River Cruises - Europe Cruise Reviews

Very nice river cruise. The cities I visited were somewhat boring. I didn't appreciate the tardiness of certain rude passengers.

The weather was good, mostly mid-50s and overcast. The region does experience fog in the morning in November. The food and wine were very good on this ship, better than the Rhine cruise. We spent four nights in Bordeaux, which was excellent because there was so much to do. We had a delightful dinner at Chateau Kirwan. The evening was the highlight. We purchased wine from our last stop in Sauternes, as it had first-class growth wines that were worth the price of shipping home.

We love Viking and the crew on this tour was outstanding!! We loved the all the tours. We went to the Black Forest and Colmar as well as those listed. I would highly recommend both!

Ama, as always, provided us a lovely, luxury vacation. The crew was kind and gracious. The service was exceptional. We look forward to our next sailing with them.

Spain and Portugal are beautiful and the Douro Valley is gorgeous. Prepare for an immersion in wine and its production. Lots of walking on uneven surfaces but the pace of excursions is always reasonable. Bus rides are through lovely countryside. Guides are excellent. The ship, the staff and food are excellent.

We really enjoyed almost every minute except for one hour of touring in the rain, was only supposed to drizzle. Took more pictures than any other vacation

My friends and I were very happy with this cruise! A lot of attention to detail and the crew was friendly and efficient throughout! I’d sail with AmaWaterways again if I do another river cruise.

This trip gave us an excellent overview of four popular European countries while keeping our luggage and sleeping in the same place every night.

This was our first river cruise, and we very much enjoyed the Avalon experience. The cabin design was a selling point. Service was excellent in all areas. Our Cruise Director Simona had her work cut out for her, as the day of our departure the River Lock workers were on a 1 day strike, so they had to adjust our departure to the next day and our excursions/transportation for the first few days. It all worked out, with missing only Les Andelys port/excursions. Loved the Port Talks each evening, and especially the historian Nigel Stewart who did a 1 hour lecture the evening before the Normandy Beach excursions.

Our first river cruise, and a pleasant introduction to Central Europe. Support staff was very good. Leadership was fair.

Overall a very pleasant and educational cruise and excursions. The valleys along the river and interior were so perfectly structured and beautiful with vineyards, olive trees and other trees and cliff side homes. My only critique would be that it would have been nicer to have a bit more free time in the areas we visited as sometimes we felt a bit rushed to get back to the bus "on time"... The last excursion for which we paid $139 each, we spent around 2 plus hours on the bus (in traffic due to an accident and rush hour) and only got to enjoy the the outside of the historical buildings and because of the traffic and restroom delays we only spent about 2 hours in that part of historic Guimeraes... so that was unfortunately disappointing. One highlight was the visit to an authentic "bakery" where we sampled wine, and pastries for about 30 minutes... then we had 20 minutes of free time... just not enough time!

the ports were the most important consideration for us. would recommend this cruise.

This is a highly scheduled and fast-paced cruise as are many of the river cruises. I would describe it as an introduction and that is exactly what we got. The ship is well appointed and we were glad to have a suite. We never really felt crowded. Generally we had an enjoyable time and will consider doing another Viking Cruise.

Overall an excellent cruise. On some of the excursions the guide was sometimes long winded. Ok if you're walking but sometimes standing for 15-20 minutes

It was nice, but not worth $36K. Viking air arrangements were also not good. In order to leave SFO with the couple we were sailing with on the same flight, we had to pay an additional $1850 a piece for the business class seats we had already paid for. Returning, we were also unable to return on same flights so we just went separately. I doubt if we will ever go on another river cruise.

Viking service is unmatched from Airport to Ship and back!

Nice cruise with a group but would not do it with just husband or wife. We prefer Ocean cruises with more activities and entertainment.

Everything was excellent except the times when parked next to another boat. While we were in Porto we were completely closed in for 2 nights and had just had the night before in another port with the same thing. It’s not worth the extra money to get a veranda. The excursion in Porto was not good. They need to improve on that.

Overall amazing cruise, has a wonderful time and saw lots of cities/towns in France we would have never seen. Missing from the list above is Honfelur which was our favorite. Be prepared to be busy! Tours are tight scehdule with no a lot of downtime on boat. *Many ports do not allow you to get off and walk around as they are not actually docked in the city, so make the most of the tours!

It was a very nice cruise. English speaking guides were for the most part very informative and interesting. A lot of walking was required to partake of the city tours, so keep that in mind if there is a mobility issue. We walked about 45 miles during the entire cruise. There are "gentle" walking tours, however, we found that the guides did not make any exception in endurance and/or speed while giving their presentations. This was a huge problem for several of us who did use the gentle tour. Feedback was given in the cruise survey that guides need to be aware of mobility issues. I do feel that more activities should be included with the off-ship tours, not just talking about buildings/churches. Maybe if music and/or demonstrations while on land could be scheduled prior to guests arriving to ports, that would make the excursions more enjoyable and memorable.