A river cruise was attractive based on the size of vessel, the variety and attractiveness of destinations and number of destinations on a single trip. Had seen Viking advertisements over the years and had identified as something we were interested in. Europe has been a targeted destination for years. The shore excursions included in the package were very good. They involved bus travel, walking and biking if you were interested. They gave you a good sense of your port destination and allowed plenty of time for your own exploration. We fully expect to take another Viking cruise in the future and have felt very comfortable recommending them to others. As a cautionary statement, while airport layovers are no fun, we would recommend allowing a little more time between flights going over as we missed our connection at Heathrow and almost didn't make embarkation. The extra days in Amsterdam at the end of our cruise were good idea. Viking was helpful in arranging transportation to airport even though had been off the boat for two days.