Sailing the Northern coast of Norway above the Arctic Circle had long been on our wish list. As happy Viking alums with several Viking cruises, both ocean and river, under our belts, when my wife and I saw Viking offering this itinerary, we jumped at it. Viking's overall strengths - attention to time in interesting ports; scenic sailing routes; absolutely beautiful scenery well narrated en route; and interesting, timely on board lectures - were showcased in full glory on this cruise. And, while we signed up for this cruise because of the Norwegian portion, we absolutely loved Shetland and Orkney. Docking in Greenwich in London was also a plus.

Like other Viking cruises we've taken, on "Into the Midnight Sun" we were extremely comfortable with Viking's aesthetic and business model. The ships are a modern, Scandinavian design with many great features including a fabulous spa, specialty dining, beautiful public spaces - Explorer's Lounge comes to mind - and comfortable, extremely well-serviced cabins, all at no extra cost. The Viking model is travel by comfortable ship for adults with emphasis on the journey. No casinos, no extra cost "photos", no "buy ups."

From our perspective one of Viking's best features is the staff. A multi-national group, of course. But, they seem to have been well trained to interact cheerfully and appropriately with guests - as well as provide great service. If you initiate a conversation with a staff person about his or her background, that person will respond warmly, but not go overboard. It was our experience that staff were on the look out to meet guests' needs, sometimes without being asked. Another example of flexible, service-oriented staff are shore excursions. Not every shore excursion is great. But for us, when a shore excursion problem has arisen the on-board shore excursion staff have worked hard to fix it or compensate for it. Read more