We have sailed transatlantic six times, this was the best experience in many ways. The five lecturers kept us busy two or three times s day with history, ecology and sports talks. Athens crew was friendly, helpful, professional, informal, consistant. The food was excellent in all venues. There is no extra charge for the two specialty restaurants, The public spaces are comfortable with many quiet nooks, books, art, board games, etc. The cabin is large and well furnished with a great bed. The bathroom has a large shower and heated floors, there's a built in night light. Very good entertainment, it varied from classical to song and dance plus we had an exceptional magician who also gave free classes. Viking Star transatlantic fills your sea days with interesting speakers, cooking classes, bridge lessons, craft classes, all free. Overall, great value for money. We are ready to do this cruise again next year. Read Less

We are incredulous about the service on this ship: friendly, attentitive, and conscientious. Each person we see greets us warmly and with authenticity. The waiters learn your names within a day or two and treat you like royalty. After five days of being at sea, there is no let up in the attention to detail and graciousness. The food is generally quite good; the sushi bar is excellent and Manfredi's is uniformly delicious. We regret getting the silver spirits package however because one of us drinks only wine and the included wines listed are sub-par. The hard liquor choices on the other hand are wide-ranging and more than sufficient! Silver Spirits runs about $20/day and covers drinks up to $15, which is the price we normally pay for a single servings of wine so we thought we'd be okay, but were quickly disappointed. Next time we'll know or bring our bottles onboard which they permit. Love the ship, the room to spread out and the wifi has been terrific! Read Less

We went on this cruise , after hearing how great viking was . Boy were we disappointed . First the good things, the boat was clean new and well decorated . The cabins were the same and they probably had the biggest bathroom that we have ever encountered. The Italian speciality restaurant had the best food on the boat. All the staff that we meet , from the bartenders to the room steward were professional, help-full and friendly. Now the bad . I have always wanted to visit Cuba , its on my bucket list so we decided to try viking due to its itinerary and excursions. We signed up for the one on one salsa class , well it was 12 fellow cruisers to one spanish speaking instructor . It was described as an air-conditioned studio, well it was an outside patio of a bar . On the ride over all the guide talked about was about the rich people that used to live here and how the revolution has helped the people . I went for the culture not a political rally . Second we signed on for the catamaran tour. It was a double decker boat with plastic chairs . We were also signed up for the "kitchen table " this is where we were going to shop on the island with the chef prepare the meal and have dinner . It was cancelled , we found out later that it had been cancelled since they went to Cuba . The meals in the main dining room were disappointing , they seems to not have enough staff and for the few meals we ate there we were always asking for something . This is the first time we had to eat most dinners at the buffet . I know most people do but we r foodies and actually relayed our opinion to the head chef. But the kicker was the captain decided not to go to the second port due to bad weather . We went back to our room and got on the internet and found out that this was not true. The staff told us that the have not visited that port in the last 3 cruises . We were not the only disappointed travelers , that's all people talked about at happy hour and all the next sea day . When we got back home we had an email offering that viking would give a voucher for 500 dollars for a next cruise . I call viking customer service , discussed my concerns and the fact that I consider this to be false advertising . I was put on hold . they came back with 750 each , I refused and asked for ALL my money back. Again I was placed on hold and this time I was offered 250 dollar cash if I signed a non-disclosure form , I refused I stated that why would I go on another cruise when I was lied to so many times. I explained that we cruised a lot and if we were told the truth about Cuba we would have picked another itinerary . .Nothing, so I hung up . My job now is to spread the word about viking cruises and how they treat people . Gregg Read Less

