We decided on this trip to celebrate our 50th anniversary. One of the things that attracted us to it was that it had a pretrip extension to Munich and Salzburg. My wife had spent a year studying in Munich, and I had never been there, so this was my opportunity to learn more about that part of her life. For my part, I was looking forward to the trip to Český Krumlov, since my ancestors are from southern Bohemia, relatively close to there.

This cruise turned out to be incredibly relaxing, in part because Viking took care of everything. Hotel transfers on the pre-cruise extension were nearly effortless. The guides were both informative and friendly; our guide in Český Krumlov even gave me lessons in pronouncing the names of some of the nearby Czech towns. The food was uniformly great, including some very good Austrian house wines. Of course, you don't have the entertainment options that you have in a large cruise ship, but we had an excellent pianist who played Mozart (of course) and collaborated with the Cruise Director on a wonderful rendition of "Great Balls of Fire" in memory of Jerry Lee Lewis.

Overall, this was one our top three vacations. We've already booked an ocean cruise and an expedition with Viking, and we have high expectations for both of them.