Viking Rhine Christmas market cruise

We did the regular Viking cruise from Basel to Amsterdam. We've done one river cruise and one ocean cruise. We didn't take any optional excursions on the river cruise. We liked the included ones, and other site seeing we did on our own. We do travel a lot independently so we are used to research, transportation, etc. Typically, the ports were close to the city centers so we just walked.

I have taken several Viking river cruises (never a Christmas market specific cruise) and the experiences are quality. If you want more opinions I suggest you look on FB at Viking groups.

No idea about the specifc question but I did see a video of another company's christmas market cruise and noted two issues, both of which involve dusk and need you to check the itinery, prefrably before you book!

Dusk comes early in northern europe at that time of year, which is not a completely bad thing because the markets had the best atmosphere when they were lit up after dark. The problem is that some of the market visits were made earlier, even in the morning when little was happening. And some of the excursions were still out when less could be seen.

PS - is this the correct forum for Viking cruises?

The GENERAL EUROPE forum would have made more sense, but I don't think it matters much in the end because most people probably access the forum through the All Topics link.

I agree that this forum is wonderful for answering all kinds of travel questions. That being said, as one who believes in using the right tool for the job, I recommend you check out Cruise Critic's website, where you will likely get a lot more information on your excursions question.

We take a Xmas market cruise every other year and have done all the lines. Personally, the markets along the Danube are MUCH better than the ones on the Rhine - there aren't even markets in Amsterdam. The Markets originated in Germany and are still best in Germany and Austria. Also - Viking has been our least favorite line - I'd look at Tauck, AMA, Avalon, Uniworld, etc over Viking. You are very late to be booking the better lines for this year. We book 18-24 mo in advance and have been going to them since 2011.

Try to see Vienna (don't miss Rathaus, MariaTheresa Platz, Schonbrunn, Karlsplatz, AmHof markets) - we always add 3-4 days here.
Salzburg, Regensburg Thurn & Taxis Market, Nuremberg (our fav and we add time here too), Passau - all these are on the Danube.

Those on the Rhine are mostly France & Switzerland and the markets aren't as good, even tho the towns are great.