A friend asked me to join her on a trip to Europe because her husband did not want to go. I suggested a Viking cruise because I had heard about Viking from another friend and had wanted to try one. I wanted Viking because of its educational experiences. We chose this particular cruise to get a good flavor of several countries in a short time since she may not get another chance to visit Europe. I had studied in Nice, France in college and was eager to re-visit.

We started in Barcelona and ended in Rome, taking the two-day extension. (Side note: we used Rome in Limo as our tour service since Viking did not provide excursions on the extension. We were THRILLED with Rome in Limo!). We took advantage of the included tour of Barcelona so we got an overview in order to decide if we wanted to explore more. We were fairly tired from the long flight over so we explored the ship and spa that first evening (I loved the snow grotto!). Our cabin was on the Deck 4 port side. Honestly for this cruise, getting the port side is not critical. Only Monte Carlo had a scenic view at the harbor. The other ports were...well, ports. Very industrial. So no worries if you are starboard.

Embarkation and disembarkation could not have gone more smoothly, and all our transfers were wonderfully handled. We were particularly appreciative of that being two women travelling on our own. It was nice not to have to manage logistics. Read more