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We cruised from Basil to Amsterdam on Viking’s Rhine River Cruise in September 2022 and we are still in love with our memories from this experience and recommend the river cruise highly.
I also put together a video of tips specifically about Viking’s Rhine River Cruise, and not your typical tips either! Check it out here!
Table of contents
Overview of the Viking’s Rhine River Cruise
Viking’s Rhine River cruise is 8 nights, 7 days, and cruises the Rhine in both directions starting either in Basil, Switzerland or Amsterdam, The Netherlands and then ending in the opposite port.
Travel tip… pick up a planning map of Germany before your trip!
During the height of the season, one ship leaves daily from each port each day. Additionally, there are other river cruises with Viking that include more than just the Rhine. And all these fill up, it’s that popular! And for good reason–it’s a wonderful treat!
Overview of Entertainment
The ship typically travels at night (except for one day cruise experience) and arrives at port by the early morning and stays in that port all day. This is an all-inclusive experience with meals, daily excursions for each port, nightly talks and entertainment. Additional excursions are optional at various price points. Passengers are also encouraged to explore the port on their own.
Getting to know your fellow travlers
Viking’s river cruise ships are smaller and carry only about 190 passengers plus crew. Food and drink areas on board include one bar and one restaurant plus one lounge. There’s a coffee and snack area, library, and on the upper decks a putting green, sun lounge, and smoking area. Because of this, a community builds as the cruise progresses as you get to enjoy the company of fellow travelers during meals and excursions and yet a large enough group that you can mingle without having to hobnob with the same people at every event.
Overview of River Cruise Rooms
Rooms include at least five different price points:
- “Swan Rooms” include a window that sits just above the water line (at a swan’s eye view),
- the French Balcony rooms that include a full floor to ceiling window that does not open,
- Balcony rooms with a sliding glass door opening to a small private balcony with a cafe table and 2 chairs,
- Suite rooms that include the balcony and a small living room with french balcony,
- The Presidential Suites which are the largest of all the rooms with a two balconies (aft and side of ship), a living room, and a dining table for in-room dining.
Wondering what to pack: Here’s a quick video I made.
We absolutely loved everything about this Rhine River cruise! Why?
Defying the age bracket…
CT and I each turned 50 within a year of the cruise and thought we’d be the youngest people aboard. Viking caters to “the thinking traveler” after all, so think “mature” or just look at their promotional photos. All Viking passengers must be 18+. We were not the youngest but the average age was older. I thought the experience would be slower but that was not the case! We were able to customize our trip and wound up doing over 20K steps a day and stayed up later than usual every night!
Defying the traditional tour model…
Each day included a walking tour of the port for the morning hours allowing us to get ready for the day, eat a leisurely breakfast, taking the tour, and back by lunch. Information about timing and mustering stations were in the daily bulletin, on the cruise ship’s TV channel, and announced the evening before. Communication was clear and efficient throughout.
Additional optional excursions (for an extra fee) were offered at every port, some lasting all day, some in the morning conflicting with the included tour, some in the afternoon which did not. Other passengers complained that the optional excursions sell out quickly but we got our two choices (reviewed below) even though we booked the trip within 6 weeks of departure.
Guests are also encouraged to strike out on their own. The front desk had a map of the city, a card with the parking address and contact numbers for the ship, and could give detailed information about other excursions and make connections for us.
Balancing group activities with individual time
Only two things were required of us on board the Rhine River cruise: participate in the safety drill on Day 1 and “clock in/out” when leaving or coming back to the ship. Other than that we could spend as much time as we wanted on board or off.
Due to this model for the shore time along with a generous time frame for meals, it never felt like a small tour group where you were forced or guilted into participating. Conversation over dinner with the other couples we met on board started with describing what we chose to do that day.
