River Cruise vs Ocean Cruise

River Cruise VS Ocean Cruise,

We are home and this adventure has ended but there is one last thing I want to do.

Several have asked which we prefer, an Ocean Cruise or a River Cruise so I have decided to do a comparison. First of all I will compare a Viking River cruise with a Princess Ocean cruise since those are the only ones I have ever done. To make certain I am comparing apples with apples I am comparing a Princess cruise in a B Balcony with a Viking veranda cruise.

First of all I went on line and got the cost informat5ion for a 7 day Princess and an 8 day Viking. Then I divided accordingly and arrived at the per day cost for each. The Viking Cruise would have cost about $769.00 Canadian dollars per day per person and the Princess cruise would have cost about $279.00 Canadian dollars per day per person. These figures are based on 2 people in each cabin with no sales or promotions..

The adventure begins with a wonderful booklet personalized with all of your information. It includes flight plans and booked excursion and everything you need to know about your cruise. It also contained a lovely leather luggage tag which we will use for years to come. That was a very nice extra special touch.

One hundred eighty passengers versus three thousand or more means you see a lot more familiar faces each day,

The room on Princess is larger as is the balcony. There is a lot more storage space in a Princess cabin and it is laid out much better. Our Viking room had the desk right next to the patio door so the person working at the desk had to get up if the other wanted access to either the balcony or their bed.

 The Viking ship has much nicer bathrooms. The shower is almost twice as big and the floor is heated which is an amazing feature.

The included toiletries on the Viking ship are of higher quality and they continue to provide individual products. Princess has switched to having the pumps on the shower wall which is not as nice by far.

The meals on both ships were wonderful but there were more meal selections with Princess. Princess has specialty dining venues and several other areas where you could dine such as a pizza parlour and a hamburger and hot dog eatery and the 24 hour international Café.

A fruit bowl is available with Princess and the only thing available in between meals with Viking is cookies, not good for diabetics.. 

Room service is not available with Viking and there is 24 hour room service with Princess.

There is only one seating for meals with Viking where as Princess has 2 seatings which gives guests a better choice of times. Personally I found that 7:15 or 7:00 was too late. I like to have assigned seating. In that way you get to really make new friends. But if your table mates change every day you never get to really know anyone. The couple who travel alone get left out when it comes to deciding where to sit, assigned dining  solves that problem.

The dress code for Viking was very casual with no formal nights. Whether or not that is a plus or a minus depends on your personal preference. Personally I like to dress up once in a while.

Embarkation and disembarkation is much smoother and much faster with Viking. That is to be expected. Getting 180 people on board has to run smoother that getting 3600 people on board. The same is true of getting them off of the ship.

I really appreciated the daily news letter supplied by Viking. Princess has nothing like it and I miss knowing what is happening in Canada and the world while I am travelling.  Neither line has TV reception or channel choice that is good. The choices are terrible.

I enjoy the production show after dinner. Princess does a superb job of providing entertainment on their cruises. Between big shows and comedians and magicians and musicians they really do provide memorable evenings..Viking had the same 2 people every night in the lounge. There were special guests 2 or 3 times and that is all.

There are several lounges and bars on the Princess Ships providing lots of music and entertainment well into the evening.

There are no photographers on Viking.

The enrichment lectures on sea days are something I look forward to and this is basically lacking with Viking, partly because there are no sea days, just sailing afternoons or evenings..

There is little or no shopping on a Viking Ship where as there are several shops on the Princess ships. That can be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view.

They play BINGO on Princess ships and they have casinos on Princess ships . That also can be a plus or a minus depending on the passenger. The same is true of Art Auctions. The art lecture can be very entertaining however.

There are no pools or hot tubs or SPAS on the Viking ships and there are always several on Princess ships.

Princess gives everyone a lovely recycle bag with their logo.

You do not have to tender with Viking, and you do have to tender sometimes with Princess and that is a major MINUS with Ocean cruises. 

However docking along side of each other and having to pass through other ships to get to shore in no picnic either. Your balcony is useless if you are butted next to another ship. If you are on the side which is next to the other ship you do not have a view of the city you are in.  This is a major minus for Viking River cruises.

