After a very restful night’s sleep at our pre-cruise hotel, Hyatt Regency Amsterdam, we enjoyed the included breakfast at the hotel. The Hyatt Regency is Viking’s pre-cruise hotel for their river cruise guests. However, we did not book the hotel through Viking since we had some Capital One credits for a free hotel stay.

We would highly recommend the Hyatt Regency Amsterdam. Our room was very large and comfortable and the quietest hotel room we have ever had. Even though this appears to be an older property, our room looked as through it had been recently refurbished.

Since we booked the hotel on our own, we did not have access to Viking’s transfer from the hotel to the boat. After breakfast, we visited the Viking hospitality desk where one of the representatives wrote down the address where the boat would be docked for us to give to our Uber driver.

The drive from the hotel to the boat only took about 10 minutes (Uber cost 16.60€). We arrived at noon and were welcomed onboard after dropping our luggage outside for delivery to our stateroom. Staterooms are not ready until 3pm, but guests arriving early are able to enjoy the observation lounge where a light lunch is offered.

*We drop our luggage at the entrance to Viking Eistla*

Checking in on a Viking River boat is a simple process. After dropping our luggage at the end of the gangway, we are invited onboard and to visit Guest Services on Deck 2 where we show our passports and are quickly given our stateroom keys. We were fortunate that our stateroom was ready for occupancy, so we walked down the hall and dropped off our hand luggage in our stateroom (231).

Rickee wanted to get us on a waiting list for an optional excursion, so we wasted no time in visiting with Emma, the Program Director, at her desk. Unfortunately, the dinner excursion we were interested in has been cancelled.

We spent most of the rest of the day unpacking luggage and trying to figure out how to fit everything we brought into the small stateroom. It has been many years since we were in a standard balcony cabin on Viking River and we forgot how little space there is. We will do a thorough video review of the stateroom later this week.

At 5pm, we head to the Lounge for a cocktail and to get a good seat for the daily briefing. Daily briefings are held here each day to go over what we can expect the following day.

We are greeted in the Lounge with some soft piano music as we enjoy our cocktail.

Rickee ordered a Lemon Drop Martini and I had a glass of Canadian Club. The bar menu shows Crown Royal, but the bartender told me earlier that they did not have any on board.

At 6pm, Emma greets the guests in the Lounge for the daily briefing.

We get our first opportunity to meet Captain Sebastian this evening as he welcomes everyone on board.

Executive Chef, Atanos, explains the evening menu in the Restaurant.

By 7pm we are all invited to The Restaurant for dinner. The Restaurant offers seating for four, six or eight guests. There are no tables for two. After tonight, there will also be dinner service at Aquavit Terrace located forward of The Lounge. It is a smaller venue with indoor and al fresco seating. However, it is doubtful that anyone will want to dine outdoors in December. There are two two-top tables inside at Aquavit Terrace.

The Restaurant menu features an Always Available selection (left side) and daily specials (right side).

I ordered the Bitterballen from the Regional Specialties menu, the White Bean Soup from the daily special menu as well as the Smokey Beef Brisket.

The Bitterballen was interesting and tasty but in no way resembled beef. It had a texture more like a deep fried vegetable mash. The White Bean Soup was good, but nothing special. Being from Texas, of course we are going to harshly judge the beef brisket. The meat was very tender and had a nice smokey taste, but the sauce lacked the sweetness we are used to in Texas. It was almost a savory sauce. Still, the brisket was tender and juicy.

We skipped dessert, as we often do. After dinner, we decide to call it a night, even though there were some local entertainers performing in the Lounge after dinner. Tomorrow, Viking Eistla will be docked in Dordrecht, Netherlands, where we will enjoy a walking tour.

Day 1 - Embarkation in Amsterdam

Day 2 - Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Viking Eistla - Pre-Cruise in Amsterdam