First time European river cruising for us. We loved it. Felt like an upscale floating hotel. Less than 200 people on board so you don’t fight the crowd of an ocean cruise. It takes a minute to reach the top deck for lounging, or dining room for all meals, or Lounge area for music or bar. The staff is very friendly and professional. Our Program Director Alex was phenomenal and always accessible and organized for all off shore excursions. He is top notch in his field and Viiking is fortunate to have him. Same for the hotel manger Christine. Our room stewards kept the room immaculate and it was nice to have a clean and spacious balcony suite room after a busy day touring. Our trip started out on the Gefjon but a barge hit a lock and we did the usual procedure for this. Packed our bags and left them in our room for the staff to transport to the Sigyn on the other side of the damaged lock. All passengers were loaded onto a bus after an excursion and taken to our new ship. Bags were placed in same exact cabin number as old ship. It went flawlessly. Only downfall was the Gefjon staff had to stay on that ship, with luckily the exception of Alex. The new staff and crew were excellent also. This is just another reason to choose Viking. They have so many identical ships, switching ships is a remedy many other ship lines cannot perform. You cannot control lock breakdowns or water level so it’s benefical for a river cruise line to have this procedure. We cruised from Amsterdam to Budapest and saw beautiful sites throughout. Happy sailing. Read Less

This was our third Viking river cruise. The ship, staff and food met Viking's high standards. The itinerary was uninspiring and I would not recommend it. That's not Viking's fault - they can hardly recreate such awe inspiring countries as Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia. They all seemed very much the same. One low light excursion was the Viking provided excursion when the contract tour guide the Balkan war by saying, "Remember, we (Serbs) were the good guys". He brushed aside the facts about Serb committed genocide. That "rewrite of history" was disappointing. The best excursion was when we had tea and "cookies" with a Croatian family. it was a residence that was also a B&B. An authentic visit. The ship's staff were amazing. They were attentive and has a great sense of humor. The daily briefings were always interesting and informative. I am now adding more words to meet the standard for submission. Read Less