Come sail away: Does a Viking River Cruise deliver for its value?

Do you ever wonder, as you watch the endless Viking River Cruise ads on public television, whether Viking actually delivers on its elegant, British-accented promise? You know the one: “Explore the world — in comfort!”

Well, last year in the spring, my wife and I decided to find out. We took an eight-day cruise from Paris to the coast of Normandy aboard one of Viking’s long ships. And we have an answer for you.

But let’s not rush it. This is a cruise, after all.

Let’s follow the suggestion of a French guide at one of our sightseeing stops. Pausing at the entrance of a picturesque town, she told us: “First, we walk around, eh, and get some feelings. Then, later on, you learn everything.”

The first feelings we got, after reading an email from Viking a few days before the trip, did not give us comfort. The River Seine was flooded by record spring rains, and our ship was unable to reach Paris. The water was so high, the email said, that the ship couldn’t get under the city’s low stone bridges.

We would be transported 18 miles down the river by motorcoach, Viking told us, and start our cruise from there.

My wife and I looked at each other. “Oh boy,” she said. “Explore the world — by bus.”

Even worse, it was still raining the day we arrived in Paris.

But our feelings changed when we got off the bus and walked up the gangway to the ship.

We were warmly greeted by the ship’s program director, concierge and maître d’. Stewards offered us hot towels to refresh our hands, and shot glasses of fresh lemonade. The ship’s entire staff was on hand to escort guests to their staterooms.

My wife and I were taken down two flights of stairs to the lowest deck, where the rooms have small windows just above the waterline. We had saved money by booking a room on the bottom deck — and we immediately felt a pang of regret.

The staterooms on the upper two decks were the same size as ours, but their large windows and private balconies gave them a sense of spaciousness. During our week aboard the ship, I have to confess that I developed a mild case of balcony envy.

After a life vest drill on the upper deck and a welcome talkby Mimi, the ship’s program director, it was time for dinner. This was a moment I had been nervous about. I knew that all the meals on board would be served at tables for eight. In other words, my wife and I would always be dining with strangers.

Fortunately for us, they turned out to be friendly strangers. But Viking is not for introverts. If you often felt awkward finding a seat in the high school cafeteria, you could be in for a long week.

As a semi-introvert, I was a little overwhelmed by the constant social life aboard ship. Every evening there was live music or a painting class or cheese tasting or lecture of some sort. My wife enjoyed these, while I retreated to the quiet of the top deck.

I went up there several times a day. In the hazy light after a rain shower one morning, I understood why the French impressionists of the 1800s flocked to Normandy to paint outdoors. Sunlight shimmered on the river, and reflected off the rooftops and windows of a village along the shore.

Sailing day

My wife and I arrived in Paris a few days before the cruise, and we were glad we did. We needed some time to relax, and to smile.: We were in Paris!

Viking put us in a four-star hotel within walking distance of everything you see in the guidebooks: the elegant Avenue Champs-Élysées, Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower and the River Seine, which runs through the heart of the city.

We quickly saw that Viking wasn’t kidding about the flooded river. The stone dock where we would normally have boarded our ship was underwater. Even so, the City of Light, glistening in the spring rain, was beautiful.

We bought an umbrella and strolled the streets, feeling very French.

On sailing day, a bus took us from the hotel to the ship’s new departure point, a small city called Mantes-la-Jolie. I don’t speak French, and I stumbled over that name until a tour guide told us the story behind it. King Henry IV, it turns out, had a mistress who lived in Mantes. One day in the 1500s, when he wasn’t too busy with the French War of Religion, King Henry wrote her a love note: ”Je viens a Mantes, ma jolie!” he told her. “I am on my way to Mantes, my pretty!”

It really is a pretty spot for a rendezvous — and there was a festive, rendezvous mood on our ship as 55 crew members welcomed 148 of us passengers on board. Everywhere you turned, someone wearing a white shirt and black slacks was smiling and asking how they could help you.

Over the next six days, we sailed through 1,000 years of Norman history, visiting the medieval castle of King Richard the Lionheart and the public square where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. We learned how to set the formal dining table at a château built in the 1400s, and we watched fishing boats return to the docks in the picturesque village of Honfleur.

But our most memorable shore excursions were the afternoon we spent in the gardens and home of impressionist artist Claude Monet, and the day we visited Omaha Beach and the museums and cemeteries commemorating D-Day. Our French guides made these excursions feel like a personal experience.

At Monet’s estate in the village of Giverny, our guide was a local artist who knew so much about the bearded, depressed, charming painter that she almost seemed like a member of Monet’s large family. She told us how his early life of poverty changed dramatically in the late 1800s, when his sunlit paintings became popular worldwide and he was able to transform his simple farmhouse into a colorfully painted manorfor a family of 12.

“The local farmers thought he was crazy,” our guide said. “Instead of planting potatoes, Monet just kept planting flowers.”

Walking with a light step, She led us around his famous water lily pond and into a huge tulip garden, filling us in on Monet’s love life as she went. We didn’t miss a single word, because the Viking guides wear a headset that transmits into your earpiece.

A bit like Ernest Hemingway, Monet fought his demons but also enjoyed life to the full. At one point, his family included his beautiful model, Camille, who had become his first wife – and also Alice, who would become his second wife.

On our fifth day, we reached the high point of the trip. Rising early, we spent the entire day immersed in the Battle of Normandy. “We’re visiting sacred ground,” a fellow passenger said, as we gazed down the endless rows of white crosses in the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.

Once again, it was a French guide who deepened our understanding of what we were seeing.She was with us for hours, because we had a long bus ride from Rouen, where the boat was docked, to the museums and beaches. With surprising openness, she talked of the shame that the French people experienced after their government’s surrender to Germany.

Her grandfather was one of the 1.5 million French soldiers who were told to lay down their rifles on June 22, 1940. Under the terms of the armistice, those soldiers became prisoners of war. Her grandfather spent the next four years doing forced labor in a German munitions factory, surviving on potato peels and coffee grounds.

For many Americans, World War II is a story of triumph, symbolized by D-Day and the liberation of Europe. Listening to our guide, I realized the war is a darker memory for others.

The verdict

But enough of all these feelings. You want a clear answer to the question: Does Viking deliver on its promise?

The answer: a resounding yes. We explored, and we were comfortable. You could almost take the cruise just to enjoy the food. The dinner menus rivaled any fine Parisian restaurant.

You might also ask: Are we planning to go again? Surprisingly enough, we probably won’t. We want to take our grandchildren on our next trip, and Viking does not accept passengers under 18. We may change our minds, of course. We came to enjoy the friends we made in the dining room, and we felt a tug as many of them immediately signed up for a future cruise, at a nice discount.

A word about money: Bring some. Friends told us we wouldn’t need any cash, because the Viking fare is all-inclusive. But having a pocketful of Euros makes little adventures possible, and brightens up the faces of the people taking such good care of you. Our total Viking fare was $15,128, which included our two nights in Paris and our airfare.