EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISE

We were recently invited to join Viking River Cruises on a Christmas Markets Cruise along the Danube. European River Cruises are all the rage right now, and we were curious to find out what the fuss was about.

Dave and I admit that we are not experienced cruisers. We have been on an Alaska cruise, Antarctica, and the Arctic expedition. But not a sightseeing cruise.

We only understood the workings of a cruise after our Viking River Cruise.

European River Cruises, Tips For Non-Cruisers

We made many mistakes on our European River Cruise. If we had been smarter, we would have enjoyed the trip more.

We decided, for some reason, to ignore our brains and follow the crowd when we boarded the ship. This is not necessary.

You are not required to take part in the tour or follow along. These tours are offered as a courtesy.

The tours are not mandatory and are included in your cruise price. Viking River Cruises offers them to enhance the experience for their passengers.

When you arrive at the port, you can do whatever you like. We had to follow the group as we were told.

We let someone else set our itinerary and became more frustrated each day.

Near the end of the trip, we learned from our mistakes and realized that we, not the cruise, were at fault.

The Danube River is a great way to visit many iconic European cities like Vienna, Salzburg, and Budapest.

You can get from A to B in comfort and style, with all of your meals, transport, accommodation, and comfort provided.

If you purchase the EUR150 unlimited package, you can enjoy a delicious dinner in the dining room and all-inclusive drinks. Then drift off to sleep to awaken at your next destination.

The Best Locations in European Cities

We could visit each city quickly and have enough time in each port to see the main sights.

If you’ve never been to Europe or like to have all your transportation taken care of, this is a great way to travel.

A river cruise means you don’t need to pack and unpack constantly; search for hotels or board trains. A river cruise is a floating hotel that takes you to some of Europe’s most beautiful cities.

Our ship docked in Budapest right outside the Four Seasons Hotel Downtown.

This is prime real estate, and we couldn’t afford to stay at such a centrally located hotel. We stayed in an excellent hotel on the Viking River Cruise every night.

You can experience Europe authentically by planning well and enjoying the breathtaking views of the Danube while on your riverboat.

Tips For Taking A European River Cruise

We can plan our own tours and shore excursions.

We should have planned our trip when we booked our cruise.

Get Your Guide Urban Adventures and Urban Adventures are two of Europe’s best day tour operators.

We could have avoided the crowds of cruise passengers and taken tours off the beaten track if we had booked our tour time with them as soon as we arrived.

We would dock in the town most of the time, making it easy to arrange a tour.

We could have taken a free walking tour of a European city or explored independently. The sky’s the limit.

Take Public Transit or Hire Taxis

Getting on the tour bus was a mistake instead of finding our own transportation.

Our ship was only five minutes away from the Metro in Vienna. In less than 30 minutes, we could have been enjoying Mulled Wine downtown.

We sat on the bus for an hour and a half, listening to the tour guide talk about things I didn’t care about.

The tour guides in the buses talked non-stop and did not leave a moment of silence.

I would have liked a quieter trip with the drivers only chiming in when they saw something interesting, like a landmark or an exciting architectural design.

Book Dinners in the Cities

We often stayed in port later so that we could eat in town.

When food is provided on board, it can be challenging to justify the additional cost. However, to get the whole feel of a city, you should eat locally.

We would have eaten out much more and enjoyed ourselves a lot more. We should have eaten more on land and visited more coffee shops.

We took bus tours instead, which brought us back to our ship in time for dinner or lunch every time.

We would have had to explore more and eat out if we had traveled alone.

Book Vienna Orchestra concerts independently

We made a big mistake in Vienna. We were looking forward to attending a Viennese orchestra concert that featured compositions by Mozart, Strauss, and other composers.

People were selling tickets in the main square of Vienna, but we chose the ship tour. It could have been a better idea.

We joined the other ships that night in a large hall big enough to accommodate the crowds that descended on the city all at once.

We did not want to watch a concert in Vienna in this way.

We wanted to experience a historic venue, a Renaissance-style theatre ornately decorated. Imagine that Mozart himself would have played here.

We can understand why our seats were in a similar setting to an auditorium. We know why we ended up in an auditorium-like environment.