We were very impressed with the service on Viking. At the Airport in Amsterday, we put our Viking sticker on and within a minute were met by an extremely friendly guide who took over our baggage and got us quickly the Mercedes Limo to take us to the ship. At the ship, we were the second on board, we were met by the Hotel Manager and Cruise Director who carried our luggage to our room (note: we were the first cruise of the year-so we got into our room immediately. Normally you have to wait til around 3PM for cleaning to finish). After being on an airplane or airport for all night, we were really hungry. The Hotel Manager personally saw to it that we were served a specially prepared breakfast to order.

A few things uniques about Viking 1. No Gambling 2. I never smelled cigarette or cigar smoke. 3. Freely poured wine or beer for meals 4. Exceptional Service always at all times by every crew member-no exceptions 5. No hustling for their optional tours (note: included tours are very comprehensive. 6. All tour guides were very good-for included and optional.

Things to Consider: 1. We went in late March-Cold and Wet, 2. Viking caters to older folks. we liked Bike and Barge with VBT better-A barge and Bike is the way to see the Netherlands. 3. the purpose of taking a river cruise is for scenery along the way-The scenery of this cruise is not very interesting - lots of industry and commercial 4. We were supposed to dock in Amsterday at a location near the Central Station-that was one of the reasons we took the cruise-because we could walk to the Central Station and get buses or trams everywhere in Amsterdam. BOTH time we docked in Amsterday, we were in a remote location where we had to take a shuttle which took a half hour to run and only ran every half hour. The last day the police prevented it from stopping at the Victoria Hotel-so it had no way to pick up folks to return to the ship-I don't know how they got back-probably by Taxi. The Viking crew blamed the problem on the Harbor Master. Whatever caused the problem, the dockage location (for us), severly restricted our abiltiy to see Amsterdam-It changed from a 10 minute walk to the Central Station to 1/2 hour shuttle ride which runs every hour or so, and can't stop to return you to the ship. 5. Viking doesn't force you to buy expensive drinks on board-beer was priced at a reasonable charge (3 Euros). You also can bring any kind of alcohol on board-with NO CORKAGE. Read more