River Cruises - Europe Cruise Reviews

It was the least enjoyable river cruise that we have taken. But we are booked for another one in October and we will see how it goes. We are planning to take a Viking Ocean Cruise in 2025. One last thing. I booked my flights through Viking and somehow I never got the seats I picked. On this cruise I tried calling , Viking and was assured of my seats and that did not happen.

Viking knows how to do it. NO casinos or fancy shows. Instead, you get to experience each port on foot, with an experienced guide. Even in the short time you have, you get to see and do A LOT! Highly recommend

Traveling by river on a longship is a much more intimate experience than ocean cruising. We highly recommend it. Viking does an excellent job of coordinating this type of cruising and offering their passengers a high quality onboard and onshore experience.

A great first time river cruise. We had an excellent staff and made friends o board. We thought we would be the youngest at 30 but there were several people our age that made us feel at ease. The Christmas markets were great, food on board was amazing, only downside to the whole trip was the rainy weather.

This was our first Viking cruise. The itinerary was outstanding, the staff worked very hard and there were no additional charge excursions at every port. The smallness of the ship was both a plus and a minus. You were always surrounded by people, met lots of the cruisers . This was fun but not always— little space for solitude. Similarly the entertainment was limited due to lack of facilities and resources. I expected more , from the commercials about Viking on PBS.

The daily excursions to the Christmas markets and the towns were delightful.  The quiet vox headsets are the best!   Plenty of free time in each port before dinner is served at 7:00 pm most nights.  One night it was served at 7:30 pm.   A barge stranded on the day we sailed the Middle Rhine. It delayed our leaving Mannheim for 8 hours, but it was foggy that morning, so no real concern.  The fog mostly lifted for our afternoon sailing to Koblenz, (see picture), but we arrived just before dinner and many passengers did not leave the ship for that city despite the excellent docking in town.   There were a couple of times that we had to dock away from the city, as in Strasbourg and Freiburg, and take a bus, but I enjoyed seeing the countryside, or a 15-20 minute walk to the city center like in Cologne where we were docked across the river.  Rudesheim was my favorite town, and the ship was docked so you could walk back easily after a long evening in the Christmas Market.   The most surprising and delightful town was Dordrecht.  We skipped the excursion. I enjoyed walking the streets, visiting the museum, and enjoying a local pub.   Very compact and easy to get around on your own, and the ship was conveniently docked in town. 

First time on river cruise. Glad we had the suite, the other rooms looked small. Did not like always eating with other people especially with COVID still going on.

Overall amazing experience. Particularly enjoyed Budapest. We were blessed to have snow for the Christmas experience.

Very nice Christmas market cruise. Viking was mostly high quality as usual, but some details were not up to their standard. Difficulty level of excursions was listed as the same as summer. Expect greater difficulty on snowy days.

The expectation for a Viking River cruise was it was tuned for a older crowd which was the case. We may do another in the future but will likely stick with our other brands ocean cruises.

We love Viking and have sailed all the rivers in Europe with them. This cruise was good but the Christmas Markets were hit or miss. Viking didn’t allow enough time in the ports where they were open.

Our travel agent Ira made sure that our flight and transfer arrangements met our needs and that we got the best deal on our cruise.

A wonderful experience. We will definitely be cruising Viking again and booking through !

Every port was great, food really good, wine tasting was super fun and wonderful staff on the ship. Our 4 days in Spain prior to the cruise were superb.

We had a wonderful time. One surprise was how much we really enjoy meeting some great people while we traveled. The tours were all well done and we enjoyed even when it was a little rainy. The meals were always good and our program director was phenomenal. I would definitely recommend going on this trip.

Everything was fine. I just wished we had more time to see Basil Switzerland and Also Amsterdam as was offered when we booked the cruise. I think it was misleading to have us think these were actually part of our cruise. Also, there should be some additional transportation to get us in and out of the towns so as not to rely solely on walking. Too much walking.

It was our 1st river cruise. The overall experience was amazing, I would not hesitate to do another one with them. The quality of side trips, the experience of guides, the daily meals were delicious, the organization of tours were superb! All in all a wonderful trip !!!

The Viking River Cruise was amazing!! We highly recommend this cruise to anyone interested in European history and beautiful architecture. The Viking staff could not have been any more friendly, knowledgeable, and professional.

Many of the tours are walking tours that last at least 1.5 miles. There are "leisure" tour groups, but the tours are not that leisurely if you are older and not in great shape. Many of the tours stopped short of the bus or the ship and left you to find your way back. We always did, but we sweated getting lost, being old and unfamiliar. The ship was like a luxurious refuge which magically transported us from destination to destination with no apparent feeling of motion. We loved it!!!

Planned this cruise over 3 years ago but it was cancelled multiple times. Would not recommend any river cruises at this time. We managed to be Covid free up until this cruise. No monitoring and no masks on board. Many people coughing the entire cruise. Multiple people noted to have fevers. We both ended up with Covid at end of cruise. Can't protect yourself in such closed quarters with everyone else sick. Travelled on land in Portugal for 8 days before cruise with absolutely no problem.