My wife and I participated on a Viking cruise (Elbe) for the first time, The boats used are smaller than others in the fleet to allow navigation on the Elbe. This gave us opportunity to meet new friends, with whom we still keep touch! We had used other river cruise operators in the past that we thought were excellent. The Viking experience moved that up by another couple of notches! The only problem arising from our cruise were in the latter stages when river water levels were low and the boat couldn't complete it's schedule: not a Viking fault as the markers across the river clearly indicated no navigation beyond this point. We have booked another Viking cruise this year (Rhine from Switzerland to Amsterdam) so expecting to be completely satisfied again!