We chose this cruise primarily to see the tulips blooming in the Netherlands, but also wanted to see parts of the Netherlands and Belgium we hadn't seen before (We visited Belgium in 1995 and wanted to go back!). As usual, Viking was outstanding, even with the pandemic still ongoing. We were tested everyday aboard the ship, and that always created suspense (8 passengers had to leave the ship after testing positive), but everything was still all we expected and more. This was our sixth river cruise with Viking, as well as sailing with them twice on their Ocean ships.

Our cruise began with a visit to the famed Keukenhof Gardens and we were fortunate to visit with the flowers at their peak, with bright blue skies on the day of our visit. We also visited a tulip farm, which was interesting. We visited several other ports in Netherlands, Hoorn, Dordrecht, Kinderdijk (windmills), Nijmegen and Maastricht (which were both beautiful cities). While in Maastricht we were able to take a booked excursion to Aachen to see Charlemagne's cathedral and treasury. We finished the cruise in Antwerp and then continued our our post cruise extension to Bruges with a long stop in Ghent enroute. Ghent is a gorgeous city! Our time in Bruges was terrific and we recognized several spots from our visit over 20 years ago. On our last day, we went on an excursion to Flanders and visite the cemeteries and sites of some key battles, ending with a vist to Ypres. Our flights to (Amsterdam) and from (Brussels) were uneventful. Viking arranged for our COVID tests before returning. We remain loyal Viking fans!