Like most of the passengers on this river cruise, I fell for Viking's relentless promotions and advertising. In particular, visiting the Christmas markets sounded like fun. So, off my husband and I went. Embarkation went smoothly. Lunch was waiting when we arrived, and when our cabin was ready we were escorted there. The cabins on this new ship are quite nice. Smallish compared to today's ocean vessels, but with at most 100 cabins on a small ship one expects the cabins to be small. We managed and did not have complaints about space, the bathroom, etc. They only put duvets/comforters on the beds, European style, so one had to adjust the temperature in the room for that.

In general the public areas were nicely done. The ship itself was fine. However, a Viking river cruise is very different from an ocean cruise in many ways. Even adjusting one's expectations accordingly, it may not be one's cup of tea.

Dining: there are no tables for 2 or, from what I saw on our ship, for 4. That means there WILL be new friends made whether you seek that or not. The food is okay. Not great. At times not even average. The small portions did not bother us, but the lackluster quality of much of it did. The free wine was below par---I could tell and I am not a wine nut. My husband is and he found the red so lacking in any depth he would not drink it. The white was slightly better. It is excusable for Viking to serve such bad wine on a cruise of the Rhine through wine country. They have a drink package you can buy to upgrade---one way they are copying the big cruise lines. Read more