My husband and I LOVED this Viking Paris/Normandy river cruise. It was our first river cruise but certainly won't be our last. We had a wonderful experience with Viking. We loved that there were only 140 passengers and 40 crew, a much more intimate environment than ginormous ocean cruising. I think we had the best staff; they made the trip very personal, couldn't do enough for you, had an enthusiastic attitude and provided us with a very pleasant experience. Many of the passengers we met seemed like life-long friends by the end of the cruise. We were able to check into our room when we arrived about noon after a very long 13 hour flight (plus 5 hours airport time). A light lunch was offered and then a complementary walking tour of the port area. A briefing by the amazing program director, Clara, occurred each night and provided us with valuable and interesting information for the evening and next day. It was a fun atmosphere and gave us another opportunity to interact with other passengers. The optional shore excursions to the Louvre and Versailles were a bit pricy but worth it to us since we didn't have to hassle with transportation, entrance issues, language problems or deciding on what to see. For the most part, the local guides at each port were knowledgeable and provided good information. The highlights included Giverny/Monet's home & gardens and the Normandy area (bunkers, beaches, museum, cemetery). The memorial ceremony that Viking arranged for at the American Cemetery was touching and emotional. The food was very good although there were times that what I ordered didn't meet my expectations (pulled pork sandwich). There was a good selection of food, decent portions, good wine and a number of nice surprises (food stations on the sundeck; tea and French pastries; cocktail parties; kitchen tour). There was some evening entertainment starting about 9:30 but after very full days, we didn't attend more than 2 of them. Our stateroom, #232, was great...very comfortable bed, plenty of storage, sliding window, tiny but practical bathroom, and clean. We understand that at the end of this cruising season, Viking will be retiring the Pride and the other "shorter" ships. Next time we will do 12 or 15 days as we've decided we love traveling without having to pack/unpack and still have the ability to customize what we want to see and do based on the itineraries offered.