On board The Star

[PopsA]

We ate in the Chef's Table tonight for the first time and really enjoyed it. Although each portion was small, over all 5 courses there was plenty to eat. Full disclosure; we did have scones and tea sandwiches this afternoon at 4:00.

 

I'm eating way too much. They'd better get a weight scale onboard soon or I'm going to be up the creek. I'm tempted to buy my own in Dubrovnik and donate it.

 

How about we approach the problem from a different, and better, direction. Bring aboard a seamstress in Dubrovnik and start letting your clothes out a bit. Eating all you want while enjoying new stretchy panels is far better than getting hung up on numbers painted on a dial.

 

Besides, you will have months to work off the trip gains before the holidays. Trust me, I will be walking around in a moo moo and a smile by day 10. 😀

[Jan3]

OK - so this is the thread we all agreed to use today at our wonderful Meet & Greet. Thanks everyone for coming and making it such a great time!

 

Plugs near beds - In our cabin, the promised plugs next to each side of the bed, are actually behind and below the beds. They are not up beside the bed stands like they are on the river ships. I don't know if that's the same in everyone's cabin, but my guess is that it is. You have to physically move the beds (this isn' hard) to get to the plugs. Like the other plugs in the cabin, one side is European and the other is "American" 110. Someone asked about using a CPAP and I think it would work depending on how long the cord is on the CPAP. However, if it were me, I'd bring a standard household extension cord just in case. We're in a PS1 category cabin. Other's can chime in whether they can find the plugs behind and below their beds.

 

Another peculiarity, speaking of electricity, is that all the lights in our cabin are controlled by the same switch. You either have them all on or all off. So if one person wants to sleep and the other wants to read, it's a problem. There is however a desk lamp with a European end on it that we're thinking of moving to the other side of the cabin near the "seating area" so that it can be turned on and off independently of the overall cabin lights.

 

Off to dinner.

 

Hello Elizabeth and all on this exciting cruise.

 

Elizabeth, I have been following your posts and I believe I read that you are on the 8th deck. We will be on the same deck in June and wondering how the location is working for you. Do you hear overhead activity/noise? Does the AC work okay? I have a hard time if the room is warm. Any other issues on this deck?

 

Many thanks to everyone for taking time out of your day to post for all of us waiting for our turn to begin the journey on the Viking Star.

[id4elizabeth]

Getting iced tea on board can sometimes be a challenge - paticularly if you like it unsweet. In the World Cafe there's no iced tea machine. You can make a cup of hot tea and ice it down yourself. But no big ice tea brewer like in most fast food places in the US. If you order iced tea, some waiters/waitresses have no clue what your talking about. Others are ok until you say the "unsweeted" part. Sometimes, what you get back is sweetened peach iced tea that cones in a can and is ultra-sweet.

 

So, I've taken to making my own. This too is not easy. There's no ice buckets in the room, and the only ice machine I've found is next to the coffee / tea station and it makes crushed ice,not ice cubes. In your cabin, you do not get bottled water but a carafe of water. So, I "borrowed" one of these carafes, go down to the coffee / tea station and fill up the carafe glass by glass of ice. (The carafe does not fit under the ice machine.) Then I make several cups of hot tea. There are no large tea pots around either. Pour this over the ice. I then store this carafe in our minifridge. That's not easy either - had to take apart some of the dividers and such to fit it in.

 

Since Americans are the prime demographic target market, and many Americans like iced tea, you'd think they'd have this one covered.

 

The only place I've found to get reliable unsweet iced tea is the Restaurant. There they seem to get it right. But at the Chef's Table last night all she could offer me was the canned sweet peach tea. So I ordered hot tea and a glass of ice. Got 3 ice cubes in the glass. Good thing I like hot tea as well!

[kathy9]

Elizabeth we are having the same issue with ice tea.... I like your solution. But we do have an ice bucket in our room.

Yesterday at lunch at The Restaurant we were told they only had the canned peach ice tea but the waiter brought out regular unsweetened ice tea.

I think by the time you reach Bergen the staff will get it together!

Kathy

[id4elizabeth]

Jan - we do not hear any noise from overhead. However, I hope you don't have room 8019 or 8020. These are the last rooms in the row next to the exit doors to the Sun Deck - these bang very loudly, so much so that our cabin shakes when they slam shut. From talking to others on the floor though, this issue only affects these 2 end cabins. Our A/C has not been working properly since we boarded. I think this too is just our cabin - other 8th floor travellers can jump in here if they want. I know Bear_Music is up here too. So far it's been cool enough outside that we can open the doors and cool it off. Only bad times are when we're getting the direct afternoon sun. Of course we close the drapes, but still gets hot. Love the rooms up here though. Lots of storage space and great views.

