We chose this cruise because the itinerary covered a number of our bucket list places, and Viking's reputation for quality sweetened the deal. The airlines arrangements were exactly as promised (although our friends, along with a number of others, were not so fortunate); greeting at the airport was perfect, with escorts ensuring we made our way quickly to ground transportation, luggage taken seamlessly in hand, and comforts and orientation provided as we traveled to embarkation. (Departure was equally efficient.) As suggested during booking, Viking Cruises are geared to "our" demographic.

In the event, we found the quality of cabin favorably compared with other cruise lines and the room staff simply superb. Size of the Viking ships receives accolades, and ours was clearly small in comparison with some other lines although it still felt large. Beginning with the Travel Consultant, the staff was very engaged and willing. However, we found the restaurant staff a bit uneven and the customer service staff often provided incorrect or contradictory information. Most egregiously, my interest in taking one or more of the Captain's Table cooking classes was frustrated by misinformation from the back office (who said it would not be available on this itinerary).

The restaurants were uneven, with the specialty restaurants sufficiently poor that all of our group ceased to use them and cancelled all reservations: staff was attentive but food appalling. The buffet restaurants served really nice food, with high quality, wide variety, and constantly changing items to avoid boredom. The one exception was shellfish, where the cooks seemed incapable of cooking the shellfish long enough for the shells to open. The other anomaly was room service -- nice to have, yet serving food that was often inedible. Read more