I just happened to read conflicting reviews of this cruise, one on which my wife and I were passengers last year. First, a context for my comments. We are experienced European travelers - 3 to 4 weeks a year for more than 10 years, but hadn't done so since 2006. We had never been on any kind of cruise and no interest in doing so - too many people, too much artificial entertainment, too little real exploration of the countries visited, too much mediocre food, etc. We decided to try this river cruise because it seemed to offer the kind of "local" experience we prefer without the hassle of moving from place to place and without thousands of fellow travelers.

It worked! The space is well designed and accommodating. The staff were friendly, responsive, supportive, and highly competent. The food was excellent - served at appropriate time in in appropriate volume with plenty of choice. The information provided in advance of each day's destination was excellent and the tour guides were highly qualified and entertaining. The Onboard entertainment was relevant and talented.

This specific cruise encountered more than its share of challenges - rain, high river water levels that created delays in passing under some bridges, and an accident that damaged one of the boat's cranes while docking at a unscheduled pier in response to high water generated delays. As a result, our river cruise schedule was seriously disrupted. At considerable extra cost, Viking arranged several motor coach excursions from and back to the boat so that we could visit all but one of scheduled city visits. Was it ideal? No, but it was a much better than adequate response to the wrath of Mother Nature. Read more