Viking ocean had been recommended by relatives and friends. And their rave reviews were not even strong enough! The ship decor was so subtle and beautiful. There was no over the top gold, no loud music, food was beautiful but not overdone. Shore excursions were fun and interesting especially the tram through the rainforest, the tie dye demonstration,and our catamaran sail and lunch. Our stateroom was beautifully decorated. The Scandinavian decor beautiful. We appreciated the book in our stateroom detailing the art throughout the ship. All staff were anxious to help us any way we needed. The port talks helped prepare for the things we would see the next day. The upper lounge area was half library and half museum, totally fascinating and you could have spent much of your free time on board examining all of the Voyage of the Kon-Tiki memorabilia. We were also impressed with shore excursion planning so you were never in a crowd of tourists, always felt like you were on a small ship tour with 20-30 companions. You never had to wait in lines to leave on the excursions and there were never long lines on the pier to reboard at the end of the day.

The only negative aspect of the cruise was not related to the cruise but the airline arrangements that Viking made for us. Had we known that we could have paid to have better fights, we could have avoided the need to secure nearly $500 of airport hotel costs at the beginning and end of our trip. We are currently booked on another Viking Ocean cruise with very good flights for about $130 extra.