I’ve never been on Viking River. When I first looked for a river cruise, I chose AMA. Out of seven nights, I believe we ate with one couple, whom we actually liked very much, twice. Once we ate with one other couple and they were fine. Three of the other nights we dined alone. One night we dined at the special restaurant, special menu, all 12 guests, iirc, at the same table. It was a nice experience … private room. We liked the couple we dined with, twice, so much that we saw them once when they were in our neck of the woods with some extra time before their flight home.
Did another AMA for the tulip cruise, great fun. I don’t remember dining with anybody! We did a Uniworld with two friends, but actually dined at a table of eight most nights. It was ok, but we generally prefer dining alone, or with our own travel companions. Last night we dined, just the four of us.
Heck, I never thought I’d opt to dine at a buffet for dinner, but Octantis broke me of that opinion. If we take a Viking River, we’ll just deal with it. The most important part is we’ll be together, and if we have to laugh about the experience, later, so be it.