A very nice tour of mostly quaint German towns. We took a similar journey last year from St. Petersburg to Moscow. What made this different was it was simply one stop per day for a half day or less to 15 towns. What made it different, and not quite so pleasant, was Viking had a sister ship shadow us the entire route and other Viking vessels joined us in may different ports along the way. This means there were nearly 600 people, all from Viking, hitting the excursions at the same times. It felt like "Viking Hordes" at most locations. Crowds were big and you ran in to Viking groups by the hundreds no matter where you were. We would suggest checking Viking's schedules and avoiding multiple craft trips whenever possible.

The staff of the Prestige was wonderful and the food as good or better than the Russian trip! We provided our own exercise because Viking does very little in the way of exercise space. Our room was on the lowest level (booked last minute). The river water level was at about chest high through a 3-by-4 foot window that did not open. All the other rooms were the same size but offered sliding doors opening to a "French" balcony. We had no problems with the room and our steward did a wonderful job.

We learned that on Viking you need to manage your time. We would sometimes take the planned excursion, always on a nice motor coach, but often we grabbed a cab and struck out on our own with guide books and maps in hand.We purchased the one-price beverage package since we enjoy a glass of wine or two following dinner. We were able to choose from a nice wine list during dinner. The "house" wine was not bad at all, but would definitely get old on a two-week trip. Read more