Booked 6th Viking Cruise - River - Amsterdam & Belgium

 

Booked 4th Viking Cruise - Ocean - Reykjavik to New York City

 

Booked 5th Viking Cruise - River - Paris to Zurich

 

Booked 3rd Viking Cruise - Ocean - Rome to Athens

 

Booked 2nd Viking Cruise - River - Passau to Budapest

 

Of course, this would be times 2...

Booked 1st Viking Cruise - River - Basel to Amsterdam

 

The hunt was fun for figuring out which cruise to go on. So many choices. We settled on the Rhine Getaway. Also, we opted for the 2-day pre-extension in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Lucerne, Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland
Breisach, Germany
Strasbourg, France
Heidelberg, Germany
Koblenz, Germany
Cologne, Germany
Kinderdijk, Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands

We had never been to any of these places. Heck, we'd never been to Europe!

We booked this directly through Viking's website. It included roundtrip airfare for the discounted price of $499 each. We were happy about that. We selected the lowest cabin category, STANDARD (F), 150 square feet. Categorically, we're frugal. Later we found out these cabins are known as the "swan rooms". Reason - there is a window, about five feet above the floor and they are just above the water level. It is possible to look out your window and see swans in the water.

How This Started

 It all started with the TV show Downton Abbey. My wife and I looked forward to each Sunday night episode. Unbeknown to us, Torstein Hagen, CEO of Viking Cruise Line had made a strategic decision to advertise on PBS, specifically just before each new episode of Downton Abbey.

Just prior to the beginning of each episode, without fail, we'd hear:

Sailing a great river, past extraordinary landscapes, into the heart of iconic cities, is a journey for the curious traveler. One that many have yet to discover. Exploring with Viking brings you closer to the world, to the history, the culture, the flavors. A serene river voyage, on an elegant Viking longship. Learn more at viking.com.

We both agreed we'd like to do one of those cruises. Before long, I did go to viking.com. I signed up to have their brochures sent to us. With each new brochure/booklet, we look through them and it just increased our desire.

This was pre-retirement and a unique thing happened. I was working a local two-year college. We had recently been merged into Georgia State University. After some time, it was discovered that the university's pay scale, for the same exact position, was much more. The pay scale was eventually brought into line. We were pleased. Even better, the pay was retroactive to the date of the merger. It was a fairly good chunk of money, enough to pay for a Viking River Cruise! That settled it, we were going to do this.

The next step, determine which Viking River cruise to do. 

Little did we know how much this would impact our trips in retirement!