River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 1

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Gill W
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River Cruise - Romantic Danube - Viking Njord Part 1

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Post by Gill W »

I've just returned from this river cruise, and made some notes as I travelled, which I'll post in case they are of interest.

I'll also do a post cruise summary too

Day 1 - 2

This river cruise was booked some fourteen months ago. We had decided to do
something a little different, as we needed a break from P&O.

We flew from Heathrow, terminal 5. We don’t fly very often, and this was our
first time at terminal 5. It’s very automated, we checked in at a desk that was for all
flights, not a desk allocated to just our flight. Once we had our boarding card,
we had to scan it to go 'air-side', and to go through security.

Our flight took off only slightly late for the short flight to Munich.

When we got to Munich, the luggage was very quick to appear on the carousel,
only one of our suitcases didn't. So we had to report it as missing. They were
already aware that the case had been left behind and it was on the next flight.
There was another couple on our cruise who had the same problem, so it was nice
to feel we weren't alone, particularly as, when we got to the Viking meeting
point, all the other cruisers had long gone! So I phoned the ship, and was
assured that the Viking rep was still at the airport, and we would be
transferred to the ship with people from another flight.. The rep made herself
known to us, and after waiting another couple of hours, we were on a coach, on
the two hour journey to Nuremberg. So a rather fraught start to the cruise.
However, our missing case was safely delivered to the ship, and was waiting in
our cabin after dinner. The other couple's missing case, has not yet turned up -
I'm writing this in the afternoon of day 2.

After a quick wash and brush up we went to the lounge where the Hotel Manager
and the Programme Director made their introductions, and explained things like
shore excursion arrangements, and did the safety briefing. Before we left the
UK, I'd been reading reports that many cruises have been affected by low waters
in the Danube. Valentin, our Programme Director alluded to the low water situation,
but no comment was made about whether our cruise would be impacted.

Dinner was served in the dining room at 7pm. Just the one sitting so everyone
goes in at the same time. We sat with the missing suitcase couple, and four
ladies from Canada. I've never been a fan of large table dining, and after my
recent sudden deafness which I've suffered in the last couple,of months, I did
struggle a bit with this in the very noisy dining room. The food was good, but
for me it's more difficult to enjoy the food when I have a lot of people talking
to me. I'm not sure how I will get on with these dining arrangements.

This morning (day 2) we had breakfast in the dining room. There was the usual
things to chose from- cooked breakfast, cereals, yogurts, pastries, cheeses and
meats, fruit, etc. As everyone has breakfast at a different time, the room
wasn't wildly busy. We sat ourselves at an empty table for six (the smallest
table size) and after a while we were joined by a nice couple from Lancashire,
who also had done lots of P&O cruises.

Our first included excursion was this morning. The arrangements were as
follows. You collect your bus letter card and disembarkation card from
reception. You could be on a different bus each time, you aren't assigned a
particular bus. You take your dis-embarkation card out with you, and hand it
back to reception when you get back, so they know you are on board. Nothing very
hi-tech about it.

The excursion was similar to what you'd get with P&O - we saw the grounds where
the Nuremberg Rallies were held, a walk round the Medieval City and free time in
the town square, where there was a farmers market.

Back on board for lunch, and we sailed at noon. We were keen to eat quietly by
ourselves, so we went to the Aquavit lounge where there is a small informal
buffet. Very nice, not to mention quiet, with gentle piano music being played.

As the weather isn't very good we took our Kindles to the lounge for some
reading. After that it was time for the safety drill, the alarm sounded, and everyone
took their lifejackets to their muster station. As the briefing was done yesterday,
this only took about 10 minutes

We have now retreated to our cabin, where we are watching to transit through the
Main-Danube Canal.
Gill

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