After a wonderful experience on the Viking Grand European River Cruise in 2017, we decided to give Viking Ocean a try. We had never done ocean cruising, but liked the port heavy itineraries of Viking and the relatively smaller ship focus. In the meantime, we did go on an Alaskan cruise with another line, so we had that as a comparison for our wonderful Baltic adventure on the Viking Sea. We did this Viking Homelands cruise with a couple that we met on our river cruise.

We loved the public area spaces on the Viking Sea; they never felt cramped. All the staff were friendly and engaging and truly appear to enjoy the work. I'm amazed at how quickly everyone learned our names and what we liked to eat/drink/etc. The senior staff were amazing as well. After a discussion with the hotel manager, Charles, one afternoon as my husband (former Navy) was trying to read the signal flags of a ship docked near us, we returned to our room less than an hour later to find a print-out of the signal flags with a note from Charles! The bar manager even acquired a special beer request for our friend in one port. That's service!

We ate dinner in The Restaurant, Manfredi's (3 times), and the Chef's Table (2 times with different menus). The service and food was excellent each time in each restaurant. At The Chef's Table, we definitely preferred one menu over the other, but that was our personal taste, not a reflection of the quality of the preparation. And, we were all glad we had tried the different menus as that is part of travelling and exploring other cultures. The World Cafe' buffet was very easy for breakfast and lunch (when we weren't ashore) and had a good variety of foods. The Restaurant even accommodated a large group of us (14) who had toured together in St. Petersburg and wanted to get together a couple of nights for dinner later in the cruise. It's almost like your wish is their command! Read more