Neither of us had been in that region of France before. We like wine so it seemed like a good choice. It was less than expected. This was our first time on Viking, though we have taken other river cruises with other companies. Viking has a reputation of being more "top of the line" but we did not experience anything overly special about the cruise, the ship or the crew. The food was excellent. Lots of good wines. But the ship hardly moved. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Bordeaux. Tuesday to Thursday we moved a total of maybe 10 miles, saw a few other cities and rode around in busses a lot. The last day, Friday, we were back in Bordeaux and the only excursions available were ones that you had to pay extra for. So we saw another day in Bordeaux. Then it was off the ship on Saturday. There really should have been another included outing on the Friday in Bordeaux. Some of the staff were friendly. But many were very business like and gruff. As for the set up for meals, we have been used to a choice of tables for 2 or 4. Maybe because the ship was full, the tables in the main dining room were set up for 6, 8 or 10. So we ended up eating on the lounge deck because there were tables of 2 or 4 there. We also felt like the crowd on this ship was a bit noisy and party people. That has not been our experience on other river cruises. All in all it was pretty average and not one we would do again or recommend to friends. The musician that entertained us nightly actually ended up walking out the last day. Packed up and left. I think it was because of the way some of the guest were acting during the evenings. He was definitely not happy.