The crew on this ship seemed to go out of their way to make the cruise as enjoyable as possible for all the passengers. There were quite a few unexpected occurrences they had to deal with ( like a train strike the day the pre-cruise people were supposed to come from Paris to Lyon to board the ship). They just hired a bus to bring them and then greeted them with campaign and an apology. Another unexpected issue was a bent prop from debris in the river on the next to last day. They again hired buses to take everyone to the next appointed stop.

The food was excellent, the Cruise Directors was outstanding, and the crew and wait staff were all very capable and personable. The excursion choices were all very educational and entertaining. Each of the local guides that Viking hired were very knowledgeable and gave those of us in their group good advice, information and directions to places (call that shopping) we asked to go after the tour.

We had quite a few days of rain so the "exercise top deck" was not available very much.