the Ship was surprising in the layout, design and function; and the staff hands above those on the big cruise ships. The people make all the difference. The majority of the excursions where better then we had expected and several last minute opportunities turned out to be the HIGHLIGHT of all of them. The palace tour was way too hot and crowded in Vienna, and we skipped the Abby tour entirely because we simply were too tired to get off the boat. Traveling through the locks was amazing even for someone like me that works in maintenance facilities of a large power station. Their staff is beyond professional, they have dedication almost to a fault. the entertainment OFF ship and brought on board the ship (2 separate times) was likewise excellent, the family horse farm in Bavaria for the Biergarten were delightful - hell everyone on was. The pianist that provided the daily and evening entertainment was enjoyable but they could use a different schedule for each night; hearing the same tunes in the exact same order got to be somewhat laughable. The food was simply fantastic, and the service spot on. the only down side was the packaged air travel arrangements - they have no flexibility and they notify you far to late for you o make any effective changes. I use Delta almost exclusively for the air miles, yet they put me on swiss air, while our friends were put on Delta - when asked about changing even the seats we were simply told to take it up with the airline - which at the 6 week mark was sold out solid and we were basically told too bad. with those 2 exceptions - it was possibly the best vacation we have had....