ClayAyers

I agree that this system could be misleading. There must be some management consultant that has been selling this because we had this format for our yearly personnel performance evaluations. A Viking program director suggested that we fill out the boxes A, B, C, D style. We always give the top rating unless there was something specific, even though this is exactly what we expect. An important thing to remember though is to recognize exceptional crew members by name, this affect their promotions and opportunities.

One day on the North Sea it was a little rough. Other than that no problems

I'm not sure about the weather, but we delayed going until March because in January or February, the days would be so short. It would be hard to see other things (besides the northern lights). When we went the day/night split was about 50/50.

We were on this cruise this March. They made announcements over the PA system, which you could hear in the room provided the volume is up. On about the second or third day they were visible a lot, but the best viewing for us was on an excursion that took us out into the countryside away from all the ambient light. It was really cold though. Might want to bring hand warmers

We used them last summer for a Viking River Cruise because we had a real tight connection in Frankfurt. It was nice not having to lug our bags around through airports, but it is a little expensive. When we got to our room, the bags were there. We also put airtags in them so we could track where they were. There were a couple of anxious times when it looked like our bags were not in the same place. I would use it again.