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Scenic River Cruises vs Viking River Cruises
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of Scenic River Cruises and Viking River Cruises.The Low Down
Scenic's 5 star luxury river cruises are well known and popular in Australia. Scenic were the first river cruise line to introduce balconies on their Scenic Space-Ships, which many clients love, but this does come at a cost to interior cabin space. Like many of the other luxury river cruise operators, look out for their great Fly Free offers, and Earlybird Savings. Every itinerary is all inclusive, with Freechoice activities that allow you to choose what you want to do in each port. Scenic also offer a range of luxury additions (like your own butler) depending on the cabin type selected. 
Cruising down the rivers of Europe you are sure to pass a Viking Longship on your travels. Viking boasts the most extensive fleet of river cruises vessels in Europe, and while their core market is the US, there are many clients from Australia that choose to cruise with them each year. In 2017 Viking launched their range of mid-sized ocean cruises - with just 930 guests this gives their ships greater maneuverability, allowing them to dock where the mega-liners cannot. Stats
No. of Trips
274
No. of Departures
1,083
Avg. Trip Length
17 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$700
Fleet Size
14 Ships
Known For
Luxury Cruising
Ship Styles
River Cruises
No. of Trips
74
No. of Departures
6,183
Avg. Trip Length
11 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$605
Fleet Size
99 Ships
Known For
Scandinavian Design
Ship Styles
River Cruises
In Their Own Words
We asked the travel companies themselves why you should travel with them
With Scenic, it’s more than a 5-star river cruise...it’s a seamless journey from start to finish that places you, our guest, at the heart of everything we do. It’s taking you to extraordinary regions and immersing you in meaningful and enriching experiences. It’s exquisite cuisine, indulgent wellness, and a world-class team who will anticipate your every need. You'll find the difference is in the details with Scenic: the innovative ship design, expertly trained crew, immersive journey, and an unrivalled focus on health and safety protocols.
A Viking river cruise is the discerning traveller’s dream. Whether you choose to visit Egypt, Asia, Europe or the Mississippi, our itineraries are designed to immerse you in the history and culture of each destination. With us, you could be exploring a local food market with our head chef one day and experiencing an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of a world-famous museum the next.
Our state-of-the-art ships take you right into the heart of each destination, and you won’t find any kids or ‘nickel and diming’ on board. In fact, our fares include everything you need - from meals, beverages and Wi-Fi to a culturally enriching shore excursion at every port of call. This unique combination of features has become affectionately known as ‘the Viking difference’.
Viking has 70 award-winning river ships sailing all over the world, and we can’t wait to welcome you on board to discover the Viking difference for yourself.
Recent Reviews
4.6
The trip was everything the advertised and more. Staff was excellent, room as advertised and food and beverage service was excellent. Rita is Celiac and they took great care of her. Absolutely no complaints.
A great holiday 0
Romantic Rhine & Moselle with Switzerland
Denise and Steven, SA, Australia, May 2026
We really enjoyed this cruise and also the land leg in Switzerland. We went to some beautiful places and were totally spoilt by the cruise staff. The available options for sightseeing were really good. The meals and all accommodation was first class. Thanks also to Grace for handling our booking so efficiently.
The highlight of the tour was Viviers where our tour guide took us to her hour which wad used as a Resistance house during WW2.
Scenic provided excellent service and made you feel like a big family. This itinerary was excellent beautiful views along the Moselle River and the best of the Rhine. Included excursions were top notch.
Scenic Jade. Amsterdam to Budapest amazing , spectacular, 5 star service. For our very first ever cruise this five cruise was exceptional. Our tour host Richard was fantastic from organizing tours to entertaining guests answering questions. Fantastic. Everyone was friendly and accommodating with all our needs and want through our whole journey. read more Food was top notch with a different dinner selection every night. Worth every dollar spent. Highly recommend this all inclusive river cruise.
Our cruise with Scenic exceeded all expectations. The ship, the food, the staff and the excursions were all excellent. Highly recommend Scenic and we will be travelling with them again. Global Journeys provided excellent service and were always very quick to respond to my questions.
4.6
After doing several ocean cruises, we did our first river cruise and it will not be the last. We really enjoyed the 15 days on the Danube and Rhine, sailing from Budapest to Amsterdam. Got to know most of the 180 odd passengers on the cruise and they were very friendly, outgoing and supportive. Cruising along the scenic Wachau Valley and the Mid-Rhine read more wine growing area and castles along the rivers were spectacular. The cruise staff took good care of us and obliged to all our requests.
Thank you for assisting us in booking our very first Viking river cruise. We had an amazing time and everything went smoothly.
We thoroughly enjoyed our 1st River Cruise (Viking) booked for us by Ethan. He was extremely prompt, patient and helpful in responding to our (many) questions and brought to our attention, the unexpected vaccine advice for one of the countries we were to visit. Our initial contact with Ethan was calm and encouraging; we were very late in deciding read more to try to go on this trip and he helped make the 'last minute' booking arrangements as stress free as possible. We appreciated his support and would readily contact him in the future.
A lot of activity was crammed into this 7 day trip. Each day revealed amazing scenery, and shore excursions covered many ways to experience the current town or village. I particurly appreciated the " leisurely" version of some walking tours which catered for older people. We loved the train trip at Toulon and the excursion to the winery at Lyon. Perfect read more weather added to the enjoyement. The ship is spacious, cabin very comfortable with plenty of storage room. The lift was a bonus.
Another fabulous Viking river cruise 0
Paris to the Swiss Alps
Rob and Jan, QLD, Australia, Mar 2026
Wherever we go with Viking we always have a great cruise from the time we board until we disembark. The crew and staff are wonderful, the tours are well planned, the meals are excellent and Jamie, our cruise director on our Paris to the Swiss Alps river cruise was absolutely brilliant. We even witnessed snow for the first time. Another highlight was read more the "Wall of Fame" Mural in Basel that honoured many 20th century music legends. Definitely a must see. The attached photo is just a small part of the Mural.
Fabulous, carefree, relaxing all inclusive river cruise 0
Paris to the Swiss Alps
Wayne and Misha, QLD, Australia, Mar 2026
This was our 3rd river cruise with Viking and our 2nd organised by the wonderful travel advisors at Global Journeys. Hassel free booking through Global Journeys, they look after everything and then from the moment you get aboard with Viking you are spoilt rotten as you cruise your way through beautiful Europe.
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