River Cruise Amsterdam to Basel

We did an Amsterdam to Basel river cruise with Emerald this time last year, here is my Trip Report if it helps, including post cruise that included Lucerne and Zurich.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-amsterdam-to-zurich-by-boat-and-train

The one big difference I noticed between the two cruiselines is that Viking seemed to have preferred berths in all the stops whereas Emerald was often far from the daily destination and we had to be bussed in.

Allan, Viking has preferred berths because they saw the future a long time ago, and they bought or have usage rights to a great many of the docks used by river cruises all over the world. Other lines can use their docks for a price; the 2 Tauck cruises I have taken often did.

Hi Jim. I share your sentiments exactly! We recently booked the same river cruise for October 2027 and are having Viking book our flights. We are also skipping the pre/post package offers. We're planning to spend 3 days in Amsterdam prior to the cruise. We had an agent book the cruise and were told that if we didn't like our flights, the agent could rebook. Please post a trip report and have a great time!

We've always traveled independently also. We've only done one river cruise, with Grand Circle, which we enjoyed very much. My impression was that the best thing about a river cruise is meeting your fellow passengers. The daily expeditions were nice, and we learned a lot about the places we went to, but to me, the value was in meeting some unexpectedly interesting people, our fellow passengers.

No personal experience but a friend is a frequent Viking cruiser and she uses their flights and she has related no horror stories

Booking the flights with Viking has the advantage that the cruise and the flights then become a single package. That is one case where not booking direct with the airline has advantages. If for some reason Viking cancels the cruise they will have to refund your airline tickets too, not just the cruise.

Spending a few days afterwards in Luzern is nice. November however is maintenance season in Switzerland, so expect a lot to be closed, and the weather is not the best. The rigi railway however will be operating, so you have a chance of getting above the fog in the sun, and enjoy the views...

Thank all of you for your comments. One thing we are dealing with is my wife's passport. It expires in February and Viking requires at least 6 months on the passport at the end of our journey. She has just applied to renew her passport, but they tell us it could be 6-8 weeks, about 90 days from our departure. I have Viking Air Plus, but they are telling me there is nothing we can do about the air booking until I am able to insert her passport information in their system. We also have to pay an additional $200 to go early and stay later with their flights unless we buy their pre/post packages. My experience with airlines has been that the closer you are to your departure date the fewer options you have for flights and seats. I can book our flights now on United, our preferred carrier, and there is no passport issue. I will only cost an additional $1,200 over the Viking price for the peace of mind. Thoughts?

We took this cruise a few years ago. We had Viking book the air, but added days on the end which they accommodated with a flight out of Zurich. No issues with the flight itinerary. One advantage is that if they book your flights, they will be tracking your flight for delays, and also they meet you at the airport for transfer to the dock. I think they will also accommodate flight requests (like airline preferences) for an extra charge.

We also booked our own post-cruise stay in Luzern, at a fraction of the cost of Vikings excursion. We took a cab from the ship (crew arranged taxi) to the SBB rail station and got to Luzern on our own. On departure day, we took the direct train from Luzern to Zurich airport (about 1.25 hours). No need to visit Zurich.

You may want to check the passport requirements for Schengen. I have read passports need to be valid until 3 months from the day you will be departing Schengen: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-nationals/indexamp_en.htm.

“….your travel document must have been issued within the previous 10 years the day you enter the EU on condition that it is valid until the end of your stay plus an additional 3 months.”.