We enjoyed cruising on the Rhine. The middle Rhine with all the castles was very beautiful. I would suggest to start in Lucerne versus Basel. We didn't get to see Lake Lucerne and that was a mistake. We ended in Amsterdam and stayed with Viking accomadations which were excellent, Hilton Hotel. We also stayed in Basel using Viking and the hotel was excellent. We enjoyed the Cologne beer dinner and pup crawl, it was very good. The wine excursion was not good, I would skip it. We had wonderful,weather, if it is raining this cruise would not be good.
Service in the dining room was not always prompt. Breakfast on the terrace was very nice but the selection is limited with minimal service. Staterooms on the Kara are small even though we had an A veranda. I did notice that the ship had many junior suites. In most cases we tied up to other ships so we did not have a fire or could use the stateroom while we were docked. I think the munior staterooms did not have this problem.
We did not think this cruise was up to the standards of other Vilikn cruises.