My Date With A Viking!

I was lucky enough to be invited on a River Cruise along the Danube on board the Viking Rinda recently courtesy of Viking River Cruises, and having never experienced a River Cruise before, you can imagine my excitement!!

As you may know I’m not a fan of the mega-ships. Great as they are, and full of activities, and facilities, I find them to be impersonal, and a bit overwhelming. Too many people jostling and queuing for the popular activities, too much noise…… you know what I mean.

As well as being a bit of a culture vulture + a small ship to experience, just 190 guests and 51 crew – I couldn’t wait to board!

Me and my colleague Caroline rose at the crack of dawn to catch our flight from London Heathrow to Munich to meet our hosts. So after a short flight and a scenic drive, we arrived at the ship just in time for lunch! Oh my god! The food was fantastic! and so much of it! My eyes were bigger than my belly as I couldn’t resist the wide range of choice – all freshly cooked and served by the most friendliest courteous crew I’ve ever encountered. We had the choice of eating in the buffet restaurant upstairs or down in the main restaurant – both offering mouth watering dishes, accompanied by some of the finest wines I have ever tasted. We were completely and utterly spoilt for choice – what a hard life!

After a delicious lunch, I had a walk around the medieval town of Passau before we set sail for Regensburg. More on these destinations later…..

Our cabin was a French Balcony, and although compact, had everything we needed to ensure our brief stay would be as comfortable as possible. Flat screen TV showing latest releases, News, Weather, Maps Itinerary and a favourite of ours, the Lounge Cam! A great way to ‘spy’ on your fellow passengers unaware they were the stars of your own personal TV! There was also the Bow Cam which allowed you to see the view ahead, in time to head up onto the Sun Deck to take some great pics, or admire the scenery.

Excuse the mess….. 🙂 Oh and they’re bottles of water before you ask….

Although the French Balcony cabin we had was ‘bijou’ there was still plenty of wardrobe space and a spacious bathroom stocked full of L’Occitane products! There’s 95 cabins onboard, ranging from a Standard Outside, with 2 windows, French Balcony, up to the 2 spacious Explorer Suites which boast 270 degree balconies for some fantastic views!

The ship itself definitely deserves its 5* rating. The public areas are spacious, light, and airy, and beautifully decorated in I would say a contemporary modern style, with floor to ceiling windows to ensure passengers get maximum enjoyment of the passing scenery. Up on the Sun deck there’s Quoits (not sure how that’s played) and a mini pitch and putt for the more ‘active’ on board. My favourite place was at the very front of the ship where me and a few colleagues sat and took in the views on rocking chairs, a hot chocolate and muffin in hand.

The excursions organised by Viking were superb. The Tour Guides who escorted us around were extremely knowledgeable and interesting, and brought to life the history of the places we visited. Our itinerary included Passau, Regensburg and Nuremburg, all places I’d never visited before and keen to find out more about their history! Especially Nuremburg which was key in the rise of Hitlers 3rd Reitch and the resulting Nuremburg War Trials.

The ship was cosy warm, and a nice touch I thought was the unlimited hot chocolate, coffee, tea, water & juice plus freshly baked pastries, muffins, and cookies, available free of charge every day. Just help yourself.

Another big plus with Viking, is that all meals are accompanied by hot tea, iced tea or coffee, house wines, beers and soft drinks. However you can purchase a Premium Beverage package for just €150 per person, which is incredibly good value for money! and allows you unlimited drinks throughout the day!