On board The Star

[id4elizabeth]

It was on the first daily brief.

[algaes]

Just the facts - you decide if it is worth the $69 per person charge plus driver & guide tips.

 

45 minute bus ride south along coast then into countryside. If you like riding the edge of cliffs sit on the right side of the bus. Often beautiful scenic views while along the shoreline.

 

Arrive at small vineyard with modest fields (5 hectares or 12.5 acres) and a two story building. Vines are just budding now so nothing much to see there.

 

Gentle walk from bus through field up to lawn area where owner welcomes you to his property. You follow him into the building and into an L shaped room where you are invited to sit around the perimeter while stands in the intersection.

 

Owner talks about his wines and vineyard while guide translates. Glasses are set out for each guest and a decent but not generous pour of his award winning Malvasia if provided. Family brings out slices of bread with cheese offered to each guest. As owner keeps talking many drink their wine and eat the appetizer. When many are done, owner then offers a toast where many have empty glasses. Owner starts to do refills while Mama starts collecting glasses - who's in charge here :)

 

Glasses are collected and replaced with new glasses where their Prosek is poured, again a decent pour for a sweet wine almost brandy (I don't drink - I'm reporting what I overheard). Family comes around with a simple dessert cake Mama baked and everyone gets a slice to eat with fingers.

 

Talk winding down so time for any questions. If not feel free to wander the property for photos, there's an immaculate bathroom around the corner of the building; one for women, one for men. In an alcove, family is selling Prosek bottles. Overheard nearly heated questioning about why the Malvasia was not not available.

 

Walk to bus around back and 45 minute drive back to ship. Arrive back at around 3 hours total.

Edited April 23, 2015 by algaes

[NeilP57]

I am on the Venice to Istanbul sailing in September 2015 and have booked the pre-tour of Rome, Florence, Bologna and Verona ahead of boarding in Venice. I would be very interested to hear if anybody who is on the current segment did this tour and any feedback would be most appreciated.

 

Neil

[OneBag]

Just the facts - you decide if it is worth the $69 per person charge plus driver & guide tips….

 

Thanks for the detailed description. Sounds like the experience matched up pretty much with what Viking promised, so that's good. Plus you got nibbles and clean bathrooms as a bonus!

 

With long (or longish) coach tours, I always struggle with "is the drive to and from worth it" because it can sometimes be hard to tell if the actual destination tour will be. It sounds like the scenic drive was lovely and the wine tasting was an "experience." I'm not sure whether I'd come away from it annoyed or pleased to have a mildly humorous story to tell about wine tasting outside Dubrovnik. :)

[id4elizabeth]

Re LadyVols comment about dirty dishes: this morning in the World Cafe, the first 3 plates I picked up off the buffet dish stack had visible (really visible) food residue on them. I switched to a different stack and they were clean. I pointed out the dirty dishes to the fellow behind the counter and he just smiled and took away the dirty plates. I think it was a language difficulty thing - I think he thought I had made the plates dirty.

 

And no, I did not take the time to inform management as I was running late. I know I should have, but it does take time to run every issue to ground.

 

Moral of this story - check your plates in the buffet line.

[roothy123]

The only reason I could switch groups today was the utter chaos downstairs.

 

You get shore excursion tickets at the very beginning of the cruise which have your tour number on them for the time you signed up for. These are normally exchanged at the ShoreEx desk for a (now) plastic card assigning you to a group number. Up until today you were then told to wait in the Star Theater or Torshavn (bar) until your group number is called. If you showed up early for your assigned time at the ShoreEx desk , they either wouldn't give you your plastic card or the number they'd give you would be for your later tour and you'd end up waiting around a lot anyway. If you showed up late and that group was already full, they might not let you on which would be a shame. So normally that would be a risky strategy.

 

I think what may have happened today is that a LOT of people showed up early for their included tour and the SoreEx staff got swamped, hence the huge backup and long lines. In the Daily Brief for tomorrow there's a very polite notice telling us to only show up at our assigned times, and not try to switch groups. I felt it would work this morning only because it was such chaos. After all, I could have been standing in that line the whole time. I'm certainly not going to bet on it working any other time!

 

Sorry if I implied you could easily switch groups - this is definitely not the case. And after the fiasco this morning I think they will tighten down the rules more.

 

You aren't going to St. Petersburg, are you? If so, you'll see REAL chaos. Get in line EARLY if you're going off on a private tour (Alla, etc.) We did a Baltic cruise 2 years ago and 3/4 of the ship got up early the first day, wanting to go off first. I've never seen lines winding around a cruise ship like that before (at least not on the ship I was on) and it was crazy. Then there's a line to go through a one-by-one Russian passport check ...then there are crowds of people at Catherine's Palace (don't know how many people they admit per day - except a LOT). SPB is NOT an easy port to deal with on a cruise ship, large or small - but oh, so worthwhile in the end!

