This Christmas Market cruise from Amsterdam to Basel was our first experience on a river cruise. If you are an ocean cruiser (as we are), you will find river cruising a very different experience from ocean cruising. On ocean cruises, the cruise is often all about the ship especially since you will have several at sea days during your voyage. River cruising, on the other hand, is focused on the various towns that you visit during the cruise. We would describe river cruising as more like having a floating hotel accompany you during your voyage. Your room and dining facilities basically travel with you from location to location. We found river cruising to be a convenient way to explore Europe. Since this was our first experience with river cruising, and our first extensive trip to Europe, we opted to book our entire trip through Viking – air travel, the pre and post excursions and, of course, the cruise itself. Viking did an excellent job in arranging the details of our trip.

Pre-Cruise

We arrived in Amsterdam and found a Viking representative right outside of customs waiting to greet us. We were among several Viking guests who arrived at about the same time and after a brief wait we were escorted to a Viking motor coach for the ride to the Moevenpick hotel. Our two day stay in Amsterdam included a tour of the city (led by a very knowledgeable Viking host), breakfast and access to a Viking host during our stay. While in Amsterdam we booked a canal tour (with the assistance of the Viking host) and visited a number of historical sites and museums. The Moevenpick Hotel was pleasant and the breakfast buffet was excellent. The hotel is located a distance from the town center, however, and to get into town you have to either walk (about a 15 to 20 minute brisk walk) or catch the tram which stops in front of the hotel. Read more