I chose this cruise so my wife and I could spend some time with our daughter and her family after the cruise in Basel. All-in-all we were very happy with this cruise and how Viking took care of us. We spent a day in Amsterdam prior to departure to get over the jet lag flying overnight from Chicago. The ship and facilities were in very good condition. We are mostly experienced in ocean cruising with about a dozen overall cruises, but this was only our second river cruise, both with Viking. Viking did an excellent job navigating the Rhine as it was at a historically low water level, given the drought in Europe last summer. At one point, Viking thought we were going to have to be off-boarded and transported to another ship to get past the most critically low-level areas. However, they got through with apparently only a few inches of clearance and it was really cause for celebration to avoid that possible obstacle and delay! The stops and excursions were all excellent. Typically, we are willing on cruises to pay extra for excursions, but on this trip, what was included in the base price were excellent, and we didn't upgrade a single excursion! Very unusual for us, yet we felt we saw everything we wanted to. The areas for improvement for us are in evening entertainment and the ability to have room service for your meals. The previous river cruise with Viking had significant evening entertainment which we didn't feel this cruise offered. Also, the balconies are very nice on the ship and we love to have our meals brought in to be consumed while we sail and we often do on our ocean cruises...unfortunately, Viking doesn't offer that on their river cruises, that I am aware of. A third complaint is that this river ship did not offer a small gym or workout room. Other than those complaints, we were very happy with the ship, the staff, the service, and the entire experience with Viking.