What a wonderful experience on our second Viking river cruise. We were scheduled to travel from Basel to Amsterdam for 7 nights. We booked our air travel through Viking and spent a long day with a couple of transfers to get from Denver to Basel. Upon arrival in Basel we were met by Viking personnel who informed us that, due to high water levels on the Rhine, the ship was unable to get to Basel. We were bussed about 1-1/2 hours north to Breisach where the ship was docked. Breisach was actually the port where we were supposed to be docked the first night, so we only missed a walking tour of Basel, for which we would have arrived too late anyway.

Our room was a French balcony on the 3rd level, and it was small (135 square feet). We had a queen-size bed that was very comfortable. I didn't like the comforter and had trouble sleeping the first night - too hot, throw off the comforter, then too cold, etc. The next morning we requested a top sheet and our lovely housekeeper Svetla added one right away - no more trouble sleeping. The bathroom was also small but functional - excellent shower and L'Occitane soap, shampoo, etc. The room has adequate storage - nice closet, a few drawers and shelves, and a small refrigerator, nice for keeping cold water and other beverages. Housekeeping was excellent - they were always leaving fresh towels and straightening up the room when we were out.

Dining was good - I didn't think the food was as good as our cruise last year (Paris to Normandy) but there were plenty of choices and we never went hungry. Breakfast was a buffet with omelet station, or we could order eggs, eggs benedict, French toast etc. from a menu. Loved the croissants and the different types of jam made on board, much better than the jams in jars on the table. Lunch was either sit-down in the dining room or a small buffet in the lounge. We didn't eat much lunch, but it looked good. Dinner was always lots of choices - appetizers, main courses, desserts, cheese plate. One night I didn't want any of the main courses and had one appetizer and another appetizer as my main course - they brought me extra to make up a main course with no problem. The only night that was not good was the German night. They set up a buffet of typical German food and it was very disorganized and hectic. We bought the Silver Spirits package so we could choose a different bottle of wine every night, better than the house wine. We enjoyed working with Seta each night to choose the right wine, and had some very good wines, along with beer during the day and after-dinner drinks in the evening. We definitely got our money's worth. Our wait staff was Martina and Edison and we enjoyed sitting in their section every night. Read more