Viking Hermod - Portraits of Southern France

[Solent Richard]

My wife and I have recently returned from an excellent cruise on Viking Hermod..



It was without doubt the most 'active' river cruise that I have experienced and I made use of all the excursions offered - both complimentary and additionally charged ones.

Viking River Cruises has an excellent reputation and once again this cruise did not dissappoint...



Among the highlights was an overnight stop in Avignon when, after dinner, the Captain departed our berth and cruised past the famous Pont D'Avignon so that we could witness its night time illumination...



One of the additional excursions organised by Viking was an outstanding visit to the Pont du Gard...



Interestingly I have noted that, despite the Euro's recent exchange rate predicament, Viking have lowered their paid excursion prices. This particular excursion was an absolute bargain at €44.00 per person.


A full review of both the Viking Hermod and the 'Portraits of Southern France' itinerary, including over 60 photographs, can be found on my blog site...

http://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/201 ... rn-france/

I'll be happy to answer any questions on that particular river cruise.

[Manoverboard]

Yep, well worth doing, we have done a variation of that one with Viking but with three days added in Barcelona at the end of the cruise.

[Raybosailor]

Great review Richard and no I wasn't aware of the link to the song until I heard it played on the video, and how coincidental that you post this review the day I am looking at Vikings website.

Last week we were in Les Andale's where two Viking Cruise ships were berthed and both were full of Americans mostly from the Boston area, I got talking to one guy who told me that they were on a cruise from Paris-Honfluer-Paris and he was a regular cruiser with Viking.

As the route to Honfluer goes straight by where we are staying at Amfreville-sous-Le Mont by the Seine I decided to keep an eye out for the two ships passing by and to my amazement I soon found out that after years of staying in this location there are not only two islands in front of us but three as I only saw the top of the bridge of both vessels who were sailing in what I thought were fields.
Not to be outdone I jumped in the car and drove down to the Seine Barrage at Poses where I could see them go through the giant locks. Again I was disappointed as they just moored up, probably to give the passengers an in depth explanation of the great barrage and locks which is a brilliant piece of engineering.

I am now looking at a similar cruise itinerary that we could tie in with a couple of weeks in our usual location, although I know all the stops on the route very well it would be great to see them from the river.
Thanks for the review Richard.

[Solent Richard]

Great review Richard and no I wasn't aware of the link to the song until I heard it played on the video, and how coincidental that you post this review the day I am looking at Vikings website.


I am now looking at a similar cruise itinerary that we could tie in with a couple of weeks in our usual location, although I know all the stops on the route very well it would be great to see them from the river.
Thanks for the review Richard.

Thank you Ray.

We tend to take a river cruise once a year though that increases to two next year as we take one European and one in Asia.

I personally think they are great fun and a break from ocean cruising.

[Raybosailor]

If you like river cruising Richard why not put in a bid for the cruise ship replica that Ancient Mariner posted up.

I didn't know there were so many river cruise itineraries available until I looked at the Viking website.

Enjoy your two cruises.

[Gill W]

We did a Danube river cruise on Viking Njord last year. This ship is also a Longship and looked identical to Hermod.

I thought very highly of Viking, and would like to do another river cruise at some point

Thanks for the link to your blog

[chrisv]

My wife and I had a chance to do the Rhine Getaway cruise with the post cruise extension to Lucerne, Switzerland. The Rhine river around Cologne, Germany was our favorite. The castle experience is a must for castle lovers - Marksburg Castle and the ruins of Heidelberg Castle. It was pricey but well worth it. We can't wait for our next Viking River cruise!

[Manoverboard]

For those who find Viking a tad pricey I would recommend the Amadeus Fleet, courtesy of ...

http://www.lueftner-cruises.com/en/amad ... ncess.html

[Solent Richard]

My wife and I had a chance to do the Rhine Getaway cruise with the post cruise extension to Lucerne, Switzerland. The Rhine river around Cologne, Germany was our favorite. The castle experience is a must for castle lovers - Marksburg Castle and the ruins of Heidelberg Castle. It was pricey but well worth it. We can't wait for our next Viking River cruise!

It just so happens that on my return from Burma last week the new 2017 brochure was in my mailbox.

In less than 48 hours I had booked the very same Rhine cruise on Viking Eir, Basel to Amsterdam.

[Solent Richard]

For those who find Viking a tad pricey I would recommend the Amadeus Fleet, courtesy of ...

http://www.lueftner-cruises.com/en/amad ... ncess.html

Thank you for the link. I guess the prices look better in Euros and don't appear to include air fares while quoting additional fees for airport/railway transfers.

By the way, I have a Scenic river cruise booked for later this year and, as just posted, a Viking Rhine cruise in 2017.