Our 8 Day Viking river cruise started in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We had taken a transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette to get to Amsterdam, and as luck would have it, the Silhouette berthed in the place that our river cruise ship, the Viking Baldur, normally docked. This necessitated that the Baldur temporarily dock at a remote pier in Amsterdam until the Silhouette departed. We had been told we could walk to our Viking ship, but due to this situation had to take a taxi to find where the Baldur had berthed. Our taxi driver was excellent, and after asking a few river cruise ship crews, quickly got us to the Baldur.
Due to the early hour, around 9 AM, the Baldur was still in the process of off-loading previous passengers, but nonetheless we were greeted at the pier by Caitlyn, our Cruise Director. She gave us a warm welcome and directed to leave our luggage and have a seat/coffee in the lounge and relax until our cabin was ready. Since the Baldur was parked in a rather remote location, Viking had arranged a free shuttle bus to transport passengers hourly between the ship and the center of Amsterdam. Two of these shuttle trips included a short city tour, and after getting in our cabin and having a bite to eat, we decided to take the 1:30 city tour. We had a wonderful guide who gave us a short, but interesting tour of the central part of Amsterdam. It started to rain during the tour and we were eager to get back to the comfort of the Baldur.
The Baldur is one of Viking’s newer “Longships”. It has 95 outside staterooms including: river view, French balcony, veranda, veranda suite, and Explorer Suite cabins. The Baldur has three decks and our cabin was on the middle deck. We had booked a French balcony cabin that had a sliding glass door that opened to the river, but no veranda. We feel this is the best value, as you really have little time to spend in your cabin. This is good because the cabin only measured 135 sq/ft compared to our 194 sq/ft Silhouette cabin. We had to quickly get our luggage under the bed in able to move around the cabin. The bathroom was small, but efficient, and I was even able to get my 6’ 3” body into the small shower that had excellent water pressure. All in all, we made due.
We had booked a French balcony cabin that had a sliding glass door that opened to the river, but no veranda. We feel this is the best value, as you really have little time to spend in your cabin. This is good because the cabin only measured 135 sq/ft compared to our 194 sq/ft Celebrity Silhouette cabin. We had to quickly get our luggage under the bed in able to move around the cabin. Storage was adequate, and the room included a small refrigerator and free bottled water. The bathroom was small, but efficient, and I was even able to get my 6’ 3” body into the small shower that had excellent water pressure.