My wife and I always wanted to visit Scandinavia. The scenery was amazing, particularly sailing into Eidfjord. The history on display in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm is not to be missed, and it's a beautiful city architecturally. Porvoo is a quaint village & lunch at Haikko Manor was fabulous. It could almost be said that St. Petersburg was worth the price of the trip. The history, the architecture, The Hermitage and Peterhof - sensory overload. And topped it off with the Russian folk dance/music performance. Tallinn is a rich combination of medieval and modern. Old Town was a great place for a little refreshment at the Peppersack bakery. Malborg Castle was definitely worth the trip. Took the 2 hr [chartered] train ride to see Historic Berlin. So interesting - and sobering. The No Man's Land Memorial was very moving. Visited Dragor oustide of Copenhagen. Best danish (Viennese pastry) I've ever had. Also took in the sights and enjoyed the evening jazz cruise. Took the coach/train excursion at Eidfjord. Unfortunately, the train spends about 2/3 of the time in tunnels, so scenery-viewing from the train was not as great as I'd hoped. That was probably the one disappointment of the trip. Added on the Iceland post-cruise extension. Enjoyed it immensely, though 3 days only gives enough time to cover the southwest corner of the island.

Viking did a great job of having someone waiting at the airports and ship terminals to make sure you got where you needed to go with minimum fuss. The ship was immaculate. Twice I saw crew painting the outside while docked. There was always someone cleaning handrails, picking up plates & glasses, and just tidying up in general. There was never a problem with finding a place to sit & relax and take in the view, whether it was the explorer's lounge, the atrium, around one of the pools, sun deck, or restaurant. You never felt crowded or cramped. The on-board restaurants were top-notch. Service was outstanding. The World Cafe is more self-service, with the choice to have as much as you want of whatever you want to pick and choose. We ate a good many evening meals in The Restaurant, which has more personalized service and we ate with a variety of our fellow passengers. We had the lowest-level veranda stateroom which was very comfortable and afforded plenty of room. The cabin stewards knew us by name the minute we walked down the hallway the first time and were extraordinarily attentive to our needs and wants. They really do a fantastic job. We enjoyed the Star Theater shows, but Torshavn entertainment was past our bedtime.

Without a doubt, I would recommend Viking ocean cruises. The ship was beautiful, the ports were interesting, the shore excursions were well planned & comprehensive. In St. Petersburg, the bus was stopped by the local police on our way to the evening folk dance performance to review the bus driver's credentials, and we were delayed about 20 minutes, which would make us late for the performance. The tour guide called Viking, which in turned called the venue to inform them of our delay. They, in turn, delayed the start of the performance until we arrived. This is just an example of how Viking makes every effort to have things run smoothly, but in the event of snafu, they will do whatever they can to try to set things right.