This was our second Viking ocean cruise, two weeks from Civitavecchia to Piraeus via the Adriatic. Viking reps met us right by the luggage carousels at Rome airport but embarkation was slowed down by health screening at the quay. Our departure transfer was at a civilised 9.45 am though still dropped us at Athens airport 1½ hours before our check-in opened.

Along with ships’ modern Nordic styling, the crew and fellow passengers make Viking such a pleasure to travel with. Cruises are upmarket without being pretentious. Crew smiles are genuine and it was great to see some we’d met on Jupiter a couple of years back. Many come from Muslim countries yet still worked tirelessly, even preparing and serving food, while fasting themselves during Ramadan. Others have homes in countries that are going through very tough times right now.

For us, the highlights of the cruise were Croatia and Montenegro with beautiful unspoiled coasts and clean historic cities. We particularly enjoyed Krka National Park, the Cetina River cruise, and a trip into the mountains above Kotor. The biggest disappointments were not being able to dock in Naples (for Pompeii) because of high winds, then missing two nights in Venice due to a short-notice port closure. Read more