After a wonderful pre-cruise in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Prague, we started our Viking cruise last Sunday, leaving from Nuremberg. The ship, Viking Jarl, is lovely, sleek and low key, spotlessly clean, with a reasonably sized stateroom and bathroom (for a cruise ship). The food is excellent. The very-well trained staff is attentive, professional and delightful. There is nothing about this particular ship or its staff that has contributed to my dissatisfaction.
HOWEVER, the discrepancy lies in the deliverables as presented by Viking in their advertising and in the materials we have received. In my mind, the key differences between large ship ocean cruising and small ship cruising are twofold: the idea that in small ship cursing, there is the ability to use the availability of the river to dock in the middle of a city and the ongoing scenery as the ship goes from one place to another. Think about those Viking ads on PBS (like before "Downton Abbey") where they show amazing vistas as you cruise leisurely down the river.
THE REALITY: As expected, we took a bus from Prague to Nuremberg (4hrs) where the cruise would start; it would end in Budapest. Unfortunately, the ship couldn't dock in Nuremberg because there were too few spaces and somehow our ship lost the toss and had to dock elsewhere. To do see the Justice Hall or any other WWII related sights, one had to select the optional tour, at an extra cost. This meant you could not participate in the included tour which was mostly on a bus, with the guide (who was well-versed), pointing out the window at the medieval aspects of the city plus a short stop at the castle. The first stop of the cruise, which was supposed to be in Regensburg, was actually on a desolate river bank in the middle of nowhere. Once again we had to be bused to the city. Some of these trips were as long as 40 minutes each way. For half the week, the cruising itself was mostly through locks which means seeing huge blank concrete walls.