Day 2 of my Romantic Danube cruise onboard Viking Atla and Viking River Cruises wants you to start your day off right with the most important meal of the day – breakfast! There was the most abundant breakfast buffet laid out that included juices, pancakes, French toast, oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, pastries, meat, and cheese as well as eggs made to order.
Our view from the dining room onboard Viking Atla at breakfast included this coach waiting to take guests on their included Nuremberg Tour which started in Nuremberg and ended in Roth. You could choose to walk the city on your own or take the guided tour.
This morning was my first experience looking at the canal locks that I would become quite familiar with on this river cruise.
Lunch was served on the ship and Viking Atla then set off to navigate the Main-Danube Canal (Main-Donau-Kanal). At dinner the previous night, Ivelin, the Maitre D’, and I discussed what I might be interested in for lunch and besides the offerings on the buffet, I had a great big fresh salad complete with beans, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, avocado, and cheese, and of course, a cold, crisp German beer. Talk about a perfect lunch!
For the other guests, they had several options available including Cream of Broccoli soup, Penne Pasta Carbonara, or Fish & Chips.
In the afternoon as I walking around the ship I spotted near the coffee area by the lounge cookies including Lebkuchen, a traditional German Christmas cookie. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to be able to say no to a cookie.
Despite the cooler weather and cloudy skies, the view as sailed along was quite beautiful as you can see in the picture above and the video below.
After lunch at 1:15 pm Viking Atla began sailing down the Main-Danube Canal toward Regensburg. This is what Viking River Cruises says about it:
This engineering marvel stretches 106 miles from Bamberg on the Main River to Kelheim on the Danube. Begun as Charlemagne’s dream in 793, it was completed in 1992 with 16 locks that raise the water to 1,332 feet. Connecting the Main and Danube Rivers, today it enables river travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea.
But river cruising isn’t only about food and ports, especially on Viking River Cruises.
- At 3:00 pm there was a presentation offered in the lounge called, “Bavaria, Germany’s special state.”
- After that at 3:30 pm was a special German Tea Time with delicious German treats served in the lounge.
- At 4:00 pm Hotel Manager Robert hosted a special talk called, “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” to help guests learn a few helpful German phrases.
- This was followed at 5:00 pm by another presentation from Program Director Mario titled, “Rhine-Main-Danube Canal,” an enriching talk about canals, locks, and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. You can attend any of these lectures, all of them, or none of them. It’s your vacation so you get to decide!
- From 5:30 pm – 7pm was the Cocktail Hour in the Lounge with live music, which I deem absolutely necessary, especially if you haven’t purchased a drink package. Nothing is better than a surprise free drink in the lounge. But best of all, the officers walked in and were introduced to all guests and it was an opportunity for everyone to meet and interact with each of them as well.
- Cocktail Hour was followed by A Toast to Our Guests at 6:15 pm where Captain Ferenc and Hotel Manager Robert invited all guests onboard to join them for a toast in the lounge to welcome all guests onboard.
- At 6:30 pm we received our first Daily Briefing from Program Director Mario about the next day’s excursions and events followed with a brief, but informative talk about the culture of European food.
- This all led up to our Welcome Dinner at 7 pm, which I was super excited about since I knew there were items that I could eat. My amuse bouche was a caprese salad followed by a Watermelon and Goat Cheese salad, a perfect combination of crisp, sweet watermelon meeting crispy little orbs of goat cheese. Delicious! My entrée was Morel Risotto that was chock full of delicious mushrooms. Of course, the perfect pairing for this meal was a glass of 2013 Horst Sauer Silvaner wine.
After our entrees were served, it was cheese and dessert time. Karla chose the chocolate dessert like most of the diners that night, but I stuck with my choice of lemon sorbet, which was a light and refreshing way to end my meal.
Tomorrow is day 3 of my Romantic Danube cruise and we are in Regensburg for the day on Viking Atla.
I was a guest of Viking River Cruises for this cruise, but as always — all opinions and photographs are my own.