Viking River Cruises in France: Why Booking With a Travel Advisor Adds Value

We’re about to head to France, and while there will certainly be plenty of good food and wine involved, this trip is also about something that’s central to what we do at Huckleberry Travel: building and maintaining the relationships that help us take better care of our clients.

Before setting sail on the Rhône, we’ll be visiting a number of luxury hotels in France that are part of our VIP hotel programs, touring properties and reconnecting with the hoteliers and sales representatives we work with throughout the year. These relationships matter, even when all you need from us is a hotel room.

One of the misconceptions about working with a travel advisor is that you need to be planning an elaborate, multi-city vacation for us to add value. Sometimes you just need a great hotel for a few nights. Through our preferred hotel partnerships, we can often offer our clients VIP benefits that aren’t available when booking directly, which may include things like daily breakfast, hotel credits, upgrades when available, and other special amenities. Just as importantly, there’s an actual relationship behind the reservation. We know many of the people at these hotels, and they know us.

That’s why we spend time visiting properties and meeting with our hotel partners in person. A website can tell us the square footage of a room or show us a photograph of the lobby. It can’t tell us which rooms we particularly liked, who the hotel might be perfect for, or the little things that distinguish one great hotel from another. And when one of our clients is arriving, having a relationship with the people on the other end of the reservation can make a difference.

After our hotel visits, we’ll be shifting gears and boarding a Viking river cruise for a week on the Rhône, sailing from Avignon to Lyon.

Huckleberry Travel is a preferred agency with Viking, for both its river and ocean cruises. That means if you’re thinking about a Viking cruise, there’s a very good reason to book it through us rather than doing it yourself. The cruise pricing is the same, but you get us as part of the equation.

We can help you choose the right sailing and accommodations, handle the booking, and, perhaps most importantly, make sure the cruise fits seamlessly into the rest of your trip. A Rhône cruise doesn’t have to begin when you step aboard the ship in Avignon or end when you disembark in Lyon. We can arrange the hotels, transportation and other details before and after your cruise, using the same preferred hotel relationships that we rely on for our clients every day.

That’s really the point of this trip. Travel is made up of individual pieces, but a great trip shouldn’t feel that way. Whether you’re asking us to book a single hotel, a Viking river cruise, or an entire vacation combining the two, our job is to make those pieces work together so that the experience feels seamless and turnkey.

And there’s really no reason to give that up by booking direct. Our hotel and Viking partnerships allow us to offer the same pricing while bringing relationships, VIP benefits, firsthand knowledge and an extra layer of service to the reservation.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing plenty from France. If you’d like a peek inside some gorgeous luxury hotels, want to see what it’s actually like to sail the Rhône on a Viking river cruise, or just want a little inspiration for your next trip, follow Huckleberry Travel on Instagram and Facebook.

And if what you see has you thinking about France, a Viking cruise, or your own combination of hotels, cruising and time exploring on land, reach out. We’d be very happy to put our relationships to work for you.