Viking Cruise’s Romantic Danube

In my review of our Viking cruise in December of 2019 I noted that we were eyeing our next river excursion would be on the Danube. Last month, in light of the new normal we have found ourselves in with the advent of COVID, we were able to make that trip a reality. As we had already allotted funding for this trip, it was only a matter of finding the right time to schedule our trip and prepare for what obstacles would be placed before us. Like any trip, there are risks to travelling at any time and I hope this will show that it is possible even with the extra precautions that various entities are taking to make it safe. If you go into your planning and trip understanding things might not go as planned or may change unexpectedly, you should be able to enjoy the experience by making the best of it. It’s best to remember you will be travelling to place you may never see again, so keep yourself in the moment as much as you can. Much like the last review, I’ll go through all the steps in took plan and how each day went during the trip. The goal of this is to show, it can be done.

Pre-Trip

Planning

The planning for any trip is an ongoing endeavor for us. We constantly watch YouTube videos on cruising and visit cruising websites to compare each of them. Since we had already had our Rhine cruise under our belt and the five percent discount we receive for cruising previously with them it made sense that we would choose Viking. Plus, we had told my wife’s parents, who would be joining us on this trip, that we would be taking them on our next trip. Being they are in their early seventies, we knew they would enjoy the experience and there are locations that wanted to experience that will be discussed later in this review. Finally, it was only logical that the next cruise would be the Danube. Viking openly admits that the next cruise most travelers take once they have done either the Danube or the Rhine is to do the other one. There is also a two week cruise that covers most of each river with some variations.

Since we don’t have children, we are quite flexible on our timing. Timing for us really determines price and weather in most instances. For Viking, most river cruises start towards the end of March and we decided this was the time for us. It is mostly the cheapest time to travel on Viking and we did choose the first cruise of the season. The risk you take here is the weather may not be beyond winger, but you will definitely avoid the warm European summers. On this trip, we experienced a wide difference in the weather in the direction you would not expect. You also avoid the crowds by taking a cruise out of season. We do try to avoid the spring and summer breaks to limit the crowds we have to experience. I would say in this case our ship was at about 75 percent capacity.

Booking

A big difference we took this time with booking was that I worked directly with a Viking representative. While I am sure I could have taken care most of it through the website, it made it easier to work with a live person because of the need to have their ability to work directly in their systems. In our case, we had two rooms that needed to be booked which brought its own challenges because each room is considered a separate booking. This did require a few extra steps on my part since I was managing the entire experience and that was primarily having a second email for my in-laws room. It also allowed me to assure that we had rooms in as close proximity to each other as possible, which in this case were across the hall. They also took care of booking all the flights as we had that included as part of service. Keep in mind, when you see how Viking lists their cruise prices, air is not included in that price and is listed separately. I will say, that their pricing in general is better than even booking directly with the airlines but it can vary. It is worth researching, especially if you want to extend travel on either side of your cruise on your own.

We did add the Nuremberg and Prague extension to the end of our trip. The cost was nominal enough to make it worth our time and it certainly added to the experience. Most Viking cruises have some type of pre or post cruise extensions near their embarkation or debarkation locations that are no necessarily accessible by ship. This allows for going to those locations as part of your overall vacation and still be part of the complete package. It is worth researching to see if you can do it on your own, sometimes I like to do that myself. Viking does manage the whole experience when you use them, so if you want to not have the pressure of getting yourself and your fellow travelers from place to place, it might be worth it.

Let me also add that having travel insurance included is a must. We used Viking’s insurance and considering how fluid things can be it is probably best to have it in case someone does contract COVID or some other unfortunately incident occurs. We have actually seen people testing positive or getting injured and it has caused their vacations to be derailed. It’s best to have some type of assurance you aren’t losing all your money or getting hit with exorbitant costs that were unintended.

I will say that our booking agent was wonderful. Jane did a very good job in helping us though the booking process and was valuable in the lead up to preparation for our trip.

