We wanted to go to east Germany and Poland, where we had never visited before. The cruise and extension were exceptional. The Viking Beyla is a very new ship (1 year old) with nice accommodation. The meals on board were great but the staff really made the difference. Our cruise director was Jutta, and she was very entertaining and informative. I must admit that the Elbe is not the most scenic river in Germany (mostly flat, agricultural land) but the cities we stopped at were very nice. We ended in Prague and had a nice hotel and tours there. Then we met our new tour director, Michael, who took us to Poland. He was very knowledgeable and had personal experience living in the Soviet bloc prior to 1989. We visited Krakow, which was beautiful, and then on to Warsaw. The entire trip was extremely well organized and well planned. My wife and I would not hesitate to take Viking again (we have taken previous Viking cruises to China and Russia).