This was our first time sailing with Viking and we were very impressed. The ship was very nice with lots of quiet spaces. You did not feel that there were 900 plus other people on it except in the cafe the first day while waiting for the cabins to be ready. The food was excellent with a wide variety. Service was also excellent. Most of the excursions were good. We did have one where the guide fancied himself as a stand up comedian and not a purveyor of information, but for the most part the guides were very good. We chose this particular itinerary because it had two days at sea mixed in. They were very relaxing and again you would not know there was a ship full of people. Only drawback of this particular cruise was everyone we met was from the US. This was probably due to the time of year and destination. Most of our other cruises have had a wide mix of countries represented in the passengers.