My Husband and I just finished our Viking cruise to Cuba. It was amazing! We started from Newark New Jersey to Miami with no problems. We were picked up at the airport and were taken to the port with zero problems. Check in took 5 minutes and went straight to our cabin 6063. Cabin was very nice and great location. One floor up to pools, pool grill, World cafe, and bar. We were greeted by our room Stewart June who was excellent. All the restaurants on the ship were excellent. The crew were all helpful and polite. Juiguian greeted us always in “The Restaurant” with her smile. I can’t understand how someone could say there were not enough choices of food. Or they didn’t like it. How much more could one eat? I am a picky eater and I always could find something great to eat. Everyone on the ship were always greeting us and asking if we needed anything. We have been on many different cruise lines, what we loved about this ship was the size. Our tours were great. Going through customs was a piece of cake. We had Judy take us around Cienfuegos. She was so well informed and explain life in Cuba. It was an extremely hot day but what do you expect from Cuba. Rather have 90 degrees than the 30’s in New Jersey. I don’t know what some people were expecting to see, we were surprised at what we did see. Our trip to Havana with George was incredible. I don’t know how he spoke from 8:00am to 8:00pm. We learned so much history, way of life, customs, etc etc We were so happy to go in the old cars . It only cost us $5.00 each to drive for a good 20 minutes. My only regret about the day trip was that I missed out of the over night stay at the Tropicana. We heard the hotel was very nice and the show was fantastic. Out last tour was a “Catamaran “ ride which really should be called a Boat ride. We were so tired from the two other tours that it was nice just to sit and take in the sight. We couldn’t go to our last port because it was going to be hard to leave the port because of high winds. Better safe than sorry. We had an extra day at sea to enjoy the beautiful weather. We didn’t exchange any money. I used euros for people at the stands and US dollars in the stores they took us to. Departure day was also very organized. Luggage, transportation, airport all went perfect. My Husband and I have no negative comments about Viking Star and Cuba travels. We are so glad to have seen a country that will hopefully change for the better. Read Less

Wanted to try Viking Ocean and Cuba was on my list. Had been on Viking River Cruise so was curious about the Ocean Cruises. The look and feel if the ocean ship was similar to the River but bigger. Also the inclusion of the Thermal Spa area which included the sauna, steam, snow room, cold pool and thermal pool with heated lounges chairs was an added bonus as there is not a charge to enter and use the Thermal spa like other cruise lines. The fitness center was well equipped as well. The pools were nice and nothin seemed crowed - not sure the ship was at 100% capacity. They had a nice smoking area on the top deck, which had plenty of seating and was not near any major public area such as the pools or dining areas. The ship was clean and the crew were in constant maintenance mode during the cruise. The staff were wonderful and we managed to have a few waiters that were special in that they remembered us and knew what we drank and were attentive, of course a little tip didn't hurt but was well deserved. The entertainment could be a little more varied especially in the main pool area to include so Top 40 tunes for some of the younger crowd, I had expected some latin music since this was a Cuba and Caribbean Cruise but none. Minus a casino more activities maybe would have been nice other than card and board games. Overall a very relaxing cruise even though we were unable to make our stop in Santiago Cuba due to weather. I booked another cruise while on board so overall pleased with the experience. Read Less

I really wanted to go to Cuba and a cruise was the easiest way to get there. I chose Viking because they spent the most time in Cuba and I could take a bus trip across the country and see Havana (it docks in Cienfuegos). The ship was wonderful. Food was amazing, room was clean and well appointed (even a little spacious by cruise standards), staff was friendly and well trained, tour guides were well informed and helpful, and this ocean cruise was definitely up to the Viking standards we've experienced on our previous river cruises. Unfortunately, due to weather we were unable to cruise to our last itinerary stop (Santiago de Cuba) and ended up with an additional sea day. While this did not make us happy, they handled it very well. And...a surprise came in email the day we left giving us a $500 credit each because of the eliminate port. We already have a river cruise booked, unfortunately, we can't use it toward that trip. Perhaps we will take another Viking trip after that. It was nice not to have to call and shame them into giving us something :) Overall, a great trip! Read Less