We did a mix of excursions…
Port of Breisach, Germany
In Breisach, Germany, CT’s tummy was upset from the air travel. He stayed in, I took the self-guided city tour on my own having gotten a map from the front desk. I love botanical gardens and along the route was a monastery with a lovely cloister garden with an amazing view. When CT was feeling better after lunch, we checked out the church and sat in a cafe watching the world go by and planning the next time we’d be there!
Colmar Pocket WWII Excursion
We chose two optional excursions. The first was the Colmar Pocket WWII tour excursion. The guide was so knowledgeable and the stops were perfectly paced and interesting. At this time, I was not a WWII buff but the introduction to Audie Murphy with the guide’s wonderful rendition at his memorial made a believer out of me. I highly recommend this tour.
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress Excursion
Our second optional tour in the afternoon at Koblenz was to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. The tour which was led by a professional actor who was phenomenal!
(Photo of that tour on the blog post about tour guides: read here)https://outthisdoor.com/2025/08/06/why-i-dont-take-guided-tours/
We were French spies infiltrating the fortress to find its weaknesses! After the tour was over, we were given additional time to explore the fortress on our own and we promptly got lost.
Port of Cologne and the Love Lock Bridge
At Cologne, we took the included city tour in the morning and had an amazing guide–a disheveled Brit who interacted with us rather than simply lecturing to us. In the evening, CT proposed (and that’s another story–they don’t call it the Romantic Rhine for nothin’!)
Port of Rudesheim and the Nederwald Monument
In the port of Rudesheim after a day of cruising the Rhine, we made a break for the tiny, two person gondola to Nederwald (watch my video on this!)–a wow statue and cute park overlooking the valley. Read the guide on how to do Romantic Rhine River Cruise Secret Side Trip here.
Defying the need to eat on board, but you want to anyway…
Speaking of on our own, we loved exploring La Petite France at Strasborg and Cologne on our own in the afternoons including eating at local cafes. Yes, they are touristy areas but they are safe and within walking distance and we had wonderful lunches and coffees out while the weather was nice.
At least three meals we ate off-ship. You could look at it as wasting the money of the included meal but we saw it as part of the experience of getting to know the places not just the cruise line.
On board restaurant and meals
Don’t take that the wrong way–the food on board was… amazing. Every meal. The food on board was incredible. Breakfast was both buffet style and cook to order along with local cheeses and flavors to try. Lunch and dinner each had mainstays on the menu, plus several different new choices daily. Also at dinner was a “local flavor” menu—I ate from that most nights and loved it.
Though there is only one restaurant, you can sit inside our outside on the terrace. All three meal times are over a couple hours so you can be leisurely in arrival or departing. But, I do recommend getting to dinner when it starts to be able to enjoy the appetizers that the staff comes around with.
The ship offered a German food night and the selections were so good! I did get some hate on my youtube video about the cruise about Viking’s take on German food (as if it was Disney-fication). Pishah! The chefs are from all over Europe and have a very good sense of food traditions and flavors.
Drinks and Cocktails
As per drinks, we did not get the drinks package. We took advantage of the wine at lunch and dinner, mimosas at breakfast, and some bar drinks. Cost of bar drinks was fair. Yes, drinks are cheaper on the street but you get watered down spritzes in the tourist areas. The bartenders on board make a much better drink for sure! We also bought alcohol at port and brought it in—the Viking cruise line doesn’t charge a corking fee.
Lounging on board the river cruise…
We lounged in two ways, one that most others did not.
The inside lounge created a wonderful place for couples or large parties to enjoy a drink or play cards. Every night there was a shore talk which included announcements and interesting information about the voyage or the upcoming port. Most nights included entertainment by the staff or a local musician. It was the hot spot every evening for sure.
Enjoying the Open-air Decks
We spent a lot of time on the sundeck enjoying the gorgeous September weather and beautiful ports or countryside during the day and evening. The whole sundeck was nicely accommodated with loungers, chairs, and tables and a large sunshade. We could bring our drinks up to the sundeck or have the bartender bring one up for us.
