We went on a Viking river cruise (the Daube) the other week. It was .. nice? But I would not do it again. At least not in the foreseeable future.

Covid

Covid is still a thing. Yeah, folks are vaccinated (and it’s a requirement for the cruise – but nobody actually checked). But the cruise experience is still (as a co-worker said) a floating petri dish. You are sitting down, indoors, for 1-3 meals per day at a table with 4-8 strangers being served by the same staff for a week straight. The river cruise is just about 200 passengers (plus staff) – not the thousands you can get on Disney ocean cruises. In addition, you will be riding busses with these folks to and fro. And every single one of them travelled through some number of airports. And not a one of them wore a mask. Covid is almost certainly not going to kill you, but it is still a highly contagious cold that will knock you on your ass for days.

Flexibility

Viking, at least, will tend to screw you if you change passengers (add/remove/swap). It seems like if you want to swap a passenger ahead of the cruise it should be trivial. It ain’t. In addition, cruises tend to be booked many months ahead of time. It makes sense – it’s just a big negative in my book.

Daily lock-in

There are some things you can add up to the last minute – but not many. Most things need at least 24 hours notice; and usually if you drop something (even days ahead) there is no refund. In addition, you’re only at that port for one day – tops. If you pass on something then that’s probably it. The events you’re given access to through the cruise are mostly trivial to find without the cruise. I much prefer to be able to decide when I’m going to do the city bus tour, when I’m going to grab the fancy meal out, when I’m going to do the day trip to the UNESCO site half a day away once I’m at the place. Depending on the weather, energy levels, etc. Yes, if you’re going to Vienna you have to book the concert ahead of time – probably! But most things can be juggled up to the day if you’re doing it yourself.

In short, I like to stay in a place at least 3-4 days. Get a bit of a feel for the place. See the big tourist thing and also some of the really local stuff. Cook some of my own meals with local groceries.

The cruise had this weird grown-up disney or vegas feel. You get on a bus, go somewhere, see a thing, bus back to the ship, dine & drink and off to the next port. I guess if you just want to splash on the surface then that’s fine. Or if you’re sampling for where you really want to go back to and spend time then maybe. But I don’t do trips often enough; I want to find 2-3 places I really want to spend time, line them up, and then spend 3-4 days at each (with probably a day of travel between).