Viking

One day into our river cruise through the south of France, the crew had memorized what we drink — Negronis, Sauvignon Blanc, rosé — and our glasses didn’t go empty again. Beyond that they left us alone. Walking tours are free and optional, most ports put you a few minutes from town, and the sun deck of the Longship Buri had an herb garden and a putting green on it. River travel is slow, though, so pick a route where every stop interests you or the days in between drag. Ours ended early: record rainfall pushed the rivers too high for the boat to go any further, and we were stranded in Lyon. We booked a few more nights there on our own.

Fifteen days on the Embla from Budapest to Amsterdam is the trip we still talk about. German night: the crew in lederhosen and dirndls, sausages and pretzels and sauerkraut, cold beer, German music. We normally dread theme nights, and it was one of the best meals of the cruise. In Cologne the excursion guide took us onto the cathedral roof, through parts of the building usually kept for the restoration crew. At the beer house afterward, all you had to do to get another Kölsch was catch the waitress’s eye.

Their ocean ship, the Viking Sea, has a snow grotto in the spa — a chilled room with snow drifting down from the ceiling. One morning we shopped Barcelona’s La Boqueria market with the ship’s chef and cooked what we bought that night, once the ship had sailed. And there is no formal night, which is what finally got Chris to buy cruise clothes.