Viking Gefjon

Due to low water level, we ended up in motor coaches, 3 different ships, having to pack and unpack. Viking's air reservation had our arrival basically enough time to get to the ship and too tired to leave the ship to enjoy Budapest port and 11am air departure did not enable a visit the last port, amsterdam. The optional tours were more expensive than the larger ocean cruises. The best part of all the changes was staying at the Sheraton at the amsterdam airport.

Great cruise. Viking has truly exceptional service, excellent food and very professional. Included tours were less than what we expected. The optional tours were very good to excellent, except for Munich, which was a terrible tour - not worth 25% of the cost of the tour. Viking handled our transition from one ship to another because of water conditions very efficiently. Almost seemed like we were on the same ship. The upper deck was closed for 5 days, which was unfortunate.

This cruise did not meet our expectations for the following reasons:

1. The boat has a top deck area with covered seating, a few games (poorly maintained two hole putt-putt course and shuffle board) and a walking track.  However after day two until approximately day 12, the top deck was not available because of danger due to low bridges on the Rhine, Main, and Danube.

2. It seemed that every day we were being "nickel and dimed" (actually 80 to 100 Euros) for additional/optional tours and events. We were also asked to pay significant (voluntary? gratuities) to the crew and social director. We paid a lot of money for this cruise. We are aware of other tour operators who bill for everything up front so there are no "hidden, unexpected, and annoying extra charges. 

3. We paid extra money to assure that we could fly our intercontinental flights on United Airlines so that we could accrue miles and use our previoiusly accumulated miles to upgrade. We were accommodated, and we did spend miles plus money to get the desired upgraded airline seats. However, when we returned to the US we were only awarded half of the traveled miles. When we asked why, we were told that the tickets were "highly discounted" so they only gave us half the miles. No one told us this before hand. It was not printed in any of the travel information, and our United Cruise Lines concierge expressed surprise as well. Viking responded with a discount voucher for our next cruise (which we will NEVER take) so we essentially received nothing for the lost miles. 

4. The food was average

The Bright Side: The crew and service on the boat were excellent!!