A wonderful experience for this 1st time river cruise couple! We've taken several ocean cruises, and although it's different, it was very enjoyable. The tours included in the cruise were interesting and were kept to small groups.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We walked onboard and were in our stateroom within 5 minutes! Smoothest embarkation ever!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Food was great. 3 meals/day, not 24 food service like on big ocean cruises. What a relief not to see people eating 24 hours a day! The ship was always docked in or near the town we were visiting, so if you needed a snack, you just had to walk into town and grab a snack. The bar could make any cocktail you asked for. The wine was very good and there was a reasonable selection. There is only 1 seating which I found problematic since there was a rush every night to grab a table to accommodate the group you were with. I think 2 seatings would be better. If you were upstairs finishing your drink and were 10 minutes late, you were hard pressed to find a table to seat your party together.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There aren't any onboard activities since Viking arranges tours to get you out and about to see the sights in the town you're currently docked in. There is no spa or gym. There is a small area called the library.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
There really isn't a lot going on after dinner. On 2 out of the 7 nights there was a game with the ship crew. This type of cruise is more about going to bed early and getting up early to maximize the time you have in port to explore the towns you're in.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Service and staff were outstanding. We kept trying to figure out how the service could have been better if we had taken a high end river cruise such as Tauck. The staff clearly enjoyed their jobs, and provided great service.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Spotlessly clean! The Scandinavian decor was very nice.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cabin was typical in size. Bathroom was ok for us, but heard from other passengers who were tall and stocky that they found the shower too small, but it was fine for us. Bottled water was provided. Bed and pillows were very comfortable. We didn't really use the veranda since we weren't in the room that much, but I loved the floor to ceiling glass doors to enjoy the view.
Ship tip
Get to the dining room on time! Also, most passengers found out after they checked in that we had a shipboard credit. If we had known about that ahead of time, we would have used it to purchase some optional excursions and drinks package that we paid for before the cruise. I wouldn't buy anything in advance from now on in case we get an onboard credit the next time. You don't have to worry about optional excursions selling out.
Loved Budapest. We took the 2 day after-cruise package and took a wonderful food tour that I found on Trip Advisor which went through the Jewish ghetto.
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