1. Rooms – Personally I don’t believe spending the extra money for a balcony or even a room with a full window view is worth it. We were not in our rooms that much and there are 2 decks up top that are great for viewing. We were quite happy with our room on the lower level and the difference in the price of the balcony and full window view rooms is significant. If money is not a concern, go for it and enjoy the views. We have also taken several ocean cruises including Alaska and the Caribbean and I would definitely get a room with a balcony for those types of cruises as the time on the water cruising is much longer and the ships are much larger.

2. Tours – Viking includes one tour in each city that we stopped at. They also offered additional tours that you could pay extra for. We ended up doing 2 additional tours. We were glad that we did not do any more. It is nice to have free time in the cities/towns that you are visiting and to be able to explore on your own.

3. Meals, Beverages, Gratuities – All meals are included. Each ship has a formal dining room and a casual restaurant on the first deck. We used both and enjoyed them equally depending on the day, meal and activities going on. The main dining room has special entrees for each meal and then other common entrees that you can order in case you do not like the specials. The informal offerings on the deck were buffet style with only a couple options, but faster dining and you could eat outside on the deck. They did offer an all you can drink option for the entire cruise, but you had to buy it for both people in the room, which did make it in our opinion not worth it especially considering that wine and beer were included with all your meals. Alcoholic beverages and wine were in the $5 - $7 range per drink during none meal times. Tips were added on to our bill upon departure at $14/day per person and included the dining staff, housekeeping and the tour director.

4. Language – Everyone on our cruise ship spoke English so it was never a problem not knowing the language of the country that we were in. It is my understanding that when you book your cruise, Viking tries and put you on a ship where the staff speaks your language and the other guests do as well.