algaes

Thanks for the pictures. What was the contraption on the side deck railing? Is it there all the time?

We who were on Star's 50 day maiden voyage in Apr-May 2015 had to swallow the bitter "start-up" excuse. But to have operational problems in core activities like room HVAC, dining, and excursions should be unacceptable to cruising public. Sad that design issues identified by passengers from day 1 on Viking Star were not addressed in build-out of Sea. Glad to hear there is workable internet access - that's a victory!

In Athens, we did a small party full day walking tour booked with archaeologous.com.

We took the Green Line to and from Pireaus and met the guide outside the Monastiraki stop at an agreed upon time. Very easy to figure out the Athens metro system. Take a taxi to and from the Pireaus station to save time and energy. To start, we had to walk out to a main street in the direction of the station to get a taxi. Everything near the ship was guided tours.

Be prepared to name a price and stick with it as the drivers may not want a short metered ride. We paid 5 euros each way. Other issue is morning drivers want to turn the trip into a longer drive into central Athens else do a tour/ride with them. We stuck to a story that we were meeting friends and need to take the metro.

We were in the group with her last year and thought the itinerary she arranged was ideal and Ephesus was a major highlight of the 50 day cruise. Starting at the top and walking downhill is an important strategy to conserve energy so you can do the entire climb up and down the Terrace Houses.

FYI, the steps down out of the houses are brutal for some - very uneven and some rather tall stone steps. Also some of the Ephesus main path is quite slippery from the stone used.

2 hours in Ephesus?!? I'd still be crying if that was the case.

We tipped in Euros unless we ran out of small denominations then US $ (I always travel with singles and fives making sure they are in decent shape before leaving home).

Only exception was Russia where we were on private local tour and we tipped in rubles. Pre-cruise the tour operator, after much hemming and hawing as if to avoid problems for us, admitted rubles would be better for her guides. I was ordering rubles anyway as I did not want to use a credit card in Russia.

Folks on these cruises tend to line up very early. So we would showed up on time, what a novelty, and were typically assigned to the last group. This very often meant a group with a less than full bus and a less stressed guide.

We got over the passive-aggresive looks from some on the bus when we boarded among last people.

On walking tours, it was not unknown to bail out of less capable guide and join a nearby guide who seemed to be more interesting or had better language skills. All you had to do was ask someone following the new guide what channel they were on. We did not do this ourselves as we did not have a single problem walking guide.

Main dining room - "viking will figure it out"? You were aboard with the ship in service for 11 months. I think they had plenty of time to figure things our.

A web based cruise reviewer mentioned the toiletries reminded him of those on Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ EUROPA 2.

We were four of a group of either 10 or 12 comprised of 2 from another ship and the rest from Star. I would suggest keeping the group to eight as there are two spaces with limited legroom due to wheel well and there is a lot of on and off the van activity. But the van was in excellent condition, the guide and driver were great, and Alla was able to react quickly when one of the sites was closed with no prior notice - it's Russia.

Be sure to do the subway ride as part of your tour. It's incredible plus the escalators are a marvel.

Alla ended the first day with a stop at a very large souvenir shop where payments were collected while shopping was done. Some in group definitely wanted that bit of shopping and there were free samples of a drink and a snack as well. Personnally I would have voted for more sightseeing no matter how long the day.

Out of all the stops in 19 different companies, I think St Petersburg is the place to do a private small grop tour. Don't fret about security as the local tour guides are out on the streets with foreign guests every day.

We were 50 day maiden cruise passengers and overall loved the ship and the trip. There were some strange moments and some aggravating moments. They have the makings of a great ship and if they can get the excursions under control and better documented VO might have a game changer.

Electrical problems shutting down motors. Exploding shower walls. Internet access bug-a-boos. And now repositioning to Med just as Turkey starts to melt down.

Looking for the B route and it is 7 euros each one way from Venice stops to marine terminal

Alilaguna stop in terminl was next to Viking Star when last in Venice in April.

http://www.alilaguna.it/en/lines/lines-map

The seats of some chairs on Viking Star are lower than most and make for difficulty in standing up. I never could figure out a pattern other than the "living room" seating in our Explorer suite was noticably lower so we and guests to the room most often sat at the table seating,

I took measurements of seating heights using a tape measure from the sewing kit we brought with but I've misplaced that info since returning in June.

On Viking tours whether included or not, we tipped the equivalent of $2-4 per person in mostly Euros often rounding up for longer tours to preserve small bills and coins. We also tipped min of $1 per person to tour bus drivers but this does not include shuttles to walking tours. These were for the typical hour or two city tours from Viking. Day long tours such as to Paris from Rouen resulted in bigger tips.

Gibraltar had very small vans where the guide did the driving as well and we tipped him as a guide.

I believe Viking has tour tipping recommendations on website.

Actually Star passes right next to St Mark's in Venice and many find this a cruising highlight. There is a movement afoot to force ships out of the canal but I think Vikings ship sizes are under the limits being discussed.

So If you are sailing into Venice starboard and if sailing away port.

Alilaguna blue line is something all together different and relatively expensive with limited service.

Best option for more regular transport and better cost take the people mover to catch the vaporetto at Piazzale Roma (assuming you're at Main Cruise Port and not San Basillio). Be cautious about people mover hours else you'll be walking back to ship. Have small euro denominations or I think you can charge at the people mover ticket vending machine.

There is a small kiosk near the security gate that does not make change. However, the attendant very politely suggested he would break the large note I had if I made a minor purchase. He had tourist maps for 0.50 Euro I believe and we were in business.

