Alaska & all its wonderous beauty was well worth the aggravation we had with Viking on this trip. The tour operators were very friendly, informative and very happy to have tourists returning to Alaska. As always our ship was clean and the stateroom well appointed. This was our 4th cruise with Viking - 2 river & 2 ocean cruises. In the past we have chose Viking for their exceptional customer service, ships and food. One this trip it was 1 out of 3. Viking has let the thing in our mind, that truly set them apart from other cruise lines fall to the wayside - customer service. We had issues with boarding, excursions, and our return travel. We were left at the hotel in Anchorage - completely forgotten by Viking. A representative never showed to inform us of our departure time, the hotel was told by Viking not to let us in our rooms until the Viking rep spoke to us. We sat in the hotel lobby for 4 hours before the front desk felt bad for us and let us into our room. The Viking rep NEVER showed so we arranged and paid for our own transportation to the airport even though that was to have been arranged by Viking. This was one of many issues we had with their service. Also food was not nearly as good on the ship as it has been. We just returned from a Danube cruise in March and boarded this cruise in May so maybe it's more the chef onboard rather than Viking but the food was subpar.