Fun trip overall! Biggest issue was needing to switch ship due to low water. We went on a cruise rather than land tour specifically to be able to stay in one room for the duration. Mantra of Viking is “unpack once,” but literally every friend and relative who has cruised Viking River has to switch ships once. It happens REGULARLY & It is VERY disruptive. While they moved us, they provided lunch in a German restaurant. One menu choice…greasy meat with German potato salad and sauerkraut. The restaurant was unprepared and it was chaos. Food onboard is odd. They try to go overboard on gourmet entrees for lunch and dinner and it becomes too heavy and over the top two meals a day, day after day. They offer a few “always available” options that are more simple, but very little variety on the simple dishes. They rotate the same dinner menus to an extent on long cruises. Burgers are only “always available” at lunch. Anyone should be able to find something they can tolerate, but there were only a few entrees that we really enjoyed. We actually dreaded dinner when we saw the menu some nights. Super nice staff, but we will not miss the food. Our whole group was looking forward to better food and some “cleaner, more simple” food following our cruise.

With regard to the excursions, they were quite good. Some guides were excellent and we only had one guide who was very poor, got facts wrong, did not prepare. We had two Sunday excursions that included free time, but much of Europe is closed on Sunday, so the “free shopping time” was really just time waiting to return to the ship. Knowing the limitations, they should have planned more. Lastly, we were always given water on departure, but it was mineral water and we never had an option for spring water. We thus had to buy our own bottled water at ridiculous European prices.

Lastly, the top deck was closed for days. This is one of the best places on the ship and the only place to walk (a they have a track). Be prepared for limited availability. Read more