We chose this cruise because we were interested in seeing Cuba, as well as we were looking forward to getting away from cold winter weather. We have traveled on both Viking River and Viking Ocean and loved both. The Viking Star did not disappoint. From the moment we embarked we were treated wonderfully. We stayed in a deluxe veranda, which was a nice size. Our room steward was very attentive and our room was spotless. We enjoyed our dining experiences. We ate dinner at both specialty restaurants, as well as in the main restaurant and had attentive service and found the meals to be delicious. We particularly enjoyed dining outside in the Aquavit Terrace for the Seafood Buffet. We enjoyed the chef's cooking demonstration as well as the backstage tour given by the Viking vocalists. We enjoyed the evening shows and particularly liked the late night dancing with the Viking Band in the Torshavn lounge. The evening outdoor movies were a pleasant touch. Our cruise director, Aaron, did a wonderful job. We enjoyed the infinity pool and never had difficulty finding a lounge chair. Service by the pool was excellent. We enjoyed afternoon tea. Our experiences on the ship were wonderful. We were disappointed with the short amount of time we spent in Cuba. For a one week cruise, we only were in Cuba for a little over 2 days. We also had to take a tender to get to land, which took additional time away from being in Cuba. Our stop in Santiago de Cuba was cancelled due to winds. We were informed of this as we were finishing breakfast getting ready to leave on our tour. We had hoped another port would have been substituted. Our tour in Cienfuegos was excellent and our tour guide was informative and friendly. The tour to Havana was a must. We saw a great deal and a highlight of our trip was touring in the classic cars. We enjoyed dining in an authentic Cuban restaurant. The 6 hour round trip bus ride was very long. We enjoyed the catamaran tour of Cienfuegos Bay. I was glad that I had done my shopping early in the trip, instead of waiting for the last day, in that I would have had nothing to bring back from Cuba. I have seen so much on previous Viking cruises and was surprised that in a 7 day cruise we only went to 1 port. I had thought we would have seen much more. In summary, the ship was perfect but for a seven day cruise the ports were sparse. Read Less

After saving our money and paid time off for over three years, my husband and I were excited for our cruise to Cuba with Viking, who had shown us stellar service on their Paris to Normandy river journey in 2015. We were a little hesitant at first, seeing that Viking had changed the itinerary on folks that booked in 2017 from Havana to Cienfuegos, but figured the team had it sorted out. Unfortunately, from the start we had trouble. Our airport pickup wandered away, leaving six of us who had just red eyed into Miami confused - they left the baggage area once the bags started coming, leaving us wandering until we found them quite far down the hall. Despite our stickers and luggage tags, we had to search for our rep, rather than him finding us (in Paris, our rep was there in uniform and took initiative to round up his charges, not the other way around). When we were dropped off at port, we were literally dropped off - no instructions, no guidance. An elderly woman in our group was jostled and fell to the ground. Finally, one of our fellow passengers found the correct entrance and led us in. The ship is lovely, if starting to show some wear, and the staff was delightful and polite and not too talkative. The hydrotherapy pools were spacious and stunning, especially for a ship of this size. We sometimes struggled to get drinks refilled at meals, so we started requesting two at a time so we wouldn’t be parched midway through a meal. For a larger ship than their river cruises, there was less variety in food choice - the seated restaurant and the buffet mirror on another, and since the specialty restaurants booked up fast, you essentially had the option of being brought your food or grabbing it yourself without much change in the menu. The river cruises have a small cafe that you can get American fare at, while their restaurants serve local specialties and more upscale dishes. Our free walking tour in Cienfuegos was one of the worst tours I have been on - the guide wouldn’t let us shop, he made us stand in the street as beggars circled us tighter and tighter (making me more and more nervous) while he talked about the largest travel agency in Havana (it seemed an odd thing to focus on when there was art and cigar shops and historic buildings surrounding us), and was angry people weren’t paying attention to his next long story about the optometry shop as we shifted uncomfortably in the street. At the cigar rolling demonstration, we were hustled out before we could buy anything - which made me incredibly uncomfortable when the shopkeepers had hosted us so kindly. We toured a hotel lobby, which ate into valuable time we could have been at an actual historical building. Being from Nevada, I know hotels. I don’t know 19th century Cuban mansions like Ville Palais, which we had only ten minutes in since we spent a valuable twenty minutes in a generic Hilton-like lobby instead. When we returned to the city center, it was after six and shutting down - stands were closing, shops were shuttered, and it was twilight - tourist time was obviously over. So we returned to the boat. Our Havana excursion was amazing, and the saving grace of our trip - the tour guide Jenny knowledgeable, focused on education and information and not her personal stories. The Hemingway House was closed (note, it’s always closed on Sundays, so why no one notifies us until the day before was concerning on Viking’s end and likely caused a scramble for the poor guides), so she arranged for a ride around Havana in the old school cars, which thrilled us all. She was honest about life in Cuba, and answered all of our questions on income and housing, and introduced us to multiple vendors and shops, even making sure we got proper change. This was the Viking experience I had been expecting and hoping for. Since Havana was a whirlwind of colors and sounds, we were excited for a low key day In Cienfuegos the following day - unfortunately, since the tender boats take 20 minutes each way, and everyone had to be back on the boat by noon, we didn’t get up in time to leave the boat on our third half day (our Havana day was over 13 hours with lots of walking). Which was heartbreaking when we found out that our second port stop at Santiago de Cuba was canceled due to wind. Santiago de Cuba was founded in 1515, and was something I was looking forward to so much. Being from out West in Nevada, we think somethings historic if it’s from the 1950s! But we were sure Viking would make it up to guests. We became less sure when they excitedly announced a bean bag toss to keep us occupied as we sailed past Santiago de Cuba. Okay, I thought. They’re getting things together. They need a little time. Surely the top cruise line in the world would not offer a simple bean bag toss as substitute for 50% of the Cuba port sites. Well, they also offered a trivia competition. And they also heavily suggested you pay extra fees for wine tastings and spa treatments to keep yourself occupied on a day that Viking had promised to entertain us with a port stop and free tour. My husband and I are in our 30s, and Viking cruises mean we go less often and pay more ($2,800/each in this instance), but our experience in Paris was so rosy, we pledged to be Viking customers exclusively. Having a major stop cancelled and cornhole substituted seemed laughable, and I again gave Viking the benefit of the doubt. I emailed our Viking rep, sure that something was in the works - a partial refund or credit towards our next cruise, or even a shipboard credit since they were pushing pricey services for entertainment in lieu of the port stop. Fred told me to email customer relations since he couldn’t do anything once we were on the boat. 24 hours after emailing, and 28 hours after the port cancellation, I have yet to receive an acknowledgment of my email, and my hope for a decent resolution is just about gone. To have such vastly different customer service experiences has led me to fear our stellar service in Paris was luck of the stars, and not Viking’s usual protocol. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this cruise because you will pay premium price for average service and may not even see 50% of promised ports - and Viking will offer a game of bean bag toss as the only consolation to a lost day in Cuba. Oh, and trivia. Our 2015 Paris cruise was during the terrorist attacks - Viking stepped up to the plate in 2015 and arranged alternate excursions when we were unable to get back into the locked down city, and a staff person came to speak with us individually about safety and ensure our comfort. I’m surprised they were able to handle a very unexpected, very alarming event on the fly on that cruise, but the only solution they had for inclement weather on this cruise and a cancelled port was a bean bag toss. Oh yeah, and a trivia game. I would not recommend this cruise until Viking has figured out the Cuba logistics. From reading the other reviews, this isn’t one of Viking’s strong itineraries despite multiple years, and doesn’t appear to have the same level of professionalism and service found in their river cruises. I’m not sure we’ll do a Viking cruise again, considering the high cost and poor customer service our Cuba trip has highlighted. I expected to be a Viking customer for the next 70 years after Paris, but am beginning to realize they’re just like any other cruise line - all about that cash. Read Less

