After four previous Viking River Cruises and four Viking Ocean Cruises, all overseas, my wife and I had high expectations on our Alaska cruise on the Viking Orion. We were delighted with the total experience - onboard accommodations and service, onboard sightseeing (the Orion "nuzzling up" to glaciers was an incredible experience!), and shore excursions. The quality of food & drink at the buffet, plus at the reservations-required specialty restaurants, was amazing! Impeccable service by Viking's wonderful ship officers and support staff was superb, and our familiarity with the ship and its services made for a very comfortable experience throughout. A benefit of cruising on a cruise ship that's relatively uncrowded (compared to other "mega" cruise ships): we had no problems providing "how to" tips to other travelers who were traveling Viking Ocean for the first time. We took the post-cruise Denali Extension and were glad we did, recommend that highly. The only item that was sub-par: due to port overcrowding at Vancouver, embarkation was prolonged and not entirely pleasant - a one-time incident to be sure but which could have been eased by more planning and on-scene management.