AFL Kiwi

The Homelands cruise is great. We did this in June 2015 (Bergen to Stockholm) and while on board booked for our Athens to Barcelona cruise which we have recently returned from (April 2017). While on board we again booked a new cruise for July 2019 (Seward to Vancouver).

As we are both in the "working world" we find the two year spacing gives us ample time to save.

The weather was a lot colder than we anticipated but were told along the way that they were having a cool summer!

Here in New Zealand our final payment is due three months prior to sailing.

Hope this info helps a little.

We did Bergen to Stockholm and because of the late departure went back into town after dinner and wandered around on our own. Found a lovely department store/supermaert and bought some wine from home to take back on board. A lovely place to visit.

We have just returned from Greece to Catalonia which departed from Athens on 1st April and Suzanne was the name of the Cruise Director. A lovely lady who in her own right is a cabaret singer so make sure you see her own show that she puts on.

When we booked our trip (back in June 2015 on the Homelands cruise) we were originally meant to sail from Istanbul. Once this was cancelled we made the decision to have three days there prior to flying into Athens for the start of our cruise. We were so glad we did. A wonderful city with so much to see and we did not feel at any way in any danger throughout our time there.

Definitely Waiotapo. A wonderful walk in the thermal park. Allow yourself about 1hr 30 to take it all in.

Hi there

We did the two day Ultimate in May 2015 and could not have faulted it. Our guide was a pleasure to deal with and the information she gave us was perfect. We toured St Catherine's Palace in the morning together with the grounds.

After lunch of authentic food we had our panoramic drive of the city. We had two stops, one at the Church of Spilled Blood and one at St Issacs Cathedral. Both long enough to get a feel for the place, have a toilet stop and take some great photos.

After dinner (back on the ship) we then went to the ballet at the Hermitage Theatre (and my husband enjoyed it!). Back at the ship that night the staff had left a supper in our room for us which was a lovely gesture.

The next day we started with a wonderful your of the Hermitage and then after another included lunch went to St Peterhof's palace. We toured both the grounds and the inside.

We finished the day with a hydro foil ride back to the centre of town and then back to the ship by bus.

We thoroughly enjoyed the two days and met some new cruise mates who became good friends with. There are about 30 on our bus (could have been less) and there were four bus loads of us.

Felt we were well looked after.

Hope this helps some what but everybody is different and has different ways of doing things and different expectations. We were happy.

We have done the Homelands cruise and took the St Petersburg 2 day inclusive and were very pleased with it.

At St Catherines Palace I would say we were the first tour through and had no issues with seeing the inside and out. It would have been nice to spend a little longer outside but that is very weather dependent.

The visit to Church of Our Saviour of Spilled Blood was very busy with alot of other tours there when we arrived but in saying that we had ample time to see inside the Church, have a toilet stop and take photos.

The evening at the ballet was just for ourselves and we saw Swan Lake. My husband found the first half a little slow but enjoyed the second half. It was also a treat to come back to the boat and find that we had been left a late supper in our rooms by Viking. A nice touch.

Day Two started the Hermitage Museum and again we were one of the very first tour groups through at 8.00am. The Museum does not open until 10.00am and when we came out you couldn't move for people waiting to get in.

Peterhof Palace again was a wonderful place to visit. Although it was again busy as we had done the Museum first, we had no issues with the way were treated. The fountains and grounds are just wonderful and the Palace itself, although busy, was well managed.

The hydrofoil ride back across the Gulf was a relaxing way to finish the tour.

Lunch was included both days and was in keeping with Russia.

We enjoyed the tour and felt it was value for money and we got to see all the main sites with very little hassle.

Enjoy!

We were on the Star in 2015 and I wore both fancy jandels (flip flops depending on what part of the world you are from) and canvas converse to dinner at the World Café and the Main Dining Room without any issues. to dinner at Manfredis I did wear nice sandals. :)

We booked this cruise when on board our Homeland Cruise in June 2015 and payment is not required until November 2016.

In St Petersburg we did the Ultimate 2 Day excursion and found it exactly what we wanted. My husband even stayed awake during the ballet!

The only other included tour we took was in Flam when we took the train up and then biked back down. This was fantastic and one of our highlights.

You will find that you are well looked after the whole time you are both on and off the ship. We found nothing to fault.

Enjoy!!

Hi there

We have used Viking Air on the two previous cruises we have had with Viking. One a river cruise to China and the other the Homelands cruise Bergen to Stockholm (two for the price of one) and we are again using them next year when we do our Athens to Barcelona cruise (fare included)

Everything is taken care of for you. The Viking reps meet you at each end are very helpful and get you to the boat and also get you to the airport after your cruise.

The airfares were way cheaper than what we could get by ourselves. We flew Singapore Airlines both times and next year are flying Emirates.

Take advantage of Viking's flights. You wont be disappointed.

