Viking Star Review

5.0 / 5.0
2,051 reviews

Very impressed with Viking Star and our Trip from Barcelona to Bergen

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Viking Star
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Ricey
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2017

We have used Silversea in the past but were not happy with them on our last Cruise so we decided to try something different. We did a lot of research and the reviews for Viking were very good so we decided to give it a try. We were not disappointed - in fact we think it was excellent. We had excellent flights - mostly night flights and no issues at all. We were met at the Barcelona Airport when we arrived at the baggage claim area and were escorted from there to our Barcelona Hotel. We did the pre cruise and post cruise and we thought they were both very good. The ship is beautiful - the Scandinavian design is very stylish and the look is understated. There were many beautiful things about this ship. We loved the Wintergarden where you could go and read a book or just relax. We also loved the pool area and early in the cruise we had some time to enjoy that with the roof open sometimes and closed at others - it was a lovely area. The Explorers Lounge was a favourite as was the Al Fresco dining outside at World Café. We thought the food was very good - we were a bit disappointed in the long lines to get an omelette or special eggs done in the mornings - we gave up on this in the end but we were able to get specialty foods like prawns done on the hot plate for lunch and this seemed easier. Overall the food in World Café was pretty good. We thought The Restaurant food was very good with lots of variety. We had some lovely meals there and one breakfast which was excellent. We enjoyed a waffle at the Explorers lounge which was done in the Scandinavian manner and it was very good. We thought Mamsens was great for Italian and we could have had many nights there and not eaten the same food as the variety was excellent. THE most beautiful food was at The Kitchen Table. This was a set menu changing every three days - we went there twice and we were super impressed both times. All in all food choice was excellent. The staff on the ship were amazing! So friendly and helpful - they couldn't do enough for us. After a very short time they knew our names and what we liked to drink. I think everyone on board thought the staff were excellent. We liked the fact that the Owners of the ship were so inclusive of the staff and by treating them so well the staff signed many contracts with them. We did not go to many of the shows but the ones we did go to were very good. The enrichment lectures were very good as well.

We have learnt some lessons about Shore Excursions and I note others have mentioned these in their reviews. There does need to be better organization of the Shore Excursions - the day we went in to London there was a mix up with Customs and passengers not standing in the correct line and as a result our bus left for London 45 minutes late which was unfortunate as it cut our time down in London. We agree with others that the three long days were Normandy - D Day Landings in very cold conditions but an excellent tour, Paris which was 2 and a half hours each way and a very good tour but long, and then London which was cut short because of passengers arriving late and in the end we only had about 45 minutes in London to do our own thing. The tours of Paris and London were very good though but we were pretty tired after those and would probably not do the long days again. We paid extra for a tour to Seville and we enjoyed that day and found plenty to do in the free time there on a beautiful day. We agree with others that there is no time to shop if you do tours and that was a bit disappointing. The included tours were OK - not very impressed with the Lisbon one - due to traffic and to some extent we wished we had just caught the shuttle bus and done our own thing there.

we loved both the pre cruise days in Barcelona and the post cruise time in Bergen, then on the train to Oslo which was a spectacular journey. The tour of Oslo was an included tour and was excellent. All in all our experience with Viking was excellent and we would certainly do another journey with them.

Cabin Review

Cabin PV1 Verandah

Our cabin was beautiful. It was a lovely space - warm and cosy and spacious. Plenty of room for our clothes with the drawers and cupboard space provided. The bathroom was lovely and the shower was very good. We couldn't fault the staff who attended to our room twice a day - we felt very pampered by the staff.

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