River cruising

My sister did a river cruise this autumn. No dressing up but not sure who she went with, but they are to be had

We have been on several river cruises and there was no dressing up.However we have no experience of Viking which I believe is one of the more up market lines.

Thank you for replying so promptly!

We've done several Viking cruises. People generally change for dinner but I'm sure you'd want to have a shower and change anyway after an afternoon ashore or on an excursion. Nothing fancy though. A few sparkly tops for the 'captains dinner' but not everyone. Few jackets and almost no ties in sight for men. You'll be fine.

We are going on a Viking river cruise this summer and plan to change as Jane10 says, but aren't taking anything dressy, a summer dress for me and a clean shirt for DH.

We've been on a few Viking river cruises and black evening trousers and some smart tops together with jewellery and a pashmina was fine for the two formal evenings.

We've been on several Viking River cruises. Overall no dressing up, a few women wore sparkly tops with slacks. The cruises are grand, fabulous food, great tours, lovely rooms. Enjoy!

This is just what I wanted to hear. We're going to do our first river cruise with Viking from Amsterdam to Basel. We enjoy looking smart, but not dressy. DH has visions of us spending most of our time on our balcony rather than socialising / -boozing- on deck.
Can anyone tell me the main nationality of the guests on board? Is it predominantly American?

I would say 50% American

Our first one was from Budapest to Amsterdam and was 95% American. This came as a surprise to us at the time. Their thinking was that it was worth the transatlantic flights for a 15 night cruise.
On another trip from Paris to the South of France there were lots of Aussies. It was another longer cruise though so worth their while making the flight.
All very friendly and great company. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Re the food: one of our American cruisemates described I as 'cheap wedding reception food'. That summed it up well we thought.

We found the food fabulous, save for the night on each cruise when the dinner was regional buffet. Ridiculous foods on that one night per cruise. The guests seem to be 90% American. We do not socialise on deck, the telly in our stateroom and a bottle of wine on our balcony is entertaining.

Can you buy a bottle of local wine to drink in your stateroom when you stop off or do you have to buy if from the bar on board?

We bought local wine and a bottle of brandy. Wine and beer are served at lunch and dinner gratis.

Would love to do a river cruise,in a couple of weeks we are going really mad and travelling twenty two miles to holiday near home yorkshire coast,does anyone else ever holiday near to home.Will it still feel like a holiday.

Good for you Knitting Gran, there may be lots of places in the world I have not visited, but there are so many places I still need to see within the U.K.

Last summer I stayed for a week in the next county, and visited lots of NT properties.

When my children were small we always stayed fairly close to home; I used to joke that I might pop home to feed the cat.

A change is definitely as good as a rest, and I am sure you will feel like you are having a holiday. Hopefully you will have plenty of . Have a great time.

Thanks Persistantdoner for your much appreciated reply,it always seems that the miles involved determin whether you refer to it as a holiday or not,is an hour up the road far enough for some maybe not.

We are going on our 5th Viking cruise this year. I like to change for dinner to feel fresh, but with the Americans we find absolutely anything goes - Harley Davison sweatshirts, Nordic jumpers, anything at all. Certainly no need to worry about being formally dressed. We find flowing wine and beer at both lunch and dinner, with pre-dinner drinks on certain nights, is more than enough alcohol for us, but they will uncork your own purchases if you want. You can even get the tiny cheese course at the end of the meal, and take it and a red wine up to the bar! Still and sparkling water are free together with hot drinks and snacks. We spend nothing when on board. We usually go for the cheapest cabin we can, as we have been most years recently so minimise the expense, so no balcony, but the lounges are very comfortable, and dinners tend to be sociable, whether you sit with different people each night or get a group of regulars. The food is very much to my taste, and I much prefer it to buffet eating. Breakfast has a buffet, an omelette chef and a la carte. Lunch has a buffet, a pasta chef, and a la carte, and dinner is a la carte , by which I mean from a set menu with several choices. You can ask for as many of the courses as you fancy e.g. starter and soup, dessert and cheese, or two main courses!! DH often chooses from the regular plain food offerings of chicken, salmon or steak or Caesar salad, but those are just extra on the menu. I agree with the poster who said the regional nights have poor food - one night only, as they are usually very meat based. The wine provided is fine, unless you are a real wine buff and go for the drinks package. The French cruise has the best wine of course. They have afternoon talks or cooking demos sometimes. Enjoy!

Don't worry about a dress code, I have seen "cruisers" turn up for dinner in dirty, ripped jeans.

I suggest you might try Amawaterways. We have been on 3 cruises with them including the Rhine. Very few Brits, so is preferable for us!

Another point - balconies and French windows are good to enjoy, but not when moored immediately adjacent to another ship, and would need a blanket or two wrapped round you if it is out of the main season. We paid a lot more for an upper deck cabin on our first cruise, but since have always been happy with the lowest floor

I've river cruised with saga in the past, but have seen the Viking boats and the dress code is pretty similar. Smart casual is the order of the day. I've never taken an evening dress, preferring smart skirts or trousers and sparkly tops. Men prefer jackets with or without a tie or if it's really warm, shirt sleeves. River cruises are not like the black tie big ship sea cruises. Enjoy yourtrip

Very good point moobox. They really can't count on sitting on their balcony or even a view other than directly into the boat moored next to them. We certainly had a few frights when opening the curtains in the morning -and vice versa for the unfortunate occupants of the cabin we looked directly into! You are warned!

Thank you everyone, and I hope you don't mind my joining in on your post "dahlia".

Can I ask, if we're going to be travelling north to south down the Rhein, Amsterdam to Basel, does it make a difference which side we choose to have our room? I'm thinking about getting maximum sunshine, but assume it's not so important in the morning because that's when the excursions might be?