West Indies Explorer Review Posted. Great Trip.

We took Viking Star on the West Indies Explorer itinerary January 26-Feb 5. My review of our experience was recently posted. Click here to go directly to it.

The short summary is that we had a great experience, and some of the things that weren't working quite right during Into the Midnight Sun on the Sea last June were working well on this cruise. We like Viking Ocean a lot.

I'm happy to answer questions.

Thanks. A complete review.

Here is the text of my review, in case this is easier to use:

This marks our second Viking Ocean cruise. We took Into the Midnight Sun on Viking Sea in June, 2016. I wrote a review of that trip for Cruise Critic in late June, 2016. We were very happy with that cruise overall, but there were some irritations reflected in my previous review. I am happy to report than none of those irritations afflicted our latest trip. Viking is evidently working on its processes, and I have little critical to say about our second experience.

We chose this itinerary for three reasons. It took us to parts of the Caribbean that we had not seen before, it was a good time to leave the cold in the US Midwest, and and we prefer small to medium sized ships.

Summary: The ships are beautiful, comfortable, and well laid out. The staff is first rate and happy, so the service is great. Food is about as good as we’ve had on shipboard. Excursions were well run. We will be happy to use Viking Ocean in the future.

The Ship: The Viking Star is virtually indistinguishable from the Viking Sea. Boarding was like returning home. We knew where everything was as soon as we arrived. Only the art is different. On the Sea in Norway last June we had a Deluxe Veranda stateroom, and we found it very comfortable. This time we booked a Penthouse Veranda, a bit larger. The extra space was welcome. The closet is more conveniently located, and there was more room to move around without stumbling into each other or the furniture. In the PV the desk is longer and there is more drawer space; we did not fill up the drawers this time. The builtin mirror in the PV works better than in the DV. In the DV on the Sea, the mirror didn’t tilt back far enough for applying makeup, unless the user slouched. That was not the case with the PV room; perhaps the desk is wider too. Otherwise, the accommodations are almost the same in both categories, including the best cruise ship bathrooms we've experienced. We enjoyed this room very much. We would have booked a Deluxe Veranda, but there were none available by the time we signed up. Having experienced the upgrade, I’m sure the next time we sail on one of these ships, we will strongly consider the Penthouse Veranda. A bit of a splurge, but we felt it was still a good value.

Itinerary: There are no sea days on this itinerary. We had never been to any of the West Indies ports before, other than San Juan, where the cruise began and ended. To some extent, though, the islands we visited began to blur in our minds. Most are similar in geology, and all are heavily dependent on tourism. No real regrets on this score, but it seems worth noting the relative similarity of many of the port calls.

Excursions: We were unhappy with the organization of the excursions on our Norwegian trip last summer. We were very happy to find that those kinks did not apply on this trip. The excursions staff was very efficient, as were the local tour operators. In Norway, schedule changes were made without notice or communication, and the excursions desk was mobbed the first few days with passengers trying to straighten things out with their excursions. On this trip, there was one time change from our advance reservation on an optional (paid) tour, but this time there was plenty of advance notice in a letter explaining why the change was necessary and offering the option to cancel if the new time wasn’t satisfactory. Communication is everything when such things happen, and Viking now is communicating effectively.

With four exceptions, we used the included tours. As others have noted, these usually were narrated rides through the countryside, with the occasional photo stop and some shopping once in awhile. The guides were variable. These tours came to blend together, which probably explains why we thought many of the islands were so similar to each other. We abandoned our included tour on the last day of the trip in favor of going to town on our own on St. Thomas and getting local fare for lunch.

The optional tours were more focused and more informative. We learned more about local culture during those outings. I won’t list them individually, but I will note that one of the optional tours, described as requiring moderate activity, included a stop to see a fort that required a very steep climb that we regarded as strenuous. One of the guides obviously wasn’t happy about making the trek herself. Otherwise the excursions were accurately described.

Our real excursion highlight was The Kitchen Table. This is an expensive optional excursion, limited to 12 guests (10 this time). On Guadeloupe we walked to the local market with the ship’s executive chef, Martin, where he selected some supplies for the evening’s dinner. This took a little more than an hour, and it provided welcome local color. At 6:00 we met again in the Kitchen Table space, behind the specialty restaurants. After a galley tour, Chef Martin prepared a six course meal for the group as we watched and had pleasant conversation about the food and how it was being prepared. The ship’s head sommelier was there the entire time as well, pouring and explaining a different high-end wine with each course. As much wine as we wanted was provided. We really enjoyed ourselves, but this wouldn’t be for anyone who prefers dinner in the World Café (cafeteria) every night.

