If you are going to do this River Cruise make sure to book an extra 3 or 4 days in Budapest either at the beginning or end of your tour depending on where you begin. Budapest was a jewel of the trip and we stayed at the Hilton Budapest in the castle District overlooking the city and the Danube. Such an amazing sight and wonderful hotel too.

Our cruise began on a hot summer night so sitting on the upper deck watching the lights of the city disappear and the stars and moon appear was magical! Viking has this all figured out and take you to the best places and there is always enough time in each port with standard tours that are included and in many cases optional tours for those who want to see more.

We had been warned that if river levels were too low we may need to change ships which did happen after a week on board the Alsvin. The change was seemless. The only inconvenience we experienced was to have to pack our bags but when we left the ship in the morning everything was taken by secure truck to our new ship which was identical so we had the same room and really other than the staff one would not know that there had been a change. We spoke to people on the street during our tour who were traveling with a smaller company and one couple had their trip turn into a coach tour and another was cancelled totally which would be devastating for sure. We arrived in Amsterdam at the end of the tour and were accommodated aboard for lunch before we departed to our apartment in Amsterdam for the last 3 days of our wonderful trip. Viking is a First Class Operation in our minds and can't wait to do another one some day soon.