Sorry - TOT, but as usual one values the views expressed in this august forum..
My wife and I have been thinking about doing a Rhine river cruise for years, and we think that 2015 might be when we take the plunge (so to speak). "Viking" do a lot of advertising, and look very good. However they are stunningly expensive.
We have never done any kind of cruise holiday (and moreover would never dream of doing an oceanic cruise-ship holiday). We're thinking about June time.
Can't comment upon this particular company but many years ago, because my mother hated travel by almost every mode of transport, I suggest that they try a river cruise holiday (Moselle IIRC).
She came back most disappointed with the trip as they didn't get a wink of sleep each night as the engines kept them awake.
If it is anything like a P&O cruise to Norway (Oriana, a smaller ship but plenty to do and good food), the ship repositions every night and is moored when you wake up. It was the aircon which kept us awake unless we wore earplugs. I will be interested in the replies as a similar cruise is on our to do list
I have used day boats several times over the years on the Rhine & Mosel. If you want scenery then nothing North of Koeln, it's flat(mostly), industrial(Ruhrgebiet) and not all that. The pros and cons of cruise boats/lines I'll leave to someone with a clue.
I haven't, but my parents have done a number of such cruises including the Rhine I am sure - I can ask my mum who they went with. I know that they enjoyed them very much
(also did, Norwegian fjords, another one going up to Iceland and Greenland, can't remember where else)
We did their Romantic Danube cruise earlier this year, with a couple of days in Budapest beforehand. I saved £1,000 per person by booking a year in advance. The ship was the Viking Njord
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We chose a 'Veranda Stateroom', which was well appointed, if rather smaller than an equivalent hotel room, which I believe is normal on cruise ships. For some odd reason, the shower cubicle had smart glass, which allowed you, at the touch of a switch, to toggle between opaque and a clear view between cubicle and cabin.
The food was good, but with a hint of nouvelle cuisine in the presentation. We found the constant entertainment in the lounge/bar (Paul at the Piano as various themed evenings) annoying, as we would have much preferred to sit there in company with other passengers, without having to talk over the entertainment.
The vast majority of the other passengers were Americans and they loved the constant attention from the staff. Our preference is for staff who are there when you need them, but don't constantly keep asking if you need anything. Overall, it was an enjoyable holiday, but not one we will repeat. We have gone back to driving around Europe instead.
I was in Porto last year, and went up the Douro by train. This seems to be prime 'river cruise' territory. Except:
The river isn't that big, so the ships aren't that big either. Think Thames barge and you aren't far wrong. Indeed the barge the Queen used for that Thames pageant thing in 2012 is now on the Douro.
It's probably possible to do the river from the sea to the Spanish border in about a day - the slow local train that goes right next to the river takes 3 hours. That means they do a lot of spinning it out, shuffling you onto coaches for trips here and there.
So seems to be more coach holiday, with a small barge to sleep on. Maybe that's what you want if it's a really a wine tasting trip you're after. But the QE2 it ain't.
Then again I'm not 80 - maybe that's the target market.
The Danube and the Rhine are commercial rivers. The tour boats are designed to (just) fit in the locks, which makes them quite large, as you will see if you follow the link I gave.
Boat travel is necessarily very slow.
Even the Nile cruise I did many years ago was better than that.
last year we went on a Viking criuse down the Elbe in May. Definately worth every penny. We did book 9 months in advance and got a significant discount on the published price. Passengers make up 50% USA, 40% UK plus others. Naturally the small world situation and we found with one UK couple that we had mutual friends.
Which only goes to show it is very much a matter of personal taste. I thought our trip over priced, even with £1,000 pp off the list price. We recently had 10 days in Luxembourg, which is not a cheap country (apart from diesel at EUR 1.19 a litre), staying in a fairly upmarket country club hotel, for less than half what a 10 day cruise cost earlier in the year.
As I said, it is very much a matter of personal choice. I consider the planning as half the fun of a holiday and I like driving across Europe. What I don't like is being herded along in a group, being given inadequate time to look at the things I want to see.
However, my partner wanted to try a cruise, so we did. She found it less enjoyable than she had hoped and it won't be something we do again. I didn't view it as good value for the money.
Did this level of attention come because of the class of room that you have booked?
There's seems to be a school of thought amongst the hospitality industry that people pay for upgrades because they want more attentive service not for the greater comfort that comes as part of the deal, whereas I (like it seems, you) are only interested in the latter.
Especially, when they then spend more time that you need at something that you don't want to see.
(I visit historic locations because I like to investigate the everyday things that show how people, both masters and servants lived. I don't want to spend inordinate amounts of time listening to a discussion on the owner's art collection! - but that's what the guides invariably think is important)
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