This cruise was our second, booked our first night aboard our first Viking cruise, Romantic Danube in late March 2018. We wanted to take advantage of a Viking offer and a couple we met recommended this one as an excellent way to see France for the first time. (My stepmother, with whom I travel, has French ancestors and somehow had not yet been to visit this country.) After only a few hours aboard our Viking longship Var, we knew we should arrange to make a second trip in 2019. We also added a post-cruise extension trip to the Loire Valley.

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour from Paris into Normandy despite less than perfect weather (an atypically cold, rainy and late spring) and some disappointing shore excursions. The post-cruise trip was also good despite the indifferent weather and our guide becoming ill.

On our arrival at the quayside, Viking hosts escorted us to our cabin and supervised the arrival of our luggage soon thereafter. Read more