Travelled with Uniworld on the French rivers Saone and Rhone 18 months ago - first river cruise, countless ocean cruises, mostly small ships - and loved every minute. However, when offered two for one and free airfare on the Viking Grand European from Amsterdam to Budapest, we couldn't say no. So we went with some trepidation, both because we suspected no other line could match Uniworld, but also due to the risk of late October weather and ports we didn't find quite as interesting as Burgundy and Provence.

I won’t bore with details, just the primary minuses and plusses, minuses first because they were few:

• Too much busing to suit me, not Viking’s fault, just a function of the itinerary. One of the things I loved about the Uniworld/Provence trip was the ship was docked in the center of the towns at all ports, so it we could walk on and off the ship as we pleased. This time, only half of the ports allowed such freedom; the rest required a shuttle or subway ride which makes taking a break in the middle of the day difficult. Read more