In April 2015, when the temperatures in Morocco ranged between the mid 70s and mid 80s, my husband, Max, my best friend, Hetta, and I visited the one place on Earth that all of us had always wanted to visit. Morocco was everything we had imagined it to be! 

The colors, food, artwork, architecture, history and culture were amazing, but what impressed us the most was the friendliness and hospitality of the people. 

Everywhere we went, people welcomed us with Moroccan...

As veterans of eight river cruises (six with Viking River Cruises), my wife, Paula Owens, and I were intrigued when Viking Ocean Cruises (Woodland Hills, CA; 866/984-5464, vikingcruises.com) was formed. Ocean cruising opens up many new and appealing itineraries, but would Viking be able to maintain their high standards? And how would Viking’s small-ship river-cruise experience (accommodating fewer than 200 passengers) translate to a 930-passenger oceangoing ship? 

To find...

Escaping the dry, browning Central Valley of California was a perfect excuse for my wife, Betty, and me to schedule a return visit to the lush gardens and green hills of England. 

As we’re both retired and can easily adjust our calendars, we decided to use transatlantic cruises as our method for “crossing the pond.” This approach would take three weeks for the round-trip ocean crossing and leave us with three weeks for land touring, including a visit to the...