Having been on Rhine Getaway and Paris and the Heart of Normandy, we chose a Viking Ocean Cruise in order to start in Rome and tour Monaco, southern France through Barcelona, Spain. Every dinner was delicious, with the two of us choosing to eat each night in the main dining room, served by Agung and Ryan whose courtesy, professionalism and personalities were simply unexcelled. Since our party of six ended up being just the two of us, (the others cancelled after the initial 2021postponement due to Covid) we were always seated at a table for two, which we preferred and did not have to ask for. Our steward, Wayan, never failed to please and made sure all the soaps, tissues, etc. were stocked and seemed to always be available. The entire staff and crew spoke excellent English and were always polite and knowledgeable, and unfortunately for them, practiced safety and sanitation and remained masked. We had breakfast every morning and lunches when we were back at that time in the buffet style World Cafe. Never felt the need to try anything else. The tour guides that we had, Monique in Monaco, Monica in Nice, Yvonne in Florence, Sara in Pisa, Annette in Avignon, Bernard in Louis IX's Port City and Fernando in Tarragona were all wonderful, being knowledgeable, patient, and courteous. Upgrading the cabin would have given us a few extra choices for the shore excursions, which were sold out (Barcelona was unavailable) before us peons in the less expensive cabins could select, but we were very happy with what we chose. Since the ship carried just 900 passengers, we never felt crowded and disembarking for the various shore excursions was well organized and efficient. While ashore, we found the citizens of the various cities we visited to be friendly and my feelings of guilt rose each day when I realized that the majority spoke some English while I possessed only the remembrance of high school Spanish. The evening entertainment that we chose to enjoy, consisting of the violin and piano young ladies and he classical pianist were just right. My wife enjoyed the spa a few times while I was very impressed with the fitness rooms which were equipped as well and better than either of the much larger ships of Royal Caribbean or Princess Lines that we took in the past. We played the Memory Game and Scrabble in the public areas which were kept clean and sanitized. While not part of the actual cruise, I do have some tips for anyone partaking in the Rome shore extension. Unlike when we took a shore extension on the Rhine Getaway, and spent two days in Amsterdam, we were truly on our own in Rome. When we first purchased the option, we were informed we would be staying at a Marriot, the Gran Flora near the Villa Borghese and US Embassy. Without being informed prior, this was switched to the NH Collections Cinquecentro near Termini, and even the shuttle driver from the airport initially dropped us off at the wrong hotel and had to come back and retrieve us ! I was aware after several Viking "Chats" before we left, that no shore excursions were planned for purchase in Rome, so I obtained tickets for the Vatican and the Colosseum through GetYourGuide and Viatour respectively and I definitely recommend others to do this. One has a choice of guided tours vs. self-guided and we were satisfied choosing the self guided option, which we again did on the Florence on Your Own shore excursion in order to see the David at Gallery Academia (sic). A problem that I did have was that I had planned our first day in Rome with the location of the Marriott in mind, and this NH Collection Hotel (of which there are seven in Rome alone !) was a half mile from that Marriott and a much further walk to the Spanish Steps that we visited first. The women representing Viking at the hotel were there for 12 hours each day, and they did organize a dinner and evening bus tour of Rome the second night, which we thoroughly enjoyed. In addition, I found the fact that we could not reserve seats on the plane to Rome (ITA/ Delta) caused a little anxiety, especially since we had no trouble reserving seas on the return flight (American.) The ITA rep based in Albania that I was transferred to allayed my concerns but felt these phone calls should have been unnecessary. All in all, these little annoyances were just that, quite little, and we had a fabulous vacation.