On board The Star

[OBX Cruisers]

Sounds quite chaotic! So you didn't have a problem switching between groups? If you're signed up for one group, you can change to a different time no problem? I'd like to be on earlier tours so have time to wander on our own later, but not if they don't get this under a little more control. Wonder wot happened?

[wripro]

I agree with those who say that this is a brand new cruise ship from a brand new cruise line and glitches are to be expected. HOWEVER, the fares are the same as they will be once these issues are all worked out( assuming they are.) It would be much easier to overlook them if there had been introductory fares similar to preview prices at a Broadway show prior to opening night while they work on the production. jmo.

[roothy123]

Sounds quite chaotic! So you didn't have a problem switching between groups? If you're signed up for one group, you can change to a different time no problem? I'd like to be on earlier tours so have time to wander on our own later, but not if they don't get this under a little more control. Wonder wot happened?

 

In those ports where you can walk off the ship and get to where you want to go on your own, I'm probably going to sign up for the later excursions. I can still go out early to explore, but perhaps come back to the ship for lunch, and go back out again on an excursion to see things I didn't get to see (or didn't want to pay for, or didn't have kunas for, or didn't have much info on).

 

I'm hoping not many people just join whatever group they want - kind of defeats the purpose of hiring multiple guides for multiple groups! However, I can see that it might be hard to stop that unless everyone is given a sticker to wear, or have to show a ticket before they start walking, or whatever. Of course, there are always places like the big venues in St. Petersburg where there are so many people that things are VERY chaotic, no matter how controlled the entry and tour procedures are designed to be!

 

So on a different subject, nobody seemed to mention a thing about the servicing of cabins. Can I take that to mean it was/is good? If you went away for a few hours, did you come back to a clean cabin? I'm not talking about nitpicky things, just basic cleanup....thanks.

 

For those without enough space, here's what I do on a cruise ship (besides vowing to pack less the next trip, which doesn't seem to happen): Put the life jackets together on the floor of the closet and put foldable items like sweaters and t-shirts in the space where the life jackets were. I also put away stuff I won't need (e.g., hair dryer) and if anything I doubt I'll use until later (e.g., heavy coat) I just put it in the suitcase I've shoved under the bed.

Edited April 22, 2015 by roothy123

[LadyVol1]

I agree with those who say that this is a brand new cruise ship from a brand new cruise line and glitches are to be expected. HOWEVER, the fares are the same as they will be once these issues are all worked out( assuming they are.) It would be much easier to overlook them if there had been introductory fares similar to preview prices at a Broadway show prior to opening night while they work on the production. jmo.

 

THANK YOU!!!! What you say is EXACTLY the problem I'm having with this cruise. We paid full fare (more than $35,000 for 50 days) and expected full service with some MINOR glitches here and there due to a new ship/new company. That is NOT happening. Some of the things are incredibly minor (no corned beef hash which is listed on the breakfast room service menu, not getting a bar of soap for the shower for three days) and some are major (distilled water needed for medical reasons that was pre-ordered on 11/18/14 not delivered until Day 3) and some are in-between (basically no TV, room service rarely answers their phone, having to scrub the cabin's bathroom floor on embarkation day, etc.). The bottom line, though, is that we paid for FULL SERVICE and are NOT getting anything close to it. If I had paid some kind of discount fare, then I would understand. However, we did not get any kind of fare break since I know what the published fares are. If others are on the ship with some kind of "maiden voyage" discount fare, please let me know. My posts might sound like I'm having a terrible time but I know that I am not getting the value out of this cruise like I would have if I would have spent the same money on Viking River, HAL, Regent or Celebrity.

[cassandra44]

Perhaps Viking should consider giving discounts on future cruises to those who have experienced significant issues during the first 2-3 months?

If passengers are really discontented then they will return to cruise lines they have used in the past rather than risk going back on Viking.

It seems very likely that most of the cruisers in the maiden season are all experienced travellers and that group will have had a lot of experience with other cruise lines.

