Viking Star 2015 Cruisers List

[huntersyaya]

Lauri, we are on the same cruise as you! We did the Danube with Viking last year and the Rhine with them this year and loved both trips. This ship and the ports look great. Only 23 more months til we sail. We are Pam and Hank from Memphis.

[huntersyaya]

Booked for July 11!

 

Margaret Beyer and Ralph Sager

Rockville, MD

 

Pam and Hank. Memphis Tn ...looking forward to it!

[79ti]

Lori and John are now booked on Viking Homeland Stockholm to bergen July 25, 2015!!

[J18ktleo]

Rblevow,

Roy, I've been trying to reach you and tracked you down here!:rolleyes:

Need to communicate with you re: Komodo tour in Jan, please email me at

jeani at j18ktleo dot com

 

thanks so much!

[writer100]

I mined the postings as best I could and came up with a list of cruisers posting to CC who are booked on the Viking Star. The list is contained in the attached pdf file. I'll try to update the list periodically until it either gets too large to be manageable or we get separate roll calls for each of the cruises. Please respond to this thread with any additions or corrections.

 

-- roy --

 

Sir: My wife and I have booked the May 2nd, 2015 voyage on Viking Star.

[svnseas]

Yep - Viking does NOT offer the best prices ... and I am not writing about

small perks like xfrs, dinner, hotel for a night, etc. I saved just under $1000 on accommodation in same cabin for the Rhine Getaway for May, 2014 and $1500 on similar PS1 suite on Viking Star for Viking Homelands, May 2015.

 

Not earth shaking - but it pays for the Liquor Package and xfrs.

 

Shop around!

 

 

:)

 

H

[WesW]

We are canceling our VS Homelands (Apr 15th) voyage.

 

Hope y'all still have a wonderful cruise on the new VS.

[BJzink]

We booked the Passage Through Western Europe last May 21, 2013. Earlier this year my husband said that the London Eye and Eiffel Tower were still on his bucket list, so I should look out for a trip with both of them. We received an email last April re. this ship, and when I looked at the itineraries,....there it was!!! We have done river cruises, and like the ambience, so the inclusion of wine, excursions, casual dining, etc. was familiar for us. So, we will be seeing some of you on May 2, 2015. We are Jack & Betsy from Grand Junction, CO

[bxny]

We have a roll call started for MAY 2 2015 Passages etc. if you want to check in there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1898707

Edited October 15, 2013 by bxny
left out info

[Oldenbear]

We are signed up for the June 27 Stockholm to Bergen cruise. Haven't been on an ocean cruise for 25 years! We did do a Danube river cruise this summer and loved it. But there were only about 100 passengers on the trip. I am hoping there will be enough buses to serve everyone on a 900 passenger ship!

I am also wondering about the flights. Our TA says that we cannot upgrade at this point because the cruise lines haven't even finished their contracts with the airlines, let alone set prices for the upgrades when fuel costs are unknown. Anyone have comments on that?

[TERRIER1]

We are signed up for the June 27 Stockholm to Bergen cruise. Haven't been on an ocean cruise for 25 years! We did do a Danube river cruise this summer and loved it. But there were only about 100 passengers on the trip. I am hoping there will be enough buses to serve everyone on a 900 passenger ship!

I am also wondering about the flights. Our TA says that we cannot upgrade at this point because the cruise lines haven't even finished their contracts with the airlines, let alone set prices for the upgrades when fuel costs are unknown. Anyone have comments on that?

 

We are on this trip as well. I didn't inquire about upgrades but I wanted to know if they would be doing deviations and if they used scheduled airlines. Both answers were yes.

[Oldenbear]

As I said in my earlier message, it has been eons since we took an ocean cruise. Can you explain what a "deviation" is? Thanks!

[Bear_Music]

As I said in my earlier message, it has been eons since we took an ocean cruise. Can you explain what a "deviation" is? Thanks!

 

If you're going from Boston to Istanbul, say, will they accommodate you if you want to break the trip into two legs, such as Boston-London and London-Istanbul a couple days later, and the answer apparently is "yes". Likewise to fly on a different airline, a different day, whatever. You'll pay a "deviation fee" (typically 75 dollars) plus whatever extra costs are incurred by your itinerary of choice.

[TERRIER1]

As I said in my earlier message, it has been eons since we took an ocean cruise. Can you explain what a "deviation" is? Thanks!

 

We like to come in a few days early (rid ourselves of jet lag and to circumvent anything going wrong with air etc.) and/or stay later. To change the air that the cruise line has scheduled, you have to pay a deviation fee plus any additional cost for the selected airfare if applicable. If you don't deviate than the cruise line will fly you in the day of embarkation and fly you home the day of disembarkation. You have to take a look at the total cost the cruise line is charging for the deviation versus what you can do on your own. We have a cost of $895pp with no deviation for this trip from Viking so we will have to wait and see what 2015 brings in the airline business.

[lanememory]

Hello All:

We are also booked on the Maiden voyage 50 nights Istanbul to Stockholm. Were based out of San Francisco CA. So if anyone near us give us a hello.

Looking forward to this cruise in Europe with a brand new ship which I hope will compete with Regent, Seabourn, and the others. I also booked 72 days on the 2016 but didn't like the idea of paying in full over two years in advance. So I let that booking expire. We will be the first ones to tell the tales of the high seas as we educate the staff on how a six star line is suppose to be operated...;-) just kidding, sort of.

