I booked this cruise to have a nice, relaxing time on the river, having been inspired both by a friends past trips and by their wonderful television commercials. Sitting leisurely on the deck, with a glass of good wine and enjoying the gorgeous views along the Rhine and Danube rivers, eating great food with excellent service at meals, and having the occasional guided tours by expert guides was my dream fantasy, and unfortunately, that's what it turned out to be, a dream fantasy. Instead of having the wonderful time on the river I anticipated, we had a series of bus trips to connect with our next of four separate boats. Because of low water, we spent more time on buses than on water which meant that almost all of the actually river was seen only through bus windows occasionally. I understand that Viking cannot control the water levels in several countries in Europe, but they knew about this as early as July and when asked about it before hand, were told everything was fine. Not until approximately 4 days before our plane ride to connect with the boat in Amsterdam were we notified of any problems, and that was for Passau, a city toward the end of our trip.

Because of the busing, most of our excursions were reduced by as much as 65% which meant that the 'expert tour guides' were rushed and our 'free time' almost non-existent.

The boats were mostly dock at ports that were anything but scenic, especially when we paid for a veranda stateroom with a balcony and the boats were often parked sandwiched together putting us in the middle which gave us a 'wonderful' view of the adjoining boat. Read more