mlamb1234

Just finished a 28 day cruise on Mars from Istanbul to Barcelona and would say, overall, the food was average. Breakfast was the normal fare and was consistent both in the MDR and World Cafe. The orange juice, as another poster said, was watery and tasted often like “tang.” We were out on excursions during most lunch times however the few times we did have lunch it was OK. The pool grill was good and most items were made to order. Dinner on the other hand was a hit or miss. The MDR was average with several standout dishes and several not so good. We ate six times in the chefs table and found that to be our favorite. We would have eaten there more often but the menu changes were every three days. Being on a 28 day cruise (4 b to b), it became repetitive. The real low point of our dining experience was Manfredi’s. We ate there four times with only one meal that we thought was good. The other three were poor. The rib eyes were tough and on two occasions, we tried the carbonara and both times it was dry and pastey and sent back. A grouper entree was so over done, it was inedible and sent back only to receive another that wasn’t much better. We were two couples and all had similar opinions of our dining experiences. We thought the ship was magnificent and the crew/service was outstanding and for those reasons would consider another Viking ocean cruise.

We’ve been on a few Viking river cruises and have experienced A & B veranda cabins and also a French balcony. Other than sleeping and changing attire, we spend very little time in the cabin. Also as CDNPolar said, about 50% of the time when docked, we were tied up to another ship. Since the ship sails mostly during the overnight hours there isn’t much to see. On the cruises that have a few days sailing during daytime hours, it makes no difference what deck you are on, the views are the same. For us, it just isn’t worth the extra dollars.

We throughly enjoyed the cruise and the Christmas spirit was everywhere. We spent two days in Basel pre cruise and two days in Amsterdam post cruise and very glad we did. Weather (late November) was cool/chilly but only added to the enjoyment especially with living in Florida.

We did a Xmas cruise with Viking last November and all the trees, and there were quite a few, we’re artificial. The ship was beautifully decorated as were all the markets and towns we visited.