We chose this cruise because we wanted to experience what Viking had to offer on their larger ships. We had only done Viking river cruises thus far and wanted to see if they could pull off the excellence they offer on the small boats on a larger scale. I must say, we had some wonderful experiences even though the weather did not cooperate, we had to skip two of our scheduled ports. Our room was very nice but I wished we could have gone out on the balcony more and out on deck more - again bad weather. The dining was good not great, some meals better then others, I am not a picky person but we opted to have most meals at the buffet because the restaurant service was slow and not much better then the buffet meals as they were often the same choices and you could take as little as you wanted of several things. The room service was great as always even though it was harder to get to know the crew, which is one of the best parts of the river cruises. The care given to service is much more personal on the river boat cruises we have taken. My favorite part of the big ship was the Spa, which is open to all, so try the little lap pool, saunas and steam rooms. You only pay for the special spa services - splurge - get a message. Despite the bad weather and the ports we had to miss because of the bad weather, the ports we stopped in where wonderful and most of the guides were great, but next time, I will do a bit more research on the excursions before signing up as some of them are long and take you a distance away from your ship. Unlike the river boat tours the bigger ships must dock away from the town or moor off shore, so no matter what you choose getting to the towns can take a bit more effort and planning because going back to the boat in a timely fashion is not always possible. We are going on two different Viking river cruises in 2018 and 2019 and then another big ship in 2021 from Athens to Rome. Viking is still our go to for European vacations.