My husband and I did the Danube "Christmas Markets" cruise starting December 21 in Budapest ending in Nuremberg Dec. 28. This is our second cruise with Viking. (Our first was last October with their China Yangteze cruise of about 15 days. Loved it!)

The Viking Idun is only a year old and has capacity of 190 guests. There were 180 on this trip, which is a good turnout given it is over Christmas. The room was very satisfactory. We had a Stateroom on Level 3. The food was great and the menu changed daily. The excursions at the port cities were well done by local guides. We had been to some of the cities on the itinerary before, but found Regensburg and Nuremberg to be especially great. Cobblestone streets galore. The pace was very relaxing. Most of the guests were active older people in their late 40's to a few in 80's! The meals are open seating and due to the number, just one seating! Never a problem getting a table with interesting people. I talked to many guests of all ages and they agreed this was a terrific trip and will recommend it to others. This is a small boat so if you want a swim pool, spa, exercise machines, etc. find another cruise line. Our checked luggage never showed up until we returned home, but our concierge, Daniel, was trying his darned to find them and get them to us as we moved upstream to Nuremberg. The ship did laundry for us free as all we had was what we wore on the plane and a change of shirt and underwear in our carry on.

Please note that the Christmas markets open at Advent and close early on the 24th. They don't take down the city lights until later however, so you can see the wonderful decorations even if the stores are closed. Read more