We loved our 15 day cruise from Barcelona to Bergen! So many wonderful sites. Our tours in each city were excellent. It was AWESOME to have late night drinks while passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, seeing 2 continents at once! So cool to basically trace the trail from England to France during D-Day - & Normandy was every bit as moving as I imagined it would be. Bruges was a surprising delight that really lent itself to a short stop. And Norway was just stunning.

The Viking Mars was a beautiful, accessible ship. Our room was perfect, and the service was top notch. One of the things which separates Viking from others is the emphasis on history & culture, with a "ship historian" and other lecturers being a part of the experience. While there were daily lectures, what I most appreciated was that these were saved on the TV system in our rooms, so that we could watch them at our leisure vs having to schedule around lectures in the middle of the afternoon. And the food, service, & overall hospitality of the Viking Mars staff was so genuine & authentic. Down to a person, the staff seemed to really enjoy their jobs & liked meeting & interacting with people.