We recently cruised from Bucharest to Amsterdam on the Viking Longships Bragi and Lif. However, as all Longships are more or less identical my comments apply equally to any vessel in Viking’s Longship fleet.

First the good news: Viking has very good, very modern, very comfortable ships. Perfectly designed for river cruising, these ships provide excellent accommodation, superb food, and very attentive and helpful staff. Viking deserves its reputation as an up-market, high-quality, river cruise company. Cheap they are not but you certainly get what you pay for. Experienced ocean cruisers will soon notice the benefits of sailing on ships that only carry about 190 passengers. Small is indeed beautiful. You quickly get to know your fellow voyagers and the crew quickly get to know you, your needs, and your preferences. Being small, all the crew, front of house, behind the scenes, engineering staff, the deck crew, and the bridge crew are actively involved in attending to the passengers. The captain is not a remote figure as on ocean cruises but an approachable manager who takes a hands-on responsibility for everybody’s welfare.

Now for the bad news: If you, or any member of your party, have significant mobility problems then Viking is not the cruise line for you. If you are a wheelchair user then 50% of the ship is inaccessible to you. You won’t be able to get to the all-important Sun Deck and you won’t be able to take advantage of the more moderately- priced accommodation on the Main Deck. Even if you are not a wheelchair user, if you have any level of mobility impairment, then you will find that just getting to the ship’s mooring locations can be difficult. All too often there are steps and stairs involved and often the approaches are over very rough ground. Read more