[OBX Cruisers]

So we take our passports with us when we leave for an independent tour in St. Petersburg? (I thought they were kept for us on the ship in most cases and we would just take a copy.)

[roothy123]

 

I just wanted them to have the buffet open for most of the day and evening. It doesn't need to be both sides, or even all of one side, just something, and they don't need to call it breakfast, lunch, or dinner (and include drinks).

 

Some of the larger cruise lines might have that, but from what I've seen, the smaller ones don't. I've always found 6:30 to be pretty typical for an opening time, so I've kept an apple or granola bar or bag of chips or whatever in the room in case I didn't want to order room service to tide me over. That's what I plan to do on Star.

[roothy123]

So we take our passports with us when we leave for an independent tour in St. Petersburg? (I thought they were kept for us on the ship in most cases and we would just take a copy.)

 

Yes, most, or at least a lot of ships, take your passports when you first board, although I remember an exception or two. However, I don't know if the exception or two were due to the ports we'd be visiting or cruise line policy - probably the first, as all ships have to be cleared by authorities. I think Oceania took our passports when we boarded for our Baltic cruise 2 years ago, but I don't remember for sure. In any case, I DO remember that Oceania returned them before we got to St. Petersburg, as the Russian authorities require cruisers to line up and show them in the terminal (similar to an airport's immigration procedure). I don't know if copies are accepted, so I would just take the real thing. I don't remember if Oceania collected them after the visit to SPB or not. If you're going on a private excursion (we took Alla), you also present the paperwork from the tour company, as it's your visa of sorts. I'm not sure what people on the ship's excursions had to present, or what people getting off the ship but going it alone had to present, but I'm pretty sure everyone had a passport when they went through the lines.

 

You may already know this, but since it comes up time and time again, I'll throw it out just in case: The cruise lines are really good at making you think you need an expensive visa to go off the ship in Russia with Alla, Red October, etc. Even Oceania, which is top notch, publishes misleading info. I don't know if they do it intentionally, but they do it. I even had a good-natured argument with a neighbor who was convinced that what Norwegian Cruise Lines told them was correct (that she needed a visa this year for her tour with Alla). You don't.

 

Enjoy the Baltic - fabulous destination, with lots of variety. Time and money changes drove me crazy, though!

[roothy123]

Viking shuttle busses were running today between the port and the old town. The only negative here, in my experience from both days in Dubrovnik, is that they only run about every half hour - not what you might expect from the word "continuously" that's in the Daily Brief. So, if you just miss a bus, you might stand waiting for 10 to 15 minutes and then a bus pulls up and you eagerly get on, only to wait on the bus another 20 minutes or so until the bus actually moves out. If you just miss the one going into town and the one back out, that can mean an hour out of your day.

 

I asked about taxis into town as there was a line of them at the port and was told that they were about $13 one way into town or it might have been euros. There's also a line of them where you catch the shuttle bus back as well. So this is an option if you just miss the shuttle and you don't want to wait - particularly if you share with others.

 

We lucked out this afternoon and caught one just before it moved out to come back to the ship.

 

We walked the city walls today. Beware that they only accept the Croatian 'kuna' as money for the ticket. There's an ATM right as you get off the bus and before you get to the city wall gate. You need 100 kuna per person for the city wall walk. $1.00 USD = about 7.5 kuna. We got 400 kuna this morning and I think I have about 2 kuna left - used it to get into the Rector's Palace, the Dominican Monastery, and lunch. We did Dubrovnik on our own today as we had taken the Viking tour the last time we were in port.

 

Be aware if you do the city walls walk that there's no shade up there. We had wonderful weather today (about 70 degrees) with a mild breeze blowing off the water, but I'd imagine it could be quite warm later in the summer. It was well worth the effort as the views were stunning.

 

Thanks for this info. Did you happen to notice if credit cards were accepted as well as kunas on the wall? I knew about the kunas but the last thing I saw (from last year, though) said credit cards were accepted as well. However, there are several different places to get on the wall, so perhaps credit cards are accepted one place and not the others. In any case, it's no big deal if you don't know the answer, as I'll probably get kunas for Dubrovnik and Pula, but I WAS curious.

 

Glad to hear the wall walk was stunning, as that's what I've heard, and that's one thing I plan to do! We have an old fashioned chipless and pinless bank card for ATM withdrawals. Is that what you used for the ATM in Dubrovnik?

