Sailed on the Viking Freya in May 2014. This was not our first river cruise; comparing it to others this was about the same as the other cruise line with some small differences. Cabins (ours had an actual balcony with 2 chairs) are nice enough, a decent bathroom, nice L'Occitaine toiletries, bottled water (gratis), good TV with adequate English language channels (although TNT and National Geographic were in German only--go figure as I think all passengers were English, American and Australian. Bedding was comfortable-TERRIBLE HARD CHAIR in the room (another passenger described the chairs as Bone Breaking). The rooms are large enough for a nice, soft comfortable chair and it would be an asset for Viking to consider their passengers room comfort.

As to seating, the chairs in the lounge were not particularly comfortable either; I know that whatever they install has to take a lot of wear and tear but I am sure that better quality more comfortable seating is available; many had no arm rests and a lot of we seniors find it much easier to hoist ourselves out of chairs with armrests. Tours offered were very generic and "touristy", several more interesting tours/events were available for an additional charge. On the Melk Abby tour there was a special "taxi" offered for people with walking difficulties; the taxi ended up being a small van with about 12 seats, they charged us a whopping 10 Euros per person-unbelievably exorbitant for about a 5 mile trip--someone raked in the money for that little jaunt. Almost all the buses were Vikings buses and were comfortable, clean new (with toilets) and in excellent condition.

Food for the most part was good with several options offered at each meal; the food quality was very good. I can't say I was dazzled by the onboard entertainment; several presentations were either cancelled or never presented--they were sorry enough that if I were Viking I wouldn't even mention them in my advertising, very disappointing. The entire staff were pleasant, helpful and eager to please, I think they would have done most anything to make your cruise a pleasant and happy experience, all spoke English. Sailing the Danube was the real attraction here and it did not disappoint. However, I can't consider this to be anything more than a nice, pleasant River Cruise Ship/Line; I certainly couldn't say that it was "luxury" and in my opinion should not be classified as such.