Viking Hemming Review

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Review for Europe River Cruise on Viking Hemming
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Garethman
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Nov 2014

This is the second time we have taken a Viking cruise and it was extremely enjoyable, in parts. Firstly the holiday is named a river cruise, so the nature of the activity is a river cruise. When you get very little of that activity you have to ask questions. The ship did very little cruising, about one day in all and was tied up in the dock of an unremarkable town for long periods. We were given various reasons as to why the boat did not proceed up the river, high water levels, fast currents from tributary streams etc. Most of which seemed unusual in that the Douro has numerous dams which control the level of water to a fine degree. We told by an employee from another company working on the river system that the reason not to cruise was incorrect and that the river conditions did not vary to any great extent. Another employee was apologetic but stated that this is what they had been told to say. We took a train up river and I must admit that the water levels did not look particularly high. I also note that of the many cruise boats using the Douro, only Viking were still using their two boats to cruise at this time of year. I wonder how much they were being charged to use the impressive lock systems?

The crew were as usual were absolute stars who could not do enough for the passengers, the food was good, but nowhere near as good as Viking cruises I have previously taken and the accommodation was comfortable and adequate. The trips were pretty good,one to a Monastery was particularly good as was a visit to a wine co-operative. Another trip was a bit impractical, it involved 8 hours travel on a bus to visit Salamanca which I would loved to have seen, but eight hours on a bus is not something I undertake lightly. The return flight which had been booked as part of the package had to be changed at the last minute involving a 24 hour delay and a hotel was provided at the end of the trip. Unfortunately the local Viking people knew nothing about the problem so it took a fair bit of organisation to sort out. No meals were included for our 24 hour enforced extension. My thoughts are that Viking should caution customers when booking so that they are aware that cruises may not take place (I understand both the previous and next cruises were also severely curtailed) and need to communicate with local staff regarding changes. I like Viking and have booked another cruise with them, but I do hope they pay attention to these details and consider the practicalities of cruising certain rivers.

Cabin Review

Cabins were good, but a bit cramped. The chair next to the desk could not be fully pulled out to sit on due to the bed. There was almost no room to walk around parts of the beds. The television was good, large flat screen, but the WiFi was slow and intermittent at best, something which Viking may be powerless to change. The toiletries were excellent and the domestic crew were great.

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