Has anyone been on this cruise line and/or this tour? If so, would you recommend it? Also, how is the food on Viking Cruises?

cainil - you may want to check out the cruise critic forum for your cruise questions. Go to the 'river cruise' message board section which specifically deals with this type of cruise.

BTW - we did the Amsterdam to Basel cruise with Avalon. I've never been on Viking but that was one of the cruise lines I was contemplating. The CC message board helped form my opinion but the biggest plus for Avalon was I had an extended time frame to pay. I liked that feature a lot. Most lines are priced about the same, little difference between them.

Do some reading on Cruise critic and formulate your own opinions though. Most cruisers become devoted to the first cruise line they go on.

Have fun!

I agree that you will find much more information on the Cruise Critic message boards, under River & Canal Cruises. We were considering Viking for a Danube cruise next June, ultimately decided on a similar itinerary with Uniworld; our travel agent probably swayed us a bit since she had done a Uniworld trip this summer, but she also said she has booked numerous clients on Viking, and no complaints have come back to her.

Remember to check with Pavlus at www.cheapertravel.com/rivercruise/ for 10%off. We juist returned from a land tour and the discount came with the paperwork before the tour. I had checked them out with the BBB. Richard P.S. Your own travel agent should be able to give you a discount. Check the cost on the companies web site and then deal with the agent.

Another question to ask, is the square footage of the cabin. If 120 sq ft., that is a small area, but many boat cabins now start at 150 sq ft. We did the trip you are considering and we had a small cabin. It had a good size window and worked out OK. Only for sleeping, but a bit larger might have been a queen bed instead of two bunk type beds.

iris1745 - The Avalon ships are 172 sq ft minimun and I believe the new ships they are rolling out are over 200 sq ft. Of course if you get the suite on any of the ships it's over 250 sq ft but you pay for it. We found that the 172 sq ft was adequate as they utilize the space very efficiently.

And I've heard of some cruise lines using Murphy beds to be uber-efficient. No thank you! Our queen size bed was very comfortable.

Hi paul; That's great. Pavlus offers 10% off Avalon. Richard

We did the reverse Am. to Basel last Sept. with Viking.
The service and guides etc where very good. Food was not that great and very small portions. Most of the riverboats are the same style. They have to be to fit under the bridges and thru the locks on the river. I did notice that the Avalon ships looked a little more high end. And one I saw had a small spa which I would have liked on our trip as sleeping on new beds and travel in general make me stiff.
I was told that Viking was the premier line but didn't realize there were many others to choose from. Tauck also has there own ship. It really depends on where you want to stop as they all have different cities along the way.
All in all I loved the places we visited and would go back some of the places in Germany anytime. Do one of the river trips and do it in Sept. as the rainy season is over or not begun. We had great weather, almost too warm.