THE VIKING TOUCH
Viking River Cruises was formed in 1997 by a Scandinavian and Dutch consortium and rapidly purchased 23 existing ships, including nine from the venerable KD River Cruises of Europe. As the years progressed, the company sold off many of the older vessels, refurbished others and started a programme of new, more modern ships. Today, the line has 16 vessels plying the European Rivers, six in Russia and the Ukraine, and one luxury river boat on the Yangtze in China.
F
or those cruisers who would enjoy a more intimate, low-key experience sailing down scenic rivers and inland waterways while visiting non-coastal European cities, a river cruise may be the perfect solution. Numerous riverboat companies operate in Europe, traversing the Rhine, Main, Moselle, Elbe, Havel, Danube, Seine, Saone and Rhone rivers, as well as the waterways in Russia, Holland and other countries.
Most of the riverboats built prior to 2000 generally provided smallish cabins with two twin beds on opposite sides of the room where one or both folded up and converted to a couch during the day. Bathrooms were also quite small, crowd- ing in a shower, sink and toilet. Cabins on the upper decks had large picture windows, but on the lower decks the windows were small (the rationale was that, when the ship was docked, there was no view from the lower decks because they were below the dock line). Public areas included a reception lobby
where the passengers entered and exited the ship; a three-meal-a-day dining room, usually with a buffet table; an all-purpose lounge and bar; and a sun deck spanning the length of the ship with another lounge and the captain’s bridge.
Needing to lure passengers from traditional cruise ships, the riverboat lines 20 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2011
had to provide a more enticing package and, in the past 10 years, more and more upscale vessels have emerged. Existing lines renovated or scrubbed the older craft and also added more modern new-builds. In the last few years, competition among the river-based companies has become even greater.
As a result, each new ship seems to offer more spacious accommodations, more suites, a larger number of French balconies, additional facilities, more amenities, more diverse dining and better guides for shore excursions. Fast forward to summer 2011 and I got
the chance to put two brand new boats to the test and assess what makes a modern river-cruise so enticing.
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