Positives: Glorious weather, fantastic food prepared artistically; staff was courteous, friendly, helpful and always eager to please. Although we had to change ships after the second day of our cruise (from Embla to Aegir,) the staff made it a smooth transition. Our travels through the locks were easy and almost always on time; the choices for meals offered variations - you could sit in the dining room or up on the bow deck. There was always a BBQ going with hot dogs, burgers, shish-kabobs and fresh salads. The rare entertainment we had was excellent.

Negatives: The upper deck was unusable during most of the trip, due to low bridges. There were many ports with not much time to spend. Aboard ship in the evenings, there was not enough entertainment. We would have liked MORE narration during sailing time. Although our Director was outgoing and humorous, he was not a historian and only offered what he read off a computer printout.

ALL of the furniture aboard the Viking ships are poorly designed and most uncomfortable. The "lobby" had room for 4-6 people to sit. Upstairs (library area) there were TWO chairs! Ridiculous waste of space. Laundry is quite expensive.