 

Yes, "continuously" is a term I've seen on many a description of shuttles! Usually it means every half hour, but that's OK for me, as I'm usually people watching and shooting pictures. However, if you're going to Helsinki and a shuttle is mentioned, ask if the shuttle runs during lunch time. It didn't when we were there 2 years ago (sigh) and I ended up taking a tram and walking a long way to the ship to get my husband.

Edited April 23, 2015 by roothy123

[roothy123]

Just the facts - you decide if it is worth the $69 per person charge plus driver & guide tips.

 

 

I think I'll pass on that one!

 

I always try to keep in mind that the tour descriptions usually come straight from the tour vendors. Unless the cruise line has offered the same tour a lot, about all they can do is parrot back what was given them and hope for the best. I like to research these tours in advance, which is easier than you'd expect if you practically live on Cruise Critic as I do. (I know, I need to get a life!)

 

Anyway, I once went over to another cruise line's website to see what tours they were offering versus my cruise line to compare the price. It was pretty funny to see the exact same title, description, etc. - often with a similar price. Then I went to the "Ports" section of Cruise Critic to see what people had to say about the tours. Of course, what people like is pretty personal and differs from person to person, so you have to take each opinion with a grain of salt. However, I found it helpful in the end.

Edited April 23, 2015 by roothy123

[Dauntless]

Amyr---Since your posts seem to have a balanced approach, I'm asking you.I see the shuttles have a frequency pattern. Are they provided by the ship or is there a charge? As for the meet and greet, how was that arranged?

 

Thanks------Dauntless

[Traveler103]

So we take our passports with us when we leave for an independent tour in St. Petersburg? (I thought they were kept for us on the ship in most cases and we would just take a copy.)

 

You will need your passport with you in St. Petersburg. We were there on a Viking river cruise in 2012 and you carry your passport with at all times. We also had visas because we were on our own in Moscow before the cruise and in St. Petersburg afterwards. We had to have invitation letters form the hotels we stayed in to get the visas.

 

This trip, we have booked a private guide with TJ Travel and already have our "tour tickets". They are licensed or permitted with a blanket visa for cruise ship passengers in Russia less than 72 hours but the guide must accompany you at all times. No being on our own wandering around.

 

Russia has made a lot of progress since the USSR days but it is still a controlled/monitored society. It can be a little creepy. You will see Ford police cars and a new Volvo Assembly plant in St. Petersburg. You'll also see lots of Cadillac Escalades and BMWs as well. Not what most people think of when they see Russia.

 

St. Petersburg has a lot to see and sites are on par with Versailles and the Louvre. We did a Viking tour to the off-site Hermitage repository and it was very interesting to see how much they have that is not even on display.

[kathy9]

Dauntless, Elizabeth arranged our meet and greet, and maybe because the editor in chief of CC was on our sailing Viking at the last minute steped up and co-hosted the function. I am not sure if these will be regular events. As Paul would suggest put it in the suggestion box...

[sitraveler]

We took almost the same tour as Alvaes, but independently.

 

We were met at the gangplank by our driver/guide. Driven to the upper cable car station for pictures, drove to a lower site on an unpaved trail and more pictures. Then drove down to where our V included excursion stopped for a photo stop and on to a narrated drive past local residential neighborhoods and scenic views to the vineyard where we were greeted as guests. Had a short history of their operation and sampling. Drove to Ston where we has a brief history of the area and 30 free minutes. Then to the old town of Dubrovnik for a narrated walk and more free time. Cost $66. Pp.

[kathy9]

We are at the Venice airport getting ready to fly back to NJ!

On to Asia on Azamara in November!

Kathy

[algaes]

Viking is mustering tour passengers in the Theatre or Torshavn where you exchange your paper excursions tickets for plastic boarding passes with a group number. The paper excursion tickets are in an envelope in your room when you first come aboard.

 

When the group number is called, you follow someone ashore who turns you over to the local guide. The guide collects the plastic cards. If a bus is involved it has your group number and the guide will have a lollipop sign as they call it with your number.

 

If you are planning near back to back tours with Viking, you are counting on the tour mustering, moving, beginning and ending tour on time so that you can be back on board at mustering point to check-in and begin process for second tour.

 

We cancelled the AM Herculeum tour in Naples that we were combining with a included panoramic tour of Naples in the early afternoon. I'm not certain we could make both.

 

Yesterday afternoon's Wine Tasting Tour got off to a rocky start when no one from Viking was at the mustering point well past the time for check-in. The paperwork was all there on a table but no staff. The check-in person who eventually arrived confused the tour time with the check-in time thus she was very late, or so she said as an excuse. The crowd standing around were very vocal about the tour not being well organized.

