Wanted to see Southern France and learn about French wine. Learned a lot about the wine at two interesting wine tours with tastings. All escorted tours were fun and the guides were extremely knowledgable. The food was top notch with plenty of choices. Everything was very fresh. The staff are wonderful. They all seem to love their jobs- even the room stewards. Our rooms were freshen up twice a day which was nice. The ship's decor is very relaxing. We loved the 24 hour specialty coffe and tea- and the homemade cookies!

The cruise director Susie was fun and enthusiastic. She had a short and informative briefing each night and was seen taking photos everywhere we went. The food, especially the desserts was amazing. Small portions allowed us to try the appetizer, main course and dessert each night. Breakfast and lunch had an incredible variety of breads, eggs,cereal, fruit, meats and cheese. We were able to eat outside for lunch a few times and this was a great experience. It was pretty hot our first few days and we sat out on the upper deck. A staff member brought ice water and later ice cream to us- a very nice touch.

Only bad experience was our trip to the Marseille airport. We were dropped off a long way from the entrance and had to drag our bags a long way over some very rough pavement to get into the airport. The Viking rep offered no explanation for this nor did she come inside the airport to help passengers check in. We have taken two other Viking cruises and there was a rep inside the airport to help out. Some of the more elderly passengers had considerable difficulty with their bags and needed help.