After three long years we finally got to do the Cities of Lights Viking river cruise from Prague to Paris. From the Prague airport where we were met by a Viking rep with a clipboard and checking us in, had Viking staff take our luggage and we waited w/ other Viking passengers to board our bus to get to the Hilton Prague, Viking anticipated our needs, including cold bottled water that we needed after our long flights. We were greeted by our program director, Rob Wheatley, who will be with us in Prague, on Alsvin, and also in Paris. Rob went through information we needed for the next AM and already had our room keys - our rooms were ready and it was mid-day, hours before normal check-in. Rob Wheatley is an incredible program director, very organized, pays attention to the smallest detail, highly knowledgeable about our destinations, and possessing a great sense of humor. He really made the difference in how much we enjoyed our cruise experience. Our stay was at the Hilton Prague, a very modern and clean hotel, a great place to stay. Not close to the Old Town but it is well-located w/ a shopping mall across the plaza. For us, the Hilton Prague is within walking distance of Cafe Imperial, a Michelin restaurant that we had reservations at, and we highly recommend dining at.

The Alsvin ship staff was incredible, so personable, upbeat, and happy to make you happy. We were in a balcony room on the middle deck, same level as guest services and the dining room which made it easier for me getting on and off the ship and taking our meals. The Alsvin dining was delicious, a much better menu, quality of preparation and ingredients than what I recalled on our earlier river cruises on Viking, they have definitely upped the quality. As previously experienced, the including wines on a river cruise are far superior to ocean cruises since they usually have local wines, the German wines were delicious. The included excursions were great and just the right amount of time spent in the various ports. The one difference I had noted on this river cruise traveling the Main, Rhine, and Moselle was that there was a lot more busing to reach the various locations, Bamberg, Wurzburg, Heidelberg, Cochem, Trier. Only for Mainz, we could walk from the ship docked on the Rhine to get to the Old Town. Also, traveling on the Main river, there are a lot of locks and low bridges so the sun deck was closed most of the time we traveled on the Main river. In Paris we skipped the panoramic tour of Paris (we had done this on a different river cruise) and focused on the Viking Versailles excursion. For the Paris extension we did our own itinerary, focusing on the Musee d' Orsay and going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Viking advertises that the hotel is the Pullman Paris Eiffel Tower but our stay was at the Pullman Paris Montparnasse which is very large and modern. The two issues that we had was the location was not close to the Seine or to the Eiffel Tower and the restaurant where we had breakfast could not handle the number of hotel guests that had breakfast included. It was chaotic each morning of the weekend, only on Tuesday, the day we left, having breakfast was not a mess. We were glad to have the transfer to the airport. Traffic was horrendous and it was a very long drive, and then we were met by a Viking rep who walked us through the check-in process and directed us to where we needed to go to get to our gate; Charles de Gaulle airport is enormous. We were very appreciative of all the assistance from the various Viking staff.