Overall very good, but too many optional experiences should have been part of the original tour. Those extras were way too expensive for what the purchaser got and one of them (the nature park) was a complete and total bust since the time allocated to the event was when all the animals were asleep or hidden from view. The stop at the Husky Farm was good but pricey for the experience. A visit to a place like that should definitely be part of the tour without extra cost to the travelers. Some of the hotel locations were too far from anything interesting for those that chose not to go on that day's optional excursions. All hotels should be within walking distance to places of interest. Two nights stay at a couple of the places was unnecessary and should have been switched to extra nights at Stockholm and Oslo. The overnight ferry was abysmal as the cabins were claustrophobic with no portholes or windows. The advice of the tour director to purchase tickets to eat at the buffet were completely misguided (the food was not good, the enormous crowds for the timed seating were absolutely chaotic, and the experience was again, too expensive for what you got). A meal at any one of the perfectly available restaurants would have been much better, but the advice was that if you didn't quickly purchase a buffet ticket, you were pretty much not going to find any other place to eat on board. This was completely wrong. On a positive note, the general hotel quality and comfort were very good, the food at the hotels for breakfast was superb (the variety of choices to eat was astounding) and the bus was comfy with just the right amount of rest stops along the way. I'm fully cognizant of the long distances that had to be traveled in order to get to the "good" places, and the intermediate places of interest were pretty good and interesting considering there may have not been a slew of places to stop at in between the nightly layovers. The locally hired guides were top notch with the gentleman in Stockholm being one of the best tour guides that I have had in three Trafalgar trips. The very much looked forward to "Be My Guest" dinner at a local farm was a real winner with delectable food and wonderful hosting. Overall, I was pleased with the trip but felt that perhaps, trying to see four countries in twenty days was taking too big a bite. Will probably be looking for slightly shorter, less all-encompassing trips that allow for a slower pace of travel with greater emphasis on what you do see.
