European Christmas with Viking Cruises

For anyone who has watched a show on PBS here in America, there is one thing for you can not get away from: a commercial for Viking River Cruises. For us in particular, we watched Downton Abbey on a regular basis and we were sure to find ourselves caught up in the fascination of traveling down a river visiting new places. With those images swirling in our heads coming out of the holidays of 2018, we began to formulate our plan to travel the Rhine Valley for Christmas 2019. This would include an initial three day visit to Switzerland and capped off with two days in Amsterdam. Here is how it all came together.

Pre-Trip

Planning

Start early with planning as it is important to understand where you begin and to make the best decisions based on what you expect out of the trip. Admittedly, this was our first time taking a river cruise so we didn’t know what to expect. We of course saw all the commercials on PBS, but that is only a glimpse into that world. The best thing we can say is to research as much as possible. The first thing is to visit the Viking website. It’s worth going through all they have to offer, especially now that they are expanding in to ocean cruises. The cruises can be pricey, so don’t let that scare you. You should be able to find something that fits your budget.

The next bit of research advice is social media, especially Youtube. We spent countless hours watching various Youtube videos of those that had taken cruises to see whether it was worth the experience. You can also look up industry online publications like Travel & Leisure to see reviews of cruise lines and many will list their best cruise lines for locations or for specific years. While our minds were focused solely on Viking, there are quite a few cruise lines that offer cruises of the rivers with a wider range of options and in some cases amenities. It’s best to compare among the cruise lines to determine what is best for you.

In making our decision we did look for the least expensive options but also wanted something special. As I noted before, we had our mind focused on Viking cruises, so despite all our research our minds were already set on the direction we were taking. The most common cruises for Viking are the Danube or the Rhine rivers, we chose the Rhine as our first choice. To make it special, we decided that going during Christmas would be a unique experience especially getting to the see the Christmas markets that are famous in Europe.

Booking

We started booking our trip in January of 2019 with a cruise for the following Christmas. I’ve seen some people note that they started booking nearly two years in advance. It really depends on when Viking releases their scheduling, but I haven’t seen any scheduling beyond that. This gave us a fair amount of time to prepare for our trip. Their online booking was pretty easy, though I will say that it’s not outwardly apparent that you can do so, but as you navigate the site you will find out you can. You can call Viking to book and will say that when I did have the call the service staff was very helpful. We chose the Veranda stateroom on the main deck as the reception and dining which made for easy access. Part of the booking experience was that flights are included with very reasonable pricing. Airfare will vary based on location and time of year, but it will most likely be to your advantage to take the offer. Air travel will be booked by Viking and will be done within 90 days of your embarkation. We expanded our trip on either end of the cruise itself and I was able to work with their staff to make it work with our overall trip to Europe. I included the travel insurance in the event something were to have happened that would prevent us from taking the trip and felt it was worth the expense. As far as payment, you pay a deposit up front with full payment required within 30 days of booking.

Preparation

Viking will provide you with a portal to update information needed for the trip to include contact and passport information. You do want to make sure your passport is up to date before travelling. It will also be time for you to review your itinerary and choose any optional tours and activities you would like to explore. We also continued to research the places we were going to visit and also prepare ourselves with new items we felt we would need for travelling. These included new suit cases, new clothing for cold weather, and I continued to expand on my camera gear. For US travelers, while Viking does take 110v plugs, it’s probably still a good idea to buy a converter. I’ve had one for years for my travels that has multiple options for plugs to include 220v with enough USB plugs for all the devices and batteries we took with us.

The Trip

Switzerland

We left LAX on December 15, 2019 for Zurich, Switzerland on Swiss Air. We would arrive on December 16 to a new country we had never visited before. Zurich Airport is very modern and you actually arrive in a separated terminal from the main terminal. After collecting our bags we took a taxi to our hotel. the Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel. It’s situated in the Industry Quarter of Zurich and is only a 15 minute trolley ride from the main train station. Getting a trolley pass is reasonable and worth getting if you plan on taking multiple trips within a 24 hour period. We did and it was worth the cost.

We spent the next 24 hours walking through town visiting the area around the old city hall, the Rathaus. The first night we were there was our first experience with a Christmas market next to the Kirche Fraumünster. While there we enjoyed a sausage and some hot chocolate. The next day, Michelle wanted to visit the shops along the Bahnhofstrasse where you will find high end stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Burberry. Prices are high in Switzerland as they are not a part of the European Union, so something to take note if you visit Switzerland. Before catching our train to Lucerne, we ate at Walliser Kanne for some Wiener-schnitzel which was excellent but is served in a very large portion.

