To be fair I would say the new ship was beautiful, the food was very good and the majority of people working the cruise was very good. However from there it went down hill. From the beginning it was very evident that the major attention was given to returning Viking passengers and new ones like us received no special attention . What stood out for us was that it was very evident that the ship was hurried into service and the amount of technical issues with boat should not have been. It was further supported that Viking does not have the expertise and experience in ocean cruising as the boat was run like a 150 passenger river cruise boat.

The quality and content of optional excursions was below par. The on board entertainment was equally below par and very limited especially for 4 days a sea with minimal entertainment options. There was no where to go on board ship other than your room to get away from the loud repetitive back ground music. Impossible to try to read in piece. Limited table for groups to meet and play cards. Boat tender from ship to port in London a disaster with a one point having to wait in the cold unprotected wind for one hour and not one Viking representative at the site to assist passengers.

So the bottom line for us is that we paid for what was supposed to be a upper end quality cruise and found that Viking was no better than any of the other cruise lines we have used but certainly more expensive. Would not recommend to our friends nor would we use them again for a ocean cruise. Quick note when going to the tour information desks most of the people working them had limited knowledge of the tours.