My wife and I have been on numerous cruises (18+) throughout the world on various cruise lines over the years. This was our third cruise with Viking; previous cruises were to China and Egypt. The 15-day Grand European Tour started with the Prague Extension in the Czech Republic on October 4, 2017. Our flight from Florida was arranged by Viking and flew through Frankfort, then to Prague. No problems. The Viking representative was waiting for us at the airport in Prague.

The Prague Extension was great, the Palace Hotel was in the old part of town and an easy walk to everything of interest. The included tour was nice, the Lobkowicz Palace tour was very interesting and the Kutna Hora trip (including lunch) was fantastic. We also attended the Folklore dinner. Prague was worth the time and money. We were then bused to Budapest, Hungary to start the River Cruise. The bus trip was around 6 hours or so, in a very nice modern bus. We stopped a few times for restroom breaks and lunch (on us).

Boarding the ship was very easy; they were waiting for us. Our room was towards the middle the ship on deck 2, room 209. This was a good location because we were near public rest rooms, the front desk and the stairways to the upper floors and lounge. Most points of interest are on 2 (dining room), 3 (lounge) or the sun deck (the roof). Deck 1 has some passenger rooms and all crew rooms. The ship was a few years old and was very nice; very clean. The staff was great and the food was excellent. The chef would provide a little discussion of the dinner menu every night and appeared to be excited about the food and his staff. Breakfast was available in the dining room and also on deck 3 in the lounge in a reduced menu. It was similar for lunch. Beer and wine were provided during dinner and lunch. Coffee and cookies were available in two locations 24/7. Food was almost always available someplace. Read more