I always heard great reviews about Viking river cruises and perhaps I was expecting too much. I found the service on board the ship to actually be less than what we've received on Royal Caribbean or even Carnival. Our room was ok although we had to have them give us a clean duvet because ours had a huge footprint on it. That night I was too warm so the next morning I asked for a light blanket which they gave me but then took away the duvet so when the weather turned colder I froze. An extra blanket in the room would have been nice or even a sheet on the bed. There was no follow up to see if everything was ok. Another time we returned from an excursion and stood in line for the buffet only to have to wait several times because they ran out of items. You would think they would be prepared. The dinners were not all that great except for the last night. I had told them about my food allergies before the cruise but when I arrived no one seemed to know anything about them or asked me about them. My husband is lactose intolerant (which many people are) and he never could have the soup or most of the desserts. When he told the chef of his plight and suggested that it would be nice to have some selections that didn't include cream, the chef said he could leave it out of the recipe. Unfortunately leaving something out of the original recipe just doesn't taste right. An alternative selection would have been better. On the day that we sailed along all the castles, most everyone sat on the upper deck to see and hear about them ( which was excellent). It was very hot and not everyone could sit under the canopy. No one came around to offer water or drinks. When someone finally came with water the passengers all applauded. My husband and I filled out the survey at the end of the cruise and have also told our travel agency about our experiences. I have heard back from them but not a word from Viking. Kind of makes you think they really aren't interested in improving their cruise experience or they don't really care. Will I go one another Viking cruise? Probably not. Am I glad I went? Yes. I don think I could have seen all the sights I did. The excursions were good. So if you think that you'll be treated like "royalty" as some have mentioned, this may not be the case.