[LadyVol1]

So on a different subject, nobody seemed to mention a thing about the servicing of cabins. Can I take that to mean it was/is good? If you went away for a few hours, did you come back to a clean cabin? I'm not talking about nitpicky things, just basic cleanup....thanks.

 

On embarkation day in Istanbul, April 11, I scrubbed our bathroom floor since it was "muddy", hairy and there were other pieces of "stuff" on it. I pointed out three different big pieces of stuff (and they weren't lint from the new carpet) on our sitting area floor to a housekeeping supervisor but still had to request (again) for the cabin to be cleaned after the housekeeping supervisor said it was done and the three things were still there. My husband picked up a prescription pill off the floor. Those three issues all occurred on embarkation day. (Another couple that embarked in Istanbul found cashews and tooth whitening strips in their bathroom drawer.)

 

Since then, we've left short notes requesting laundry bags, laundry forms, bar of soap, etc. and sometimes the request is filled and other times it is not. There have been times when we were gone for 3 hours with "Please clean the room" hanging on the door handle and have come back and not been cleaned. The tube of the ship's body wash by the sink that I use to clean my eyeglasses was replaced with a tube of the hand lotion which messed up my glasses (no, not permanently but it aggravated me). My husband had a minor GI problem and the toilet needed cleaning and when we came back after lunch to a serviced room, everything had been cleaned except for the toilet! I feel that the cabin stewards are either overworked or undertrained and there certainly doesn't seem to be much supervision provided. I, for one, haven't written much about these since to me cabin housekeeping pales in comparison to the other issues I've encountered.

[id4elizabeth]

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.

[Vineyard View]

We all knew it was a maiden voyage when we signed up.....all excited to be on a maiden voyage, and the chances that are taken when going on a maiden voyage. I would suggest that there probably are very few cruise lines, resorts, etc out there that didn't have start-up issues. It goes with the territory.

 

Yes, there are issues - and yes there are some that are serious and should be addressed and remedied. Quickly.

But from what I am reading with some posts - and I know for a fact I am not the only one with these thoughts after reading some of them:

 

1) in many situations - in life overall - misery is optional

2) a lot of blame on Viking where self choices were the culprit or are such minor nits that it doesn't bear repeating

3) if you are intent to find the negatives, you surely will

4) and finally - do I dare say it....no, I won't, but I am betting it isn't hard to come up with the term I am thinking, and others have shared with me after reading some.

 

Come on folks, this can't be all pain and misery.

[amyr]

So on a different subject, nobody seemed to mention a thing about the servicing of cabins. Can I take that to mean it was/is good? If you went away for a few hours, did you come back to a clean cabin? I'm not talking about nitpicky things, just basic cleanup....thanks.

 

For those without enough space, here's what I do on a cruise ship (besides vowing to pack less the next trip, which doesn't seem to happen): Put the life jackets together on the floor of the closet and put foldable items like sweaters and t-shirts in the space where the life jackets were. I also put away stuff I won't need (e.g., hair dryer) and if anything I doubt I'll use until later (e.g., heavy coat) I just put it in the suitcase I've shoved under the bed.

 

Our cabin steward and his assistant were fantastic. We wanted for nothing in our cabin, except space :)

 

There aren't any life jackets in the cabins, and I'm quite sure there wouldn't be any place for them except maybe under the bed. We had a verandah cabin, and the only drawer in the desk is the roll out mini-bar, and there's not any sort of shelving or tower above the desk for books and things like that. The nightstands each have one shallow drawer, good for eyeglasses and the like and a cubby below. In the shelving area next to the bathroom door there are three shallow drawers and the safe. Also there is the cubby for the coffee pot and a shelf above that. There's a high shelf in the closet, but the closet is hard to get to because the bed is in front of it. I had a 25 year career as a flight attendant, and I know how to pack, and I know how to stow stuff. We had clothes piled up on the chairs because there was no place for them, and crap everywhere. It made me crazy because I like everything put away in my cabin.

 

The bathroom seemed to have enough space, but that may be because I left all my notions hanging in the bag I pack them in and hung the bag on the bathroom door like I did when I was still working.

