To start, we are not new to cruising. We have sailed over 10 times with other ocean cruise lines such as Carnival and Holland America. We have also sailed on two previous river cruises, Viking in Portugal and Uniworld in Germany. The Viking Venus was our first ocean cruise with Viking and we were amazed at the glowing, positive attitudes from all the staff we came in contact with. We were so impressed with the Venus cruise team. There are many positives to mention, such as free onboard self-serve laundry, complementary late night food delivered to our room without asking after late evening excursions. Prompt meal service, and an extremely clean ship. We enjoyed the causal atmosphere throughout our journey. Coming in from a cold excursion back onboard, we were greeted with hot chocolate. If I were to bring out one negative, that would be the difficulty getting reservations in the two specialty dining areas. We made it to one but was never successful getting to the other. We look forward to our next journey with the amazing Viking crew!