Normally, we do our own air, but this time we had Viking take care of all of the arrangements. They did a very good job finding us a direct flight and having people meet us for further transportation. We extended our trip with the pre-cruise London package. Although the rooms of the hotel (Radisson Blu near Oxford St) were very small, the location was great, the service people were very helpful, and the breakfast buffet was delicious. The only disappointment was that we really only had one and one half days in London instead of three because of how our flights were scheduled.

The cruise itself was wonderful with some minor exceptions. First, some of the positives: the ship is beautiful with tasteful decor. The staterooms are very comfortable (especially the beds) and the bathrooms are roomy--we even had heated floors! Our room steward was great and replenished items as needed. He even left us some cold cuts and fruit in the room on the night we came in late from the ballet in St. Petersburg. Most of the servers were very good and friendly. Some had very limited English, but it all worked out. There were multiple restaurants and the food was very good. Our least favorite was the Chef's Table specialty restaurant, which seemed a little over the top in an effort to be very trendy in their food preparation. The on board entertainment was fun. Outstanding lectures included the one on Fabrege, Russian lacquer boxes, Rasputin and the Romanov family. The areas for improvement include: some of the lecturers were quite dry and need to be replaced, some of the tour guides need further training, although some, like Helen in St. Petersburg and some of the included tour guides were excellent. I would also include some entertainment in the separate bar that was a bit more up-to-date.

All-in-all, a memorable vacation!!