This was our first Viking Ocean Cruise, a fifteen night journey on the Viking Sea from Bergen to Harwich taking in the Norwegian fiords, the North Cape, Shetland, Orkney and Edinburgh. We booked the holiday nineteen months ago before the keel of the ship had even been laid! Even then it was almost fully booked and we had to settle for a more expensive cabin than we had originally planned. The attraction for us was the itinerary and the chance to sail on what some reviewers had called one of the most elegant ships at sea.

Our first impressions was of a a ship larger than we had anticipated for little more than 900 passengers, the reason being that there are no inside cabins and all of them have a balcony. The Viking Sea is the essence of cool Scandinavian design. We had not come across an infinity pool nor a spa with a snow room (with real snow) before. We also liked the decision to dispense with a library in favour of placing books on shelves and in alcoves of just about every public room All the public rooms are light and airy with beautiful furnishings and our cabin- though not exceptionally large - was well designed with a very comfortable bed, plenty of storage space and the best bathroom we have ever had at sea. (The heated floor was a particularly nice touch).

There was open dining although reservations were required for the two speciality restaurants.The food was of a high standard at all the venues and the house wines were so good that we didn't feel it necessary to trawl the wine list. Our only advice to those using the main restaurant would be to avoid any tables close to the exits from the kitchen. As there are no "waiter stations" meals are brought out directly to diners - as in a conventional restaurant. The problem is that a few hundred diners eating five courses results in hundreds of movements out of the kitchens at every sitting. Watching this traffic does not make for a relaxing occasion!. Read more