. This was our first cruise and first trip to Europe. Everything went off without a hitch. The flights (arranged by Viking) were excellent. We were greeted at the airport and shuttled to the Viking Star in Venice. Check-in was a breeze and then we were off to explore the ship. We ate most of our meals in the World Cafe although there were many other options available. The cabins are well designed and very comfortable. I loved having a coffee machine in the room. Our cabin attendant was off the charts good as were all the crew.

With only one cruising day we really enjoyed waking up every morning in a new port. Viking provided a complementary excursion in each port and the opportunity to select from a number of upgrades. We upgraded about 50% of the time. A ship representative and a local tour guide escorted us on our excursions in most cases. The excursion that we picked in Venice spent too much time on the water tour with not enough time in Venice itself. Rome was (St Peter's Basilica) was my favorite. Barcelona was a close second. After you visit Monaco everyplace else looks dingy. After our shore excursion in Monaco we bought tickets for a double decker hop on/off tour bus. We went around 3 times.

We were totally and emphatically satisfied and are totally sold on Viking. Every other guest that we encountered on this cruise had been on several (2-9) Viking River Cruises. We have since booked the Viking Star West Indies Ocean Cruise for December 2016.