This was our first river cruise. We took it with friends who had cruised with Viking in August, 2015. The entire vacation exceeded our expectations! We booked the entire vacation through Viking, including air and a pre-cruise extension in Lucerne. We purchased Viking's "air plus" that allows our input into flight arrangements. We flew non-stop from Chicago O'Hare to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Zurich on KLM. We also upgraded our Chicago/Amsterdam flight to economy comfort which was very good. In Zurich we were met by the Viking representative and driven to Lucerne. We were booked into the Hotel Luzerne Schwiezer Hoff, across the street from Lake Lucerne. Lovely old hotel, well updated with very large rooms. We were at leisure that afternoon. The next day we had booked an all-day tour through Viking. It was an excellent tour! The next day we opted to stay in Lucerne until the afternoon and went to the Rosengarter Museum. If you are in Lucerne, don't miss this small museum!

Viking then bused us to Basel and we arrived at the Viking Vidar. We had been upgraded from a veranda stateroom to a veranda suite. It was a lovely two room suite with the best bathroom we have ever seen on a cruise ship! The included excursions, one in each port, were all very good. Food was well prepared, well presented and the entire crew was excellent. We enjoyed the cruise so much that we have already booked another Viking Cruise for next August, this time in France. I have not rated fitness and recreation because there are no real "fitness and recreation" facilities on the boat other than a walking track. The excursions all included a lot of walking. Entertainment was a piano player, although 3 evenings there were small groups brought on for entertainment. If you have to have a pool, casino, shows, 24 hour food and drink, stick with ocean cruises. If you are looking for a very relaxed time with interesting people and very personalized service, go with Viking!