We took a Viking River Cruise in Russia 5 years ago, and enjoyed it so much that when we needed a new vacation destination we didn't hesitate to pick Viking again, this time the Grand European from Amsterdam to Budapest with a three night extension in Prague. The ship is lovely and clean, staff ever so friendly and helpful. We were in balcony room 307 which was just a couple rooms down from the lobby. The hallways are very long, so it's nice to be at the lobby-end of the ship. The rooms are small, but you don't spend much time in them. Balcony was nice to have, but certainly not essential. We had our beds in the twin configuration, and that restricted access to the electrical plugs for the bed closest to the bathroom. Heated floors in the bathroom were especially nice, and useful to help dry hand laundry. Everything on the ship is so well designed. The public areas are beautiful and comfortable. There are two coffee/cookie/muffin stations always open, with baked goods varying depending on the hour. Food was just wonderful, lots of variety, and often hard to choose what to pick. Almost everyone on the ship got an upper respiratory disease by the end of the trip, so lots of coughing going on. We could have used a bit more "comfort food" - chicken soup instead of cream soups, grilled cheese, etc. The tours were all very good, using local guides (unlike our Russia cruise, which primarily used guides that traveled with us). Plenty of walking, but mostly pretty easy. As you'd expect, lots of palaces, castles and churches. But I did fine, even coming off knee and hip replacement surgeries the last few years. There are a couple stretches of gorgeous cruising, in the middle Rhine and the Wachau valley. We had wonderful weather for both, and totally enjoyed every castle ruin and town.The staff is perfect and so hard working. These are hard jobs and they do them very well with an appearance of joy. We had extraordinary program and hotel directors. And we were very lucky with our fellow travelers. Not one grump (a Rick Steves term so important for traveling groups) among them. A few Aussies, Kiwis, Brits, lots of Canadians, mostly Americans, and an uncle/nephew from Hong Kong. Several women traveling together. Every one of them delightful, with a story to tell. Not one thought they were better than everyone else or trying to manipulate an in-crowd (like high school). We've seen that on other trips. The post trip to Prague was fine, but we weren't feeling well by that point. About a 4 hour bus trip from Budapest to Prague, and an okay stay at a convention hotel - Corinthia. I'm ready to go again, now that my coughing has stopped. Keep up the good work, Viking.