We have sailed Viking Ocean on 3 previous cruises. We love their ships - the size, the understated décor, no casino or sales of jewelry and other junk. This itinerary really appealed to us as we love history and the cruise covered Greek Antiquities, Crusaders Castles, Biblical locations and Pompeii.

The most disappointing aspect of the cruise was the cuisine. This was our 4th Viking Ocean Cruise and with each cruise we have noted the food quality has decreased. Our 1st cruise on Viking was the Viking Homelands on the Viking Sky. Lobster tail was on the menu a couple nights. Escargot was available on the menu in Manfredi's nightly. The fruit selections were varied and top-quality - Hawaiian papaya, dragon fruit, raspberries. On this cruise the fruit was sometimes old, the Mexican papaya was poor quality and not always available. Escargot was served only once. Pieces of lobster were served rather than tails. We would rather pay more for better quality food - like the first cruise.

The future cruise consultant was terrible. On previous cruises, the consultants were very enthusiastic and offered some great suggestions for upcoming cruises. They were so good in fact that we booked 4 additional cruises through them. We were excited to talk with the consultant on this cruise as we were anxious to hear about Viking's new destinations. We made an appointment to see right away. To our disappointment, all she offered was "come to my presentation" and "you can talk to your travel agent". Viking totally wasted office space on her. We booked no future cruise. Read more