Preparation

After you have made your booking you will have access to the myvikingjourney.com website. Here you will be able to manage your booking such as filling our passenger information and uploading some required documentation if needed. You will also be able to book any optional tours you would like to take and change things like the seats on your flights. This site will also be valuable in making sure that you are up to date on any pre-travel activities you need to take care of. For our trip, we had to verify vaccination with a system called Verifly and make sure health questionnaires were completed. The site will make sure you complete these activities if they are required so it is best to keep an eye on it over time, especially 30 days before your trip. Since our trip, some of these have been removed as requirements, such as Verifly, so things do change quickly as I noted. You will also receive a package in the mail that will have baggage tags you will use later for when you embark on your ship.

The one thing that for now is still with us is testing for COVID. I myself traveled to Italy in November of 2021 and had to get a COVID test to fly there and one to fly back to the US. As long as this rule is in place, it will be the most stressful part of traveling to any country that requires it. The real trick comes on who is requiring that you be tested, it could be the country, the airline, or the cruise itself. In this case it was Viking who was requiring that we receive a negative COVID test 72 hours before your first flight to your final destination. In our case, neither Hungary or KLM Airlines required that we have a negative COVID test in order to travel between the United States and there. It wasn’t until we boarded the ship that we would need that negative test.

It goes without saying that before you leave to have all you documents updated and consolidated in a document pouch of some type. This means making sure your passport is up to date and printing our any important information you might need on your trip. Your Viking agent will over all of this with you prior to leaving, just another step in the process I feel Viking does really well. For us, we had our passports, vaccination cards, negative COVID tests, and our finalized Viking e-document in our pouch. The e-document is important as it will have contact information for Viking in the event something goes wrong on your way to your embarkation. It will even tell you where the ship will be docked when you get to your destination city.

The Trip

The Viking Cruise

Day 1 - Budapest, Hungary

We departed LAX on March 26, 2021 to begin our journey. For those of us living in the Los Angeles region, we are experiencing quite of few changes to our primary airport. I had considered using a shuttle service, but we went with our usual method and parked at QuikPark for long term parking. I have to give a special thank you at this point to the driver of one of their shuttles who pointed our we could use the first floor parking which usually was reserved for valet. I was able to find a spot only a couple of rows over from the loading area for the shuttles. We took the shuttle to the Bradley terminal and got through ticketing and security without much trouble. We would be taking KLM from Los Angeles to Budapest with a stop over in Amsterdam.

The Hungarian Parliament

When we arrived in Budapest the next day, the Viking transfer process began to show how valuable it is. When we took our Rhine cruise, we did most of the transferring on our own, so we didn’t get to experience it then. After you go through immigration and retrieve your bags and you exit the secure area you will may be greeted by a platoon a Viking personnel. They are hard to miss with their red attire. Now, you may have your red tags on your bags and they may direct you to them, but you can just walk up to them and they will check you off on which ship you are going to (if there are multiple ones) and consolidate you into groups for eventual transfer. Before we left the airport, I would say there were about a dozen of us who would be transferred to the Viking Atla, our ship for the next eight days.

Once you arrive at the ship, you really only need to make your way off bus and board. As long as you have the baggage tags, the long red strips you received in the mail, attached to your bags, they will be delivered directly to your room. We didn’t do that when we had arrived, so I had to quickly get the tags out and put them on. I decided to wait really in case something happened to them during our flight. Once on board, we quickly received our room keys and it was off to our staterooms where we did have to perform our first COVID test. At this point, I had heard that on some cruises you had to take the test and then wait for your results. In this case, we could take our test and then go about exploring the ship to have lunch or even leave to check out the town. There was a three o’clock walking tour which we missed because of the timing of our arrival. At this point, we unpacked and waited for dinner. We did have to conduct a safety drill to know where our muster points were and that meant grabbing our life jackets and proceeding to the top deck. Unfortunately we only had one life preserver in our room and had to get one from the staff.

At dinner, just like before, you can sit anywhere you like in the main dining area. We found a spot and ordered our dinner. I’ll mention more later about dining, but I remember in this case my crème brûlée was a bit off. The filling was a bit soupy.

One of the new changes we had on this trip was how you actually check in and out to get off the ship. Before, we would drop off a card at the front desk that would signify that we were onshore, this way they could verify that all passengers were aboard before they departed. Now it is automated, you use your room key to badge in and out at a kiosk at the entrance. I liked this method as it kept what you needed to carry and track down to a minimum. That evening I ventured out on my own with my camera gear, across the Danube, to photo the Hungarian Parliament building at night. It was a wonderful walk along the river, Budapest had great riverside walking paths and I felt safe during my entire outing. The view of Parliament at night, well, I’ll let the photo speak for itself.