Shipboard Programming: There were two enrichment lecturers who gave three talks each during the cruise, providing perspective on the history, culture, and geology of the region. Six singers and a pair of dancers formed the main entertainment troupe, accompanied by a resident band, the Oaseas — either a clever name or a groaner, depending your taste in puns. The evening shows included some repeats from Norway. There were also a solo pianist, a solo guitarist, and a classical trio, all of whom provided pleasant performances in the smaller spaces on the ship each day. The cruise director did a variety show of his own one evening in the main theater. The performers were fine, but you won’t find the big productions that large ships afford — okay with us.

Service: The staff were cheerful and extraordinarily helpful. We were happy to find that some staff we came to know last summer on the Sea were now on the Star, including our favorite waiter in the Restaurant. Eric took very good care of us, and he always had great recommendations about what we should order. On the last night he simply told us he was going to order for us, fun. There was a problem with breakfast in our stateroom one morning — it arrived late and there was only one meal, instead of the two we ordered. We sent it back and hurried up to the World Café to get fed before our excursion departed. That night the restaurant manager sought us out at dinner and apologized in person. Human nature sometimes causes errors, but in this case they did not just ignore it, and we appreciated the acknowledgement. I wrote a comment on the mid-cruise questionnaire about having trouble hearing narration over engine noise on one of the excursions; that prompted a phone message to our stateroom thanking me tor the input. We came away feeling extremely positive about how we were treated. We genuinely felt listened to, and we enjoyed all the cheerful service.

Viking Ocean Cruises has a first class product and real value. We certainly will look forward to using them again, when the time and itinerary are next right for us.

Can I just add a small note to your very comprehensive review? One of the highlights of this cruise for us was the entertainment in Torshavn each night by Speedy and Cristina, accompanied by Oaseas. We nearly didn't discover this venue so I would encourage others who enjoy live music - and the opportunity to dance, or just listen - to seek it out each night from 10pm.

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One of the highlights of this cruise for us was the entertainment in Torshavn each night by Speedy and Cristina, accompanied by Oaseas.

Good addition. We didn't visit Torshavn this trip. We did on our earlier Norwegian cruise for the Rat Pack Revue. That wasn't so great on that cruise, but it would depend a lot on who the performers were.

Dear Hawkmoth,

We are pleased to hear that your latest cruise exceeded your expectations and that you witnessed many improvements from last summer’s experience aboard Viking Sea.

Your feedback is invaluable to us. We truly appreciate the time you took to write and share this wonderful review with the Cruise Critic community and hope to see you on board again soon!

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

Here is the text of my review, in case this is easier to use:

 

This marks our second Viking Ocean cruise. We took Into the Midnight Sun on Viking Sea in June, 2016. I wrote a review of that trip for Cruise Critic in late June, 2016. We were very happy with that cruise overall, but there were some irritations reflected in my previous review. I am happy to report than none of those irritations afflicted our latest trip. Viking is evidently working on its processes, and I have little critical to say about our second experience.

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Viking Ocean Cruises has a first class product and real value. We certainly will look forward to using them again, when the time and itinerary are next right for us.

We, too, were on this sailing and had a MOST wonderful cruise. We have never in all our cruising encountered a crew quite as friendly as this one.

Viking Oceans is now our cruise line of choice going forward!

Linda

Sounds like a great time, thanks for sharing!

Lisa

We can't wait until our next Viking trip later this year! It is great to read all these positive reviews. I don't know if you all saw the Cruise Critic annual awards announced this week....Viking cleaned up in top spots all the way around (except best family cruises!).

Thanks so much for posting this! We did the Rhine Getaway this past August, and wanted to try Viking Ocean. I'd been looking at the Montreal to NYC, but my husband wanted something warm - kind of a switch for us! :cool: We are booked for the West Indies Explorer in March of 2018. A long way off, but we were kind of booked up for 2017.

I'm so looking forward to this cruise. I do have a question - which excursion required the steep climb to a fort? Were the views worth the climb?

Kath -- The paid tour that involved more effort than we thought was described was on St. Lucia, where we took Historical Creole Traditions. Only one of us made the climb to the fort, and I didn't think the effort was worth it. On rereading the detailed description, I see that is does say the tour requires walking over mixed terrain. I didn't think that accurately described the climb. I will say that we really enjoyed the rest of this tour, though. The main attraction was a stop at an agriculturall community, where we were shown the crops, given a cassava bread making demonstration, and had a brief opportunity for Creole dancing.