Previous Viking River Cruises (Budapest to Amsterdam and China) were excellent, but our Viking Ocean cruise started badly when we were not picked up at Heathrow and had to arrange our own transportation from Heathrow to Greenwich. Guest services, which was supposed to help us, was absolutely worthless--a bunch of dolts--annoying at best, incompetent at worst. No apology for the mess, either and we still await a refund for our pre-paid airport pickup.

Food is average and no better than Holland America or Princess. Steaks and salmon were good, but desserts were sub-standard with few sugar-free choices. Room service was very good--we ate nearly all breakfasts in our room--and cabin service/cleaning excellent. Housekeeping and room service rate high marks.

The ship is beautiful and our cabin was spacious, but the view was obstructed. We should have been advised of that when we upgraded our cabin a few weeks before sailing. Read more