We wanted to see places we have not been and having lived in Greece that meant mostly the western Med. We had cruised with Viking before so that when this cruise came available we signed up. We thoroughly enjoy Viking's way of operating - very little entertainment onboard - live music, lectures on upcoming visits, movies and some informal dancing. We are not interested in formal dinners, zip lines or ice shows. Some people go on cruises to be entertained onboard the ship and we do not. We would rather visit interesting places and see how the rest of the world lives. We also are not interested in casinos and children tearing around. Viking has a rule that children under 12 are not allowed, in fact, we have not seen any children onboard. We love the casual attire, food and restaurants, plus a wonderful buffet that we can pick and choose what suits us. We both deal with allergies and other health issues so that being able to pick our food is very helpful and there is no assigned seating.

We also like that there is no extra charges onboard unless you do something special like the spa. Our tours were mostly included but we did do a couple that were extra by choice.