We had never visited the Baltic/Scandinavian countries so the Viking Homelands itinerary was very interesting to us. We spent 3 nights in Stockholm prior to boarding the trip and we are so glad that we did. Stockholm was such an amazingly beautiful place with so much to see and do. We both agreed that we would like to spend more time there in the future. The Viking Sky is brand new and magnificent. Public areas were just beautiful with large windows everywhere for viewing and allowing natural light. Plenty of cozy places to sit and read or watch the water. Cabin was small but well equipped. King size bed was very very comfortable. We enjoyed room service breakfast on our early days. Service was top notch, friendly, warm and professional in all settings. Food in the specialty restaurants, Manfredi's and The Chef's Table, was exceptional at dinner, much better quality and ambiance than in The Restaurant, the main sit down dining room. Buffet service was quite good with incredible variety although this venue and the The Restaurant seemed crowded at times and not very relaxing for a meal. Too much hustle and bustle.

Included shore excursions were disappointing. Most involved too much time on the bus and not enough activity. A much better alternative would have been escorted walking tours, of variable intensity, as most of the ports were quite walkable. We did enjoy getting out and exploring on foot on our own. We visited the Drottingham Palace on an excursion in Stockholm and this was quite well done and involved more walking. The two-day Ultimate ST Petersburg, crammed a great deal of sight seeing in (only 2 hrs in Hermitage) but again was too much time on the bus. I would recommend doing several shorter more focused visits to specific venues in St Petersburg . We did not do the excursion to Berlin as we will be visiting there later. The Copenhagen Jazz cruise was lots of fun, but too short. Our post cruise extension Bergen to Oslo by train did not live up to the hype. Scenery was OK, not spectacular as billed. The 7+ hour train ride was too much. A better choice would have been to head to Oslo after dis-boarding and spending 2 nights there Olso is beautiful and warrants a visit of several days. In general the cruise was quite good and we would go again but would rely less on the sponsored shore excursions.