We chose Viking at the recommendation of many friends and family who have been using Viking for their cruising company . We booked almost 2 years prior to our journey so most of the ships room inventory was available. We did not receive guidance with respect to best choice of rooms to meet our needs. My husband gets sea sick so we decided that the center of the boat in the lower deck would be the most stable. The rooms were beautiful and met our needs except the noise level. Being in the center and low exposed us to the loud noise of ropes and banging at everyone of the locks and docking points. It was horrible. We were unable to sleep for more than half the journey and when we complained the staff was very aware of the noise levels in these rooms but only offered words of sympathy and an offer of a blanket and pillow to try and rest on a couch in the lounge. How aweful to realize that this is a known issue for these rooms and not to be warned!!! The cruise otherwise was wonderful. The food, care excursions and service was all wonderful. But trust me… not sleeping for almost 2 weeks on such an expensive excursion is a big issue. I was credited some refund to each of us for the inconvenience but I thought beyond that the company needs to be aware. This should not happen to anyone els and quite truthfully we deserved better!