Viking includes an excursion for each port and that is a big plus. Princess does not offer included shore excursions. You must pay extra for such things.+
For these excursions you are provided with what is called a quiet Voice. It is basically private ear phones. You wear it around your neck and install an ear bud. Even if you are several feet from your guide you can here the commentary. I just loved my quiet voice.

Viking supplies a bottle of water to each passenger as they leave the ship to go on an excursion. Plus they put fresh bottles of water in your room each evening. On Princess you must pay for your water if you do not want to refill your bottle. This saves on plastic pollution but it was nice to get a new bottle when you headed out for the day.

Princess has the Princess Patter and Viking has the Viking Daily. Both provide the information you need for the next day’s activities. The patter is more extensive but they have a lot more to cover.

For me the major item was lack of laundry facilities. Viking has none but Princess has a self serve laundry on every deck. Being able to run an iron over something that may have gotten wrinkled in your suitcase is a big PLUS for me.

I think the biggest plus was UNLIMITED free internet. Because I blog it is important to do things quickly to save minutes. But with Viking it did not matter if it too 15 minutes to download one picture. When ever we were dock in city centers the uploading was very fast but speed did not matter as much when it is unlimited.

I love the chocolates on my pillow at night and Viking does not provide that.

Viking really wears their cruise director our where as Princess has a cruise director’s staff. Because there are fewer passengers, one staff member can be worked where as it would just not be viable with 36 hundred guests

With Princess a passenger may bring one bottle of wine to drink in their room. Viking allows you to bring any amount of wine to the table at no corkage fee.

 If you enjoy wine or beer with your meals at no extra cost then Viking wins the prize. These items are included with the cost of a Viking cruise.

So in conclusion which one to take depends on a person’s personal preferences. The river cruises cost a great deal more and that would not be good value for us. We are not drinkers and we would never spent hundreds every day on excursions, water and alcohol. 

We would choose 2&1/2 ocean cruises over 1 river cruise.

BUT we are happy to have sailed with Viking, we had a fabulous time!!!

 A river cruise is something we can take off of our bucket list.

June 14, Heading Home

Our return flight leaves Amsterdam on June 14th at 11:55am and we arrive in Vancouver at 5:59 pm.
In all we will be flying for 12 hours with 2 hours of lay over time.
We had them set a wake up call. It is done using the tv in your room and when it is time to wake the TV came on playing beautiful music. That was a first to be sure. Nicer that a ringing phone for sure.

We gathered everything and went down for breakfast. After toast and coffee and fruit for me and juice, coffee, toast and eggs and cereal for Ken we returned to our room, brushed our teeth and closed our suitcases.

As soon as we got downstairs there was a Viking rep waiting for us. She directed us to our waiting van and before we knew it we were on our way to the airport. The driver was very friendly and he answered all of our questions.

Another Viking rep met us and helped us with our luggage. She stayed with us all of the way to the luggage drop off. All of the extra help and attention was appreciated.

Security was the usual hassle but we made it through and had over an hour to relax before it was time to board. This is a nice large airport with the usual shops etc. We saw one little restauraant where the booth were delf tea cups. Had to take a picture,

Flight seems to be on time and all is great. I guess it will be good to get home.

New Commerce

When we were at the flea market today we saw many item for sale that we did not expect. Marijuana is not legal in Amsterdam but they have strange items for sale. Check it out.

Will these items be for sale in Canada after July First???

Last full day of our European Adventure

We slept very well. Of course we were so tired from all of the walking that there was never a doubt that we would pass out once our heads hit those comfortable pillows in that wonderful bed. This hotel is really tastefully decorated.

We got ready and went to the included breakfast downstairs. It had lots of choices and the food was fine, not up to the standard of Viking but fine.

Next we went to our room and gathered our tickets etc. to get ready for our day on the canals. The Viking host gave us directions on how to get to the place where we exchange vouchers for tickets.

We boarded tram number 10 as directed. The ticket agent on the tram allowed us to travel for free since it was only three stops. That was a very nice gesture.

