional excursions we did were great fun. We particularly enjoyed the winery visit (Morwahld). Spending two days in Vienna was a bonus as it provided us the opportunity to go off on our own the first day without worrying about getting back to the ship before departure. We found that the food and service were very slightly better on the Mimir than the ship we moved to after our switch. Perhaps we’d been spoiled. Read Less

Viking was suggested by my sister-in-law and I read reviews here on TripAdvisor before deciding to go. I couldn't be more disappointed. Prior to our trip we had heard from a german neighbor that the river levels were low. We called Viking who told us, that rain was coming and that they were well versed on how to handle the situation and if not to our satisfaction we would be fairly compensated for ANY inconvenience. The first sign things were going awry was when they told us we would be on the Mimir, not the Vili that we were originally slated to be on in our contract. For all the ports on the Rhine and Main, we were NOT docked at city ports, we were at ugly industrial areas far from the ports that were advertised in the brochure and had to be bussed to them on supposedly "short" bus rides. With the elderly population on the boat, it always took at least 2 hours for this transport. Two hours each day of our valuable vacation time for most days of our 15 days on Viking. It did appear that other river cruise lines were docked in the towns. When we got to the Danube, we were told that we were to transfer to the Vili. Again this consumed valuable vacation times to re-pack and re-unpack. Vienna and Budapest were the ONLY two ports that we were docked in town, not at some ugly industrial port that we were then bussed to and from. There were other disappointments but these were the major ones. When we called Viking customer service to register our complaints and ask for compensation and told them that we recorded the promise of possible compensation, we were threatened with being sued for recording the conversation. Many lies, many misleading statements, and being threatened. Their people are trained well to deflect. They are focused on quantity, not quality and making money, NOT customer satisfaction. We may take another river cruise but Viking would have to make this up to us for us to chose them again. With global warning and more drought they need to change their practices. I wish I had seen a review like this, prior to our decision to take Viking. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the tulips -- it turned out to be much more. We took the 2-day pre-extension and enjoyed every minute. The walking tour was different from the walking tour that we took after boarding the boat, so we got to see much more of Amsterdam and learn much more history. Of course, the museums were wonderful and we enjoyed both walking and riding the tram. After boarding, each place we stopped had a fascinating history, plus so much to see and enjoy. The crew was wonderful; the service was impeccable; activities were fun; excursions were interesting; the food was delicious; our accommodations were comfortable; the weather turned out to be beautiful -- and now I want to go back to Amsterdam! We made wonderful friends on the boat and are still in contact with some of them. I took about 3,000 photos -- so much beauty and history to record, it was difficult to put the camera down. Read Less

Enjoyed all the small towns in Germany and the outstanding countryside. We especially enjoyed the Rhine valley area, absolutely stunning. Overall the food and service on the ship was good. We enjoyed getting to know our servers and they did a great job taking care of us. Even though we were traveling with 12 other people, we enjoyed meeting other people from either the United States or countries outside the U.S. We unfortunately ran out of water on some parts of our trip but realize that is out of the control of Viking. They did their very best to accommodate us with bus trips or changing ships.The shore excursions were very enjoyable, and loved that they were mostly done by locals who love their towns they live in. We would have loved to have seen more of Budapest, absolutely gorgeous. We did add several days to Amsterdam which was wonderful. Read Less

I would definitely take another Viking River Cruise. The staff was very friendly and the food was good (always cookies in the galley). Our accomodations were spacious (great bathroom and sitting room). They use the ship spaces very well for entertainment in the lounge as well as conveying ship information. The onboard ship discussions of the places we were sailing by on the river was wonderful. Due to river levels we had to change ships. The crew handled the change marvelously. We did not travel with children and there weren't any on our cruise. We went on many shore excursions and loved the winery tour, cheese tour and Melk Abbey. There were many small touches like fresh flowers in our room and common areas. I also enjoyed the warm towels and small drinks upon returning from excursions. We used the ships laundry service and the clothes came back the next day, clean, pressed and ready for the next adventure. My favorite part of the trip was docking in town and walking around after our included or extra excursions. To walk off the food and drink, there was a track on top of the ship. I highly recommend a river cruise on Viking. Read Less

This was a most disappointing holiday for the high price we paid. When booking this trip we assumed that you are able to step off the boat in to the towns listed and enjoy exploring on our own. Unfortunately we spent more time on buses as the docking stations are too far away. We also had to change ships which meant a 3 hour bus journey therefore missing an afternoon in Nuremberg. That then necessitated a 1.5 hour coach journey back to visit Regensburg from Passau on the following day. When in Koblenz the ship only docked for 2 hours so again little time to explore. If you intend to book find out exactly where you will be docked and for how long. We were also not informed at booking that the sun deck would be closed for 2 days because of low bridges. Had I been informed at booking I would not have paid extra for a balcony as we could not sit on it for about half the trip as the ship was docked along side other Viking boats a number of times. The included tours would have been good had it not been so busy. The number of tourists at the venues being taken around on guided tours meant they were packed (many of them from other Viking ships). Most of our guides however were knowledgeable and interesting. I cannot complain about the ship, cabin , staff or food. The sip was clean, the cabin whilst small was good and the food very good. I would not do another river cruise and would not recommend this one. We have emailed Viking but as expected have had no response. Read Less