We had never been on a River Cruise, but had a great experience on a Viking Ocean Cruise last year, and did the Amsterdam To Budapest Cruise with two extra days in Amsterdam—booked on our own.

The crew was wonderful: very attentive and helpful. Our veranda stateroom was okay, but without anywhere to sit, other than the bed or on the single chair provided, it was simply not a good place for us to “hang out.” We wound up spending a lot of our down time in the Lounge, because our veranda was basically off limits almost 2/3 of the cruise due to rain, or, more annoyingly, being tied up next to another ship that obscured our view. After all, who wants to sit on a veranda where your view is into a stateroom of the ship next to you.

The food was very good, but again didn’t compare well to the myriad offerings on the Ocean Cruise. Read more