My sister and I have always wanted to cruise on a smaller ship and see the Mediterranean. We had been on a Viking River Cruise and discovered they had a new fleet of Ocean ships. The Viking Orion ship is beautiful with all of the elegant touched of Nordic style, art, and the space explorer theme was especially wonderful. Our local guides and thoughtful and friendly crew made us feel at home and provided enriching excursions at every port. Food choices were awesome, and the spa exceptional. I loved listening to piano and guitar music in the atrium and viewing art in the changing 3 story display. There were plenty of quiet places to relax and enjoy watching the scenery. We never felt crowded.

The resident astronomer set up a powerful telescope on deck for us to view the rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter, and we also spotted the international space station making its way across the sky. We also enjoyed two 3-d shows in the ship’s planetarium.

A special highlight was watching the movie under the stars on the top deck that featured Florence the day before we set off for our post cruise Tuscany adventure. Read more