Day 2 - Budapest, Hungary

Our second day in Budapest started with a dash. We needed to be off the ship by 8 AM because it would be leaving for reasons unknown to us. Speculation among most was that the docking location we were at needed to be vacated for other ships. Another could have been timing as travel down the river you need to be at certain points along the river at your allotted time, such as locks. It’s also important to note at this time that Budapest is in some sense two cities in one. On the west bank of the Danube you have the hilly Buda side of the city where you will find Buda Castle, while on the east side of the river you will find the flatter Pest side which has the ever famous Parliament building. We started on the Pest side and visited by our coach locations like Hero’s Square, St. Stephen’s Basilica, the State Opera, and the City Park, which houses the famous Széchenyi Thermal Bath. After, we crossed the river to the Buda side to visit Castle Hill, where you will find Buda Castle, Matthias Church, and Fisherman’s Bastion. Here our tour continued on foot and we visited Matthias Church. When our tour of the Church was completed we had about 45 minutes of free time before we had to return to the bus and catch up with the ship.

Chasing Viking Atla

Once we were back on the bus, we started on our way to Esztergom where we would visit Basilica of Esztergom and rejoin with the ship. The city was at one time the capital of Hungary during the middle ages and the Basilica is one of the largest buildings in all of Hungary. Again, we exited the busses and visited the Basilica before returning the ship that was docked nearby and then it was off to Vienna. By this time it was around 2 P.M. There was some consternation at this point around the amount of time we were away from the ship and the limited time we had free when we were at Castle Hill. It didn’t allow for much time to eat or even a chance to relax to take in the sites. We did hear from multiple other guests who complained that they wish they knew they would have limited time or no access to the ship for lunch for the better part of six hours. Since Viking caters to an older clientele, it may have been better to maybe skip the Basilica in this case to allow for a slower pace. It did feel a bit rushed to fit as much as they could into the tour. It may have been better served to allow for either city to be an option or have some type of snack considering the gap between meals onboard.

At the end of our time in Hungary, we never felt we got the full experience in the city we may have expected. We did see quite a bit, but we didn’t get to visit the baths and, for only me trekking out to see the Parliament building at night on my own, we didn’t spend much time visit shops and restaurants. If you are starting in Budapest, it might be best to arrive early or use Viking to extend your time there.

Day 3 - Vienna, Austria

A major reason we chose Romantic Danube was because we got two days in Vienna. This takes stops like Linz and Bratislava off the itinerary, but we felt we really wanted to get as much time in Vienna as we could. The morning we arrived we had our included tour which bussed us to Maria Theresa Plaza, where we would walk through the grounds of Hofburg Palace, the winter home for Austrian rulers. It is a rather large complex and houses many museums such as the Sisi Museum, Imperial Apartments, and the Spanish Riding School with it’s famous Lipizzaner stallions. The tour then took us down an avenue lined with high end shops such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Burberry, and arrived at our end of our trip at the Stephansplatz, home to St. Stephan’s Cathedral. After visiting the Cathedral we had a short time to shop, but we did have a extra excursion to Schönbrunn Palace, so we returned to the ship for lunch before that began.

Schönbrunn Palace

After lunch, we started our trip to Schönbrunn Palace. We arrived at the palace to take our tour and it is safe to say per our guide that the palace was not busy. A palace designed to rival Versailles, it usually gets millions of visitors per year. Most likely due to the recent pandemic is was not crowded at all. While not nearly as grand as its French counterpart, it is still quite impressive and it’s gardens are huge. After the tour of the interior, we did walk around to the garden side to catch the view, but there wasn’t much time to spend there. It was near the end of the day and when we tried to visit the gift shop they were closing. We did get some gifts across the street at the bus terminal where we waited for our bus to return. If you want more time at the palace, and you have the time like we actually did, I might suggest going to the palace on your own. While the tour does take care of the travel and you have a live guide, you actually do lose quite a bit of time in transferring to each location. In hindsight, I would have preferred when we were done with our morning tour, grabbing lunch somewhere near Stephansplatz and then grabbing the subway to Schönbrunn. We most likely would have had more time to explore the grounds.

