[Two Bills]

Originally Posted by davephan

We took a Viking River Cruise on the Danube River. A balcony cabin is a must! There is a small chance that sickness could spread on the cruise, and it's important to have access to fresh outside air from the balcony. The balcony also makes the cruise much more enjoyable. However, when multiple river boats are docked at the port, the boats are tied together, side to side, so you're balcony won't have a view during the times with the boats are tied together.

We took the west to east cruise on the Danube River. We were going to take the east to west Viking River Cruise, but changed out mind at the last minute to go with the west to east cruise. Both cruises started at the same date, going in the opposite directions on the Danube River. An accident happened with the east to west Viking River Cruise boat, which we didn't take. The east to west Viking River Cruise boat hit a smaller river boat on the Danube River. The smaller river boat sunk in seconds. Many people were killed on the smaller river boat. There weren't any fatalities on the Viking River Cruise boat. The cause for the accident was an intoxicated captain of the Viking River Cruise boat.

An accident where the river boat could sink and kill people is probably very rare. But the people killed on the smaller river boat were probably in the lower cost cabins at the water level, and could not escape. If they had balcony cabins, they might have had a better chance to survive.

Our trip was not impacted by the accident which killed many people, because by luck, we took a different Viking River Cruise. I also heard a story about a person being killed in a lower deck cabin on a Antarctica cruise by a rouge severe wave that broke through the window. I think it's worth the extra cost to have a balcony cabin which is higher on the River Boat or Cruise ship just in case there is a health outbreak problem or if there is some kind of accident. If all the better cabins are booked, there's always another cruise in the future. You might have to wait till next year for the next ideal cruise at the best time of the year to take the cruise.

Do you wear a mask and life jacket all the time as well?
Just in case!