This was an excellent cruise. It was more expensive for 10 days than I was used to, but the smaller number of passengers, more space, better food, free excursions, no waiting more than 5 minutes for anything, and low bill at the end (mostly just gratuities, well deserved) made it worth it. The ship was beautiful but not stuffy and the atmosphere and passengers were casual without being sloppy. The passengers (almost all North Americans) were great. The places we visited were all great, and a nice mixture of bigger cities and smaller cities. I hope Viking continues going to smaller places like Kotor (quite nice and easy to get to from the ship) and unknown places like Pula. I liked having at least a half day to see a little of the beginning and end cities, as a half day is better than just views of a city to and from airports like you get on many itineraries. I also like that Viking starts one place and ends up in another so you at least get to see some of 2 cities.

The food was excellent - not too heavy on meat and potatoes but not too “froo-froo” either. Restaurants were quite nice with lots of tables for two. Even the buffet was quite good. Free beer and wine was nice. You can spend so much money on alcohol if you’re not careful. The service and cabin were excellent, especially large bed and roomy shower. Excursions, while not all day affairs, were fine for me. With so many cities in a row, I was glad I didn’t try to overdo things. The guides were excellent and the size of the groups was typical of cruises I’ve been on before. Because the basic excursions were included in the price, for the most part I took them, and probably saw and learned a lot more than if I had had to pay for excursions or wander around in the ports without a tour.

There really was no nickel and diming, as Viking promised, and no pushing of things to buy like on other ships and no photographer. There were enough activities to keep me busy, but I could have used a few more sports activities. I wanted to play bocce ball but was told Viking was restricting play to times when the ship was in port because people below were hearing thumps. Several of us thought they should have at least given us a few hours a day (maybe late afternoon, especially when ship was at sea?) Why have a nice bocce ball setup you can’t use just because a few people are unhappy? Read more