Day 4 - Vienna, Austria

Our second day in Vienna was mostly free time. Our cruise director set a time for that morning to guide those who wanted to return to Stephansplatz and she would guide you there. They even had tickets you could buy onboard for the subway to take you there and back, which I thought was a nice forethought. Our main goal for this day was re-visit the Hofburg palace and the Sisi Museum, which included Imperial Apartments and a bit of shopping. Empress Elisabeth of Austria, or Sisi, was the wife of Franz Joseph I of Austria. She’s a bit of a controversial figure to some degree depending on what country you are in. Hungary adores here and would be where she would spend most of her life and Austria somewhat looks down on her because of it and her wanton disregard for royal duties there. We did hear quite a bit about her in both countries during certain tours. The museum goes into every aspect of her life from her health and beauty regiment to her eventual death by what can only be termed and accidental assassination (she was not the initial intended target). After you this, you enter the Imperial Apartments which are at the high end of any palatial housings. They would rival any of the major palaces of its day. We were glad we returned to visit the palace.

Concert at Palais Auersperg

After we were finished with the palace, we had lunch at Demel, a famous pastry shop just a few steps from the palace. We had some very delicious sandwiches and bought one of the famous Sachertorte for later eating. It’s a very rich chocolate cake invented by Franz Sacher, hence it’s name. When we finished lunch we visited some of the high end shops where I bought a scarf and my wife purse. Before returning to the ship for dinner, we grabbed a few souvenirs.

Our final evening in Vienna was going to be a special one. My wife and I added the extra excursion to go to a concert with music from Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss. The concert was held at Palais Auersperg that evening and I have to say it was spectacular. It lasted about an hour and included pieces such as Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and Requiem to Strauss Radetzky March and, of course, The Blue Danube. They had opera singers for Mozart’s The Magic Flute and dancers for Strauss’s The Blue Danube. It was a magical evening for sure and this is one thing I would highly recommend you do in Vienna. Even if you are not on river cruise, I still recommend you find a way to see a concert if you ever visit Vienna. When we returned to the ship late that evening, they had goulash being served in the Aquavit, which I thought was a night touch and late night snack.

Day 5 - Krems, Austria and Wachau Valley

Unfortunately, as we left for Krems from Vienna, the weather began to change. This would almost directly align with our Rhine cruise, where the seminal moment of the trip was shrouded in rain. It began with the day starting with a visit to Gottweig Abbey. The abbey sits high upon a hill that overlooks the Danube River valley back to Krems. The abbey is a Benedictine monastery that is most famous for its Apricots. After touring the grounds and the church, you get to try out their wines which is produced from the apricots they cultivate in the surrounding area and the abbey grounds themselves. I tried the Riesling, but didn’t find it very good. My wife did find a wine she liked and you can also purchase a variety of other apricot based products like jams and juices from their gift shop. During our time touring the grounds is when the rain started and would stay with us throughout the rest of the day and off and on the rest of the trip.

Göttweig Abbey Church

After returning to the ship, it was off to sail down the Wachau Valley gorge. Wachau is very much like what we experienced on the Rhine, only shorter and with less towns and castles to see. It’s no less impressive despite its shorter distance. We decided to have lunch in the Aquavit while we travelled down this portion of the river. Occasionally, I would duck out into the rain via a door on the port side to capture photos of some of the sites. That afternoon, they also had a demonstration for making strudel in the Lounge which we also had on our Rhine cruise. It’s always fun experience when they have presentations on board. They had a passenger help out which is always good for a laugh as they try to roll the paper thin dough.

The rest of the day was watching the day go by as we headed on to Passau.

Day 6 - Regensburg, Germany (via Passau)

This was the day where itinerary had to make some adjustments. Due to maintenance to a lock on the river, the ship had to end its journey up the river in Passau. While we would still be visiting our final city of Regensburg, it would not be directly from our floating hotel. Vikings adjustment to this would be that on this day we would visit Regensburg via bus and save Passau for our final full day on board. Our tour started with us taking busses to Regensburg which took about an hour to complete. Once there, we met our guide who would take us across the Old Stone Bridge and into the old town part of the city. Regensburg is exactly what you would expect for a Medieval town. With it’s cobble stone streets, towers, and old churches, you really feel like you are transported to a different time. Our tour guide was very funny and really gave us detailed history of the town.