[LadyVol1]

Elizabeth & Kathy - I read your posts and this morning asked Tomislav (one of the guys in suits, a Head Waiter I think) at World Cafe if they had unsweetened ice tea. I told him the prior to the Vitality machine working, I figured one of its four spigots would be for iced tea but now I see they are all for fruit drinks/juices. He said he thought they would be putting out carafes and offered to get me one right now. I declined. My husband always drinks iced tea on cruises since it's free and just now realized there was none!

 

By the way, if you now ask for cinnamon for your oatmeal they will give you a little dish of it. It's still not a full-time breakfast condiment but progress is being made! You can ask for raisins, too, since they are not always at the oatmeal station.

[CrusinSubMan]

I am have been starting all my days at the bar in the Explorer's Lounge where I would drink 3-4 cups of coffee.

This morning they radically changed the way they are doing breakfast there and it worked much better. Until now, you had to sit and a server would come take your order. This was for the waffles, coffee etc. The bar folks got to know me and delivered by black coffee quickly after I arrived. I watched various Americans come up and simply want a quick cup of coffee or want to get food directly where they have it displayed.

TOday they had thermoses of coffee everywhere, a self-serve coffee station on the bar and now everyone directly asks for and gets the food they want over the counter.

So things worked much, much better.

They are learning!

[CrusinSubMan]

I am sitting at a Pizza cafe in Kotor and at another table is the Editor of CC that is riding us and the Viking Lurker rep. I am sure later they are going to see this post and laugh that I was a few feet away. Anyways I can see they are having some good conversations about the ship, and about Viking Oceans etc.

[kathy9]

Ok breakfast at the World Cafe then went out on a nice private tour in Kotor with my DH, Elizabeth and a second car with Judy , Peter, Marsha and Lou. We had a great time with two really good guides. Came back on board and had a very nice dinner in The Restrauant with Paul the CD.

On to Dubrovnik tomorrow.....

[TERRIER1]

Ok breakfast at the World Cafe then went out on a nice private tour in Kotor with my DH, Elizabeth and a second car with Judy , Peter, Marsha and Lou. We had a great time with two really good guides. Came back on board and had a very nice dinner in The Restrauant with Paul the CD.

On to Dubrovnik tomorrow.....

 

Who did you use for youor private tour in Kotor? Thanks.

[Jan3]

Jan - we do not hear any noise from overhead. However, I hope you don't have room 8019 or 8020. These are the last rooms in the row next to the exit doors to the Sun Deck - these bang very loudly, so much so that our cabin shakes when they slam shut. From talking to others on the floor though, this issue only affects these 2 end cabins. Our A/C has not been working properly since we boarded. I think this too is just our cabin - other 8th floor travellers can jump in here if they want. I know Bear_Music is up here too. So far it's been cool enough outside that we can open the doors and cool it off. Only bad times are when we're getting the direct afternoon sun. Of course we close the drapes, but still gets hot. Love the rooms up here though. Lots of storage space and great views.

 

Hi Elizabeth,

Thank you for your response. We are in room 8012 so I hope this is far enough from the slamming door. Wonder if Viking is working on a solution. This must be difficult for people near the doors.

 

Any other comments from people residing on the 8th deck?

[kathy9]

Terrier1 the guide was Diko Jovicic

http://www.monttravelers.com

Kathy

[pukekolive]

We are cabin twins Jan3! 8012 will be our cabin in March 2016 Venice to Istanbul ...How are you enjoying it?

 

Is your balcony a bit smaller/ narrower than the Penthouse Junior suites around it? What time were you able to access your cabin on embarkation day?

 

Have you found it OK for accessing the public spaces or has it been inconvenient for the restaurants etc? I would imagine it was great for getting to the Explorers Lounge.

 

Was there any noise from the retractable pool roof?

 

Apologies for the questions but I'm really excited! Enjoy your cruise in 'our' cabin.

Edited April 18, 2015 by pukekolive

[Bear_Music]

We are cabin twins Jan3! 8012 will be our cabin in March 2016 Venice to Istanbul ...How are you enjoying it?

 

Is your balcony a bit smaller/ narrower than the Penthouse Junior suites around it? What time were you able to access your cabin on embarkation day?

 

Have you found it OK for accessing the public spaces or has it been inconvenient for the restaurants etc? I would imagine it was great for getting to the Explorers Lounge.

 

Was there any noise from the retractable pool roof?

 

Apologies for the questions but I'm really excited! Enjoy your cruise in 'our' cabin.

We're in 8013, same cabin but Starboard side. Balcony's a fair bit smaller but it's perfectly usable. Navigation space between bed and wall has a couple doing "the dance" to navigate towards the sitting area and the verandah.

 

We were able to grab our cabin immediately up on the 8th deck, cuz it's surrounded by PS cabins and no sense not making them all up at the same time, only 20 cabins total in that module. Best bargain on the ship IMO.

 

We had some weather in transit last night and we swayed around a bit and a half, but I actually like that.

