The region is gorgeous, the wines fantastic, the ship was truly excellent, staff and captain over the top, the best ever. As always there were daily excursions and briefings on the next days port(s). Evening wine tastings were so much fun. Hint: the wineries you go to generally do not ship to the USA. Buy a few bottles of something and take them on board with you to enjoy at dinner or in the evening. We drank two during the Rheine castle cruise day. (6 of us) Viking is top notch for taking care of you and making you feel glad to be on board. We have booked two more river cruises with them and look forward to seeing the rest of Europe. There are others that cost more, but it is impossible to give you more. Even the hotels we stayed in were excellent in Paris and Zurich. Viking was always right there at the hotel for us.