Lastly, on the maiden voyage stop in Venice there was massive confusion how to get to the ship once on the docks. We had a stern cabin and were yelling to people to go around the terminal building (#107) and enter 1/2 down. Later we were told port authorities restrict the placement of signage and/or personnel that could have helped direct passengers. We were onboard for Star's first stop in Venice so hopefully there has been progress in making the dock area more passenger friendly.

Hmm plenty of dark cabins in the photos at pre-dusk time perhaps 8:30pm local. Also no one visible on weather deck. Strange considering this is a rare, unscheduled transit in what looks like nice weather.

Arrived home Monday late from our July 25 disastrous cruise on the "Star" which only made it from Stockholm to Tallinn. Waiting in the mail was a small box with a limited edition "coin" commemorating the "Viking Star's" 2015 Christening. Almost as laughable as the flyer which was put in our cabin on the night the Captain announced we would no longer be continuing to Bergen. The flyer invited us to the Explorer's Desk to learn about future cruises that might interest us. Sounds like Viking owners "just don't get it."

 

Trying to decide what we can possibly do with this new coin and the other 2 we received - "Keel Laying 2013" and "Sea Trials 2015" (what a joke). Ebay anyone? After all, they are "limited editions."

I'm bummed. We were 50 day maiden voyage cruisers and got only the keel coin so far. My sister and her husband who did the Barcelona - Stockholm legs have gotten all three.

Hello everyone,

 

We just wanted to acknowledge that we are aware of these two shower incidents, and Viking Customer Relations is in touch with both couples involved. We are very concerned that these accidents happened, and Viking Star’s engineers are actively assessing what could have caused this. Regardless, we are deeply concerned for our guests who experienced this, and we are committed to making it up to them.

 

Sincerely,

Viking Cruises

To Viking Cruises:

How many shower door/wall incidents have there been? Are we to believe that there have been only two since April 11th and coincidentally happened to Cruise Critic posters?

FYI, unless some special treatment is offered, the credits we were given due to maiden voyage changes had to be applied to a booking within a year and could not include any new ships/itineraries (paraphrasing the language). So basically you have until a year from now to book a cruise sailing no more than a year from now.

We've not tried to apply ours yet so not sure if one year to apply for use is from sail date this year, date credit issued, or date cruise ended.

Elizabeth..your sarcasm is disappointing and not worthy... My comments were less about negativity and more about monopoly.... There is no doubt your views were legitimate and some useful as well.... BUT...best xample I can give is that we had the same stateroom as you. I was devastated when, just a week before boarding, I read all your comments about awful noise, balcony intrusion, etc. this TOTALLY spoiled what should have been a joyous excitement leading up to the cruise. I boarded feeling negative and horribly worried and in face we had none of the,problems you did. I am sorry for your pblems but I so desperately wished you had. Ot aired them so completwly and with such authority. And when i posted my positive views shortly after embarking, be ause i wanted so much to stop others feeling as worried as you made me feel, whenever anyone commented or asked a question, boom...there you were with roothy and vv answering before I had a chance. That is the point I am making. So etimes too much of a good thing IS too much.

Teefine, Elizabeth will probably never mention this but she and her husband allowed a very senior Viking staff member to interrupt their preparing for dinner so that he could inspect their cabin to see for himself what the noise and privacy issues were. I had struck up a conversation with the staff member and in our talks that cabin came up. I thought he should become familiar for the sake of future Star passengers as well as for build-out personnel on next two ships in same design. I'm also a witness that he commented aloud that remedies were called for. Good for you if the cabin was enjoyable for your cruise.

Take advantage of all the time you have in Istanbul. As mentioned previously, there is make-up muster as well as a video. Alternatively, read the sign on the back of your stateroom door. The front portion of the ship goes to the entertainment spaces and the back portion to the Restaurant. No one goes to outdoor stations.

Lastly, do not discuss with shore or ship personnel. They can't/won't give you permission.

Signed, a 50 day maiden voyage cruiser who wishes he saw more of Istanbul!!

Those involved had a bathroom whose floor was failing with grout coming out and tiles chipping due to flexing in the floor. They were told as many as 20 stateroom bathrooms had failing floors by the time of the Bergen - Stockholm portion of the 50 day maiden cruise.

They were allowed to pick from a number of available staterooms, one of which was an Explorer Suite. There were lots of non-passenger types on that cruise specially from London onwards so there never was a full ship.

The boat Alla Tours used warned us several times and had a crew member nearby for the first few bridges.

Among our group of 12 or so, four reported reactions from the pillows provided in bedrooms with upgraded bedding.

- Two of those with issues moved from a Veranda stateroom to Explorer Suite late in the cruise and had immediate issues with the "better" bedding. They retrieved the pillows from their former Veranda room and issues were resolved.

- DW reports some dryness and redness she had on the side of her face she slept on cleared up within three nights of being off the ship.

The pillows are made by Muehldorfer (alt spelling without umlaut on U). The pillow labels give the composition as 2/3 feather and 1/3 fire resistant treated silcone material. They feel as if the artificial material encases the feathers.

The artificial material is used to fill their allergy free pillows they sell to the public. The fire resistant treatment used was unfamiliar to me but be in common use in Europe, etc.

So if you have any suspicion of possible reactions or experience reactions, ask room attendants for alternate pillows. Supposedly the upgraded pillows are substantially fluffier in appearance from standard pillows.