We did the Grand European Tour aboard the Viking Idi. Overall, the cruise was great. The crew was fantastic, food was wonderful, and the excursions were fine. The only 2 negatives were the program director who did not communicate as well as she should have, and the odor on the last 3 days. The PD left us hanging on several occasions with no information as to what we should be doing. She was late to a meeting point with our tickets to a concert, so we were late getting in, and were seated in the back of a huge cathedral. Another day, she did not tell us the boat was delayed in locks while we were on an excursion. The buses took us on a side trip to some unknown building to kill a half hour. We drove into a parking lot, made a circle, and left. No idea what we saw, what it was, or why it was important. We just killed a half hour to make a schedule.

The second negative was more important. Three days before the end of the cruise, a very bad odor(stench) enveloped most of the boat. While it was not in our cabin, it was very bad in the lower deck cabins. Even on the sun deck, it was bad. The crew gave us numerous excuses, but never a good explanation. The problem was still there when we we disembarked. Friends took a cruise 2 weeks after we did, and ran into passengers from a longship who said they were experiencing the same problem. Viking continues to say there was no odor, but for those of us on the Idi, it left an indelible impression.