While the ship was great, the excursions and tours were a great disappointment. I had been on the river cruise and Viking had that down. I told everyone I could how great it was. I had read poor reviews and called, and was assured everything was fine. I went on this trip to see the countries, so the ship niceties weren't as important to me, but the ship was beautiful and staff was very good. Unfortunately we were the guinea pigs for the ocean cruises. It wasn't just the four of us traveling on the ship, there were so many people recommending other cruise lines. Sad that Viking hadn't listened to the criticisms of previous tours and we wasted our time and money on this. They just don't have the excursions down. That is what they do so well on the river cruises. The guides don't use the voice boxes, so you can't hear anything. After about day 7 they started doing surveys because they had so many complaints. Whatever you do do not go to Berlin. They stuck us on a bus for 8 hours and wouldn't let us off until some women started screaming. The extra excursions are about twice the price as other tours doing the same thing. They spend so much time rushing you back to the ship to sit and wait for departure rather than enjoying the town you are in. I called to complain and they offered me $500 each for my inconvenience. I declined and won't be traveling Viking again. I laughed when reading the reviews, especially since they were so bad before I departed. I hope they do let people know how much bus cruising this trip is. If you bought the insurance, back out now. I didn't and I regret that.