River Cruises - All Cruise Reviews

Overall, my husband and I, and another couple we were sailing with, had a wonderful time. We learned so much about the french culture and about wine and lavender and just really got to explore with the included shore excursions offered on the tour. I would love to sail with Viking again, and we spoke to many that had either experienced the Grand European tour or want to next. I was very impressed with how everyone was really interested in getting to know others and how open and accepting the guests were. The tone is set by the staff and by the end of the cruise everyone feels like family.

Just absolutelt fabulious, truely enjoyed the whole trip

HIghly recommend this trip. It was uber relaxing on the boat. The staff is wonderful. The excursions are good tourist overviews of each city. Many people got private tours and I would recommend that if you want to know more about any given place. I will definitely take another river cruise and would probably use private guides for part.

This was the best cruise we've been on. The friendliness and helpfulness from everyone was amazing. Our captain was wonderful and spoke to us frequently. Nicholas, the program director, was very organized. All of our activities went very smoothly. It was great to have him out and about with us.

We visited places we had seen before and many places we have never been or even heard about. We were not disappointed. Highly recommend this trip for those with a desire of adventure and willingness to travel by boat and plane.

It was a wonderful cruise, but I do not wish to take my time to write 150 characters about it.  Uniworld consistently does an excellent job and I would always choose them for a river cruise.

Our cruise was perfect.  We met 3 other couples & enjoyed their company for the entire cruise.  The food was delicious; the sights were spectacular; & the staff was personable & efficient paying a lot of attention to detail .  We definitely recommend  the Rhine River Cruise.    

Amazing ports of call provide opportunity to "feel" historic events in authentic surroundings. Local guides demonstrate wide-spread knowledge, enthusiastic narration, and personal warmth and interaction with cruise guests.

"Cruise Director" assumed a curious role. He did not appear to ever leave the ship, and displayed little effort to get to know but a relatively few guests. Other, similar, cruise lines have Director in the field with local guides.

Beds were particularly comfortable. Food plentiful, but not very variable.

Ships crew personable and friendly. Ship facilities excellent.

Delightful, educational, and enriching cruise.