On this open-air deck is a putting green and a little herb garden, and shuffleboard. Surprisingly, we were mostly the only one passengers using this deck. The exception was during the day cruising. The sundeck is the best place to enjoy the day cruising of the Rhine river and to enjoy going through the locks.
Going Through the Rhine River Locks
Speaking of locks, I have a great time lapse of going through the river locks along the Rhine River which also includes the sailing day, two gondola rides, and a canal tour through Amsterdam, all from this Rhine River cruise trip. Click here to watch on YT.
“Travel has the power to claim you.” Read more of our international travel tips and destination reviews here.
How much time do you spend in your room?
This question comes up a lot on the Viking rhine river cruise fan groups FB pages. We have found in our travels, that the better the room, the more time we chose to spend in it. A lesser room is fine–and with the luxuries of the Viking line, even their least expensive room is pretty darn nice.
Balcony Rooms
We opted for a room with a balcony so CT could smoke. Nope, turns out you can’t smoke on the balconies, only at the smoking area on the top deck. Good thing our room was directly below the smoking deck which also meant that it was right near the engines. This is another question that comes up on the FB groups when upcoming passengers are wondering about room placement. In answer–no, we could not hear the engines anymore than we could in any other location on the ship.
Despite not being able to smoke on the balcony, we enjoyed our balcony, a lot! Since we purchased wine and booze in port, we drank that at our balcony rather than spending extra money at the bar.
Lessons Learned for Rooms
Yet, there’s a lesson we did learn. The longer you rent a room for, the bigger it should be. The balcony is like an additional room so that really helps when staying in one hotel room for 7 nights!
My only gripe…like many hotel rooms, there’s a bottleneck between the end of the bed and the dresser/TV area. We survived and even got in a couple extra hugs and kisses because of it!
Suites and Presidential Suite Rooms
We did get a peek inside a suite room which included a living room. This suite room belonged to one couple of a double couple party–the other couple had a cheaper room but they all used the suite room’s living room as their rallying point.
We also got a peek into the Presidential suite which was the next door down from ours and was a gift to a couple who were bumped from an earlier cruising date. The Presidential Suite was a huge room with a living room and a dining area. We felt that this was overkill, yet if we had been traveling with a larger family group, the Presidential Suite would have been an excellent area for the entire party to enjoy each other’s company.
We felt that the suite room was the sweet spot, especially if we did a longer 10 day or 14 day cruise due to having that living room. Now we use this knowledge when planning our other international trips too and often book a suite or at least a balcony if we are staying longer than a couple days.
Final note: All Rooms are Luxury
What’s so luxury about the rooms? The beds are comfortable. The carpets and furniture is spotlessly cleaned and well cared for. The bathroom is spacious and has floor heating (so nice). The included toiletries and bathrobes are luxurious. Had to laugh at the included slippers which are only good for men with size 10 feet! Bring your own.
Being treated…
This cruise is a treat: A treat for the eyes with the beauty you will see right from the ship. A treat for the soul for the stress-free experience that has you covered; a treat for the newbie international traveler as a nurturing way to begin traveling to foreign lands; a treat for the experienced traveler to have all the arrangements taken care of for you.
And you are treated by the staff. They are friendly while not being overly casual, attentive without being pushy. The staff got to know our names and preferences rather than just seeing us as another couple of passengers. The Captain gave us a tour of the wheelhouse (CT drives a boat too, so …). And even the cruise director who has so much to worry about, got to know us all. Our room attendant was on task and by the end, he and CT were exchanging American cigarettes for the EU ones (you know the ones with the nasty pictures on the front to help keep Europeans from smoking. Not working btw.)
Treat yourself to a souvenir fridge magnet while on board–screech! Nope, they don’t sell fridge magnet (too plebian???). But you can DIY it. check this quick video out
Final verdict of the Viking Rhine River Cruise …
5 stars. No hesitation. Would do it again in a heartbeat. We highly recommend the Viking Rhine River cruise.
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