 

Instant access to Sports Deck, and floor of Explorer's Lounge, Pool Grill 1 Deck down and a very short walk aft. A little further aft, same deck, World Cafe. So you only ever have to leave your home territory for specific reasons, not in transit. Like, down to 2 for dinner, down for debarkation at ports.

 

It feels very uncrowded up here on 8.

 

R.

[pukekolive]

Thanks Bear_Music!

[id4elizabeth]

On a couple of occasions (Santorini & Kotor) those of us trying to get off the ship for private guided tours were held back, waiting for the Viking Shore excursions to depart. In both Santorini and Kotor they were fairly long waits of 45 min to an hour. I could understand this in Santorini where we had to be tendered, but nor sure why in Kotor since we were docked. In Ephesus and today in Dubrovnik, they made a general announcement and we could get off on our own without being held back. Nonetheless, we had great times on both Santorini & Kotor and I'm sure we saw more than the Viking tours did, despite being delayed. Just posting this so you are aware that you could be delayed if you are planning independent travel.

[OBX Cruisers]

For those of us who will be taking independent tours, I'd be very interested to know whether there are further delays in getting off the Star. Particularly at St. Petersburg. Hoping it won't be an issue. My experience has been though that, even with delays, with a small group we quickly catch up and even get ahead of the ship's buses.

[TERRIER1]

Terrier1 the guide was Diko Jovicic

www.monttravelers.com

Kathy

 

Thanks. Great find. How did you locate them? The photoshooting tour looks wonderful.

[id4elizabeth]

Found him either from the Ports forum here on Cruise Critic or on Trip Advisor. Can't remember which. The guide that Kathy9 found was also good. Our two cars followed each other. His name was Milo and he and Diko were "almost best friends". They were a lot of fun and we saw a LOT of Montenegro. Places I'm sure most tourists don't get to see. The road to Lake Skadar was a one lane goat trail, but the lake was truly awesome. My favorite part was wandering the old town of Budva. Although I did enjoy our boat trip out to the island too see Our Lady of the Rocks too. Hard to pick.

[kathy9]

I can't take credit for the guide! Judy found him....

Today's tour was rather a disaster!

Our Dubrovnik by land and sea tour was cancelled due to weather (?) so we got added unto an Dubrovnik walking tour, there were 46 people on our walking tour!

Kathy

[kathy9]

TV does not work again... I would like to check my account details and cannot!

[lahlah57]

We will be on the 4th deck and have a self serve laundomat not far. How many washer dryer sets are in the laundromat? Thanks guys....really do hope your cruise gets the wrinkles ironed out!

[PopsA]

Due to an unfortunate event two of our passengers on our day tour to the Normandy Beaches D-Day tour on May 10th have had to drop out.

 

This leaves two seats open. The cost per seat is $145 for a 8 seat van tour on Bayeux Shuttle, one of the best tour operators covering the Normandy Battlefield.

 

If you are interested please contact me. This tour is going regardless as it is paid in full already and does not require the seats be filled to go.

[kathy9]

Tonight we shared a table with 2 other couples at The Restrauant and our waiter was very confused. He kept giving every one the wrong food. Some of the service is really hit or miss. The tablets are gone for now.

Finally made a show....ABBA! It was very good . The show started at 945 pm and the cast was very energetic and seemed to enjoy preforming.

Pula tomorrow than onto Venice.

Kathy

[roothy123]

On a couple of occasions (Santorini & Kotor) those of us trying to get off the ship for private guided tours were held back, waiting for the Viking Shore excursions to depart. In both Santorini and Kotor they were fairly long waits of 45 min to an hour. I could understand this in Santorini where we had to be tendered, but nor sure why in Kotor since we were docked. In Ephesus and today in Dubrovnik, they made a general announcement and we could get off on our own without being held back. Nonetheless, we had great times on both Santorini & Kotor and I'm sure we saw more than the Viking tours did, despite being delayed. Just posting this so you are aware that you could be delayed if you are planning independent travel.

 

Thanks. I'm a very independent traveler (often using just public transportation (gasp) or foot power, and so I've been trying to figure out how Viking does tendering. Some cruise lines make the indy folks wait until all the excursions have gone and some blend them in with the excursions folks, so I was hoping to get a sense of what Viking will be doing when I cruise this fall. I believe you're in Pula, which I thnk is a tender port. If you're doing a private tour there, could you let me know if there's a delay in getting of the ship because you're an independent traveler? A couple related questions, too: Does Viking require you to be back on board a half hour pre-sailaway, or something else? Also, is the itinerary time they're listing generally around the time the ship is tied up in port, cleared by the authorities and ready to let people off? I know that time can depend on weather, port, etc. but I'm just trying to get a sense of how soon I'll be able to get off the ship. I love early morning...

Edited April 18, 2015 by roothy123