My First River Cruise | Paris and The Heart of Normandy FULL REVIEW

Full disclosure: I was part of a PR trip with Viking and that means they paid for my cruise and my roundtrip airfare to and from Paris. Having said that all opinions are my own and I had no limitations or mandatory posting requirement and received no monetary compensation for making this video.

I recently went on a Viking River Cruise and in this video I’ll be sharing what I loved, what I didn’t love, and exactly WHO I think should go on a river cruise! Huge thanks to Viking for hosting me for this lovely 7 night Paris and the Heart of Normandy river cruise. I hope this video will help you decide if you should go on a river cruise and give you some tips and tricks to help you feel more prepared.

To get all the details and book your own Viking River Cruise, head here: https://www.viking.com/

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hey everybody Welcome or welcome back to the channel today I am bringing you a full review of my very first ever River Cruise it was with Viking it was incredible I loved almost everything about it there were a few things I didn’t love there were also a few things that I will do differently when and if I cruise with bking again and I can’t wait to share it all with you and I’m so glad that you’re here so the cruise that I was on was the Paris to Normandy river cruise with Viking full disclosure I was hosted for this Cruise which this was my first ever time that a cruise line reached out and invited me to cruise with them so that part was pretty exciting I’m a little nervous doing this review because I do appreciate the fact that they hosted me amazing opportunity but also my primary loyalty is always going to be to you guys so just know that they did host me but I am still going to bring you my honest true opinions about Viking about River cruising and I think probably most importantly is kind of who I think River cruising is best for now I’m going to be inserting while I’m talking different clips so this is kind of going to be a hybrid of a travel Vlog and a review um I’m not sure as I’m saying this how all that’s going to work out but hopefully you will walk away after watching this video knowing if a Viking river cruise is right for you feeling prepared to be successful on your Viking river cruise and maybe knowing a few tips or tricks that you wouldn’t have known otherwise so that’s my goal for this video we’re going to start with before you ever leave home when you first book your cruise with Viking the thing I love about Viking is they will do everything for you they and you know most Cruise Lines will but they will book your airfare they will book your transfers they will book your sailing and especially if you’re someone who is a little anxious about traveling in Europe it could not be easier they will make sure that everything is taken care of and then you will have the opportunity to book your excursions now the excursions are very well detailed on their website you are going to want to really read what it says is it strenuous is there moderate walking are there hills they try to do a very good job of making sure that you’re not booking an Excursion that you’re not going to feel comfortable doing um but we booked our excursions pretty early on because there were a few uh versai and also the Normandy uh beaches and the museum that we knew would get looked up very early so we booked those early on uh but don’t be too stressed about that there is an included Excursion every day they give you all of the details of the included excursions as well as the ones you can pay extra money for you can always call them if you have questions I’m going to have a little bit more to say about excursions when I get to my what I would have done differently part so stick around for that but I did feel like the pre-cruise planning was very easy to figure out very easy booking my flights and all those kinds of things now when we got to Paris um it was super easy to find our guide uh we were getting on the ship the same day that we flew Viking typically and they did this when I did the Viking sea uh cruise that I did a few years back with my mom they typically dock in their first port for one night which is great for travel because if for some reason a flight got cancelled or whatever we knew the ship was still going to be in Paris so they still would have been able to pick us up at the airport and get us to the ship but the Viking representative was very easy to spot uh once we got through baggage claim we got all of our stuff there was a big group of us that were all on the same flight from Atlanta and we were on the bus and off to the ship now I will say this uh and throughout this you’ll hear me kind of compare River cruising to Ocean cruising because I know a lot of you had questions about that the getting on the boat part was like if if getting on a ship in Cape Canaveral Florida is a 10 in stress getting on a river cruise in Paris France is like a one in stress hi Lenny this is my dog Lenny he shows up in a lot of videos because whenever I start talking he likes to come and say hey how are you buddy good to see you um he’s shedding so much right now hair flying everywhere so yeah we literally got off the bus and and just walked on the ship like I I don’t have words for how relaxed it was it was just like not even a thing and that’s going to play out the more I talk about the differences very very chill now when we got in and they just kind of gave