We chose this cruise because of the extension of Zermatt and Geneva. We had been to Zermatt years before and the call of the Matterhorn was before us, We were not so interested in the small towns in Germany along the way so because of cold weather and rain, we stayed with the ship and did not go on walks in those towns. We disembarked in Basil and did a city bus tour. Places we have visted before have all, for better or worse, changed. Our last stop was Zurich before the extension. For the better part of the river cruise, I developed a cough. Passengers were very concerned and offered cough drops and we very caring. I asked our tour director, Boris, when we arrived at our hotel in Zurich, about where I could find a doctor. He didn't know and offered no assistance to answer my question. By then my condition was much worse. It was Raphael at our hotel who guided us to a pharmacy where physicians were great. After exrays and a blood test, my diagnosis was Pneumonia. The physician there warned that we were not to go on the extended trip and we did not. Viking found us a flight with Air Canada to Toronto and then to Philadelphia. It is the people who make your trip. It's not the sights, or the entertainment, but we have found that it is always people. Read Less

Previous cruises with Viking We had to transfer ship to ship due to low water levels (not Vikings fault). The food was not very good and the food choices were limited. The guide on a particular excursion walked very fast and did not pay attention to the elderly people who had a very difficult time keeping up. Several of us approached him about slowing down and he continued at his pace TOO FAST!!! We returned from an excursion to the ship and were delivered to an unlit muddy parking area in the middle of nowhere. No one from Viking attempted to help us navigate up a levee bank, also unlit, including an elderly lady that had to use a walker! The ship had not arrived, so we were forced to stand on top of the levee in a very cold wind! This cruise was not up to Vikings standards! We had been on other cruises with Viking without the issues we experienced on this cruise! TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED! Read Less

Viking's reputation for excellence is well deserved; they know what they are doing. We looked for a cruise that included Prague and the Rhine River. I can't get enough of river cruising with villages that have been here for centuries, castles, cathedrals, hillside vineyards, and living the life of luxury for a week! This cruise had it all. Dining is always excellent with Viking. The servers are so accommodating and watch for ways to add that special touch to each meal, like having my hot water for my tea waiting for my arrival at breakfast. Cabin steward knew our names from the get-go and remembered special requests. Top notch! Tour director (Boullion) was genuinely ready to help us in any way possible. He truly cared about making our experience the very best. He worked tirelessly in Paris making sure everyone had a ride to the airport in a timely manner. At the Paris airport, we never would have known where to go without our Viking rep who was ever so helpful. We've been on two Viking cruises and plan to take our third next summer! Read Less

Viking made the whole process easy and seamless from our arrival in Prague to our departure from Paris. The cruise director was friendly, knowledgeable, accommodating, entertaining--both fun and funny! The on-board service was outstanding throughout the ship. The reception desk staff went above and beyond to repair an item of my husband's that had been damaged in transit. And the dining room staff were very attentive and greeted us by name by the second day on-board. I enjoyed the itinerary which traversed 3 rivers through Germany as we went from Prague to Paris. The Middle Rhine is so scenic to cruise, with 35 castles dotting both sides of that stretch of the river. The view from the top deck was perfect, along with informative commentary and warm blankets to snuggle in against the chilly morning air! The included excursions were excellent, especially Bamburg, Cochem, and the not-to-be-missed Bishop's Residenz in Wurzburg. With one exception, the tour guides were fantastic (she was good, but a bit dry). Although the bus trip into Paris was long, the stop in Luxembourg City was a bonus, especially the American Cemetery, which is beautiful, historical, and very moving. Read Less

We wanted a cruise that included Prague. This cruise started there, ended in Paris (always a pleasure), and gave us the chance to see many parts of southern Germany we had not seen before. The ship cabins were delights of efficiency and practicality, and in our opinion were in many ways better than the very nice hotels we used at each end of the actual cruise (the heated bathroom floors were a real surprise and a major plus,). In truth we spent little time in out cabin, however, with all the tours and activities to choose from! We took as many off-ship excursions as possible, and virtually all had excellent local guides and priority access. Food was very well prepared and presented, and plentiful, at the breakfast buffet, the lunch buffet, and the dinner (which included a couple of “theme” meals). Both Shore and Onboard staff was uniformly pleasant and efficient and worked hard to meet the needs/demands of the cruisers. The very small ship nature of a river cruise meant that we were able to make many new friends even in a week’s cruise. Finally, the staff did a great job not only with the embarkation/disembarkation, but also with the many excursion departures/returns. We would highly recommend a Viking River Cruise (although out next cruise will be a Viking Ocean Cruise!). Read Less

