We consider ourselves experienced cruisers, having sailed with Windstar and Crystal about twenty times over the past few years. We were hoping to find a new experience, and wanted a short December cruise which we could take with our adult children. We found a one week Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise for the week before Christmas which seemed to be ideal. We read many positive reviews about Viking. Although they are not all-inclusive, the “Silver Beverage Package” was only $19 per person per day,and even without the package, beer and wine were included with meals. We imagined that Viking would be sort of a "Crystal Lite." We were on the Crystal Serenity for their Amazon cruise in October, and at St. Kitts we docked next to one of the Viking ships. We went onto the ship, explained that we had future reservations on Viking,and asked if we could see the ship, fully expecting them to refuse on security grounds. Much to our surprise, we were warmly greeted and given a complete tour of the ship. We were very impressed with the appearance of this like new vessel, and we looked forward to our planned December Viking cruise.

Our cruise on the Viking Sky was a mixed experience with a few pluses and lots of minuses. Without a doubt, the Sky is a beautiful ship. It is less than a year old, and everything looks brand new. The staterooms and the public areas are fantastic. The beds are very comfortable. Storage is more than adequate, and most staterooms have pod type coffee machines. The mini-bar was restocked daily. Unlike on Crystal, we could not order full size bottles of wine or spirits or consumption in the stateroom.The bathrooms are nice sized with a large walk in shower and heated floors. The in-room television system is amazing with a large wall mounted flat screen that gives you access to schedules, menus, movies, and live TV shows. Unfortunately, the TV system (and the wi-fi) were non-functional for one day out of the seven days of our cruise. The ship's elevators seem to arrive in seconds and are well marked with information about what is located on each floor. An audio recording tells you where the elevator is stopping.

Unfortunately, that is where the positives ended. Problems started at embarkation. All of us received paperwork indicating that we would embark at Miami Cruise Terminal J. No, the ship was actually at cruise terminal F, where the signage incorrectly indicated that it was the Viking Sea. A simple email would have warned us of Viking’s error, but for some reason, they did not bother. Check in was very smooth and efficient, although one of the porters hit my son up for a tip, indicating that it was required. My son had never been on a cruise ship, and did not realize that I had already given a gratuity to the porter. Not Viking's fault? Perhaps, but a cruise line often using this terminal should have some control over the conduct of the port staff. Read more