This is my 8th river cruise with Viking. Obviously, I do love the Viking experiences. I did discover on this trip that I do not particularly like staying in hotels before and after the cruise simply because there is too much loading and unloading of suitcases. That, of course, is just a person preference. The hotels were fine, although the Hilton in Prague was somewhat removed, resulting in our paying a ridiculous price for dinner in the hotel. But it did make us appreciate the food on the ship even more and realize that all of the included food, excursions, etc. on the cruise are well worth the money.

The cruise itself and the cities we visited were outstanding. As always, the crew and staff on the boat were excellent. However, this cruise starts in Paris and ends in Prague, and both cities are some distance from the rivers, requiring very long bus rides. I did hear quite a bit of grumbling from many people about the long rides. But maybe we should have simply looked on a map ahead of time to realize that a great distance must be covered to reach these places!

I have one complaint that may seem a bit silly. Since I started cruising on Viking many years ago, I have been a little disappointed in some of the "perks" that seem to have been abandoned by Viking. Before my second cruise, those of us who had gone on a Viking cruise received our choice of some useful travel items such as fold-up bags, money bags, etc. I still use my Viking shopping bag because it is easy to carry when shopping in the cities we visit. Also, on every cruise except this last one, we were gifted Viking embossed shot glasses for being return guests. These were just some extras that made us feel special. I hope Viking understands that these little things can lead to pleasant memories. Read more