I had always wanted to go to St. Petersburg and Viking Ocean offered the itinerary, Viking Homelands, which is so much more than just traveling a typical route of Stockholm to Copenhagen, you have the additional of Norway: Stavanger, Eidfjord, & finally Bergen. I knew nothing about Norway and aside from St. Petersburg, Norway turned out to a real highlight of the cruise for me. We have already traveled on Viking river cruises, the Danube, the Seine, & the Rhone, all absolutely wonderful experiences, but had not done Ocean yet. I know that the very first season that Viking took on ocean cruising there were some growing pains but no more! For us, having no casino, no children, & limited evening entertainment, is the way we want to cruise. Our focus is on the ports, taking interesting excursions, having extraordinary service on board, and knowing that operations will be run effectively and efficiently. I'm excited that we had already booked two more Viking cruises for 2019! Let's start w/ the ship - it is beautiful, well-designed, even w/ 930 passengers & several hundred crew members, you never feel crowded. There are lots of places to tuck away and read your iPad or book. We never even went up to the top deck or use any of the spa facilities. Every cabin has a veranda, we were in the least expensive cabin on the third deck and it is just like every other cabin except for the larger suites. I loved being on the third level except that we were all the way up front over the Star Theater and if they were playing an action pack movie, you could hear the loud scenes or if there was a loud performance you could hear it - I'm surprised that no one else has ever noted the noise but I have really good hearing and can be bothered by sound. Otherwise, it was a very quiet cabin. The ship is extremely stable, even though we were in the calm Baltic, I only needed my patch traveling from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. I think deck 4 would be better but I would happily re-book on deck 3. The cabin is good sized, plenty of closet space, ask for more hangers, suitcases fit under the bed, you have 110 outlets & USB ports by your nightstand, another set by the desk, 110 outlet in the bathroom, plenty of lighting but you don't need it w/ the floor to ceiling glass doors to the balcony. Your flatscreen TV is your portal to everything - plenty of movies, tv shows, live tv, menus for each of the restaurants including afternoon tea, recorded port talks, daily briefing, lectures, etc. I love the recorded port talks, you don't have to sit through these overviews about the next day's port when they are held. Just check the TV later & the talk is there for the viewing. Dining is fine - the food is very good, not spectacular. I thought Manfredi's was very good, not exceptional like Crystal Symphony's Prego. I thought the Chef's Table was just OK - in fact we canceled our second reservation because we didn't want to dress for dinner. We only ate in the main Restaurant twice, the first night & the night real lobster was serve, why? Because in the World Cafe which is buffet - breakfast, lunch, & dinner, you didn't have to dress up, they served almost the same entrees that main Restaurant serves, you can pick & chose what you want & there is always cold seafood, sushi, variety of desserts, and homemade gelato! We loved that there is plenty of two person seatings throughout all the dining venues. We are not overly social so the fact that we could keep to ourselves and not have to repeat our life story at every meal was so relaxing for us! You can get hamburgers, hot dogs, & other casual meals by the poolside, there Mamsen's up in the Explorer Lounge for more Scandinavian fare, there's room service, the coffee bar by the Atrium. Best of all, afternoon tea is served every day in the WinterGarden. Real petite tea sandwiches, freshly made (and different every day), tiny pastries, & delicious raisin scones - the real deal. I felt like I was going to tea at a lovely hotel each time. So much better than Crystal's tea service which is not every day and only once during a cruise is there a variety of pastries & such (which is their Mozart tea service) - otherwise it is just crustless sandwiches & such. If we had tea, we skipped going to dinner. Coffee served in the World Cafe is very good - you are given a thermos on each table so no need for the waiter to come around to fill (unless you empty the pot) - there is an expresso/cappuccino machine available to make special coffees all day & night. Service by staff is outstanding, everyone is cheery, friendly, and very enthusiastic about making your cruise experience the best. Entertainment is fine. The string trio that plays in the atrium are wonderful, the guitarist is fine. I thought the theater entertainment was so-so - they have three male & three female singers but only one pair of dancers - the best night of entertainment was when the assistant cruise director did an Elvis show - he was outstanding - we skipped most of the night shows, especially after the night they butchered songs by the Beatles. There were onboard lecturers but I only went to one - Our main focus was each of the ports and the excursions we picked in which Viking excels. We used SPB Tours to visit St. Petersburg since they had the itinerary that we wanted for the two days - the comprehensive two day St. Petersburg tour by Viking included the ballet (which we didn't want) and did not include a canal ride. A couple of the ports, Aalborg & Eidfjord, I could not find much information on but OMG, Viking finds the port that is easy to dock at, easy to get off, and so charming to visit. Even though we were over 900, I felt like we were on a Viking river cruise, getting off right by the dock & walking into the town. Embarkation was a little hectic, we got in mid-day into Stockholm, lots of Viking staff to take us to the bus (a long bus ride to the port) - the port itself was very tight & lots of passengers coming on so it took a little bit of time but we quickly got through & warmly greeted w/ hot towels & champagne. Disembarkation was extraordinary - plenty of porters to load our luggage onto the bus, plenty of Viking staff to help us check in at the self-service Bergen airport - checking into Bergen is a little confusing but we got through it and appreciated the support by the Viking staff. Regarding dining, I know that folks appreciate exceptional dining and many upscale cruise lines focus a lot of their attention on the food. However for us, we are always trying to manage what we eat and how much so we don't want every meal to be exceptional otherwise we are overdoing it big time. And yes it is our vacation, but packing on several pounds every time we cruise (and we cruise at least twice per year) makes the rest of the year tough trying to take off that weight gain. Same with alcohol, the included wine w/ lunch & dinner is more than we usually imbibe and we don't feel that we are missing out if we decide to not to have wine. Now what is hard to pass up is the gelato...