The Viking Tour company handles everything for the travelers. They provide air service and pay for coach class. When you land, there is a representative to pick you up and take you to a hotel or the boat. They look after your luggage and the check-in process. They will explain all activities and schedules. You are free to take advantage of this or go off on your own, as long as you get back to the boat on time (they won't wait). Land tours use very comfortable buses with good legroom, large windows and storage for luggage and bags. There is plenty of cold bottled water and even an airplane style bathroom. A local tour guide will lead you through all the interesting sights of the off-boat excursions. Everyone is given an audio receiver to hear live narrative from the guide. They know a tremendous amount of detail and history about the places you visit. They give very entertaining descriptions of local history and culture. The head tour director for the Alsvin, Marianne, our Viking spokesperson for the entire trip, was exceptional. She presented all activities, answered questions, entertained the travelers and was a nurturing parent to all. We miss her already. On board: Viking River Tours use modern, high-tech longboats. They accommodate 180 passengers and about 50 crew. They are low and narrow to fit under bridges and tight waterways. On board is a main dining room and two smaller dining areas, one inside at the bow and one in the open. All are roomy and comfortable. There is a library, bar, lounge, information center and gift shop. The top (sun) deck has a putting green, shuffleboard, herb garden and walking track. It has lounge chairs, both under cover and in the open. Meals are fine restaurant quality. For breakfast or lunch, you can choose from the buffet, order from a menu or both. Dinner menu choices include local cuisine or a chef special. Usually there are two or three different selections from each and you can mix and match. Then there are three or four dessert selections. With lunch and dinner is a selection of complimentary house wines, beers, coffee or soft drinks and of course, water. Bar drinks are extra, unless you purchase the "Silver Service" package. Nobody loses weight on this cruise. But with all the hiking, we didn't gain either. The staff and crew are exceptionally friendly and diligent. They will ask your name and room number (for special drinks and tours) once, then remember it for the rest of the cruise. At dinner be prepared to be entertained and served by the wait staff who are really interested in you and what you like to eat and drink. There's no rush, but you don't have to wait long for service either. Between meals, they will make sure you are comfortable, whether in the lounge or on the sun deck. After a land tour they welcome you back on board with drinks and a snack. Read Less

We cannot say enough great stuff about Viking. We were worried about going to Europe for the first time. We were afraid of not knowing the languages or how to get around, etc.. Well, going through Viking was a dream come true. They met us at the airport and took care of us all the way, even waiting for us to check our bags at the airport to go home. The ship was small enough that we got to know all of the staff and they got to know us. It was so nice to pass them in the corridors and have them say, good morning John & Linda. With only 150 passengers on board, we were able to pal up with many of them during meals or tours. We made many new friends, including the staff. Bujorn (pronounced bullion) was our tour director and he made our trip so much fun. Every evening, before our scrumptious dinners, he briefed us of the following days activities. The chef would even brief us on the food selections and the wine steward would give us his nightly wine selections to compliment the meal according to your selection. Alcoholic drinks were included with lunch and dinner each day (which was an appreciated savings). Each port had multiple ability tours available. I thought it was great that they had tours for limited mobility as well as tours for normal ability people. They also supply you with a quietvox (hearing device) that you kept for the entire trip, for you to wear at each shore excursion. That was WONDERFUL. Everyone could adjust the volume, so you didn't have to try to stay at the front of the tour to hear the guide. My husband is hard of hearing, so he was really happy to be able to adjust his volume. It also made it so nice, because there were multiple tours going on at the same time at almost each venue, so there was no straining to hear our guide. Seating for meals were open, so you could sit wherever you wanted, but we made friends with David and March (our servers) and tried to get to their table every evening. The food was excellent.... A local cuisine option was available at every meal, which was a fun way to try new food. You could eat on deck or in the dining room each meal. There was no mandatory dress up meal, which we really appreciated, so we didn't have to use up valuable packing space for formal attire. Every evening, Bujorn had an activity planned for our enjoyment. Each day just flew by !!! We thought that this trip would be our one trip to Europe, but we are already planning another Viking trip with some of the new friends we made on this trip. Read Less

