We had previously planned for about 18 months to take the 15 day Grand European Cruise in 2022 but due to circumstances beyond our control , we had to cancel. We were so excited when we were able to go on the shorter Rhine Cruise in September 2022 at somewhat short notice. I had not planned to do cruises until I was "older" but was very pleasantly surprised at the VRC atmosphere, multiage adult clientele, extremely good food and generous complementary beverage offerings, interesting and informative shore excursions, warmth and friendliness of all staff and cruise guests, comfortable ship public and private spaces. Having done previous land tours in Europe, I appreciated the "unpack once" convenience of cruising. The included shore excursions were all very good and more than adequate to give us a useful insight to the places we stopped. Local guides helped to add various personal touches to the history of each location . Much of the river cruising was done at night so it was fun to wake up each morning to a new city/town. The most beautiful part of the Rhine was traveled during the day with useful narration by our cruise director about the historic castles etc we were passing. We were grateful to Viking to arrange the transfers from ship to airport and were amazed at the detail of service as a Viking representative walked us from the transport bus, through the Amsterdam airport and up to the correct check in desk! We returned home telling our friends and family about such a wonderful time we had. We are now planning to do a Viking Ocean Cruise later this spring!