we picked this cruise to end up the celebration of my 65th birthday. Unfortunately March 5th is not a prime time to go to Europe. I will never book a Europe trip this early in the season. ours was the first for the season on the Elb and your could still see ice floating in parts! Most of the amenities aboard the Astrild were top notch. the glaring detractor and ruination of the cruise was the bedding. unbelievable discomfort. The mattress cover had pieces of cloth sewn all over it to create a "pillowing effect" it was more like a cratering effect. could not sleep first night and complained next morning to a very uncaring staff. was told " all beds are the same,we cannot get you a new mattress." so asked around and got many more passengers to agree on the crummy bedding,to no avail. the chambermaid tried putting two mattress covers on and that made it twice as bad. Finally my spouse and I stripped the bed to the mattress and I tried it without any cover. still miserable. this was the deal breaker for me as I have cruised with Viking on prior occasions including the Grand Tour and Bordeaux. Both of which had wonderful bedding. The Elb is a quaint more narrow river with one or two memorable spots. The weather was horrible. Freezing rain and snow. Cold that bit right through you. Prague was the worst,really really cold. think twice before booking this cruise. Do not do it on the cusp season!