We chose to go on Viking because of the excellent rating they had and also the nice itinerary of the cruise. The ship itself is very beautiful in decor and layout. The staff were also some of the best have had on a cruise. However the cruise was one of the worst we have experienced. The day before we were to leave for the cruise the CDC downgraded Iceland from level 1 to level 3. The cruiseline chose to forbid our going ashore unescorted even though Iceland allowed it as long as we were vaccinated and masked. We had been in Iceland before and had done most of the sights that were included in the excursions which were also quite expensive. The cruiseline did offer an included excursion in every port but the only one we took was reasonably interesting. We had looked forward to being able to just walk around the quaint towns, visit the artists and shops etc. Another small cruiseline was in port at the same time as we were and they went ashore with no problems. The last day we had looked forward to the only excursion to an island bird sanctuary and that was cancelled. In addition the cruiseline offered free wine and beer with lunch and dinner but it was of such poor quality that we were forced to purchase the Premium package. The food in the Chef's table was deplorable, the food in the main Restaurant was good but not the interesting, innovative cuisine we are used to on a supposedly luxury cruise. The Italian restaurant Manfredi's was decent but also fairly ordinary. The best food on the ship was a small snack bar in the forward lounge which served Icelandic specialities. The everyday entertainment was mediocre-a duo violin and cello whose songs all sounded the same, a woman pianist who was quite good but seemed to play at odd times, and a singer/guitar player who sounded a lot like James Taylor and sang 60-80s songs quite well. The were a few musical shows that were okay.