Zurich HB Main Station

One thing we found out during this trip is taking the train is very easy. We used it on multiple occasions get around Switzerland to our various locations. Getting a ticket from a kiosk is easy and you only need to look for the departure platform for the city you are going to. You can buy a one-way ticket that lasts all day so you can catch any train for your destination at any time. We arrived in Lucerne in the early evening and walked the few blocks to the next hotel we would be at for the next few nights, the Renaissance Lucerne Hotel. This was a quaint hotel that had a wonderful breakfast buffet in the mornings.

One thing we found out during this trip is taking the train is very easy. We used it on multiple occasions get around Switzerland to our various locations. Getting a ticket from a kiosk is easy and you only need to look for the departure platform for the city you are going to. You can buy a one-way ticket that lasts all day so you can catch any train for your destination at any time. We arrived in Lucerne in the early evening and walked the few blocks to the next hotel we would be at for the next few nights, the Renaissance Lucerne Hotel. This was a quaint hotel that had a wonderful breakfast buffet in the mornings.

Our first full day in Lucerne was spent walking through the town. We found a walking tour app produced by the city that provided highlights of the places you would want to see. It was very useful and provided a wonderful way to explore the city without mindlessly walking from place to place. From the train station, Chapel Bridge, Old Town, and Lion Monument, we recommend that the app if you want to capture the best sites in Lucerne. We capped the day off with some more Schnitzel at Wirtshaus Taube Luzern.

Kapellbrücke

The next day was a big decision. I have always wanted to visit Grindelwald, but it takes nearly three hours to get there from Lucerne. We found that another more closer destination for mountain visitors is Mount Titlis, which is less than an hour train ride away. Considering the time we had, this was the better option. From the train station, you can actually buy a ticket that will include your train ride to Engelberg and then up to the top of Mount Titlis, just make sure you search for Mount Titlis when you buy your ticket. We arrived in Engelberg in about mid-morning and we looked for someplace to eat. We found this little cafe called Kafikaufbar where initially the kitchen wasn’t open. As we waited, the staff kindly fired up the kitchen an brought us an English breakfast. They were so kind and it was a wonderful little spot to grab a bite to eat.

After eating, we walked over to the Titlis Mountain Station to take us to the top of the mountain. With our ticket, we just walked up to the stalls before you board the gondolas and the staff there gave us our pass to go up the mountain. You will make two transitions before you reach the top, with the final gondola that rotates and gives you a full 360 degree view. With a storm approaching the following day, the winds were strong and made the initial ride up seem a bit hairy, but we made it to the top where they have a multi-story visitor center. With the approaching storm and high winds, most of the outdoor activities were closed, but we were able to explore the main observation deck, walk through and ice cave, and shop for chocolate and hot cocoa. The views from this vantage point are amazing with scenery into the Swiss Alps to the south and back down into valley towards Lucerne to the north. It did get quite crowded with other tourists who were there as larger groups and when we returned to Engelberg they loaded us onto a larger gondola on the second leg rather than the smaller 6-man ones used to go to the top. Then it was off to the train station and back to Lucerne.

On our final night in Lucerne, we ate at Fondue House Du Pont. Fondue is popular in Switzerland because of it’s hearty nature. The food was wonderful, but the experience was a bit odd. We seemed to have arrived as the owner, assumption based on his demeanor, was having drinks with his friends and went about instructing the staff on what they should do. He came to our table at one point offering us drinks and eventually gave us an art book that was supposedly his. He was certainly a joyful person that added to the character of that meal. After this and the next morning, it was off to Basel to embark on our Viking cruise journey.

The Viking Cruise

Day 1 - Basel, Switzerland

Once again, taking the train from Lucerne to Basel for our embarkation was easy. One of the things I need to mention is we were travelling on these trains with our luggage. Having the new four-wheeled variety helped making this part of the travel easier than the standard two-wheel models. The trains are usual spacious enough and most of the time have a luggage area in the cars. We arrived in Basel and grabbed a cab to take us to the boat. There was a bit of a language barrier with the driver, but using the documents we had on hand we were able to navigate to one of three embarkation points. Because the traffic on the river may vary, the boat may not be in the first location when you arrive. We didn’t realize this at first, but quickly were able re-navigate to the next location where our boat, the Viking Mani, was moored.

