Thanks for all the info about this. The wife and I have been intrigued by the Viking river cruises but now I think we may get serious about planning one.

Hope this thread grows and grows

We’ve been talking about a river trip, or a Porsche driving trip, for a year or so. Great information and appreciated.

2-3 years ago, my wife and I did the Viking Cruise from Paris to Normandy, with an extra couple days in Paris beforehand. We were, by far, the youngest on the cruise at 37y except for one other near same aged couple, but we found like able/minded people and had an amazing time. I went because my grandfather jumped with the Airborne on Normandy, and always thought I would hate Paris, but that was not the case. I like Paris much more than our trip to London. The people on the cruise took great care of us, even making a “mushroom” dessert the night after our mushroom based meal when I asked why the dessert did no include mushrooms... I did learn from that not to challenge a chef so far outside the norms of cuisine. THe mushroom dessert was a fair effort but nothing like the standard fair which leaned heavily on chocolate and heavy cream... Nonetheless, I was impressed at the effort the crew gave the whole trip, even though it was routine for them, and look forward to using Viking in the future for river cruises.

I’m doing this when I’m 60 if I’m still around.

I’d always intended to do it when my kids were all gone


I reset that timer 6 years ago, though, so I’m not getting to do it as soon as I had hoped

If anyone is interested, my photos of the 2010 Avalon Waterways cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157624729863909/. I think the Viking cruise would be very similar.

My photos of the 2015 Avalon Waterways cruise of the Seine River and Normandy are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157654100280263/.

flashguy

I know it's a bunch of old white retired folks departing from the boat, but I still can't help but wonder if the locals run scared and the farm animals shake in fear...

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I know it's a bunch of old white retired folks departing from the boat, but I still can't help but wonder if the locals run scared and the farm animals shake in fear...

Very funny! In the big cities we were among thousands of tourists from everywhere, in the small towns I'm sure they see dollar signs.

Speaking of shaking in fear, does your upcoming Mississippi River tour stop in Davenport or Bettendorf IA? If so, send a note to the address in my profile.

My wife always mentioned the cruise when she saw an ad on tv. I just told her about the average age and she said no way in hell. We are in our mid 30's.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I know it's a bunch of old white retired folks departing from the boat, but I still can't help but wonder if the locals run scared and the farm animals shake in fear...

Since each river boat has at most 150 souls, I doubt much fear is engendered.

flashguy

quote:

Since each river boat has at most 150 souls, I doubt much fear is engendered.

Some accommodate up to almost 200 passengers, not including crew.

A river cruise or "Viking River Cruise" as you described it is the only type of boat cruise I would ever consider.

Nice thing about river cruises is that you are never out of sight of land--there is always something to see ashore.

If you are considering a river cruise, there are several companies offering very similar ones. You might want to check them all out and compare prices. I don't think there will be very much difference in the accommodations among them. You might also find some companies have departure dates more to your liking than others.

flashguy