And may I just say that after the third night in a row of eating dinner there, we got to know the waiter very well, and he was more than happy to take a special request-especially since I’m not too fond of seafood, and there was only seafood on The Aquavit menu that night. The menu is different and smaller than the dining room downstairs, but let me assure you, the menu is delicious! The appetizers stay the same each night, but the main course changes, and once again, is different than the main courses served in the dining room. The Aquavit is used by many cruisers for breakfast and lunch, but dinner is a different story.
However, there is also a small place called The Aquavit, right off of the lounge area in front of the ship where buffet style breakfasts, lunches and a “paired down” sit-down dinner is served. There is a large formal dining room where most meals are served. And we did!! Luckily, we found that there is a way to have a more intimate experience on this very social river cruise. We definitely knew that going in, but since we still have children at home and my husband works with the public taking care of dozens of people all day long as a doctor-we were hoping for a quieter experience with more one and one time together. For many people, it’s really exciting to meet and chat with people from different parts of the U.S. A lot of people traveled with friends/family, which I think is a great idea. We spotted a girl in her twenties with her mom and a young couple also most likely in their twenties, who seemed to be on their own. It looked to us that there were a couple people in their forties, and they seemed to be with family. This was an anniversary trip for my husband and me, who both still work and were significantly younger than most of the cruisers. We give it five stars, two thumbs up and a big high-five without hesitation.
Viking really does their utmost to please their cruisers and having done my homework, reading lots of reviews and knowing what was and wasn’t included, we found nothing lacking. The service, staff, food and even most included excursions are top notch. We traveled on the Viking Ship Idi on April 26 sailing the Rhine River from Basel to Amsterdam and had a wonderful time. I recommend the extra tour "A Taste of Antwerp" that included beer, fries, chocolate, sausage in pastry and of course waffles. Viking does a great job of getting the tours off on time and keeping to a schedule. Chef Denis also did a Belgian waffle recipe demo. The best was when we were met at the gangway after a tour with cream puffs. Our stateroom was small but very comfortable and the public spaces on the ship were well appointed. This was a bucket-list item for me, and I was not disappointed. The tulip displays in the fields and at Keukenhof Gardens were stupendous. Tulips and Windmills is obviously available only during tulip season, but it's well worth the wait. It's the first time we didn't need to make any arrangements ourselves for what to see, where to stay, or where to eat Viking took care of all that and we had a stress-free trip. We took the Tulips and Windmills cruise and had the most wonderful time. Be aware that when dealing with Viking River Cruises if you have problems you are on your own. On speaking to another Viking rep on the 5th May she advised us that we should take the flight to Amsterdam on the 7th May and demand that Air Canada get us to Koblenz where we could meet the ship on the 8th, we declined the suggestion Through no fault of our own what should have been an enjoyable vacation turned into an exhausting and stressful time. We received no help from Viking when we called their "Help" line at 1 AM in the morning,only to be informed that we were not their problem we were an Air Canada problem and to go back to the airport and get Air Canada to sort things out. We declined the prospect of arriving half way through the cruise and chasing a ship up the Rhine. Air Canada revised our itinerary to a flight 3 days later and their customer service, whilst trying to be helpful were unable to make better arrangements. The flight left Halifax almost two hours late and due to severe storms and the runway issues in Toronto on the 4th May caused us to miss our connection to Amsterdam. The ticket had us doubling back to Toronto from Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the previous cruises I arranged my own flights but this package offered "free air" so we took advantage of the offer. However, we booked another cruise last November and should have been enjoying our Amsterdam to Basel trip 5th - 12th May, 2017. MY wife and I have been on 3 Viking river cruises and thoroughly enjoyed them.
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