View fullsize

Basel Minster

Like most cruises, boarding is done by first leaving your luggage at a collection area and then boarding for check-in. One of the main directors of your stay will be there to take your luggage and direct you to board. Your bags will be brought to your stateroom after you have checked in. We were in a Veranda stateroom near the aft of the boat on the starboard side on the main deck. This was a great location to be away from the bustle of the lobby and also on the same deck as the dining area. It allowed us not to have to travel up and down stairs too often, but we did spend quite a bit of time in the lounge on the next level up. The room is spacious and has an outdoor balcony. It is best to unload your clothes and items into the drawers and closet and to place your luggage underneath the bed. You should be able to fit any size luggage under the bed unless it is over-sized. There is plenty of lighting, 110v plugs for those of us from the U.S., the bathroom is quaint with heated floors. We never felt the space was too small for us.

After a light lunch (I’ll cover the overall food experience later on), there was a walking tour of Basel. Because we were a bit away from the main old town, we had to take buses to get there, which you tend to take buses to locations frequently during the cruise. The town of Basel is wonderful, the downside on this particular afternoon into evening was that it started to rain. Viking does provide very large umbrellas which are nice, just be ready to know who all are from Viking as they are colored very red. The main area we covered was around Basel Munster, the main Protestant church form the 9th century. We walked through small alleys hearing the history of Basel and then ended up in the Barfüsserplatz for a Christmas market. We were then allowed to explore for another hour before returning to the boat via the bus. We would leave Basel that evening for our next destination, Breisach.

Day 2 - Breisach, Germany

During the night the boat travels through a few locks and arrives in Breisach before you awake. After breakfast, we had our shore excursion to the Black Forest. Here you will take a couple of ride from the docking area to Hofgut Sternen deep in the forest. Hofgut Sternen is a small tourist village that allows you to experience the essence of the Black Forest itself. Here you will get a chance to hike through the forest, watch glass being blown, see how cuckoo clocks are made, and try the famous Black Forest cake. If you are outside at the top of the hour, you can catch the worlds largest cuckoo clock perform its magic. After a two hour stay, it’s back to the boat.

Breisacher Münster St. Stephan

The next option was to take a tour of Colmar, but we decided to stay in Breisach and walk through town. The town is small and with the approaching holiday it appeared that stores were mostly closed. There was a small Christmas market with a skating rink in the main square. We decided to walk up the hill to visit the main church in town, Breisacher Münster St. Stephan. The church, built in the 12th to 13th centuries was destroyed during World War II and was rebuilt after the war. The streets was quaint with markers for historical events scattered throughout the area that give you a read on the story of the town.

That evening after everyone had returned to the boat and dinner had been served, our first entertainment event was Christmas caroling sung by a local choir. I recorded the event on my phone and when finished one of the carolers approached me to see if they could see the video. I showed them and to my amazement noted they had never seen themselves recorded before. Upon returning home I was able to encode the video, place it online and now they can see it any time they want.

Day 3 - Strasbourg, France

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Our next port was the city of Strasbourg. On this day we would enjoy the walking tour to visit what is the old part of the city. At one time, the area was well known for it’s textiles as it had mills it could run from the rivers flow. When our tour was finished, we attended the first of two masses during our trip since it was Sunday. This was at the cities iconic Gothic church, Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg. It was a unique experience as during mass times you must be attending mass, no tourists are allowed in at that time. We had heard mass in French before partly, in Paris’ Sacre Coeur, but this time we were able to hear the whole thing. Because Catholic masses are fairly uniform, even with the language barrier, it is very easy to follow along.

After mass, we decided to stay in town and grab some lunch and visit parts of the Christmas markets and there are many scattered throughout the old town. We ate lunch at the L'Alsace à Table, which specialized in seafood cuisine from the Alsace region. I had one of the fish specialties and it was quite delicious. After, the weather started to turn for the worst with rain, but we tried to do a bit of shopping at the market that was positioned in front of the church. From pastries, meats, candies, to toys, you can find almost anything you need to enjoy the Christmas season. We bought a few food items, but decided it was time to return to the boat with the bad weather, so we rejoined one of the tour guides back to the bus for our return journey. The evening was capped off we the crew serenading us with some traditional Christmas carols.

