Viking Rolf Review

A young person's perspective

Review for Europe River Cruise on Viking Rolf
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DCBullets02
2-5 Cruises • Age 30s

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Sail Date: Jul 2017
Traveled with children

My family likes to have annual summer vacations and this year it was decided we would take a river cruise in Europe, specifically the "Paris and the Heart of Normandy" itinerary that sails the Seine river in France. We had a total of 8 people: two in their young teens (12 and 16) two in their late 20's (myself and brother at 28 and 29) two in their 40's (my sister and brother-in-law) and our parents, in their late 60's and early 70's. To give some perspective, my brother and I have done multiple ocean cruises so we have some experience with cruising. This was a whole 'nother animal though, and for the most part, we all loved it.

Demographics: Going into it, we knew that the demographics would be way off what we are used to. Most people were in their 50's and 60's with a few past that. There were a few children, and maybe a total of 6 teenagers, all with their families. My brother and I were definitely the only ones in their mid-to-late 20's (besides the staff) and if we were there for a "party" atmosphere and vacation, we would have been disappointed. This time however, we knew it would be port intensive and we would be sticking with the family for the most part. This allowed us to enjoy the food and sights (and drinks) more so than on ocean cruises. For the most part, all of the passengers were very friendly. We met a few people that we would talk to everyday and quickly became friends with. There were a few however that I could tell really did not like the idea of young people being around. One passenger walked up to my 12 year old niece and yelled at her for running around on the deck after 10 p.m. and ruining his sleep (turns out, it was different younger girl) and it really struck a nerve with us, he never apologized after he realized his mistake and we made a habit of staying away from him. Other than that, everyone was really nice, and in the evenings once the crowd had some drinks in them, it could get "lively" in the lounge, until about 11 p.m. After this time, the ship is pretty much dead and there is no real late-night entertainment.

Ship and Cabin: The boat was very nice. We knew it wouldn't be a mega-liner and would be used mostly for sleeping and eating, which it was more than adequate for. I stayed in the inside cabin, it was small but comfortable. I would say it was about 75% the size of a standard inside ocean cruise cabin. The bathroom however was MUCH nicer. Heated floors, a real shower, and plenty of toilet space really made it much nicer than the typical inside stateroom. It did have a small window, though it did not get much use as we were rarely in the cabin. My sister and brother-in-law had the french balcony, which was pretty much the same as the standard cabin, just with a bigger window you could open. The parents got an actual balcony cabin, and it was very swanky. The top deck of the boat had two mini-golf holes and a shuffleboard station, that was about it other than some chairs. Once again, it was port-intensive cruise so this was not really an issue.

Cabin Review

Cabin Standard

Small and clean but adequate. The bathroom was very nice, large shower and heated floors really made it shine!

Port Reviews

Paris

Walked Paris independently.

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