Last year we took a 15 day river cruise starting in Amsterdam and ending in Budapest. Due to acts of God (low water levels) we had to change our ship 3 times during the 15 day vacation. The crew and the Viking Company did all they could to make the trip interruption the best they could ... and under the circumstances, they did a grand job. Our only reservation was it looked as if we might encounter the same issues on the Elba River ... but as the season moved more towards the fall, rain saved the day! I told my wife .. I have good news and I have Bad .. the good news is that the ship will sail the entire trip ... the bad news is, rain is predicted every day! Well the good news came true ... the bad news NEVER materialized!

We booked a window cabin for several reasons ... one was that it was less expensive. The other reason was that we knew it would be cold so why bother with a balcony! We arrived at the Prague airport and were promptly greeted by a Viking representative. Taken to the Prague Marriott ... our bags were taken to our rooms and we spent the rest of the evening having our "quiet boxes" issued to us and a general meeting with Brenton, our Shepard for the remainder of the trip. Trying to stay awake so that we would sleep the entire night, we opted for diner in the hotel and a couple of drinks at the "Bourbon Bar". The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast buffet, we left for a tour of Prague. We had been here 7 years ago ... but we were shown several sites that we had missed in the past. After the bus tour with a bit of hop-on-hop-off we were taken to our ship ... The Beyla. There were only 68 guest on this trip ... the ship holds 90+ ... so I can only assume that there were others that worried about the ship not being able to sail.

We gathered in the lounge for a champagne toast followed by dinner and a good nights sleep. Our cabin was kept spotless the entire cruise. I did miss the lack of heated floors (I fell in love with them on our last river cruise) and the bathroom door kept creeping open ... small stuff. I would suggest that they might want to add a second pull down hanging rod in the closet ... this is a casual cruise ... not much in the "Long Hang" is needed. Read more