My husband and I chose this cruise mainly for the itinerary and that Viking offers included shore excursions which is fine if you only want to see what the included shore excursions include. For example, if you want a gondola ride in Venice, you will have to pay; the included tours of Split and Dobrovnik wasn't bad but unfortunately in Corfu was on Good Friday and the crowds on the street made it impossible to move. I would not recommend taking the cruise during Easter. Rome was a tour of the outside of the Vatican and a "panoramic" tour of other buildings and monuments since we had seen Rome on previous trips; Naples was a tour of a square containing several churches and a monastery museum; a tour of the Amalfi Coast was not offered but we would have liked that; Toulon was a panoramic tour of the town and stopping on the coast to look across at the French navy ships. So be selective on what you want to see in each port. And watch your emails when you can select an excursion as they can fill up especially the gondola ride. Panoramic means you don't stop and you don't go inside. In Venice we wanted to see inside the Doges Palace and San Marco so we paid for that and the gondola ride the previous evening. The evening ride is very romantic and has an operatic male singer. We paid for a tour of Florence that included the museum containing Michaelangelo's David and some of his other works as well as artwork by some of the masters, a fabulous 4-course lunch including wine, and visiting other nearby squares and the Ponte Vecchio. In Barcelona, we paid for the excursion to see Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia Cathedral and Parc Guell. We found the paid excursions were well worth the price. Just wanted more time in Barcelona!

The Viking Star, we found, is a very elegant ship with a friendly staff always ready to offer assistance and answer questions. It is very clean and the food was great. We ate in one specialty restaurant one night and was not impressed since its offerings were Chinese and way off base from what we are accustomed but excellent service. The cafeteria and sit-down restaurant never failed. This ship does not have a casino, rock climbing wall, or water slides so not conducive to children under 18. It does have talented musical performers and speakers with informative presentations on each port you visit. Embarkation and disembarkation was easy. Our complaint is how much they expect us to pay in tips. Viking should pay the staff more!!