We booked our ocean cruise sailing 1 April 2017 on our last cruise in June 2015 and payment is not required until November 2016.

On the two occasions that we have used Viking (China 2013) and (Homelands 2015 - two for the price of one) we have used Viking Air as the prices that they were offering us were way cheaper than if we were to arrange flights ourselves (and I am fairly good at this).

Next year on our Med cruise we are also using Viking Air as this is at no cost to us (included in the price of our cruise).

When you are travelling from NZ and travel to London takes us 30hrs door to door the price is hefty and flying with Viking has saved us many a dollar.

We arranged our own flights from London to Bergen (we had four days in London prior to our cruise) and Viking reps were there at the airport meeting the Viking flight in from Iceland and were more than happy for us to transport us to the boat saving us the need to transfer independently as I had researched to do.

We had no complaints with what was arranged. Thank you Viking

When we flew into Bergen to start our Homelands Cruise last June we flew in privately from London. I had done my research with regards to transferring to the ship. Upon our arrival at Bergan Airport we arrived at the same time as those on Viking arranged air from Iceland. We spoke to a Viking Rep and they were more than happy for us to join them for the transfer to the ship. No hassles and could not have been more accommodating.

"We are hoping that once on board, the helpful staff at the Explorer's Desk will be able to juggle things so the four of us can explore together"

Screen-gem

We were on the Homelands Bergen to Stockholm last June and there were six of us from various places (NZ; California & Colorado). During the cruise there were times when we were not all on the same free excursion and The Explorers Desk was able to change our times so we could all go together. They were most helpful and this was not ever a problem, for them.

Enjoy!

If there are a few of you travelling together (there were six of us from various parts of the world) we were able to have our included tours changed so we were altogether once we on the Star. We just took our excursion cards that we were issued with down to the Explorers Desk and they very readily arranged for us all to go at the same time.

We met together before leaving and made sure we were all on the same bus.

This was handled by Viking very efficiently.

We were on the Homelands tour Bergen to Stockholm that left on June 13.

The shop docked in the morning and as our included tour was not until 1.30 we got off and did our own thing as soon as we could. We walked past the Mermaid and took photos without the many tourists and then continued our walk into town via the Garrison and the Palace where I was ale to have my photo taken with a guard.

Once in town we did our own canal tour that was about 1.15hr long. Really enjoyed this and was able to see a lot more of the city than we would have

Once back on dry land we continued to explore and came through the city shopping centre (pedestrian only) and back via gardens to the ship.

After lunch we joined our included tour but unfortunately due to it being election day we were not able to see as much as we could have as the traffic was horrendous. We did manage to get back to the Palace again and learnt more from being with our very informative guide

If you are up to exploring on your own this would definitely be the way to go.

We were on the Viking Homelands cruise that left Bergen on 13th June.

We used Viking Air's two for one flight deal that was offered (we are in New Zealand) and included a stop in London rather than flying direct to Norway and a stopover in Singapore on the way home.

Through our travel agent we chose the flights we wanted to take and she submitted these to Viking. They came back to us with pretty much what we wanted and we had 24hrs to confirm if these were ok.

We had no problems whatsoever. Everything went smoothly.

Hi there

We did the two day Ultimate and could not have faulted it. Our guide was a pleasure to deal with and the information she gave us was perfect. We toured St Catherine's Palace in the morning together with the grounds.

After lunch of authentic food we had our panoramic drive of the city. We had two stops, one at the Church of Spilled Blood and one at St Issacs Cathedral. Both long enough to get a feel for the place, have a toilet stop and take some great photos.

After dinner (back on the ship) we then went to the ballet at the Hermitage Theatre (and my husband enjoyed it!). Back at the ship that night the staff had left a supper in our room for us which was a lovely gesture.

The next day we started with a wonderful your of the Hermitage and then after another included lunch went to St Peterhof's palace. We toured both the grounds and the inside.

We finished the day with a hydro foil ride back to the centre of town and then back to the ship by bus.

We thoroughly enjoyed the two days and met some new cruise mates who became good friends with. There are about 30 on our bus (could have been less) and there were four bus loads of us.

Felt we were well looked after.

Hope this helps some what but everybody is different and has different ways of doing things and different expectations. We were happy.

We are in New Zealand. We were fortunate enough to take the Homeland Cruise leaving Bergan on 13th June and had a wonderful time. We have since booked to take a further cruise with Viking leaving 1st April 2017.

In both instances we paid our deposit when we booked (Homeland Jan 2014) and were not/are not required to pay the balance due until 120 days before sailing.

We sleep on a Queen here in NZ and the bed in our room - 5036 - was definitely way larger than our one at home. Would have called it a King.

We were on the Bergen to Stockholm Homelands cruise that left on June 13 and we bought wine in Aallberg and took it to dinner at The Restaurant to have with friends (we were travelling in a party of six) and there were no issues whatsoever.