The Cities of Light itinerary is different from other Viking cruises. We stayed in a hotel in Paris along with our fellow cruisers for two nights, before taking a bus through Luxembourg to Trier where we embarked our ship. All the traveling was very smoothly orchestrated. Viking had a private car take us from the airport to the hotel. The hotel was situated a stone's throw away from the Eiffel Tower and served a great breakfast in the morning. While the bus ride to the ship was long, our cruise director was very entertaining, and it was nice to be able to walk around Luxembourg City for a few hours. The Viking Alsvin was a beautiful ship, well maintained, and it was a great home-away-from-home. We splurged for the veranda stateroom so we could have a balcony to sit out on. However, we had some rather loud, chatty neighbors that ruined the peacefulness of sailing down the river and really, the best views were on the top deck. Otherwise, our room was very comfortable, quiet, with plenty of storage. Viking's food is top notch. My husband and I both have dietary restrictions and the Maitre'd sought us out every morning to make arrangements for lunch and dinner. Our meals were always delicious. And the waitstaff are just the nicest people around! They really work hard to make sure you enjoy yourself! Variety of entertainment was lacking. Mostly there's piano music every night, but that's about it. We enjoyed the movie selections on our cabin's television and that was good enough for us. What we like most about cruising, though, is seeing the ports and this cruise had some fabulous stops! Bernkastel, Cochem, and Nuremberg were absolutely amazing! Viking's included tours taught us a bit about the history and culture of each town and were very enjoyable. My only real complaint is that because the itinerary is so packed and the ship needs to clear a number of lochs, the amount of time we had at each port was more limited than other Viking river cruises. We had an excellent time and would certainly go on another Viking river cruise in the future. Read Less

I write hard reviews comparing to similar journeys so please pay attention only to the detail and not to the star ratings. In my view there has to be a significant difference to rate above or below average for comparisons among the 6 river cruises I have done. With that said I highly recommend most river cruises for the experience compared to most ocean sailings. With Viking the staff is outstanding 90% of the time and above average. The food was great and similar to other river cruises. The only negative was that the basic breakfast items like potatoes and veggies were often brought out cold and dumped in trays. I even stood there one day as they were brought out of the kitchen and they were still too cold to eat. Of course all the other items were near perfect as expected. The itinerary was weak in some regards on this cruise They packaged some days so that desirable stops were bundled as extra fare. Thus you couldn't just get Reginsburg without paying for it and spending a whole day doing other stuff of less import The on-board entertainment was weak and below average compared to other river cruises. The beginning and end points were big cities (Paris and Prague) and one can only sample these within the cruise itinerary so plan on adding extra nights on your own.The negative part of the itinerary was the long bus trips at the beginning and end of the cruise. If I were to do this again I would simply send my luggage on the bus and take a train between these points on my own. That way I could arrive at the end stop for the day rested rather than cramped from the seats on the bus. The final negative was a complete failure of the ship's air conditioning on the last night and with the hot weather we had to sleep with the balcony doors open just to breath. No accommodation was offered for this Read Less

Viking has come a long way since we started river cruising. The new river boats are sleek and comfortable. Food is good but not wow! Gourmet dinning is really just a `love boat:" fantasy on most cruises. and has disappeared along with the Midnight Buffet. The food is good and plentiful but we have down graded our expectations a long time ago. What is striking is how efficient Viking is at coordinating your cruise, flights, and tours. Very smooth. I would rank them now up there with AMA and Uniworld. Despite the low water levels, they managed to complete the cruise as planned.. My only disappointment was the short stay in Paris on the Prague to Paris cruise. The crew was very good and the restaurant staff very attentive. On board entertainment was fun consisting of glass blowers, opera singers, and lectures which were well done. Alcohol prices were very reasonable. Read Less