It was good but could have been better

Viking Jarl Cruise Review to Europe

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 88

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Viking Jarl

7 Night Romantic Danube Eastbound (Nuremberg To Budapest)

Sail date: June 28, 2015

Ship: Viking Jarl

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 227

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Good things - Beautiful ship, Service was outstanding, Food was outstanding. Part of the scenery while cruising was astonishing. Relaxing friendly atmosphere on ship...we easily made friends to enjoy our time with. Budapest was breath taking beautiful and made the whole trip worth going.

OK things. Many ( not all, buy many) of the ports of call had little to offer other than a church. Their "all inclusive" shore excursions amounted to  little more than walking around a small town with a guide struggling to think of something to say.. and then the rest of the afternoon "was on your own"...which really meant theree was no included excursion. There were things that you could do, but these were not "included"--see below comment.

Bad things - Some of the "optional" shore excursions really should have been part of the all inclusive package as the "included" excursions were really nothing.What was disturbing was one of the "optional" excursions that be paid $75 each for was what we understood to be an Viennese production of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Opera. We found that we were transported not to the Opera district of Vienna but instead bussed 55 minutes to the very worst parts of town to an sweltering old building that they did not turn any ventilation on until the very end when people were complaining and watched a 90 minute performance by American college students. It was ok, but very amateurish and I think what else could we have done with $150 and a night in Vienna. The next day in the city we found several other "opera" companies trying to sell tickets for  what appeared to be similar or better  events at much nicer locations for almost half the price. So disappointing. I trusted Viking to make good decisions for me in a city that I knew little of and instead I felt they cheated me.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Excellent. I liked the bath products. It was spotless and housekeeping was wonderful.

Ship tip

Carefully read the description of the "included" shore excusions when comparing trips. Some are MUCH MUCH better than others. This one was disappointing. We went to China with Viking last year and all of the shore excursions were interesting, robust and truly "included" in the price.

Ports of call

Main/Danube Canal Transit

3 out of 5

Regensburg, Germany

3 out of 5

Passau, Germany

5 out of 5

Melk, Austria

5 out of 5

Vienna, Austria

5 out of 5

Budapest, Hungary

5 out of 5
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