Regensburg, Germany

After the tour was over, there were options for returning to the ship. You could return at three different times via the bus from our initial drop off point. My wife’s parents took the earliest time while we decided to take one of the later times so we could have some lunch and explore the town a little bit more and get some souvenirs. We started out by having lunch at the Wurstküche cafe next to the bridge. It was a quaint little place and we ordered some of their famous sausages. One of the things you will learn quite quickly in Germany is each region or city has a version of a sausage, which to them is the best in all of Germany. I’ll just go out on the limb and say they were all good. On the table was a small dish that we thought was maybe sugar or some other condiment. Luckily, I opened the dish and found it was the mustard for the sausages. The mustard was absolutely delicious with the sausages and it was probably one of the best meals we had on the trip.

While still dodging the rain, we continued to walk around town taking pictures visiting the old church, St. Peter’s Cathedral, and getting some chocolate from PRINZESS Confiserie & Café near the Old Town Hall. At this point we decided to take the middle return time to the ship and walked back to the pick point across the river. When we arrived I took some time to explore Passau, take a few pictures, and get a sense of the town before our tour the next day. Being that we were docked right next to the town it made it nice to jump off the ship and not have to take extra transportation to visit.

On this evening, you do receive your debarkation briefing if you are on the eight day cruise. This gives you plenty of time as you will need to being preparing your luggage on the evening of day seven as your day will start very early on day eight.

Day 7 - Passau, Germany

Passau is much like Regensburg with the cobble stone streets and old buildings. It’s unique in it’s location because it is the meeting point of three rivers. The Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers all meet at Passau where they continue east as the Danube. Because of their varying colors, you can actually see the mixing point of the rivers from the eastern point of town. The Danube and Ilz are dark from industrial runoff and bogs and the Inn has a more bluish color from glacial melting from the Alps. Once more we had our included tour of the city in the morning and we probably had our best tour guide on the whole cruise. Born and raise in Passau, Alex was very funny and was quick to point out that he was a Chinese man living in Passau, Germany. He made very funny jokes about it while weaving into it the history of the town. He took us all around the city ending with the quite impressive St. Stephan's Cathedral. When we were done, we walked around a small farmer’s market in front of the church before returning to the ship for lunch.

Passau, Germany

In the afternoon we hit the town again, this time with snow. It was quite a change from only a few days ago when we didn’t even need a jacket. We visited the east end of town at a park where you could see the meeting of the three rivers. Here you could get great views of the river and that of a castle that sat perched high on the north bank. During our tour we were told about a Belgian chocolate store which we were able to find following a path suggested by Alex. It’s called Das Flämische Schokoladenhaus and we found something very unique there we hadn’t seen before. Since we were close to Easter, there is a tradition of giving a treat filled, chocolate eggs as gifts. We actually got to see the process by how they are made. You have the two sides of the egg open, one side is filled with small bite size treats (usually more chocolate), and then the two sides are connected, sealed with a layer of chocolate and tied off with a bow. If we were not travelling, I may have considered getting one. With the weather not cooperating, we decided to end our time in Passau and prepare for the end of the river part of our trip.

Depending on whether you are ending your overall trip or extending it, you will mostly follow the same steps for debarkation. Viking will give you the times and directions you will need to make it as a smooth a process as possible. Since we were going to be extending and going to other locations with Viking, our itinerary would mean we would not be going to the airport like most others. We had different colored tags which would mean we would be boarding the bus for Nuremberg. We had to have our bags our early in the morning, sometimes it can be very early, such as 4 A.M. This will allow the Viking team gather the bags and make sure they are placed on the bus. So, it’s best to have yourself prepared the night before so the next day can be enjoyable and transitions can be the most stressful times.

