The river cruise certainly has potential for an incredible vacation. The pace of seeing the countryside go by, and falling to sleep to the gentle forward movement are both unique and highly pleasurable. The final approach to Budapest was incredible and the Viking Egil was a beautiful ship. Overall though, Viking cut too many corners and by the time our trip was over, I was ready to be done with it.

The food and drink were inferior. I admit, I am serious about food. I am an avid gardener and cook. Most of what I serve is made from scratch, usually from my garden and the farmer’s market. When I eat processed food, its unusual, and I’m thirsty. I was thirsty all the time on the trip. This was also very disappointing to me, as one of the reasons I go to Europe is for the very quality of the food. The final dinner, as we approached Budapest, featured Hungarian goulash, prepared by the Hungarian chief. Sounds like a slam dunk, good move, right? Not quite. What was served were chips of beef on a plate, covered with a brown colored sauce. I don’t know what that was. Hungarian goulash is a soup.

The cruise package includes beer and wine with meals. These come from Viking labeled bottles that are clearly inferior. I’m not a big drinker, and it was a surprising cheapness on a luxury cruise, but not a big deal until we were in Germany, sampling world quality beer onshore. After that, forget it, it angered me. We paid a king’s ransom for that trip. I only have one beer or glass of wine with my meal. Viking saved money on that one serving, but lost a customer right there. Read more