Viking ship: Know this, other than a young blind woman and her guide, we were the only people under the age of 60. The average age is around 70, with many close to or over 80 on this cruise. What this means is that (among other issues this creates) the tours are geared at people that cannot handle much. A 15 minute walk is advertised highly, to encourage all to attend and know it is not too much. What this means is that tours tend to be dry and boring. The pace of walking is more than sluggish and the amount you see is minimum outside of the coach. The guides are not at all interesting and, being an extensive traveler, I have never been so bored in my lifetime. Each day means 2-4 hours on the bus, as there is nothing close by. You MUST go on their tours and deal with extremely uncomfortable long bus rides. There is literally nothing to do on this ship, so staying back behind is not a option and there are no towns at the “ports”. The “pool” is about 10 feet long and 2-3 feet deep. There are 3 steps to get to the bottom of it, if it tells you anything. What a total waste. There is no gym (Viking does tell you this) and, further, you may not run along the top, as the people can hear you in their rooms. You must concede to no exercise at all on their cruise and you won’t make it up in walking, as you see much of what you do from the bus. The scenery you sail is very beautiful, but there really is not much to do except visit wineries. If you do not like port, which is a very sweet wine, that makes for a very boring vacation. Your ship moves as your bus does, so you get little of the sailing time through the valley since you are on the bus much of the time the boat is sailing. TV: Warning, you lose satellite quite often during the trip. Since there is nothing to do on the ship, this is problematic. Their list of movies is garbage, which was also a bummer. We also had some issues with our TV, as it would sometimes not work and they were constantly trying to fix it. They had the opportunity to at least have some current features, which were not available, to pass the time when you are trapped on ship with nothing else to do. This also goes to wireless availability and cellular service. They all drop off for long periods during the sailing. Do not book extra excursions prior to boarding. They have plenty of places and cannot do a refund on the ship, which causes issues. They told us to get a refund on line and the on line system didn’t allow it either. We will now need to fight with Viking upon our return to the states. Staff: Many are wonderful. Our guide (bus 1C from the June 4th sailing in 2017, however, seemed impatient and with attitude. The reception staff were requested of things and would just force us to follow up over and over again, never following through on their own. The program director said she would try and set up somethings for my husband and I , tired of the bus. We heard nothing from her again. The matra de was wonderful and the wait staff was very accommodating. The chef was very friendly and with a sense of humor Food: . I was told by many that had been on other Viking cruises that this cruise did not match the normal Viking river dining experience, which was a bummer for us. Mediocre at best. Good fruits like berries are not present and they make their own yogurt, which is watery and gross. Not sure why they don’t just buy local yogurt like most do. Night one, we had steak as the special, but it was slightly overcooked. The dessert special was amazing. We were told the steak would come medium rare and it did not. Night two was the lamb chops. They were OK, but not great and there was little to the dish. Dessert was a marscapone and it was terrible. Night 3 was a peppered chicken. It had way too much in pepper on the skins and it was not pleasant to eat. The waiter also did not understand the dish, as I asked about the potatoes served with it and he said a thick piece of potato and it was actually more like a hash brown. I am not certain how they cannot know what is being served. Dessert that night was a banana split, which was a banana cut in half with one scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, whipped cream and almonds on it. It was OK, but certainly not worth the calories. The next night was a pork tenderloin special, which was not good. The dessert was a sort of custard advertised with berries. It came with 2 small blueberries and when we all asked for more, we were told they ran out. How can you have a dessert based on blueberries and run out? Breakfast too, was mediocre. They have the waiters making eggs and they tried twice to get me eggs over lightly and both times they broke them. Even the chef made eggs one morning and needed 2 hands to crack them (awkwardly) and broke one! Salmanaca night the menu was horrible and almost 100% of our table ordered the rib eye instead. The mashed potatoes came out ice cold (not warm, truly cold). The dessert again was subpar. They seem to do a lot of custard type desserts and not one was good, so they need to figure something out. The next night’s menu was good and I ordered the filet mignon, which was cooked perfectly. Dessert, again, we a disappointment. Lunches have been a struggle for most of the cruisers. They just don’t have the basic menu they need and try to be too fancy…..and cannot seem to handle that either. I would recommend they come up with a basic menu for lunch that is always available, full of “normal” eating, which they lack right now. They did have Gluten free pasta and options, which was nice. I will give the chef kudos for the last night’s meal, a veal dish. It, along with the starters, were excellent the last day. Had the food been this good throughout, we would have been more than satisfied!

We had a great week on the Rhine, and loved all the stops.  Tour guides were amazing!  Food was good and staff very attentive.  Would definitely recommend this cruise, and we are looking forward to another trip next year!  Also loved the smaller groups.

The excursions were great.  The guides were all very knowledgeable and fluent in English.  No one had any trouble understanding any of them.  The excursions were very well organized and the groups were never too large.  The ship was nice and well maintained.  The lounge was comfortably arranged as was the dining room.  The other guests on the ship were pleasant and fun to be with.  All of the crew made you feel special and appreciated.  The food was delicious, the menu varied, and the dishes always well presented.  I particularly liked that I was able to select my flights to and from the U.S.A. at the time of booking.

One of the best part of this cruise was the people we met on board.  This was an unexpected pleasure.  Also Program Director Mircea was fantastic.  Our tours and tour guides were exceptional though at times it was like drinking out of a fire hose.  So many facts, facts, facts...A few of the tour guides could shorten up their descriptions and add a few stories, particularly in Vienna.  A rich history I know but we are only going to remember a few things so give us the high points.  Mostly though the tour guides were fantastic.  As for improvements, mostly the food was great with a few exceptions.  The vegetarian food on the Aegir was really quite awful.  The chef is clearly talented but needs some remedial training on preparing edible vegetarian meals. 

