This was our first river cruise (we have had several sea cruises, not with Viking). We had two reasons to try a river cruise. First, several friends recommended river cruises very highly. Second, my wife does not enjoy sea days, and there are no sea days on a river cruise. We specifically chose Viking because (1) friends recommended it, (2) because of the large number of ships Viking seems more flexible in handling emergent waterway conditions, and (3) a comparison with other lines convinced me that Viking was well priced.

We had a deluxe stateroom (water level) and it was very nice. Through folks we met on the cruise we did visit other types of rooms. While a veranda room would have been great, we found our less expensive room to be quite nice and met all our needs. The beds are great, by the way.

We looked forward to dining and being able to share time and a meal with new friends met on the boat. The food was always quite nice and the service staff was quite capable and responsive. One bit of advice - try both sides of the dining room. The service was much better on the port side than it was on the starboard side. Read more