We had been looking at Viking cruises for several years. We decided that the year I retired, we would go. We asked friend if they would like to go, and two couples went on the cruise. We chose Paris to Normandy because our fathers had been in WWII, and two had been at Normandy. We chose the pre cruise 3 night stay in Paris, someone who had taken the southern France cruise said it was a good way to escape jet lag before getting on the ship. It sounded good in theory, but we did so much those days, we were pretty tired when we got to the ship. The night we landed, we went to the Moulin Rouge for dinner and a show. The next day we took a walking tour organized by Viking which was excellent. The last night we had dinner at the Eiffel Tower, the next day we were bused to the cruise ship. Checking in was a very easy process, we were led to our cabin and all the amenities in the room were explained to us. I was very pleasantly surprised at the storage, the fit and finish of the room. There was more storage room than in our hotel.

That night we had a meeting to meet the crew, Michael Bright, the director; Chef "Ricky"; and Manuel - food services. Each evening Michael told us about the next days activities, Chef Ricky made dinner recommendations and Manuel had the selected Wine. I will say that every day we went with the recommendations and were never disappointed. It was like eating in a 5 star restaurant every evening. Another high point was waiting each morning at breakfast for Manuel to bring out the fresh and still hot croissants.

The crew couldn't have been more pleasant and helpful. I will definately take another cruise with Viking. Read more