us a welcome they gave us some towels um they gave us a little welcome drink and then they showed us to our cabin the cabins on River ships River ships River Cruises are small very small like I don’t know if they’re this small on all River cruising I kind of assume that they are even though it was a tiny cabin it did not feel tiny once we had been there for a couple of days I was traveling with my son William he’s 24 we’ve traveled together quite a bit um and and honestly because it’s so convenient we were placed right next to this little Library area so one of us could pop out there and read a book or be on our phone while the other one was getting ready so we could give each other a little bit of space it it did not feel ridiculous after the first probably day but when we first got in the cabin I was like wow this is very very tiny but you’re on the S you’re in Paris who cares you’re hardly going to be in the room at all anyway except for to sleep and to get ready we were out on our balcony more than I would have thought um I absolutely loved sailing along the S once the boat would be like actually moving and there were a couple of days where we made quite a bit of mileage uh during the day watching the water go by watching the changing landscape seeing the birds and the Villages and the towns we would pass through I was not prepared for how magical that would feel so just otherworldly the whole time as we’re Sailing by and we’re we’re Sailing by like people’s farms and and apartments and you know like you can see people on the shore as someone who loves water loves being on the water loves being in the water I wasn’t prepared for how much I would love this I I absolutely adored it so we were out on The Veranda a lot um but it is Tiny having said that it’s small but it was very well appointed the bedding was very high-end the amenities in the bathroom were very high-end um everything was very very clean um the the water pressure was good and the shower like no issues on any of that I I kind of expected that again having done um Viking ocean cruises I knew that they had a very high standard for excellence and the cabin quality was excellent they do have uh like The Navigators ver uh Navigator veranda or Navigator Suite that you can book and you can you do get some extra perks for being in those rooms we were obviously just in a regular room um I’ll put the room category that it was right here but um never had a problem with the room the they they kept it perfectly clean all week uh we did get uh housekeeping would come in in the after breakfast and then they would come in before bed turn down our bed give us our plans for the next day um yeah and I I just thought the cabin was perfect for what it was although they are small so be prepared for that if you are looking to pack a little bit lighter maybe for your River Cruise because you don’t want to have a ton of stuff go ahead and watch the unpacking video I did because you really don’t need to pack that much and you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you don’t have a ton of clothes and a ton of luggage on your River Cruise so now let’s talk about the food there are only really two places to eat on the ship and this is very different if you’re used to cruising on a big cruise ship you have the main dining room and the there was a Terrace The aquavite Terrace I believe it was called that was the more casual dining although it was the same menu so they have a really big outdoor patio unfortunately that was only open a couple of times during our trip because it was so pretty out there but that’s a little bit more laidback I actually preferred eating out there to eating in the big dining room the big dining room is huge it’s a little bit loud um but the experience in there was very very good and I thought that the food food was excellent now there were a couple of nights that were not as excellent as others they did a big Normandy theme night with this gorgeous Buffet we were able to all do some Calvados tasting more on that in a minute because I found out I really like calados what I really like though is apple cider which apple cider is not the same thing in Normandy as it is in the US it’s actually more like a almost like a champagne but oh my gosh it’s so very good so the food was very good I am not a huge foodie so it’s not like I can tell you oh we had this one particular dish that was so amazing but there were a couple of nights um as a pescatarian so I’m a vegetarian who also eats fish where the fish was just out of this world outstanding and I will tell you I never walked out of the dining room hungry the food was excellent we had the silver Spirits uh wine package uh so we were able to get an upgraded bottle of wine but even if you don’t have the wine package they do have uh beer and wine available at lunch and dinner and it’s not just like a cheap offering it’s a really good uh red and a white that the chef has curated to go with a meal um so that is a great benefit of Viking um but even with the silver Spirits package it wasn’t very expensive at all and I think can be well worth it if you’re someone that likes maybe an upgraded cocktail um or you know my son is a bartender so he liked ordering these fancy martinis and we would get a a better bottle of wine with dinner every night and I felt like it was just an excellent dining experience now having said that the problem with a smaller ship is outside of dining times there’s really no way to get food so that’s going to be