What is the usual for Viking cruises

Item: Viking Skadi
Rating: 3.6
Author: BRAUL51

Viking Skadi Cruise Review to River Cruises - Europe

BRAUL51

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

9 Night Tulips & Windmills (Amsterdam Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 16, 2019

Ship: Viking Skadi

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Why would a “Port Authority” tell Viking it could not dock in Amsterdam-but instead in Rotterdam? Viking is a huge river cruise line and has 44 itineraries that depart from Amsterdam. Have they NO clout?? When did Viking request this port of call? We made this reservation 2 yrs in advance and within 5 days of embarkation, Amsterdam ,which was a FEATURED,25% of the cruise gets changed???? How often does this happen to Viking. We are not talking low water levels but Port Authority says. We also had our return Amsterdam center port call changed to 5-10 miles away. Should we not have had consideration given for missing out on Amsterdam at the beginning? Let me know if this has happened to you on previous Viking cruises-not due to low water levels

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Easily met. But they should stop at a currency exchange at the airport

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Dining experience was great

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

There were very little on board activities offered. They did have a welcome cocktail hour and a short game night twice

Entertainment

2 out of 5

No expert speakers. One 2 man band that was good and one absolutely awful geriatric off key a cappella group that was painful to listen to. They had an ok resident pianist a singer everynight

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Very friendly and helpful staff.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

However, in port another ship or the dock was so close that one could not use the balcony. However, the balcony stateroom was larger than the one without a balcony

Ship tip

Do not do the basic Viking air-they just bid it out to the lowest bidder and charge you as if you paid for service. Itineries and flights are awful. Pay the extra $50 to $150 to choose Viking air plus and you can change your itinerary. Basically, the only thing you are paying for when you give Viking the basic cost is the convenience of being brought to the ship and back to the airport without additional cost. If you

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Amsterdam, Netherlands

3 out of 5

At the last minute ‘port authority” told Viking we could not park on the river and had to dock in Rotterdam—a 45 min(turned into 3 hrs sec to an accident) drive away. On our return trip”port Authority”

Thumbs Up 0

Hoorn, Netherlands

4 out of 5

Not enough time give I this very nice town

Thumbs Up 0

Arnhem, Netherlands

3 out of 5

Too much time being driven through the suburbs and very little time given to the museum and cemetery

Thumbs Up 0

Kinderdijk, Netherlands

2 out of 5

Too much time spent here for what it is. The barge trip option is a waste of time

Thumbs Up 0

Antwerp, Belgium

4 out of 5

Love this town. Not enough time for leisure Belgium eats optional tour was good

Thumbs Up 0

Ghent (Brugge), Belgium

4 out of 5

Great town-virtually no time to discover it

Thumbs Up 0

WALCHEREN, NETHERLANDS

2 out of 5

Really,more dike and waterworks-all day. Leave this out and spend more time somewhere else

Thumbs Up 0

Rotterdam, Netherlands

2 out of 5

Ugly town not worth being in port

Thumbs Up 0

Keukenhof Gardens (From Amsterdam), Netherlands

5 out of 5

Fabulous and almost made the entire cruise worth it. Everyone should see it at least once.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

All went well but I feel that they brought as many as they could to the airport. We arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance. We had to be off the ship at 0615 for a 1035 flight

3 Comments

olddbob 5 years ago

Amsterdam recently increased its port charges. Now many ships are reconsidering docking there. Also it is well known that recent low water levels have affected many river cruises

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CaptPoppi 5 years ago

Not sure but port authority is now or will be charging a port NEW tax that viking may not want to pay. Some other cruise lines are also changing away from Amsterdam as a stop.

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Emo507 5 years ago

Thanks for the info

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