Viking Heimdal River Cruises Reviews

First trip through Affordable Tours, and very pleased.

We chose France's Finest on Viking based on the itinerary and because our anniversary is on Bastille Day and we wanted to be in France one year for our anniversary. Viking is very service oriented and always rate above average in my opinion. We took the included tours which gave an overview of the places we were docked. I especially enjoyed the small towns where we were docked and could walk from the boat. To get from the Rhoen river to the Seine river, we took the TGV fast trains. Viking took our luggage by truck and it was waiting in our stateroom when we boarded the second ship. The whole train trip was seamless as Viking reserved 1st class seats and their representatives guided the group from the ship to train and they were waiting for us in Paris. Entertainment was good as they brought groups on for evenings, food was also very good with selections for even the picky eaters but we are not foodies so for us it was very good. Viking is not upscale which suits us but if people like dressing up they should look at other ships. I guess you could says we like the Viking brand as this was our 5th & 6th Viking River cruises.

This was our fourth Viking cruise, and we have never been disappointed. This company has consistently been excellent in terms of quality, service and value.

This was our 3rd trip with Viking and we actually brought 3 more family along on this trip. I appreciate the consistency of the rooms and itineraries. I ESPECIALLY appreciate the viking transfer stuff who accompanied us to our airport and terminal. I travelled with 3 persons over 80 so that was invaluable.

Viking did a great job of taking care of the guest on this cruise. Food was excellent, service fantastic and the crew(s) were attentive to your every need. Our two Program Directors did a great job of keeping everyone informed and engaged in each day's activities or excursions.

Viking always proves to be a pleasant experience. I feel they are on top of every situation and truly make everyone feel comfortable.

This was our second River cruise with Viking and several excursions were disappointing.

At his was our second Viking River cruise and it was excellent. Highly recommend.

The local tour guides and trip directors for the tour and cruise portions of the trip were informative and personable. We enjoyed all parts of the trip - cruise food, personnel, airport transfers, excursions. Everything seemed well planned.

Post cruise to Paris was in a lovely hotel, Saint James Albany, perfectly located to walk to the major museums - Louvre, d'Orsay, Orangerie. Hotel was across the street from Tuileries Garden.

This was our second experience with Affordable Tours and Viking Cruises. Everything that both agencies did was perfect. We can't wait to use Affordable's services again. Looking forward to our next Viking journey also.

Everything on the trip went well. Planning was good; information received in a timely manner.

I experienced some difficulty with my return flights--I had to go to the Delta Sky Priority desk and was detained nearly an hour before it was corrected. Also, I did not feel tat the staff on the Viking Rinda was doing their best. They seemed to be "just doing their job, abiding their time until this cruise ended" whereas, the staff on the Viking Delling was absolutely wonderful. They made you feel welcomed and gave you the impression that you were a valued customer.

Viking staff was always very professional. The staff on the Delling was a bit more attentive than those on the Heimdal. The person in charge of programming, was always there to answer questions and be helpful and pleasant in spite of her numerous duties and responsibilities. The concierge was also always helpful and smiling. One standout chore that Viking did, was in addition to driving us to the airport, two staff members stayed there and escorted us to the various airlines that we needed and stayed with us and helped until we had our boarding passes, and then directed us to the appropriate gate. That was most helpful.

 I was somewhat disappointed with way that some of the stops actually went.

Avignon - first day in France. Arrived at ship kind of late so could not visit the city. Arles - included tour was very good. Arles is a great stop. We took the optional tour to Les Baux so we zero free time in Arles

Avignon - morning tour was great. Did not book optional tour hoping to have more time in Avignon. Ship sailed around 2 PM so we had practically no free time in Avignon. Why not sail later in the evening and give the guests the afternoon in the city?

Viviers evening walk arrived too late. This did not happen.

Tournon & Tain L Hermitage sailed in the morning and arrived for the afternoon included tour. Why not sail the night before, and have all day in town? We had no free time.

Vienne & Lyon - Nice tour of Vienne but no free time. Did not arrive in Lyon early enough to explore the town. Went on the scheduled tour the next morning but again did not have any free time.

Last day - optional tour to Cluny was great, so was the tour to Beaune and wine country.

Biggest complaint was the lack of free time that could have been available had the ship sailed at night and managed the schedule better. This was a common theme with other guests. There were many past Viking customers on this cruise. They all said this cruise was not up to par due to the poor scheduling and the newness of the crew. I did not know any different, so I thought it was generally good. I thought the food in the big ocean ships was better. Coordination and transfers in Paris were very well, as I would have expected. Overall, it was a good trip. Could have been a great trip with more free time in port rather than sitting in the Lounge reading a book while the ship sailed.

As supported by fellow passengers, the food on this cruise was way below acceptable. Poorly prepared. Offered a NY Strip Steak and was served two slices of roast beef covered in gravy. Creme Brulee was mushy pudding with wet sugar on top. Caesar salad had no taste. Ice cream served on HOT plates. Breakfasts were fine. The list of poor food would cover pages. The veranda couldn't be used about 75% of the time because of DOUBLE PARKING with other river ships. Couldn't even open curtains as you'd view people dining or into their bedrooms. There were even days of TRIPLE parking with our ship in the middle, and passengers from other ships walking through our ship. We occasionally had to go up to top deck to cross over to another ship to get to the dock. Too many river ships. This was the NORM not the exception. For the most part the excursions were good, but some not adequately described as to level of activity. One excursion was canceled after waiting 45 minutes because of the bus driver witnessing (?) an accident. That day was SHOT because no alternate was available. They gave us a bottle of wine for our trouble - but we don't drink. And we LOST one whole day of our trip. Another "moderate" activity on our anniversary had to be cancelled by us because we learned from another Viking tour operator that the excursion required over 3 miles of walking. We will try to get reimbursed for this, but the ship wasn't sure we'd be refunded.. For what was supposed to be a special 44th anniversary cruise, I was literally in tears with disappointment day after day. Other passengers who had been on Viking cruises before said that the food was very poor on this ship, and that the "double parking" is normal on rivers, but they had not experienced it as much as on this cruise on the Rhone. We paid premium price for a veranda which we couldn't use most of the time, seems very unfair. We would have been better off in a porthole cabin or better yet, going on an inland tour.