Viking Sky Review

Disappointing

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Viking Sky
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Troy56
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2018

We wanted to see Amsterdam and Barcelona and thought the other ports would be interesting. Our relatives accompanied us to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Our two days in Amsterdam were switched to our arrival day after traveling all night and we had to be on the boat about 5 for the emergency drill. So don't expect to see Amsterdam if you book only the cruise. I would never had booked this cruise if I knew we were not going to have time in Amsterdam.

Of the nine full days of the cruise, we had three full days at sea and for two ports we were only there in the morning so the afternoon and evening were at sea. Plus, for some ports we were at sea for the evening. So we spent half of our time on the trip at sea and not in port. For example, in Portsmith we got to Portsmith about 9 and had to be back on our bus at 11:15...not enough time.

Be prepared to not know anything about the tours until just a few months before your trip even though you book ten months ahead. Then you have to pay for the really good tours and, unless you have the most expensive rooms, the tours will be full when they allow you to book because they use a caste system- people who pay more for their rooms get the first choice of tours. The same is for the specialty restaurants. We had a disaster of a tour in Cartegena, one of the free tours. We went on a bus for an hour through a desert-like country side and were dropped off in a parking lot above the sea and told we had 15-20 minutes to take pictures. Then we had another hour returning with the highlights being seeing a golf course and strip mines. Finally, we got to the ruins which were walking distance from our ship! We had a short tour and had 15 minutes to explore the cute town before we had to leave and get back on the boat. Everyone was furious! We could have had the whole morning in town and instead were held hostage on a bus. Fortunately our relatives got the last two spots on the Segway tour there and they had a great experience. That tour was full when we tried to book. We could not get on the tour that had lunch at the Eiffel Tower so our Paris experience was a three and a half hour ride on the bus to get there, a walk to get lunch, a long walk, to the Eiffel Tower where we took some pictures, and then a cab back to the bus. We did have a nice hour long tour on the bus of the major sites which helped. We had hoped to see Notre Dame, but did not have time. If you can get them, the tours you pay for seem to be good. We did a cave tour and a national preserve tour in Spain and like them both.

Response from VikingS, Community Team

We appreciate your constructive review, Troy56, and thank you for this opportunity to learn more about your voyage aboard Viking Sky. We’re glad to hear you found your stateroom and onboard...

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