my first thing that you need to be aware of that I didn’t love um and that’s the the lack of availability of food outside of dining hours so if I were to do another River Cruise which I hope to do cuz I definitely think Scott would love it and it’s something we really want to do together um I would go into town and get snacks uh the good news is you’re always docked in villages and so it’s really easy to go to a grocery store I it’s just you know sometimes it’s 10 o’clock at night and you feel a little peckish and you want something to eat and the only things that would be available 24 hours a day would be the coffee sparkling water tea station and then they would have some cookies and sometimes some pastries but outside of that there’s no room service available unless you’re in one of the Suites and so that made it a little bit tricky in terms of food and we were not the only ones that complained about this so if I had some feedback I would say and I wrote this in Our Guest Survey I would say if there could even be just like a little snack bar like what they have on international flights with just some little cheese or chips or something that you could grab because sometimes you’re really hungry and it’s not a meal time so just just be aware of that but but if you’re aware and you go in and you either bring some snacks from the US with you or you buy some snacks in France where by the way they have some snacks um then you know you’ll just you’ll be aware when you get on the ship the other thing is you don’t have to eat on the ship uh one night in fact it was the night they did the Normandy Buffet the buffet was amazing but we ended up going into the town where we were docked with our friends uh ruin was the name of the town and we actually ended up uh or no it wasn’t uh Ru it was a Vernon we in Vernon or Vernon as I was saying it uh we went in and got Sushi because the ship was going to be docked overnight so that is like the number one thing that blew me away in terms of like convenience the fact that you can just pop on and off this River Cruise any all time you want obviously you need to be aware of when the ship is going to leave that’s super important but it it was really strange to me to be docked overnight in a port and be out until 10:30 or 11: at night and just come on in and and tap our card and be on the ship very very different than in Ocean cruising and it it really did feel more like a floating hotel that was taking me through these parts of France that I would not be able to see otherwise where I happened to have included breakfast lunch and dinner so that part of it um really exceeded my expectations uh one day I got off the ship um there had there was a big Excursion that I chose not to do that day and instead just walked around a local city park and looked at you know families and there was a petting zoo and people were having picnics and that’s how I love to travel um I’m huge at going into local city parks City zoos things like that to really see how people live um and it it’s it’s one of my like really really favorite things to do so the fact that I could just walk off the ship and we were docked where there was this beautiful Park made it feel extremely magical and I absolutely love that okay let’s talk about the excursions for a minute as I said before Viking has an included Excursion at every single port of call this is also true on Viking CA which are their ocean liners um when my mom and I did the uh West Indies Explorer we took advantage of all of the free excursions now if you are someone who does not like being on a Big Bus full of people really read through those excursions to see if it’s a big group or a small group and you can always call Viking and ask them um for example obviously the buail Excursion was a huge group we knew that was going to happen but huge groups of people you’re not going to move quickly you want to pack your patients if you’re someone that prefers a smaller group uh you can also find those excursions uh the Excursion that we did to the organic uh Calvados Distillery and farm uh in Normandy absolutely unbelievable experience there were nine of us on that Excursion I know that several of the people did the um Taste of France they did a food tour in Paris and I think there was like nine or 12 people on that Excursion you do pay more for those smaller excursions but if that is more your speed I would definitely consider doing that the other thing I would consider especially if you’re docked in a place like Paris and you are an experienced traveler you can just explore on your own in fact as much as we enjoyed the Excursion to Versailles we would have felt very comfortable taking the train from Paris and making our way out there ourselves we would have paid less money but again we’re very experienced Travelers my son has been in France many times this was my fourth time in Paris um so if you’re not if if you’re someone who’s not super experienced of you know navigating trains and all of that in a foreign country definitely go with the excursions Viking also has availability for private excursions that you can uh have them book for you um if you don’t love that big crowd experience um Normandy was the other one that you could have booked a smaller tour group I kind of enjoyed that being a large group just because of what it is we had quite a few uh retired and active duty military on our sailing they did a special ceremony with them they laid a wreath um at the tomb there it was it was a really beautiful