Due to engine trouble on a Cuba cruise we missed the port of Santiago. Things happen OK. However, on a 7 day cruise that left us with 2 1/2 days in Cuba and the rest of the time on the ship. Viking has offered a 30% credit on a future cruise if you book within a year or $500.00 cash to sign a settlement agreement to keep your mouth shut. Considering that our cabins cost 10k for two people I think the 30% should be a cash refund not a ploy to get you to book another cruise. In addition there was a NORO outbreak , our shower door leaked and flooded the bathroom floor. Also the day trip to Havana involved 7 hours on a cramped Chinese made bus. The bus was clean but be prepared to have your knees butted against the front seat for that time. Tour guide Manny was very good though. Take something from the ship to eat for lunch because you may not want the mystery meat lunch at the state owned tourist restaurant in Havana. Went on two of the river cruises and had other problems . We are done with Viking. Read Less

food was never served hot... dining hours were awful... ALL dining venues closed at 9:30 for breakfast and 10 pm at night..even the upstairs buffet... wanted a cookie at 10:00 ..everything was put away... upstairs, downtstairs, all over the ship.. i was told to call room service... got up late one morning at went upstairs for breakfast... it was closed... nothing avail until 11:30.... crew were nice but most were new..hadnt been on board long. didnt understand english well.. espcially at the pool grill... ordered a burger that was varied from the menu , they were confused... it was our first viking and will be our last... the river may be better but we usually do river with Uniworld and after this Viking experience i dont think i would try them again... excursions were HORRIBLE. car ride in havana was good thing but 7hr bus ride was the pits... bathrooms didnt work well... Read Less