Day 8 - Nuremberg, Germany

After a quick breakfast, it was off to the bus at 8 A.M. to make our transition over to Nuremberg. It was about an hour and a half drive from Passau and once there we began our first tour. Because our rooms at the hotel were not ready, we had to do the tour first before having a chance drop off our luggage and maybe freshen up from the bus ride. Much like the Budapest tour, this had the same problem of maybe lasting too long. We did get to have lunch towards the end. The tour started on the bus with a quick overview of Nuremberg where we would see former Nazi structures such as the Congress Hall and the Zeppelin Field and would eventually end with Imperial Castle. Here we would transition to foot and tour the castle grounds and work our way towards the center of the old town where we would find the Hauptmarkt. Some major points about the old town is that it is one of the rare cities that still has it’s Medieval walls. They surround the entire section of the city and hard to miss. They would have been formidable barriers of their time. The sad part is that most of the city was destroyed during World War II. Much of what you see was reconstructed after the war with a few exceptions such as one building near the castle that was pointed out to us survived, with photographic evidence.

Inside Nuremberg Castle

For lunch we backtracked our tour to a place called Bratwursthäusle bei St. Sebald. Here we had Nuremberg’s version of their sausage which of course was very good. The interesting thing about this place is that the cooking is done in a central kitchen of the restaurant and does make the place a bit smoky. The seating is very communal, so don’t be surprised if you are seated with other patrons. Before boarding or bus that would take us to the hotel, we bought a chimney cake. You will see these quite often in eastern European markets. They are usually dipped in sugar, cinnamon, or just about anything that will stick to it. It’s a nice quick snack or dessert if you need a bit more.

Our hotel in Nuremberg was the Le Meridien which was just in front of the Central Station. Thankfully for us this is part of the Marriott group of hotels so would earn points by staying there. During our stay here we would also get a daily breakfast and the bar downstairs served as our dinner location for the two nights. My wife will swear that she had the best French 75s ever at the Atelier Bar.

Day 9 - Nuremberg Germany

Our second day tour in Nuremberg centered around the Nazi and World War II history of the city. This started by returning to the Zeppelin field where before the war the Nazi party would conduct massive rallies to garner support. It’s a surreal location where now there are sports fields amongst the decaying remnants of the stands. Climbing a few steps in the center grand stand, you can even stand in the same location Adolf Hitler and party leaders would give their speeches. It’s a stark reminder of the power of propaganda and Germany is learning to keep these locations in place so they can be teaching experience for future generations. We then visited the unfinished Congress Hall across a lake from the field. The interesting piece about the large structure was that it was only going to be used once a year for a rally event. There is a small attached museum that goes over how the Nazi party used their propaganda, but will soon be moving a new location in the building which was near completion.

Courtroom 600, The Nuremberg Trials

The highlight of the day was what followed next. After the war, Nuremberg had one of the few court houses that remained intact, so it was a very likely location to conduct trials for war crimes against the Nazis. So, it is really just by chance that we have what we call today the Nuremberg Trials. At the Palace of Justice we would visit Courtroom 600 where the famous trials were conducted. Today the courtroom is a memorial, but up until a two years ago it was occasionally used for trials, usually trials of some significance. What’s striking is the room is rather small. Standing in the room it’s hard to imagine the number of people fit in the space that you see from photos. If you have any interest in World War II history, it’s certainly a place you must visit.

After returning to our hotel, we decided to visit another restaurant we were told was a must visit. This time it was the Bratwurst Röslein which was near the location we had dined at the day before. We then visited the Luther Church St. Sebald which had previously been a Catholic church before the Reformation. We visited the market in the central square again and shopped for souvenirs before returning to the hotel and capping our trip to Nuremberg.

Day 10 - Prague, Czechia

The final city of our journey was Prague. This leg of our trip started with three hour bus ride to take us from Nuremberg to Prague. As before, we would have to place our baggage outside our rooms so the Viking members could collect them for the bus. It crossed some beautiful country and interesting passed near the city of Plzeň, Czechia which is where we get the term pilsner for the type of beer brewed in the region. When we arrived in the city we went directly to the hotel which was the Hilton Prague. There are other Hiltons in the city, but if you are using a taxi, it would be the Hilton by the river. There was a tour this day to visit the Jewish Quarter, but we decided to skip it for our own excursion.

