Our second river cruise in Europe was on the Viking Buri, perhaps one of the nicest river boats afloat. One of the newer Viking longboats, the Buri has the best of everything a boat could have. The finest furnishings, fixtures, and decor. The locks on the Eurpoean rivers dictate the maximum size these boats can be but Buri's designers managed to get more in the same space with a few design changes. Balconies were added to one side of the ship which gives Viking more revenue but no more passenger space. I feel the balconies are not necessary as the French balcony provides an excellent view and who needs to sit out on a 30 inch balcony? I did not see many passengers using the balconies and they take a foot or more of space from cabins on both sides of the boat.
We boarded the boat in Chalon-sur-Saone after flying through Paris to Lyon where we spent the night before taking the train to Chalon the morning we sailed. Upon arrival in Lyon we took the Rhone Express from the airport (every 20-30 minutes and no need for advance purchase) to downtown Lyon where we stayed at the Mercure Lyon Part Dieu, just across the street from the terminus of the Rhone Express and not 70 meters from the train station. The Mercure is an excellent hotel for someone making these connections because of its location and the fact that it is a modern, beautiful hotel with a good restaurant and very reasonably priced rooms with king beds. A quick walk to the train mid-morning for our ride to Chalon on the train designated Lyon-Paris (no mention of Chalone but a red shirted information girl told me which train to catch.)
We arrived in Chalone for a quick (15 Euro) cab ride to the ship and since it was after 3PM (1500) we were able to go to our cabin. As wonderful as the ship was, I wish I could say the same about the itinerary. My first River cruise was from Amsterdam to Budapest and there is no comparison to that scenery with what is in Provance. First you docked in beautiful European cities everyday while on this ship we were bused to most of the cities. Also, the countryside in Provance is just not the same as on the Rhine, the Mein and the Danube. One of the stops was at night for A 9-10 PM walk but we got there late and the walk did not end until 11:00; too late for me. Boat sailed, missed that city. Seemed to spend more time in some cities with less in others with no reason.
The cabin was well designed to get maximum use of the smallest cabin I have ever seen. A king bed had one foot of space on each side an maybe two feet between the foot of the bed and the built in desk/dresser. Sliding doors were used for the bathroom and closet making it easy to move about without doors in the way. There was plenty of closet and drawer space and the bathroom was very well laid out. The shower doors swung both ways making it easy to adjust the water temp and move in and out of the shower.
The cabin appointments had the finest hardware and fixtures while the small size allowed for more cabins on the ship and more revenue for Viking. Our cabin did not have the balcony which as I explained seems to be a useless, wasted space.
Internet was free but weak in the cabin while there were two computers on the upper deck for internet use. A minor issue, they always started out in French and you had to switch to English and often you had to sign on to the internet.
Big city (third biggest in France). Took the included city tour but guide was hard to understand. Toured Fourviere, a beautiful portion of the old city