experience and it was wonderful to experience it with a group of people um but just be aware River Cruises and big excursions are going to be big excursions so if that is not your cup of tea you want to make sure you steer clear of the huge excursions having said that you could have gone on this cruise and used it as a floating hotel and never done one of Vikings excursions and that would have been absolutely fantastic we had a bit of a change in our itinerary which does happen from time to time with River Cruises because of water levels the S was a little too high for us to dock in Paris at the end of our trip so they made sure that they could bus everybody to their excursions and people who just wanted to wander around Paris they actually did a shuttle because we were parked um in lopec I think it’s called Uh a suburb of Paris and they just you could get on the bus and go into Paris and then there was a time when they brought you back so you can still explore on your own so it really is kind of a Choose Your Own Adventure experience so everything from someone who was maybe very anxious and wanted Viking to handle everything you can do that or if you’re extremely independent and you want to just do your own thing you can do that as well and I don’t think I really realized how much flexibility there was and when I go on my next river cruise we will probably opt to do more on our own or I will choose the smaller excursions that’s just me that’s how I like to travel um so just rest assured you have either option whatever you’re comfortable with okay now I want to get into who is a Viking Cruise for because a lot of you had reached out and expressed to me that you were worried that you would not fit in maybe you’re my age maybe you’re a little younger than me so I just want to alleviate your fears there was a wonderful woman on our sailing that was 91 and then my son was definitely the youngest at 24 but there were all ages in between there were a lot of folks in their 40s there were a lot of people in their 50s and 60s and yes there were a lot of people in their 70s and 80s I liked that I felt like it was such a great mix of people um but I think this idea that River cruising is for old people is kind of an outdated thing and and if you think back like when my grandmother was into cruising she would cruise on the loveboat and back then that was for old people and we certainly know that’s not the truth now now why it’s good for people who are in their 60s 70s 80s and Beyond is because they take such good care of you because they are picking you up from the airport from baggage claim they’re making sure that you’re safe they’re making sure that everything is taken care of they’re making sure there are wheelchairs available if you needed that they’re getting you back to the airport at the end of your trip all of that is ideal but we also had quite a few people in their 40s and 50s on our sailing so I think it’s definitely more of a mixed group than I had anticipated but yes this does appeal to older Travelers and I absolutely can see why I think for me um it was so great to travel with my son but I could also see me doing this with my mom so if you have an elderly relative that you would like to take on this like epic maybe once in a lifetime trip this is such a fantastic option because you have so much support because they will make sure that everything is taken care of so as a multigenerational trip I think this could be really really great and a fantastic way to go overall we loved our Viking Crews really the if the only feedback I have is I wish they had more availability of food during the non uh meal times during the day which feels very much like a champagne problem because it was very easy for us to get food at the you know mono PRI or whatever little shop was right there in town the docking in the different smaller Villages I just wasn’t ready y’all I was not prepared for docking in a village and literally just walking a few steps and being at this gorgeous Garden that led up to this beautiful Chateau that then had steps up to this Watchtower and then we could walk into town and we could eat at the crepery and it it just was magical it felt like a fairy tale and if that is the kind of touring that you’re interested in doing if you want to have that kind of very intimate experience where you’re right there along the S and you can go to places that I I mean I don’t know about you I never would have been in some of these Villages if I hadn’t have done it on a Viking Cruise on Easter Sunday we were in a town called lanise uh which is just this quaint beautiful town in the Normandy part of France we were able to look in the shops and see everybody out and having picnics and it just was a beautiful trip it was such a blessing to be able to share it with my son I am already looking at their itineraries to plan another trip with Viking I really enjoyed it that much I think the value for money is tremendous especially if you look at all of the things that are included and um yeah I I think if you’ve been on the fence about going I think you should definitely go and uh maybe I’ll see you there so whatever you’re doing today I hope you’re finding Joy again huge thanks to Viking for hosting me for this beautiful once in a-lifetime cruise with my son huge thanks to my son for tagging along he stayed a few days in Paris after I left and I think he had a pretty good time he told me he did I think he had fun love you guys and I’ll talk to you next time bye