Traveling with Viking has always been a pleasure. This was our 3rd cruise with Viking. Our Cruise Director was incredible! He greeted us at the entrance to the boat and learned our names immediately. We suspect he knew everyone's name on the ship. We were most impressed with this young man. All of the staff were exemplary and went out of their way to see that we had a good time and that our needs were met. Our Chef was from Austria and prepared some very good dishes and you could always see him about the ship talking and getting feedback from passengers. Excursions were really well done with knowledgeable and friendly guides. Excursions are the highlight of our travel with Viking as well as the dining! We arrived in Marseille two days early on our own and had a local guide show us Aix en Provence. Delightful day and money well spent. We had paid for a transfer from Marseille to Avignon and that went fairly smoothly. The most frustrating portion of the transfer was pre-arrival when trying to get the logistics down with Viking customer service. That portion could have been more expedient without having to call numerous times to determine the transfer location and time. Once the transfer was in progress all went well and arrival at the ship was timely and we had a comfortable mini-van. We are Viking lovers and have four more cruises on the books over the next two years.