WE HAD our last night on Viking Lofn, enjoying the atmosphere in the lounge and saying our goodbye's to some of our favorite crew members, as well as a couple fellow passengers we had met. We were on a "back-to-back" denominated "France's Finest," which included transportation to our next ship - The Viking Nerthus, and another week of cruising; this time on the Seine. But of the 170 - odd cruisers, only a handful were with us. We would meet new people on the next one, but the staff/crew here had become special favorites.
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| Farewell to the Viking Lofus - Lyon, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
THE NEXT morning, those of us traveling on to the Nerthus boarded yet another Viking Coach, and bid farewell to the Lofn. Fond memories of that ship.
[Viking Lofn Crew members] are friendly, helpful, good-humored, and for the most part: efficient.
I WILL be doing a more in-depth review of our Viking Experience in the near future on my other blog (I Am A Celebrity) which is more focused on the cruising aspect of our personal travels. There are certainly many things I can (and will) say about Viking; much of it not completely positive. But what I will say here is that the "on the ground" and shipboard crew members are as good as any we have known on any cruise. They are friendly, helpful, good-humored, and for the most part: efficient. That morning, we put our primary luggage out in the hallway and Viking got it to the Nerthus. It was in our stateroom when we arrived!
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| Welcome to Viking Nerthus - Paris, France Copyright Andy Richards 2026 - All Rights Reserved |
HAVING HAD some experience with the French train system already, we knew it could be confusing to the uninitiated (though once you get it, it is really pretty straightforward). But in this case there were simply no worries for the travelers. A Viking staff member met us on the bus and escorted us into the station, where she got us our tickets. We were on a nice, first class coach on the direct, high speed train from Lyon to Paris. When boarding time arrived, she escorted us to and through our gates and to the doorway of our coach. It was a comfortable, 2-hour ride (most of us caught up on our sleep). Upon arrival at the (now familiar to us) Lyon Gare train station in Paris, as we exited the platform, there were Viking reps holding signs. Ours indicated that he was picking up Nerthus passengers. He had a list with names. Once all were accounted for, he took us to our bus, which in turn, took us to Viking's Paris Cruise Port on the Seine - directly to our ship. Efficient.
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| View from the Sundeck of our Viking Nerthus - Paris Cruise Port Copyright Andy Richards 2026 All Rights Reserved |
OF COURSE they had food waiting for us. 😀 After a lunch/snack, we settled into our stateroom, and then checked out our new ship. Interestingly, Lofn is one of the line's oldest ships and Nerthus one of the very newest, so there were some contrasts. But really not many. There is very little real estate on a river ship. 4 decks, with lowest deck having "waterline" staterooms. Deck 2 is the primary floor which has the main dining room up front and staterooms rear. Deck 3 has the Lounge up front and staterooms rear. The top deck ("sundeck) has chairs and couches designed for cruising days and sun. There is also a small "designated" (more on that below) smoking area. The Nerthus decks 1-3 were virtually identical to Lofn. The ship is a bit smaller capacity, so the dining room may have been a tad smaller, but same layout. The only real difference I could see was that the sundeck area seemed a bit nicer, with more seating up at the bow area.
THE DESIGNATED smoking area was nice, but not very well thought out. Rather than being on the very back as it was in Lofn, it is kind of in the middle of things making it unpleasant at times for other non-smokers in the seating area under the large umbrella. Viking really needs to re-think their "designated" smoking area policy. I "get" that smokers are a small minority of the passengers, but they exist and we aren't going away any time soon. On the river ships, there are a couple of pretty simple (in my opinion) setup things. First, when under sail, the wind will naturally be blowing from bow to stern. That mean the smoking area really should be back at (or near) the stern. But in port, we experienced a different phenomena on one night. The wind was directly from the stern toward the bow. With the general seating forward and the "designated" smoking area just behind it, they were getting smoke full on. There was a pretty simple solution. There is a very small area way up on the bow with a couple tables. It happened that night, that it was totally unoccupied. I think Viking should consider a "moveable designated smoking area." That night is would have made great sense to smoke up forward. We suggested it, but nobody really did anything except complain. Viking?
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| Night view from the Sundeck of our Viking Nerthus - Paris Cruise Port Copyright Andy Richards 2026 All Rights Reserved |
WHAT WE did appreciate was our view from the deck at the Paris/Seine Viking dock. As you sit and view forward, the Eiffel Tower is prominent in the background. It made a nice "riverboat picture." That evening, after our first dinner aboard the Nerthus, we went upstairs to the top deck. Though still very warm, the evening weather was noticeably more comfortable than it had been in the south and we spent most evenings after dinner up there. It is easy to see that the view is even more dramatic at night.
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| Night view from the Sundeck of our Viking Nerthus - Paris Cruise Port Copyright Andy Richards 2026 All Rights Reserved |
