We chose this cruise for the itinerary-Secrets of the Southern Med-the only one with no ports we had been to before. The fact that there were bargain fares made it even better. We had the lowest level of cabin-it was still comfortable and enough room for us for 7 days. The bathrooms are bigger than on many ships and we liked the heated floor traveling as we were in the "Quiet Season". The best thing about the cabins is that all have balconies. We were luckier than some other of the January cruises and had good enough weather to actually go out on the balcony now and then. I like traveling in the "Quiet Season" (good marketing Viking!) for the smaller crowds but never count on good weather.

Service was excellent on the ship, especially the workers on our corridor. Food was very good in all venues except for our Scandinavian Chef's Table menu which we did not like and which left me hungry. There were other Scandinavian dishes in other venues that were much better. I wish they would do a different concept in the Chef's Table space.

We enjoyed all the ports but especially Tunis and Algiers as something different. We hired a taxi in Tunis-the price was fair (and posted) and security monitored our day until we returned to the ship. All the local guides in all the ports were pretty good. I am not sure Viking can continue the included tours as done on the rivers because of the distance from the towns in most of these ports-other than Algiers which requires a visa not worth getting for 8 hours or so-private tours would have been just as satisfactory. Read more