We never really fancied sea cruises, the ships are so large and intimidating – I just can’t get to grips with the idea of one so large that you can literally get lost – and trust me, I would! However, that TV advert for a Viking River Cruise struck a chord – repeatedly as we saw it many times over several years before deciding to take the plunge (hopefully not literally of course). So finally, middle of July 2022 and 14 months after booking our first ever cruise, we were off to Amsterdam to meet the ship – the Viking Tir.
We flew to Amsterdam on 13th July 2022 when Schiphol airport was in the midst of a staffing crisis with thousands of bags stranded there, so we packed clothes in each other’s suitcases, and both took carry-ons with all essentials plus a couple more changes of clothing. We were lucky – probably as it was a simple direct flight. We were also offered a bargain upgrade by KLM to Business Class when checking in online, so I took them up on that and we thoroughly enjoyed the flight as a result. The priority bag tags might have helped too!
On the flight we were treated to a lovely tray of dinner (it must have been good, B ate tabouleh and falafels – that would never happen at home). The stewardesses were desperate to offload as much wine as possible in our general direction (did they know something?!). They were both very friendly and liked a good joke – we were off to a great start 😊
We caught the shuttle bus to the Ibis Styles on-airport hotel. It turned out to be very funky inside with plants everywhere, both on the wallpaper and – literally – on the walls. A couple of rosés / beers later and it was time to sleep in our rainforest room – but as one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s guests said on viewing the stripy ceiling in his room “its fine, I don’t sleep with my eyes open!”
The following morning the hotel got us a taxi to the harbour following a quick call to the ship to find out in which of the 3 potential locations it could be found. Our taxi driver played Bob Marley to us all the way there, we were singing along, life was good! Baby don’t worry, ‘bout a thing…….
We timed it to arrive just before noon as we had been told that lunch would be served to early arrivals in the indoor-outdoor Aquavit Terrace at the front of the ship. Good plan – it was the start of 2 weeks of fantastic food, much of which ended up around our waistlines – hey ho!!
We spent the afternoon relaxing on deck until our cabin became available, then it was the great unpacking session. Being a woman, I had the most to unpack of course, and had even brought a few extra hangers just in case 😉
This being our first cruise it was difficult to know what to bring, plus the weather forecast was rather mixed. It turned out that the evenings were as dressed up or casual as you wanted them to be, and the weather was mostly boiling – so less would have been more!
We immediately started meeting people as the policy was free seating at all meals and most tables were for more than 2 people – so it was time to be sociable and happily pretty much everyone was. By the end of the day we had already met 3 American couples, 2 British and 1 Australian, all of whom were to become regular dining or drinking companions at different moments for the rest of the trip – funny how that happens.
In the evening we had our first daily briefing given by our Program Director, Kane. These are usually to review the day and give a briefing of the logistics for the next day. For this first one he introduced the Executive Chef and Maitre D’ for the voyage, who gave their first recommendations for the special dishes and accompanying wines.
Then he dropped the bomb about the river levels!
Something we had not even thought about before we left, but it had already been such a dry summer all over Europe that river levels were well below the average. In particular for our trip the first part of the Danube we were due to use after leaving Nuremberg. Kane advised it was more than 90% likely we could not get through as no rain was predicted in the week before we got to that point. You could feel everyone’s disappointment – this was for many, including ourselves, the trip of a lifetime.
However, he then advised that there was already a backup plan to transfer us all from the Viking Tir by coach to an identical sister ship currently cruising the same route in the opposite direction. He managed our reaction to the news very skilfully, and whilst it did mean packing and unpacking again, plus a change of crew to get to know, at least we knew it was not the other alternative of coaches to a series of hotels and continual packing and unpacking (I was not the only one with a large suitcase!).
We retired to our cabin, which was small (as they mostly are) but everything is there, the bed was very comfortable and there was a heated floor in the shower room (that was turned off within 2 days!), a small fridge and water delivered to the cabin every day. We had selected a cabin with a small balcony, large enough for 2 chairs and a tiny table, but it turned out that we didn’t really need this as the tendency was to go to the communal deck areas so – top tip – don’t bother!
The Viking Tir set off that night for Kinderdijk in southern Netherlands, via their canal system. I woke up at one point and looked out of the window to be faced with the concrete wall of a lock, just inches away from our balcony railing! The voyage was smooth, just changes of the (not loud) engine and side thruster noise as we negotiated the locks. We slept well. Loving it already 😊
