While my husband and I have taken several cruises before, we had never done a river cruise, nor cruised with Viking. I will definitely be cruising with them again in the future! Everything was so well-organized, the ship was just the right size and very clean, and the staff were out of this world. It was also great to have prepaid for everything ahead of time--transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to ship, and ship to airport, excursions, etc. All we brought was spending cash for tips, souvenirs and our own meals when we wandered around town by ourselves. The included tours were fantastic. Each guide had a very good command of English, was young, funny and patient, and used a headset so that they did not have to scream to us. Each person got their own headset device that synced to the tourguide's frequency. Effortless! The guided tour itineraries were great and well organized. We saw the heart and most important sights of each city/town we visited and always stuck to the allotted time.

The itinerary for our cruise was the Danube Waltz which went to Budapest (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia), Vienna, Salzburg, Durnstein and Melk in Austria, and Passau (Germany), flying back home from nearby Munich. So we visited three country capital cities and then several smaller towns, which was a great mixture as well.

The service onboard was exceptional. The meals were amazing--3 courses each night with unlimited drinks (except for hard liquor), and the meals consisted of local cuisine from each place. There was even a buffet one night where we were able to go back into the kitchen and help ourselves, with the chefs standing over you piling food onto your plate! Read more