Just finished my 1st river cruise. Firstly, I will give you my opinion, and then my journal.

This trip for me was a great success, beyond my expectation because it fullfilled my preconceived experience what a European adventure should be like. I have had many ocean cruises, mostly Alaska, Panama canal, Hawaii, and Carribean Islands. River cruiseship is very unlike an ocean cruiseship. To be blunt, river cruiseship is a motel on water compare to the ocean one. However, unlike the ocean cruise, they don't just put you in port and one has to plan his own thing. Viking did an excellent job on their included excursions. Great guides who provided excellent and interesting facts on each city. This is one of my major fulfilments, I learned alot from the places I had visited. It is much more fullfilling to see beautiful archititures and then learn many facts behind it. It is not a relaxing cruise, but a positive one, because there was so much to take in each day. By the end of the day, I had to go straight to bed to recover for next day activities; so therefore, I did not had time to listen the ship's piano player and singer, Blondi (not the one who sang "call me", but he did hum a few bar for me} whom had an amazing voice. I had to apologize to him for not be able to attend his performances because I was so tired. He was a past opera performer and a very friendly person. The overall trip cost more than the ocean cruise, but for me, the excitement was also much more. I am already planning for the next one, most likely to Russia where there is a rich history and requires an expert guides to give me the facts.

The journey: Read more