We had heard nothing but raves about river cruising, but we were still pleasantly surprised by the outstanding service, food, and itinerary of our Rhine cruise from Basel to Amsterdam. It was quite obvious that Viking was determined to take care of every little detail from the time we booked the trip, arrived at the airport, during the entire week, and including the shuttle to our departure airport. There was never any confusion, delays, or anything that wasn't perfect on the Var. A simple pamphlet for each passenger contained all our flight, hotel, and daily itinerary information. Another small booklet detailed what we were passing along the Rhine, and kilometer signs were placed on each shore so it was easy to follow the sites.

The Viking Daily listed each day's itinerary as well as historical information on the port. Loudspeaker announcements were kept to a minimum and mostly to announce departure times.

For the first time, we let a cruise line make our flight plans and British Airways was excellent. We got to go on the newer Airbus 380 double-decker, and paying a bit more for Economy Plus was well worth it. The space, service, in-flight entertainment selections, and food were very good. Processing through Heathrow in London was a bit of a mess both directions, but thankfully we had plenty of time between flights. Read more