The Infant Jesus of Prague

Once we were settled in our rooms, my mother-in-law wanted to visit the Infant Jesus of Prague. This is a small statue is of religious significance as it was belonged to Teresa of Avila. It now resides in the Church of our Lady of Victories on the opposite side of the river from our hotel. We talked to the concierge desk and actually used a hotel driver who took us to the church. For twenty Euro he drove us there while also giving some history of the city, it was like our own private tour. When we got to the church we negotiated having him return to pick us up in about an hour and a half. The church itself is quite non-descript. It’s sits offset from the street it sits and could be mistaken for just another location. Upon entering, it’s very noticeable where the status is located on the right hand side. The decorations are quite ornate and there may very likely be someone praying in front. The statue is dressed in ornately and if you visit the museum in the rear to the right you can visit some of the other vestiges it will wear throughout the year. When we left the church to our pickup location our driver was one minute late, he profusely apologized and returned us to the hotel. We paid him well because he went above what we expected for such a short trip.

In the early evening we decided to walk to the old town. This took us past some very interesting places such as the Municipal House, which is used for operas and concerts, and the Power Tower, a remodeled city gates. Eventually we would arrive in the Old Town Square, where we were able to visit the Prague Astronomical Clock. Situated on the old city hall tower, its famous for its procession of the Apostles at the strike of the hour from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. It is a must if you are visiting Prague. We looked for somewhere to eat and found an out of the way place on the square attached to the Hotel Lippert. We were the only patrons that evening and made for a nice quite dinner. We mostly tried their various goulashes which were all quite good.

Day 11 - Prague, Czechia

Prague Astronomical Clock

On the final full day of our trip we first had our last included tour. It was a walking tour of The Old Town and would end with us walking the ground of Prague Castle. We visited many of the same locations we had seen the night before on our own in the The Old Town, but we did visit the Estates Theatre. The is the only remaining theatre known that Amadeus Mozart had a performance. We then crossed the Charles Bridge which spans the Vltava, which is a must when visiting Prague. From the bridge you have great views of not just the city but also the castle. After crossing the bridge we took a bus up to the castle complex. We only toured the outside grounds and visited the St. Vitus Cathedral, a massive church within castle walls. If we had been travelling ourselves we could have spent all day at the castle. When we left the castle we asked if the bus could drop us off in The Old Town so we could shop and have lunch before returning to the hotel. The dropped us off right in the middle of town where we needed to be which was great.

In The Old Town we did some more shopping at some of the high end shops. Prague has their own Champs-Élysées where you will find shops like Louis Vuitton and Chanel. The street itself is called Pařížská, which is sort of telling. For lunch we found an outside cafe and had our regional meal. Our trip was beginning to wrap as we had to return to the hotel to get our COVID test so that we could return home to the United States.

When we got to the hotel, we headed to the Viking booth which then guided us to the top floor of the hotel where we would take the test. Different from the ship, we actually did the nasal swab here conducted by a nurse and we had our results in about fifteen minutes. Thankfully we all received negatives tests and in lieu of having one final evening in town and to allow us to pack and rest, we ate at the bistro in side the hotel.

Day 12 - Los Angeles, CA

The return day was finally here and it was sad to see it all come to and end. For the final time, we placed our bags outside our room to be collected and we found our way to a quick breakfast, which we also received at the Hilton the two days we were there. It was then off to Prague airport where again, Viking comes through exemplary when it comes to assistance with travel. The guide at the airport saw us through all the way to ticketing, visiting customs to get stamps so we could turn in our tax refund, and finally security. It was just a personal touch. The first leg of our trip was to Zurich on Swiss Air, which we had flown out of back to Los Angeles on our first cruise. This time was a bit smoother but we did get lucky because a passport check booth opened next to our gate and quickly filled up after our arrival. When then our twelve our flight back home where getting through immigration was a snap and we got to the car in about an hour after landing. It wasn’t the best final flight, but wasn’t the worse.

