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EMPIRES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN cruise


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Hello everyone,

My husband and I are taking an EMPIRES OF THEMEDITERRANEAN cruise on Viking Star 5/16/2019 – 5/25/2019. The cruise starts inAthens and goes to Venice with stops to Santorini, Olympia, Corfu, Kotor,Dubrovnik, Zadar and Koper. I would appreciate advice regarding whichactivities and restaurants are best on the ship. We would also likerecommendations for land excursions. Thank you.

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I would suggest you look a the various port of call forums.

Lots of information on the ports.

There is also a post under the roll call forum for your cruise.

Try this link - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2618519.

If it doesn't work then go to the roll call section; select Viking Ocean; then select Viking Star; and then look for your cruise.

There is lots of information on the Viking website about the restaurants.

Since we have not been on our cruise yet I cannot give you any first hand experience. There are numerous posts on the restaurants.

You can do a search for them.

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Empires of the Mediterranean was our very first ocean cruise, and it was one of our best vacations ever. We have now booked two more Viking ocean cruises. I think you will love it.

 

Restaurants are, in my opinion, excellent throughout the ship. A general summary of the views I see repeated here often:

World Cafe - way better than any buffet that you may have experienced elsewhere, food very fresh, some cooked to order, check both sides as selection may vary, gelato a fan favorite

Manfredi's - Italian, very popular, Florentine steak is raved

about by many (not our favorite restaurant)

The Restaurant - Main Dining Room - leisurely dining, very

good food, menu changes daily, with always available basics like chicken and salmon - many tables for two are

available, but close to other tables and often may strike up

conversations with adjacent guests, can also request a seat

at a group table if you are interested in sharing a table

Chef's Table - our personal favorite, but not everyone's style

with a set chef's tasting menu - theme of menu changes

every two days - new and unusual, but we found both

menus we tried to be excellent

Mamsen's - a Norwegian deli, known for the waffles and the

pea soup and the success cake (we have yet to try it)

Wintergarden - Afternoon tea with a tray of delicious finger sandwiches, petite desserts, along with fresh baked scones,

and of course, tea (or coffee, for my stubborn spouse!) - it

can be very crowded, specially on sea days.

 

 

As far as shore excursions, I suggest that you browse the possible list of what may be available while you wait for the posting of the actual selection for your sailing, which will come around 120 to 100 days before you sail. Go to the Empires of the Mediterranean page on the Viking website, scroll down to the Day by Day section, and click on Read More. Scroll down again to read the descriptions of possible excursions. Read carefully, and you can get a very good idea of what each excursion is like.

 

We did included excursions in Santorini, Dubrovnik, Katakolon, Kotor, and Zadar. All were excellent except Zadar, where we found the guide to be disappointing. In Dubrovnik, we stayed behind at the end of the tour to walk the walls of the city on our own and then have lunch. We took the Viking free shuttle back to the ship later, which we also did in Athens. We took optional excursions in Koper ( Postojna Caves and Predjama Castle), Athens (Acropolis and Plaka District by Foot), and Corfu (Old Town and the Achilleion Palace), which were all excellent. We did not do the extension in Venice, as we have been there before, but if you have not been there I would certainly recommend a visit, either with Viking or on your own.

 

Activities that we enjoyed on the ship were the talks by the Resident Historian and the guest lecturer and the port talks. We also listened to the classical music in the Atrium. With no sea days and long excursions, this is a jam packed itinerary, so we did not attend any of the shows .

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Santorini - You will anchor inside the crater and tender ashore, most often with one or more other ships. I would look to use the cable car and visit Oia, Pyrgos and Thira. They also have a couple of wineries worth a visit

 

Dubrovnik - Lots of great options, but for us it was the shuttle to town and walk the wall, followed by a wander through old town & lunch in one of the excellent cafes

 

Venice - day 1 we caught the shuttle to St Mark's Square and wandered with another couple followed by a water taxi up the Grand Canal. Day 2 we did an excellent tour to Murano & Burano

 

Corfu - haven't visited in about 40 yrs, so memory isn't so good.

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We did this cruise in May, from Athens to Venice and loved it. The only problem was that were no sea days and we could have used a rest day! I think Kotor, Montenegro was my favorite area--unbelievably beautiful. We did a private tour here and it was well worth the 70 Euros each for the four of us. The scenic drive of the area is just breath-taking. We also did the optional tour to Krka Falls in Zadar and highly recommend it. In Koper, we did the optional tour to Ljubljana and enjoyed that too. Santorini was unbelievably crowded and we stood in line for over an hour to take the cable car back downhill to catch the tender to the Star. Beautiful free bus tour along the coast but not one of my favorite stops. We did the included tour in Dubrovnik but left the tour to "walk the walls" on our own--enjoyed that. You will love this cruise!

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Hello everyone,

My husband and I are taking an EMPIRES OF THEMEDITERRANEAN cruise on Viking Star 5/16/2019 – 5/25/2019. The cruise starts inAthens and goes to Venice with stops to Santorini, Olympia, Corfu, Kotor,Dubrovnik, Zadar and Koper. I would appreciate advice regarding whichactivities and restaurants are best on the ship. We would also likerecommendations for land excursions. Thank you.

 

There is a roll call for your cruise: May 16, 2019 Viking Star Athens to Venice

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  • 3 weeks later...

Moatenote, we will be taking this cruise in May. A question for you: As your cruise ended in Venice the morning you got there, were there any Viking shore tours (free or paid) available for passengers to take?

 

 

Thank you

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No, there weren't any excursions at all. Everyone had to disembark that morning. We had reserved a water taxi to take us to our hotel (we spent a few days there after the cruise on our own). You can pay for a Viking transfer, but it is very expensive.

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Thanks for the reply. We also plan on spending a couple of days in Venice - post cruise. We then will take a train to Rome for another few days. Knowing Viking will not offer any excursions in Venice lets us plan our own itinerary without fear of Viking excursion overlaps.

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