This was our very first river cruise, after having taken 30 ocean cruises. We boarded the ship in Avignon and sailed up to Chalon sur Soane. We signed up for the 3-day Paris extension through Viking and our package also included airfare.

After reading some of the reviews on this site, I did have some concerns, but ultimately we found the trip to be exactly as advertised and more. The ship itself was beautiful - immaculate and beautifully designed and decorated. We had a small suite which was wonderful - a separate sitting/living room with veranda, and a bedroom with floor-to-ceiling window. The bathroom was large with a very nice sized shower with high-end amenities provided, along with fluffy towels, bathrobe and slippers. We did visit some of the other cabins and found them to be quite small, so we were very glad to have the suite.

The entire staff on the ship was friendly, efficient and always ready to help make our vacation a memorable one. Matt, our cruise director, was excellent and seemed to be everywhere. Everyone from the room attendant to all of the restaurant service staff seemed to enjoy their jobs and were always pleasant and friendly. The food was very good, although the quantities and frequency of meals were less than on a typical ocean cruise, but more than sufficient. Matt did a great job of keeping us informed as to what was happening, where we needed to be at certain times, etc. He even provided some of the entertainment, doing a "Liar's Club" one night and a funny trivia game another night (similar to what happens on some ocean cruises). There was a piano player/singer who also performed every night in the lounge. In addition, they did a few extra programs on various topics, such as cheese, chocolate, etc. Read more