[Oldenbear]

Since you will be flying from the West Coast as we will, and you will be going before we do, We would love to hear what airline you choose for the trip and what kind of upgrade if any. We flew Air France Premium Economy LAX to DeGaulle, and the seats were most uncomfortable. A number of the airlines have gone to these new molded seats because they are lighter, but they sure did not compare to the nuce cushy seats in Premium Economy on Qantas from LAX to Sydney!

[smith5744]

Add us to 6/13/15 list. We are new to Viking. Have not done river cruises only ocean so far. Lots of questions, hope to get more info as time passes. ( we are Bill and Dottie .)

 

Hi Bill and Dottie,

Chuck and I (from Tampa) are also booked on this cruise. I don't think I saw anyone else or that I saw its own roll call. I will set one up on the roll call page if I don't find one. We have done two river cruises on Viking and enjoyed them; also lots of ocean cruises but this new ship sounded like an improvement. We are doing Istanbul-Dubai on Oceania next November which should also be very interesting. The Viking line generally thinks of everything so we should have smooth sailing. I'm sending you my email (in two parts for safety) so write if you want to discuss things. cds208 here's the other part @lehigh.edu.

Glad to be in touch with someone else on the cruise. We will be celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary.

Christine

[bcorre2]

Found some more current 10/11/12 - 2013 stuff on the build progress on both new Ocean class ships with (2) more being talked about. Will look forward to seeing where Viking expands with these new ship routes?

 

Meeting (Happy Hour) with Michael Weldon (Dir Bus Dev) of Viking Cruises next week and look forward to hearing about this. We hope to link up with others on this Ocean Cruise.

- Viking Star - Sept. 27, 2015 - Empires of the Med

Bob & Margie

 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...227092451.html

 

 

http://www.themeditelegraph.com/en/2...8pK/index.html

 

 

 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...235374211.html

[captainmcd]

bcorre2, Thanks for the links! I have not seen any articles about the Viking Star since June. At least there seems to be progress, but the in service dates seem to be confusing. We have booked the Empires of the Mediterranean that departs April 11, 2015. It is reassuring that the yard is under utilized and looking for work, so that there is a good possibility that the ship will be ready on time. Keep us updated if you learn anything new. We just made our final payment, but know that many who have booked with a deposit will be glad to know that things are on track before paying the balance due

.

[Bear_Music]

...the in service dates seem to be confusing.

 

No kidding! We're on the same "Empires" maiden as you, we also just made final payment, and I got just a little frisson of dread when I saw them cheerfully saying she's on track to go in service SEPTEMBER of 2015? That BETTER be a typo or misunderstanding :mad:

[bcorre2]

Just saw this Viking Cruise update posted by Andy. Four of these Ocean Cruise ships now in the plans.

 

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news/news-headlines/viking-cruises-orders-another-pair-of-ocean-ships-at-fincantieri.html

[kathy9]

Happy Holidays to all future Vikings Oceans cruisers.....We have sent in our payment today , in full, via our am ex card for the 11April2015 sailing of The Star. We often book travel in advance but have never paid the full fare so far in advance. Looking forward to watching for updates from Viking on the build and seeing pictures at some point.

Kathy and Matt

[rjscott]

Kathy,

Merry Christmas and all the best to you in 2014! We've also made final pymt, so now have to consider pre and/or postcruise stays and our airfare. We will discuss with our friend when we cruise with them on our Viking Passage to Eastern Europe cruise in June. A friend just came back from a Celebrity cruise that started in Venice. He stayed precruise at a smaller hotel that got good reviews on Trip Advisor, and he was really pleased. I can get you the name if you want, unless you prefer one of the better known chain hotels, like Four Seasons, etc.

Becki

[kathy9]

Hi Becki, Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I am getting rather annoyed with Viking at this point....not only do we have to pay an air deviation of 100.00 pp to fly in 2 day earlier but also pay 100.00 pp to stay 2 days post cruise. At least they are honoring that crazy low airfare they had first advertised. Per my TA we will not get our flight info until 90 days prior to the sail date......of course if we don't like the flights we can then book our own and get our money back from Viking. But I am sure the fare will be very steep 90 days out.

I love smaller type hotels( also don't mind the Four Seasons) please email me the name kizzo 123 at hot mail . com or post it here what ever is easier.

Kathy

[rjscott]

Kathy,

Yes, I encountered that deviation fee (along with my friend) when we talked with Viking Air about our European river cruise for this June. Because we were going to do the Prague extension on our own, and the cruise ended in Budapest, Viking required a deviation fee. That, even tho' Viking was doing an extension in Prague as well. Ah well, we would have paid the deviation if the air fare was substantially lower or the same as what we could have gotten on our own, but it was not. And, that includes Economy Comfort seats. My hubby is 6'4", so that extra room on a long flight means not having to listen to him moan and groan. ;)

Here's the hotel info. There is also a link on TA for the hotel website. It sounds like a gem, so I am going to send to our friends to see if they want to stay there postcruise (although he is a Four Seasons kinda guy).

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187870-d558796-Reviews-Hotel_Al_Ponte_Mocenigo-Venice_Veneto.html

Becki