Vikings Top 15 European Cruising Experiences

Table Of Content

• Suites and staterooms aboard Viking River Cruises’ ships
• Explore Ship Classes: Start with Our Award-Winning Longships
• Châteaux, Rivers & Wine
• Viking River Cruise Ships Itineraries and Deployments
• Christmas on the Main & Moselle
• Fellow Passengers
• Dining on Viking River Ships Centers on a Main Dining Room, Casual Meals in Aquavit
• Discover Our Ships

Personalized Attention From the moment you first plan your journey to the time you return home, Viking's staff takes care of you. They are the reason why Viking has won more consumer and industry awards than any other river cruise line. And why their guests have awarded them a 99.6% customer satisfaction rating, saying that they have met or exceeded their expectations. Friendly Smiles, Familiar Faces Loyal members of the Viking family, their staff returns year after year. Many of the activities on board Viking's ocean ships revolve around "cultural enrichment," to use a phrase often used by Viking executives. On any given day, you might find an expert on one of the destinations you're visiting lecturing in the theater, or a classical musician performing in the central atrium, known as The Living Room.

Suites and staterooms aboard Viking River Cruises’ ships

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Explore Ship Classes: Start with Our Award-Winning Longships

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Châteaux, Rivers & Wine

The entire main pool area is covered with a glass magrodome that can be opened on short notice on warm and sunny days — or closed if the ship encounters inclement weather. If you're looking for a big open room on an ocean cruise (and are willing to pay for it), Viking offers you plenty of options. You'll find everything from eight-day cruises in the Mediterranean to 138-day around-the-world voyages among the line's voyages. Viking has a particularly large footprint when it comes to European river itineraries, with a wide range of sailings on nearly every European river of any note. That's because the vast majority of Viking's ocean vessels are carbon copies of each other. One price covers most everything—port charges, Wi-Fi, meals, lectures, activities and shore excursions—plus hotel accommodations on cruisetours.

Viking is one of the only cruise brands in the world that offers a balcony with every cabin on every ocean ship it operates — even the least expensive, smallest cabins. That's something that even the most upscale of Viking's ocean cruise rivals including Oceania Cruises, Azamara, Seabourn, Silversea Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises can't say. In addition, in early 2022, the line began its first cruises to Antarctica with its first expedition ship, Viking Octantis.

Christmas on the Main & Moselle

There also are casual buffet eateries called World Cafe on every vessel. Marketed solely to English-speaking countries, the majority of Viking's passengers are North Americans, with a smattering of Brits, Canadians, Aussies and a few other nationalities added to the mix. Most passengers are 55 plus -- many of them retired -- and well traveled, although often on their first visit to Europe. The general age for river cruise passengers is 60 and older, but Ingvi and other Longships, with their contemporary design, were built with an eye toward attracting a slightly younger traveler. Regardless of age, passengers tend to be well-traveled (though many are visiting Europe for the first time).

It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with tables for six and eight. Breakfast and lunch are buffets that are served during set times, although you can also order cooked-to-order items off the menu. Aquavit Terrace, an indoor / outdoor lounge located on the upper deck, is one of the best places aboard the Longship sisters. Light lunches, continental breakfasts and other items are served here. Each Longship measures 135m in length and carries 190 passengers in 95 outside-facing cabins.

Dining on Viking River Ships Centers on a Main Dining Room, Casual Meals in Aquavit

Viking also shuns amenities such as spas, pools and fitness centers, which in turn means more room for passenger cabins. With longer port calls and our destination-focused approach, Viking maximizes your discoveries in Europe. From the fairytale castles of the Middle Rhine to the natural beauty of Norwegian fjords, you will gain deep insight into the continent’s cultural and historic riches.

Discover Our Ships

Whether you use a travel agent or not, make sure to maximize your credit card spending when paying for the cruise by using a credit card that offers extra points for travel purchases. This could be the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which offers 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on travel and dining (excluding the annual $300 travel credit). There's also the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which offers 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on travel (and 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on dining). If you're sure that Viking is your line, look for a travel agent who specializes in trips with the brand. You want someone who knows all of the line's many itineraries in detail and, preferably, has sailed on or at least inspected some of the line's vessels, too, to understand the various cabin types and onboard amenities. A good travel agent will quiz you about your particular interests, travel style and preferences, and steer you to the perfect cruise line, ship, itinerary and cabin for you.

Viking Cruise News: 10 New Longships Coming to Rivers by 2026 - Cruise Critic

Viking Cruise News: 10 New Longships Coming to Rivers by 2026.

Posted: Wed, 06 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

All dining on Viking river cruise ships is free, with open seating and no reservations required. Since river cruise ships have to meet specific length or height standards due to bridges and locks, the basic structure of Viking’s new riverboats required a lot of thinking and practical creativity. To use the limited space judiciously, the designers adopted pug-nosed bow against conventional pointy-nosed ones. Dip into chocolate-making at the lakeside Lindt headquarters in Kilchberg, Switzerland.

Part dining area, part sunny hangout, the Aquavit Terrace sits at the front of the ship and provides a perfect vantage point for scenic sailing. By building modern European river ships at scale, Viking has been credited with revitalizing river cruising due to their deck plans, cabins and dining spaces. Viking Longship is a series of 12 new river cruise ships on order by the American river cruise operator, Viking River Cruises.

That said, given the complexity of booking a cruise — there are a lot of decisions to make during the booking process, trust us — we always recommend that you use a seasoned travel agent who specializes in cruises. Viking also includes access to the thermal areas of its spa in its base fares. Such access almost always comes with an extra charge on cruise vessels. Viking's recently unveiled Mississippi River ship offers self-service launderettes but no send-out laundry and pressing service.

Coffee stations and some snacks are usually available during the day. Room service is limited -- it's breakfast only and only available to passengers in the Explorer Suites. It is also the place where guests can sit and enjoy the open sky at night. Additional space was created by shifting the corridor off-centre to the side of the ship by one metre. This asymmetrical corridor configuration enabled the designers to accommodate a variety of staterooms. The six additional ships will increase Viking’s investment in its fleet development programme by $150m.

They're also people who can afford a relatively high-end vacation experience. While Viking doesn't market itself as a luxury line, some would call it that. Viking vessels are full of luxury touches, with the pricing to match (see more on what Viking trips cost at the bottom of this story). If it's a floating celebration you're looking for in a vacation, this isn't the line for you. It also positioned interior corridors off-center to accommodate cabins -- full balconies on one side and narrower cabins, some elevated to suites with separate sleeping and living areas, placed sideways on the other side. Journey through the world’s most exciting destinations with The World’s Leading River Cruise Line.

Both the staff and the daily program provide ample notice when this is the case. Don't be fooled, though; creating those spaces was more hard work than magic. The designers' creation of such spaces required a lot of rethinking about the basic structure of river ships. To fit under the bridges and through the locks of Europe's inland waterways, riverboats have to meet specific size requirements. If length or depth is extended past those limits, the ship won't sail. What first strikes you as you step onboard Viking Ingvi, one of Viking's numerous Longship-class sisters?