After more than 10 ocean cruises my husband and I decided to take river cruise instead this spring. We chose the Danube cruise from Passau Germany to Budapest on Viking Cruise Line. First the positives: the boat was very clean, the crew friendly, most ship port of call tours were great, and it was a smooth ride all the way. Now for a few significant negatives: on this 8-day cruise, four of the days we were docked all day with our balcony looking on to the balcony of the Viking boat parked literally touching our boat. By far the weakest part of the trip was the dining experience though. The food quality and preparation was VERY inconsistent. I have never had a dish that so dried out and cold that I could not eat it until this cruise and yet other dishes were outstanding. More than once someone at our table had to send a dish back because it was not cooked completely. Never once did anyone offer to refill our glasses or ask if we needed anything else once the food was served.. After several attempts to catch the attention of a passing waiter, one lady at another table finally just stood up and waited until one of the staff eventually came to see what she needed. Viking definitely did not have enough dining room staff on this cruise!! We have no other river cruise experience to compare with this one; but we do have many, many ocean cruise experiences and none were as disappointing as this cruise.