We had been on several large ocean cruises before and to be honest I hated all of them due to the number of people, kids running crazy and unsupervised, loud casinos, photographers forcing me to take pictures I didn't want and the mediocre food. So I was very hesitant to book another ocean cruise. However, we took a Viking River Cruise and loved it so we thought lets try the ocean cruise. Free airfare and a discounted price made it even better. :) So we booked the Greek Odyssey cruise in December.

I read numerous reviews on this website about problems people had with Viking. Food not good, ports closed, COVID challenges etc. I am a nurse practitioner and this past year has been nothing but challenges every day. Not enough ventilators, not enough beds, not enough nurses, people dying from this virus that shouldn't have ---- so when I read these negative comments I thought these people need to experience what is really happening in the world. 10 days away from COVID hell sounded amazing to me.

Needless to say, we were also very realistic about how things may have to change because of this pesky virus. I had read all of the notices about testing, tracking, possible closures etc. so we were prepared for anything. Believe it or not NOTHING negative happened during our cruise until the last night. The Athens port workers went on strike so we could not dock the next morning until well after our flight left. DARN we had to spend another day on the ship in Athens. Viking re-arranged our flights for the next day - NO PROBLEM. Read more