We chose Viking's The Heart of Normandy in the fall in order to see Paris without the heavy tourist population of warmer weather and also to travel in Normandy. First of all, the ship's crew and the cruise director were all faultlessly polite and efficient. They performed flawlessly and were superb.

The issue is that this is the cruise that wants to be a cruise but isn't. This was our 3rd Viking cruise. We previously sailed on the Danube and the Rhine with Viking. On those cruises there was local, highly talented local entertainment brought on board each night. Where those 2 ships docked was right in the town or city we were visiting. Bus rides were 30 minutes at the most, if even that, IF we had to take a bus. On those cruises we typically walked out of the ship right up to our guides and we took off on our walking tours.

However, The Heart of Normandy offered the best guides of all 3 cruises. The guides were passionate and well informed and spoke English perfectly. There were no university students as guides, as on other Viking cruises. The guide narrations on The Heart of Normandy were the best in my Viking experiences. Read more