River Cruises - Europe Cruise Reviews

I would recommend this cruise with the knowledge that at certain times of year you are taking a risk that the water levels may be too low. We missed Decin for this reason but fortunately, we had no further problems. The Elbe is a beautiful river with very little traffic. We felt like we had it to ourselves.

Proactive, Personable, and attentive service. Amazing food. An amazing way to tour the Danube region.

We recently returned from our first river cruise selecting Crystal Cruises because of their 5 star rating. We felt taken advantage of because we depended on their representative for booking.  Upon arrival after a 10 hour flight, we were expected to handle our own luggage.The " motor coach" was about a 1/4 mile from the luggage carousel. No assistance was provided.  We were two couples with 10 pieces of luggage total. On other cruises we were met by a representative of the cruise line and next saw our belongings in our stateroom .  To carry our suitcases at our age and with medical conditions was totally unacceptable. Having relied on the Crystal booking agent,  our accommodations were not as promised. We were misled and never told we were paying $12,000 to be situated  in the basement level of the boat, partially submerged at water level.  We spent 12 days at submarine level watching garbage float by our "panorama" windows. The sound of water splashing on the window kept us up all night. In addition when we docked our "view" was of a concrete wall that made our rooms constantly dark during the day when we docked in the ports . To make matters worse, we asked the crystal representative that our cabins be in close proximity. Instead we ended up at the opposite side of the boat with staff quarters between us. All attempts to remedy the situation fell on deaf ears. Nothing was done. For a cruise line with a five star rating, we found the food tasteless and unexciting. Breakfast and lunch everyday was the same for 12 days. There was very little deviation .  It was boring and monotonous.  To make matters worse, one member of our party had severe food sensitivities and had filled out paperwork in this regard prior to departure.  This matter was not addressed until the 5th day of cruising due to our own initiative. This was a HORRIBLE vacation experience.  We would NOT recommend Crystal River Cruises. Definetly Not worth taking off work for. TOTALLY disappointed. DON'T GO

Wonderful reception staff, Helene the cruise manager is engaging but not pushy, self effacing and fun and always aware of her guests and their needs

My first river cruise and it will not be the last. From the moment we booked till we got on the plane to come home we were taken great care of. Picking is a class act company and has customer service down .they are good it was trip to !ale us happy

Traveled with two other couples and had a great time. Our travel agent, Jennifer Martin with , was very helpful. This was our second Uniworld river cruise. We’ve done several ocean cruises.

Most of the passengers were 55+ yo, which we wanted. No children. Staff treats us like Royalty. Food was fabulous. Highly trained Chefs.. Waiters would get you what ever you wanted on menu. Cooked to perfection. Program Director knew about all sites and ports. Gave preday talks about what to see. You could go off on your own for museums. Trip guides at ports were residents thar talked about history of their towns. Had a Fantastic time. We are pkanning our next Viking trip soon.

It was not a cruise. Minimal cruising with inconvenient parking spots. Food was a disappointment and totally not memorable. The highlight was the Art Historian who was spectacular. This was our second visit to Venice and she pointed out things that we did not notice before. Venice is made up of 8 or 9 islands which I did not realize before the trip. A few of the islands were again not memorable so I don't know if visitation there was worth it. If this is your first trip to Venice I think there is probably better ways of seeing it without visiting all of the islands. Our opinion!

Was just okay! Did not help to start with a very negative due to KLM flight and personnel.

Viking gives you a more personalized experience both on and off the ship that just cannot be matched by the ocean cruises. The experience on "Passage to Eastern Europe" was a real eye opener for us.

The cruise gave you an excellent understanding of the history and culture of the Netherlands and Belgium. We are an active couple that enjoys walking and exploring on our own. This gives us comfort, the optional tours, and plenty of freedom to explore on our own at the same time.

I totally loved this cruise. I had done a Viking Rhine river cruise last year and enjoyed it enough to book another cruise for this year. But if I were to compare the 2-the AMA waterway experience on the AMA CERTO was superior-the cruise director, the attentiveness of the staff, the variety of excursions each day with very few additional costs except in Vienna were exceptional. Of the two, I think the AMA cruise in the long run was the better value.

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.

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!