Day 4 - Heidelberg, Germany

The next morning the boat arrives in Mannheim where we go for our next excursion to Heidelberg. Heidelberg is a college town nestled in the valley of the Neckar river where it meets the Rhine basin. The town in dominated on a hill of the souther bank by Heidelberg Castle. This 16th century castle was most destroyed by the French during the Nine Year’s War. In its heyday it would have been a grand castle and holds the largest wine casket anywhere in the world. The castle was the first part of our visit.

Heidelberg Castle

After we visited the castle, we had a couple of hours in town before we had to return to the buses. We made the most of the time visiting both of the main churches in town, the Protestant Church of the Holy Spirit and the Catholic Jesuitenkirche. I bought a new stein from the Christmas store Käthe Wohlfahrt. Then we made sure we visited the Old Bridge where you can capture wonderful views of the river and a set of towers from the old town gate. You can also get a wonderful view of Heidelberg castle from the center of the bridge. With time running short, we made sure to stop by the visitor center to grab the cities famous Heidelberg Student’s Kissing chocolate. Unfortunately, the main store for the chocolate was closed. Once again, it was time to board our bus and head back to the boat, which we now met in Rudesheim.

Rudesheim was our last chance to see a Christmas market before they were closed down for the holiday. It was quite lively on the night we visited with live music and plenty of food to eat. Under normal circumstances you can tell this would be a quiet tow to visit but plenty to offer. This was the only time we decided to grab some gluwein, a spiced wine that is served warm and prevalent in most markets in Europe during the holidays. We returned to the boat to prepare for a very busy Christmas Eve.

Day 5 - Rhine Valley & Koblenz

The one thing we had not done for most of this journey was just spend the day floating down the river. This day would be that day as we would travel through the famous Rhine Valley and all it’s numerous and strategically placed castles. In their day, these castles were built to control navigation of the river. Today, some lay in ruins while some are converted hotels where you can stay with exotic views of the river. The downside to our journey down the valley this day was that the rain was considerable. Another passenger and I placed ourselves at the bow of the ship, decked out in our rain coats, and ready to take in the sites. A couple of my favorites were Marksburg and Reichenstein Castles. One day I hope we can return to the valley with better weather as the views are spectacular but dulled because of the rain.

Winningen, Germany

At the end of our traversal of the valley is the city of Koblenz. It is a meeting point of the Rhine and Moselle rivers and was established here by the Romans because of it’s strategic location. Before our wine tasting tour, we walked around the park next to the boat dominated by the Memorial of German Unity with it’s massive statue of Wilhelm I. Then, it was off to the Moselle valley for our wine tasting tour and the town of Winningen. Here we visited the Weingut Weyh winery which specializes in Rieslings which are primary wines produced in this region. The owner took us into his inviting tasting room where we tried various Rieslings from most bitter to the sweetest wine I have ever tried. The very sweet wines are made from late harvest grapes that have a high concentration of sugar due to this process. We purchased one of these wines and would have purchased more had we more room or the winery shipped. A special treat was the owner’s dog Pablo who was easy to please with a scratch in the right place.

To close out the evening, we were presented with a glass blower in the lounge. It would seem odd to have a glass blower conducted work on a passenger cruise, but with exquisite control of his blow torch, the glass blower demonstrated his skill in creating beautiful glass works. At the end of the presentation we were allowed to purchase pre-made items scattered throughout the lounge. We purchased a glass angel for our tree and future Christmases.

Day 6 - Cologne, Germany

Cologne Cathedral

It’s Christmas day. The day started off with a walking tour of the center of town that finalizes in the square in front of Cologne Cathedral. Our tour ended just in time for us to enter the cathedral for us to attend Christmas mass at noon. This time we listened to the mass in German which was a new experience for us. German, much like English, is a harsh language and doesn’t flow near as eloquently as French or Italian. In some ways, it almost sounds angry. Unfortunately, our mass was a bit low key, as the mass presented by the local bishop had been done two hours earlier and was grander in scale. When mass was finished, we were then allowed to walk through the church to see many of its artworks, statues, and relics. Most notably, it has the Shrine of the Three Kings, which is said to hold the remains of the three kings who visited Jesus at his birth.

After mass was finished, it was once again raining, so we looked for a place to duck in and grab a bite to eat. We found a place near the boat along the river for some schnitzel and a Kolsch beer. It certainly hit the spot with the cold weather. When we were done we returned to the boat for the remainder of the evening. We left the pier fairly early and the captain stopped the boat in the perfect spot to catch the Cologne Cathedral at night lit up in all its glory. It was almost spiritual with haze of lighting reaching up into the sky. That evening the entertainment was a pianist and violinist duo who played an elegant set of music which was a magical way to finish one of the holiest of days.

