Viking River Cruise

We have taken our family on a europe cruise Regent Seven Seas from Barcelona to Rome and loved it beyond words. Now we are thinking of taking the family again daughter, son in law grandchildren on a Viking River cruise to China in 2014. Our travel agent who is FABULOUS said river cruises tend to get older people. Has anyone ever been on a Viking River cruise and if so what age bracket?

Hi Ann,

We have taken 3 Viking River Cruises. Your travel agent is absolutely correct that passengers tend to be older.

River cruises are very, very different from ocean going cruises. The age of your grandchildren certainly would be a determining factor.

The 3 cruises we took were in Europe, and young children would have been bored to death. They also required a lot of walking some of it difficult.

However, if your grandchildren are older, what you have in mind would be a fabulous cultural experience. I had traveled through a lot of Europe with my parents by the time I was 11 and still remember our trips.

Viking is absolutely great about answering questions. My suggestions is that you either e-mal them or call them directly and see what they have to say. For all I know the Chinese cruises may have a younger demographic just because of the flight length, etc.

BTW: Viking is our cruise line of choice for river cruises.

Sue

Thanks Sue. The girls will be 20 and 17 by May. We try to do a Europe trip with them every year for the past 10 years.
A funny story is that we always take my daughter and son in law. However, one Sunday when they were over for dinner my husband asked if they would want to take a trip with no parents, just us. They said yes and he offered them a trip wherever they wanted to go. 8AM the next morning they called and said they wanted to go to London, Paris, and Capri. We had a great 2 weeks. They have aleady been on trips, cruises etc. This is entirely different.

Hi Ann,

Your granddaughters are so well traveled I think that even though they probably would be the youngest passengers on-board they would be just fine. Viking crews knock themselves out to make it a good trip for everyone.

We've thought of taking our granddaughter on river cruise when she is a little older (11 now), so I will be very interested in what you decide.

Either you or your travel agent certainly could check with Viking to see what the average age is for the China cruise if that is still a concern.

If they were our granddaughters with their ages and travel experience we'd probably go for it.

Sue

Hi Ann!

I can't help you with your question, but we are booked on this cruise for their May 8th sailing. Maybe we'll see you there, and I can thank you in person for all your help with our Italy trip!

Thanks everyone for your help. I agree with our travel agent and everyone else a river cruise is not for them. We are thinking along the lines of another Regent Seven Seas to St,. Petersburg or Greece. Perhaps my husband and I will do the river cruise. Thank you all for your help.

Hi Ann,

Those both sound more like a cruise that teens would enjoy.

I think that you and your husband would really enjoy a river cruise, though.

Sue

We did the Viking trip of the Danube river from Budapest to Nuremburg. It was a good trip with older people on board. There were some younger couples. This year we did Uniworld on the Rhone river from Lyon to Marsailles and it was fabulous and they are now our river cruise of choice.

Our agent also told us we would not enjoy it as the people on Viking were older. Your cruise line I have never done but it is rated as one of top river cruises. We will try it one day. We are going once again on Regent Seven seas. We love their cruises. AnnS