We have cruised with Viking in the past, while this was our first Ocean Cruise (Mediterranean) with them. Loved the small ship size, which really helped to not be overwhelmed by what is already over tourism at most European destinations. The Viking Star ship is large enough to provide for perfect sized accommodations with ample room/balcony space, plenty of onboard amenities and a nice smooth ride for Med cruising. There was no issues/ queues for dinning in either the sit down restaurant nor the buffet style restaurants. With two pools and two hot tubs, plus other gathering places, spread the guests out so you did not feel crowded. The smaller ship allows for docking at multiple ports that the larger ships cannot enter or have to tender; this allowed for awesome sail-ins and sail-outs at beautiful ports like Monte Carlo. Viking really provides for all of your needs and most of your wants in its included cruise fair; most included tours are a good start to experiencing each port (while Viking should vet some of the local guides a bit more, one or two were a bit laborious to the point of us bowing out of our included tour early on). The included drinks at meals were most generous, they provide for several added excursions and ample courtesy shuttles from ports to downtown destinations. The house keeping staff was amazing, providing for your every convenience (extra hangers, ice morning and night, extra bottled water, etc), as well as the restaurant staff, very friendly and inviting. The only area we felt was lacking, was the sit down restaurant meals (we primarily participated in the evenings) which did not live up to our expectations. We have had finer meals on other cruise lines (RC) as well as Viking River cruises, while we felt they did step up the game towards the end of the 13 day cruise. We believe they could do a better job of providing better destination meals considering the ports of call we made (Rome, Naples, Corfu, Venice, etc).