Beautiful cruise. Excellent service. Saw too many churches and I like churches. The WW II tours were the most meaningful. The guides really knew their stuff and it's an experience we should all remember. 

Seeing the world through a new lens  - -  Sailing Eastbound on the Danube River with ports of call in Germany, Austria and Hungary is enchanting enough, right?  However, the real enchantment and excitement stems from the first class accommodations and services rendered on our Viking Cruise journey.  Vikings' choice of stops  -  particularly, Nuremburg, Vienna and Budapest allow for a unique experience in each historical place.  Amazing views from the river; topped by excursions and exploration of these beautifully rich, cultural cities of Europe. It's an understatement to say this was a 'once in a life time' experience.  Intending on continuing our Viking River Cruising, heading the other way on the Danube!!  Thank you Viking!!

River cruising is totally different than ocean cruising. We are going back in 2019!

The Osfrid is one of the smallest ships in the Viking fleet, but very well designed for this trip.  Many in the crew were Portuguese, quite engaged and very committed to serving their guests on a very unique itinerary.  Our only major disappointment was that the bed in our cabin had a notable and unfortunate peak in the center of the mattress which made a comfortable sleep more difficult than it should have been. 

One scallop as an entre'? Seriously? Food is NOT the highlight of this cruise. Great crew, great itinerary.  One of the best cruise ventures in Europe.  Air connections are tough at best. 

The River of Gold cruise and the excursions were both wonderful. The cuisine was so poor that we couldn't wait to dock so that we could eat something off the boat that we would enjoy. From uncooked rice to rare pork chops to uncooked Perch to something greesy that somewhat resembled bacon to cold dishes which should have been served warm and the opposite. We can go on and on! We and many others continued to voice our complaints to the Matre'd as well as to the waiters who were the innocent victims in the middle of this dilemma. We learned from someone that the head chef had been terminated at the end of our cruise. Slot of good that did for us. As I explained to the customer service rep over the phone, we take these and other cruises for the enjoyment of the scenery visiting wonderful places etc, the pleasures of relaxation and being catered to, and for good Cuisine.  Accordingly, we are prepared to spend a decent sum to obtain these services and expect nothing less!  Especially following Vikings long standing reputation in all aspects of a cruise vacation.  This was our first cruise with Viking and may have been our last. Viking has given my wife and I  two cruise vouchers for $750 each to be used for any cruise with them during the upcoming year.  When asked what we felt would be a fair compensation for our dissatisfaction with the food we advised that we would anticipate vouchers for a minimum of 50% or $4000 for the two of us. That would be fair and ensure our future booking. Viking didn't shock me when they declined and said that the $750 or slightly less than 10% would be their max. They proved to me that they are no better than others at what they do and have a long way to go to raise the bar.

From the moment we stepped on board the MSC Sinfonia we felt special.  We had a wonderful week but we must say that Valentines Day was extra special as we had our wedding on the ship.  It was so romantic and the cake was divine.  An Officer even escorted me to the wedding venue and that made me feel very special.  Later that night when we returned our cabin was beautiful decorated and a sign on the door read "Do not disturb - Just Married" That definitely put a smile on our faces. We will always cherish this cruise and plan to cruise again soon.

Thank you for an awesome unforgettable romantic experience.

Wonderful cruise. Great Crew, and Cruise Director - Victor! The Captains and Crew really adapted to the low waters on the River, and made sure we still had an immersive experience. The Captains worked over time to get us up the river and for the cruise to continue for the full 7 days.

We had to be bused to Strasbourg, which was an hour away. Due to this, Victor called ahead to a local restaurant and provided us lunch for the day...on their tab. 

Dress in layers, and be prepared for changing conditions. If you aren't adaptable, or have adversity to the cold, this may not be the cruise for you.