 

------

 

I've not seen time in port realities discussed elsewhere so let me provided today's info as an example. Viking touts how their ships will spend more time in port than other cruise lines. Today we are in Corfu until departure at 11 PM with all aboard at 10:30 - nice. However, the last free Viking shuttle leaves the Old Town at 8:45pm. You can certainly pay a taxi after that time to get to ship; Rick Steves latest book says you'll pay 10 euros flat. Or you can walk the distance from your dinner or whatever back to the ship to enjoy the time between 8:45 and 10:30, which I figure to be 1.5+ miles.

 

We'll see what time the German TUI Cruises ship departs as it was tied up and disembarking passengers before Viking Star today.

[paquebot]

We are at the Venice airport getting ready to fly back to NJ!

On to Asia on Azamara in November!

Kathy

 

Buon viaggio, cari amici!

Tanti baci, Judy and Peter (Paquebot)

Edited April 24, 2015 by paquebot

[amyr]

Amyr---Since your posts seem to have a balanced approach, I'm asking you.I see the shuttles have a frequency pattern. Are they provided by the ship or is there a charge? As for the meet and greet, how was that arranged?

 

Thanks------Dauntless

 

Safe Travels Kathy!

 

Dauntless, AFAIK, the shuttles are the ones provided by the port. The cruise line pays for the shuttles, so it's up to each line whether to charge their passengers. Viking did NOT charge us, but others do. I don't know how often they run, I think maybe they told us every 20 minutes? We actually signed up for a walking tour, rode the tour bus into town, and then tipped our guide and peeled right off to walk the wall when we realized the tour wouldn't allow enough free time for that. When we were ready to go back, the shuttle was right there.

 

As for the meet and greet, every roll call has one or two organizers (maybe it's you!) that gets things rolling. Ours was Elizabeth. Set something up within the roll call, usually at or right after sail away, and let everyone know. I think Viking has someone monitoring the boards, so if they have the ability to host yours for you, they'll tell you. We had originally set ours for the aft terrace two hours after sail away, and they let us know that they'd host, and we should meet up in the explorers lounge.

[id4elizabeth]

Dauntless - shuttle busses seem to run every half hour or a little more (one I had to wait about 40 min). So far they have been provided or arranged by Viking and there's been no charge. Venice of course had no shuttle busses. Istanbul had none either but the public tram was convenient and not too expensive but you did need Turkish lira to buy the tram tokens. Hope that answers your question.

[bcorre2]

Thanks Leo for your insights/experiences with this Venice/Barcelona leg of your Viking Star journey.

 

We'll be on this one in Aug 2016 on the new sister ship Sky.

 

Bob & Margie

[id4elizabeth]

I know you're probably tired of my unsweet tea woes, but just when you think the problem's solved....

 

Tonight in The Restaurant, I got a new waitress and told her unsweet iced tea. She disappeared, brought my husband's wine - I reminded her about the iced tea. As the Starter came I reminded her again. She came back a few minutes later and said they had called all the restaurants on board and the only thing available was sweetened peach iced tea in a can. She had obviously not gotten the memo!

 

So, I ordered hot tea. I spoke to the head waiter on the way out and he said "of course we have unsweet iced tea." He asked me who my wait staff person was, and of course I didn't know her name but told him my table number. Not that I want to get anyone in trouble, but all the wait staff at this point should know how to get unsweet iced tea.

 

I know this is a picky issue, but you'd think they'd have this one ironed out by now.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, the 3 scales that Viking bought in Venice work a little too well. I've gained 6 pounds since Istanbul. Yikes! :eek: Obviously the food onboard is good! I need to stay away from the high tea service in the afternoon in the Wintergarden - those scones with clotted cream and jam are a killer.

[LadyVol1]

Elizabeth - Hang with me for High Tea. I've been three times and they've always been out of clotted cream (and twice they were out of scones but Angie gave me hers). Then you won't gain weight! [emoji6]

[toby4352]

So glad to see a post about a group forming for the July 25th sailing of the Viking Star from Stockholm to Bergen.

Now how do I get in that group,or am I already in? Wow, I sound old... but truly just new to posting on CC.

 

There is a group of 12 I created and we are all so excited about our upcoming Viking Homelands cruise. We booked in early June 2013 and finalized in December 2013. It's been a longtime coming. All the previous Posts have been so enlightening. We are still (even after the negative comments) looking forward to this cruise.

 

Tomorrow I'll be on my laptop instead of the iPad, should be easier to figure out how to join the group.

 

Fingers crossed for good weather, always. :)

[toby4352]

I just looked at all the Roll Call listings and don't see Viking Star anywhere for July 25, 2015 sailing. I know I'm missing something but can't figure out what. Unless it's this dang iPad?

Help, 🙏😎🚢✈️🎫