We took the Grand Tour in late November to early December, from Amsterdam to Budapest. As with a reviewer who took the return cruise on the Vali right after our trip, there were some inconveniences due to COVID policies in Europe. Many Christmas markets were closed, but not all. And Austria was in lockdown, hence no visit to Vienna. Viking tried to detour to/add Bratislava, but it too shut down around the same time. And a couple of our paid shore excursions were cancelled as well, though Viking gave us a refund and some additional credit for a future booking.

In spite of all that, we had a great time on a very nice boat with a fabulous crew. Our cabin was very nice and well kept. The food was great and the wait staff was very friendly and really attentive. Shore excursions were very good. One of our guides was not great, but the other 10 or 12 were quite good; always informed and helpful. On short notice, Viking was able to add a day in Budapest in place of one of the days in Vienna, and included a visit to a horse-wagon racing demonstration out in the country.

Four of us were traveling together and were very pleased with the trip overall. Too bad about the COVID interruptions, b ut there's not much that can be done about that. We were pleased enough that we're doing another cruise in late August.