When we arrived at the Hop On Hop Off canal boat it was ready to depart. We boarded and away we went. It was a wonderful experience. The weather was cool but since we had our jackets we were comfortable. The narration filled us in on what we were viewing. The boat had seats and tables. I was sorry that I did not bring a paper and pen because I know I will not remember all of the facts we were given. I did not know that there are 2500 house boats on the canals, that at once time they had no services but now they have water and electricity and most important of all they are now hooked up to the sewer system. They pay taxes based on how much space they use on the canal. The canals are about 85 kilometers long ( if I remember correctly) They are 9 feet deep, the top 6 feet is fresh water and the rest below is salt water from the Black Sea.

We traveled the entire root once and then we disembarked, got a snack and visited a WC and boarded another boat. We traveled along until we came to the flea market and we disembarked and explored the market. It is huge and you can get almost everything there. It was not a farm market or at least not the part we saw. This stop lasted an hour we were amazed by a lot of what we saw. Weed anyone? What about a marijuana cookie or lollipop? It was all there.

 We also stopped in Mozes En Aaronkerk. It is a magnificent Catholic church. Of course we took more pictures inside.

We continued back to the boat dock and within 10 minutes another canal boat came along. We boarded and continued the route. When we got back to Museum Plaza we decided to head back to the hotel. By now it was 3:30 and we needed to have supper.

We took the tram and this time we had to pay.:-)
We came back to the room and reorganized our suitcases to get ready for the morning. I went on line and checked in with Air Canada.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was very good. We chatted with and wished safe travel to a lot of the Viking Ve people who were also eating dinner.

Then it was back to the room to shower and finalize the packing. We have to be ready to leave the hotel at 8:30 in the morning. By the time we get back to Vancouver it will be 3:am Amsterdam time. It will be a very long day. I think that is the time it will be.

Look Out, There's another one.

Of course we woke up early. That is always the case if you have to be somewhere are are afraid of sleeping in.
We gathered our things and vacated our room around 6:30. Then we went to Breakfast. We shared the table with the couple from Barbados. They seem to be very nice and I certain enjoy their accents.

On our way to the bus we passed a very patient fisherman and an even more patient heron.

Before long we were on the bus waiting for our trip to the Hyatt Regency. Once we were there and made certain that our suitcases were at the hotel we were given our quiet voices, met our guide and we were on our way.

We were scheduled to go on a walking tour of the old town part of Amsterdam. It was a long walk past parks and canals, no churches and no cathedrals. The city has many beautiful buildings. Some of the buildings lean which is quite interesting.

There are lots of canal house boats. They even have sewer hook ups and power etc.We saw several places where electric cars could plug in the get recharged.

We were completely inundated by bicycles. They are everywhere and they have the right of way and they have attitude. You just get out of their way or they will run you over. We saw big bikes, small bikes, bikes with gears, bikes without gears, electric bikes, bikes with carts behind, bikes with baby carriers, bikes with parcel carriers and bikes with saddle bags. We saw old riders, young riders, men riders, lady drivers, ladies in dresses, ladies in high heels, men in suits, men with brief cases, men with back packs, and every now and then we saw drivers with bike helmets.

We wonder how many bike riders are killed every day because they weave in an out of vehicle traffic while dodging pedestrians.
During the walk we came upon more of the stumbling block memorials to the victims of the Holocaust. Our guide says that Amsterdam has 6000 in place so far.

They have a unique way of handling junk mail delivery here. There are labels you put on your mail slot saying Nee or Ja, no or yes. The mailman will obey your wishes.

The end of our walk was at museum square. There are many museums in this area as well as a wonderful garden.

They had a fountain arrangement which allowed people to get into the middle and then the water rose up around you. It was really cute and it looked like fun.

We had our lunch at a local pub. We had grilled cheese and mini Dutch pancakes.

We began the long walk back to the hotel. The walk became longer because of a misplaced map. I cannot believe that I walked 16,000 steps today. Boy my feet are tired.


We checked in and found we have a beautiful room.

When we got back to the Hyatt we had a rest, we needed it. Then we got ready and went out for pizza for dinner. How does that song go?? "When you have been eating steak for a long time beans beans taste fine". The pizza was delicious and we really enjoyed it.

Next we went to the grocery store which is across the street and we got 4 soda and 2 cookies and some cherries. The coke here in our fridge is 5 Euros and we got it at the grocery for 85 cents.

Then it was back here. After an early morning and a very long day we will be asleep soon.

Tomorrow we are going to take rides on the Hop On Hop Off Canal boats. That will be very different and it should be fun.