we had heard rave reviews from many friends who had cruised with Viking before. We were new to this line. Our traveling companions were on their 3rd Viking cruise! Everything was exceptional from the food, service, excursion planning and organization, to hotels for pre and post trip stays. All was handled with curtesy, efficiency and a smile! The weather could have been better, but they even provided umbrellas, etc. if needed. Our state room was neat, and clean, well stocked. comfortable and exceptionally quiet. Loved it all! We have taken 3 previous cruises on other line and larger ocean vessels. The size of this ship, and the number of folks aboard (with a large amount of very attentive staff) was much more appealing to us. We would definitely opt for another cruise with Viking in the future if funds allow. We had not been to Europe traveling in many years, and never had been to Germany or Switzerland. The sights and sounds of it all was wonderful to enjoy. Good walking shoes are a must. Transportation to and from excursions was aboard lovely, comfortable buses, with large windows for viewing the sites in route. Tour guides were equipped with microphone which connected to head sets each passenger wore so no descriptive comments were missed, even if you were not up front of the crowd. They even fixed my husbands watch band! Great organization, great people, great fun!