We chose the trip primarily for its Baltic itinerary and in spite of its large size. Embarking and disembarking for land tours was well handled with adequate bus transportation. The tours themselves seem well-selected, although those included in the price of the cruise were mostly cosmetic and shorter in duration. Most of the ones we paid for were excellent and well chosen for their interest: good value Ship venue pluses included the numerous, smaller niches, even in the large restaurant, that effectively allowed smaller groups to congregate, talk and read. The staff was uniformly courteous and helpful but dining staff seemed unevenly trained and some were incompletely conversant in English. Restaurant food was very good but uneven in quality. Cooked-to-order dishes like NY sirloin steaks and omelets were excellent: a definite pluses. Selections were definitely keyed to American tastes (e.g., extensive sushi, fried food and pizza), with occasional regional dishes, which we would have preferred. We didn't try the specialty restaurants (one of which, strangely, was Italian), and because the menus seemed similar, we preferred dining in the much brighter cafeteria-styled Café on the top deck rather than the larger, more formal restaurant on the 2nd floor. We only ate twice in the large restaurant, unfortunately at tables for 8 where it was difficult to carry on conversations with others; the food was well prepared but was often tepid when served. Desserts in both venues were uniformly excellent, although hot-table preparations in the Cafe quickly aged. We were pleased to find a broad selection of local wines and beers that were included with each meal but not freely available throughout the day. We went to none of the evening entertainments. We very much enjoyed the excellent post-excursion RR trip across the spine of Norway from Bergen to Oslo and our excellent guide, but we received inadequate preparation for and information about the trip from Viking. One of us often needed assistance traveling ashore and that was always available.