The Food

I’ll just focus on the food on board the ship here as I’ve stated some of the outside food we ate in previous sections of this blog. I can mostly copy and paste from our Rhine cruise how the food is, so won’t go into the details on that as well as they are mostly the same. I’ll just compare the differences we felt this time. I will say the food is very good but not anything that will knock your socks off. We could tell that being the first cruise of the season and probably suffering some COVID hangover, that not everything was perfect and the cadence for service was not well established. Meals seem to take considerably longer on this cruise from what I remember, nearly taking up the full two hours we were typically seated. The transitions from starter to entrée to dessert just appeared a bit disjointed. I’m sure with more time they will iron out those kinks. Also, we initially had trouble with a steak not being cooked properly and the crème brûlée, a personal favorite, was a bit soupy at the first serving. We did hear that they may have been a bit short staffed as new ships were out cruising and they did need to spread some crew out to cover, so this could also account for service being entirely up to par. Overall, the experience is still very good though. Getting three full meals a day is great and I can safely say you won’t go hungry.

The Entertainment & Cultural Experience

This was an area we felt was completely lacking. On our Rhine cruise, we received some type of entertainment or cultural experience almost every evening. Whether it was a choir, glass blower, or a violinist, there was always something going on right after dinner. The only events we had were some trivia nights hosted by our tour director and that was mostly it. There was still the musician who played each evening for those that wanted to hang out in he Lounge into the late evening, but he was limited. Our previous cruise musician would sing a few songs, but we didn’t get that here. Too be clear, the passengers on these cruises are generally senior in age, so I would not expect a club environment, but some variety would be nice. In the end, the lack of the cultural experience was glaring. Every time we are asked about how are cruise went it’s the one thing we tend to focus on. Our assumption is that because of COVID protocols, having extra people on board the ship was most likely difficult to achieve. We expect these will return to normal sometime in the near future as restrictions continue to be lifted.

The Crew

This is one area that I think Viking does shine. We really enjoyed our crew members on this trip and got to know them more than our last cruise. While we remember a couple from the Rhine, we are pretty certain the names will be etched in our memory for some time from this trip. So let me go out and first thank Benne, our fabulous program director, she kept the atmosphere light and airy and worked with what little she had with the cultural experiences. Tabor, our Maitre D’, who would always make the best recommendations for what to order at each meal. Valentin, our server, who we sat with every evening for our meals and took great care of us. Viktor, who kept our stateroom tidy each day. Finally, Guillermo, oh what we could say about Guillermo. Guillermo seemed to be the resident jokester and was always good for a laugh, especially when it came to his self deprecation about being German and Spanish. Viking crew members seem to truly enjoy their job and go out of their way to make your experience personable.

The Transfers

Another area we felt Viking went above and beyond was the transfers. Whether from between airport to ship or to hotels, this is one things Viking does very well. At no time during transfers did we ever feel lost or out of place when it came to moving from one location to the next. For us, there were no problems. We did hear about one passenger potentially losing a bag during the extension part of our trip in Nuremberg, but we didn’t hear much afterward except an extra emphasis on making sure you validate your bags before they put them on the bus. The other things is you can’t miss them wherever you go. They wear bright red shirts or jackets per the colors of the company. So, if you are out and about and feel lost, look for red, you might find your way to your destination.

COVID

I’ll briefly cover the elephant in the room if I may. Should you travel in this era of COVID? My short answer is yes. I’ve now travelled to Europe twice and Hawaii twice. I’ve also had a road trip across most of the western United States during this time as well. There is always risk to travelling and you have to weigh those when making your decisions. During our trip we were tested every day and had to wear a mask on board the ship up until the last couple of days as restrictions continued to be lifted. The only thing else I can recommend is respect the local rules for what restrictions they may have in place and make the best of it. For the most part, things are getting back to normal. Masks were becoming mostly optional and I believe we only had to show our COVID vaccinations cards once in Vienna. I expect things to continue this way over the next few months as long as deaths from COVID remains relatively low, even if cases rise.

In Summary

In the end, we still really enjoyed the Romantic Danube. It’s safe to say that we should temper our expectations as the world recovers from two years the COVID pandemic. Travelling is a vital part of the human experience and it’s my belief that if we leave ourselves restricted our localities, we lose out on becoming more rounded people. It helps us understand who we are better by seeing how other populations live. That’s the core to Viking, they want you to experience what you are there to see. We don’t take Viking to party and relax by the pool, if we wanted that we would choose those. We will be taking Viking again in the future, but our focus now shifts to the ocean. We’ll be selecting which on in the near future so look forward to seeing more.