Day 7 - Kinderdijk, Netherlands

Kinderdijk, Netherlands

Our final full day on the boat was spent continuing our journey to Amsterdam with a stop in Kinderdijk to visit the famous windmills. There were still many great sites to see as we travelled down the river before arriving in Kinderdijk. Before we arrived, one of the passengers on board had fallen and we needed to dock to allow medical staff to assess the passenger. The captain with deft ability docked us in a small area and after a quick evaluation of the passenger, we were on our way and didn’t lost any time. When we arrived in Kinderdijk, we had our normal walking tour which included a pumping station and one of the windmills, setup as someone would live in it a century earlier. Some people still live in a few of the windmills and while operational, don’t really function as a primary way of pumping water out of the lowlands. Most of that is done by modern pumps. When we were done, we did a bit of shopping to pick up a few knickknacks, then it was back the boat to prepare our to leave the boat and our final leg to Amsterdam.

Day 8 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam would be our final destination for this trip. Viking itself didn’t have anything scheduled for us other than disembarking. We thanked the staff we could find for their hospitality and then headed off to our hotel, the centrally located Amsterdam Renaissance Hotel. It was a great location as it was close to the train station and being a walking city it doesn’t take long to walk to many locations withing 20-30 minutes. During the week of our travel we made the decision that the first day we would visit the Heineken Experience. We had already grabbed tickets and made our way via the subway to get there. Interestingly the sounds of the subway reminded of BART in San Francisco. Before going to Heineken we ate at De Carrousel, an interesting pancake house that serves either savory or sweet style pancakes. They were delicious, but you may get away with just one order for a couple if you aren’t too hungry.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Heineken Experience I will say is OK. I much prefer the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Heineken does an OK job presenting in the first few stops in your tour, but it does start to get cramped and depending on where you are in the group, you may miss out on some of the presentations. They had a pretty neat virtual experience towards the end of the tour where you walk through a series of rooms and you are blasted with displays on walls, ceiling, and the floor that defy your imagination. At the end, you can get two pints of Heineken to close out your experience.

While the next day wasn’t included in our Viking experience, I’ll close out Amsterdam with what we did with our remaining time. We spent the day just walking through the city, catching the sites. We first visited the Royal Palace. Built in the 17th century, it is still used by the royal family for official events, but on most days is open to the public as a museum. It is is recommended visit. We also tried to visit Rijksmuseum, but it was too busy so we just walked the grounds. That evening, we took a canal dinner cruise through the city with Lovers Canal Cruises, it was OK, the food wasn’t great and I believe at this point we were so tired and ready to go home. The next day, we took a cab to Schipol, Amsterdam’s International Airport, to fly back to California via Zurich. If you purchased items in Europe that require you to get back the taxes you paid, be sure to give yourself plenty of time. Depending on what airline you are flying, you may be on the opposite end of the airport from where these services are. Thus ended our adventures in Europe for 2019.

The Food

I did want to speak briefly on the food served on the Viking Cruise. In the morning, they have a buffet with an omelet bar, or you can order from a set menu of items. For lunch, you can order from a set menu in the restaurant, or you can head to the Aquavit Terrace for a buffet style lunch, but you can also serve from the set menu. Dinner is served in the main restaurant, or you can seat on the Terrace, and it’s a set menu with some regional choices and a few items that repeat daily. In general, the food was very good. The first few days I didn’t feel that the food met the standards I was expecting, but it did improve over the duration of the trip, especially the dinners. Speaking with other passengers who had been on Viking Cruises before, they also felt the food on this particular trip was a downgrade. Finally, most alcoholic drinks are paid for, but you can get some complimentary with the meals. They do have a package where you can pay for all beverages up front.

In Summary

Overall, this was a wonderful experience. We would do this again in a heartbeat and are looking forward to our next trip. We are actively looking to travel the Danube as our next adventure with Viking. The ability to have a floating hotel travel among beautiful cities was the balance that was needed as compared to maybe taking a bus tour or travelling yourself. As I have written this blog we have entered into global pandemic, so there is a lot of questions as to when we will be able to travel as we have in the past. I am sure we will get there, but until then, we will dream of that next soiree.