Our guess is that everyone who takes a river cruise likes their cruise company. That said, it is hard to imagine that any company could outdo Viking with service and hospitality. This was our second Viking cruise (previously had been on a Rhine cruise on the Viking longship Ingve..sistership of the Rolf.) We wanted to visit Normandy and felt that this cruise, with stop particularly at the Monet gardens at Giverny would meet our desires....and it did! Pickup at the airport in Paris was excellent...the Viking rep was easily visible just when we left the baggage claim area. Van service to the ship was fine. The docking location in LePeq, outside of downtown Paris is not the prettiest location for starting the cruise. This location is beyond Viking's control and hopefully will be changed at some future time. However, that should not detract from anyone's enjoyment. The ship, like the other longships, is beautiful. You are greeted by staff when you arrive and the luggage is delivered to your cabin. The cabins are roomy enough with underbed storage for suitcases. The storage shelves are nicely designed. The interior is modern and well-lighted. The bathroom and shower are reasonably sized. While there is not room enough to play football, the size of the cabin and bathroom with the shower stall are certainly spacious enough. We were in a veranda cabin. The verandas are very nice...you can sit there and enjoy the view while traveling on the river. It is a pleasant spot to relax. The staff is exceptional. From the first greeting until you are released at the airport they make you feel truly welcome. Everyone speaks English well. They are each kind, friendly, and absolutely committed to making your trip enjoyable. From arrival to departure, sit back and Viking takes care of you. They go out of their way to please you, whether with making arrangements for special occasions (ordering flowers) or just about anything that you need or want during your stay. The waitstaff in the dining rooms is superb. The food is terrific...you can have a sit-down meal or slightly lighter fare for breakfast and lunch. The evening meal is sit down and served with wines that vary somewhat with the location. The food is excellent...various selections each night with certain staples always on the menu in case you do not like the chef's specials of the evening. There is usually some entertainment in the evening along with the daily briefing about the next day's activities. Daily excursions, included as part of the cruise, are on the schedule. There are often optional excursions as well. The excursions are very well organized and run efficiently. Comfortable coaches are provided.Water is provided when you leave on the excursions and on return to the ship, the staff greets you when you come aboard, sometimes with music and almost always with some type of drink. We found the tour guides to be quite good overall. Of course, there is individual variation, but we did not find any of the guides (either on this cruise or our previous one) to be substandard. Several of them were truly excellent and all were very informative. HIghlights of this cruise were primarily the visit to Monet's gardens at Giverny. We left the ship early to arrive in Giverny before most of the crowds. Our escort through the gardens was excellent. The admission tickets were of course included in the excursion, which was one of the included trips on the cruise. The trip to Normandy was amazing. While it would always be nice to spend more time, this guided tour got us to various important areas including Omaha Beach and the cemetery above the beach. There was a ceremony at the cemetery which paid tribute to those fallen and also to the veterans in the group. This ceremony, we understood, is held twice daily and Viking arranges to be at it. It was very moving. The entire experience of the Normandy visit was hard to describe...truly a memorable and deeply emotional trip, well planned and organized. The week of our cruise it had been cool, damp, overcast, with a bit of rain. We did have a lot of sun time. Fortunately the sun came out beautifully for the Monet trip and for the Normandy visit. It did rain the day we were at Rouen, a fascinating medieval city where Joan of Arc was executed...not a great day for pictures, but enjoyable and educational nevertheless! The day of departure was fine. We were taken by van to the airport where we were met by a Viking rep who escorted us directly to the airline checkin...did not have to find our way through the construction. The only issue that we had was an intermittent whistle in our cabin that appeared to be related to the sliding door. The engineer who came to check it out felt that it was a normal noise. However, we feel, and indicated on our departure survey, that this should be checked. Overall, this was a great trip. In our experience, Viking service is great. The ship is beautiful...Rolf had been in service only several weeks or maybe about two months. The staff could not be nicer. The program director, is wonderful...friendly, funny, and informative. The maitre d'hotel and concierge are superb. The waitstaff as we said was amazingly professional and ready to meet your every desire. The food was magnificent and certainly plentiful. You cannot go hungry on a Viking ship. We have no hesitation at all in recommending this cruise. Our experience, now with two Viking river cruises, has been excellent. The Viking sales staff is very professional and friendly. They are helpful and knowledgable about the cruises and the ships. Unfortunately, we do not think that the Viking air department is at the same level of excellence..that service needs to be improved. While others might have different impressions, as noted in some other reviews, we believe that one cannot go wrong with a Viking river cruise so we believe that the Viking cruise is a very good value for the money. We will be taking a Viking ocean cruise next.