[PopsA]

I agree with those who say that this is a brand new cruise ship from a brand new cruise line and glitches are to be expected. HOWEVER, the fares are the same as they will be once these issues are all worked out( assuming they are.) It would be much easier to overlook them if there had been introductory fares similar to preview prices at a Broadway show prior to opening night while they work on the production. jmo.

 

Viking had no problem selling out this cruise, or for that matter most of their cruises for the rest of 2016, and a lot of 2017. From a business perspective, why would you lower you fare when you are selling out the current rates you are charging.

 

I think it's rare to find cruisers who have been on a maiden voyage of a new ship, that is also launching a new company too. The chances of the maiden voyage coming off without a hitch were zero from the beginning. Most of us prior to the cruise we're excited to be part of the double launch. And now that the cruise is underway it feels like the expectation has shifted from the excitement of being part of something new to this ship should be operating at the peak of proficiency.

 

For any of the cruisers who are on "The Passage Through Western Europe" leg there has already been a reduction in fare due to schedule changes. And from my own personal experiences with Viking, if you have a negative experience, they will try to compensate you with a voucher toward a future cruise.

 

Everyone has a right to the vacation value they believed their investment was providing them. I believe there also needs to be a modifier of the reality associated with a maiden voyage that can and will provide opportunities for improvement. I doubt any company launched their first ship and provided their inaugural passengers service far different that what Viking is providing on the Star on this cruise.

 

And again, this cruise, and most of 2016 sold out. So it was our choice to be part of this. I would hope that the excitement of being part of something new and exciting isn't completely washed away by problems that are identified, and hopefully improved and corrected, for our future cruises.

[amyr]

I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was truly an exciting experience, and the new ship smell was amazing. No odors in the buffet reminiscent of school cafeterias, no vague (or not so vague) whiffs of marine toilet :D Everything was fresh and new, and the crew was just so proud and so happy to see us.

 

I only had two concerns - the first being the storage space in the verandah cabin, and I hope my comments to Viking will give them pause when designing cabins for the future builds. As for me, if/when we book again on Star, we'll go up a cabin size.

 

My other constant problem was that we kept bumping up against closing times for the food. Buffet closing at 9:30 on a sea day (dining room at 9), lunch buffet from 12:00 until 2:00 and not reopening for dinner until 6:30, etc. My husband finally pointed out the possible reasoning for that, and I think he's right. It's the included wines and beers for lunch and dinner. If they open at 11:30 and stay open until 3:00, and opened back up at 5:00 for dinner (when I always wanted to eat after our excursions) where do you draw the line on the free flow if you say it's included with lunch and dinner? And make no mistake, it did flow freely. They had A LOT of servers in every venue, and they were right there whenever you needed anything.

 

All that other stuff is going to work out fine. Not everyone was unhappy, and most people I talked to understood we were all taking part in a new venture and were as excited about it as I was. One couple we met travels a lot on Crystal, and they said that at least in the 'hard product' Viking compares very well. They also thought the food was just as good, and time will iron out the serving problems, so they may give them a run for their money there too.

 

So, would I have liked to have paid less for a rocky maiden voyage? Sure. Do I think I should have? No. We got our money's worth and then some.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you for such a well balanced review AmyR. And thank you for sharing that you and most passengers really enjoyed your cruise.

[sitraveler]

FYI

We sail into Dubrovnik tomorrow again, no shuttle buses on the program this time.

Stay tuned

[Fuss]

Thanks AmyR!! Very nicely stated. My only comment is "what were they thinking of when they designed storage space in the veranda cabins!! Obviously no female had a hand in it[emoji4] We sail from Stockholm in just over 2 months -- that gives me time to seriously think about packing.

 

How much hanging space in the closets ? It might be worth bringing hangers from home and donating them to the cause!

 

Regardless , I am excited to sail. I'll deal with things as they come and chances are things will settle down and improve as time goes on. Thanks to the maiden voyagers! You are my hero's for braving it.

[toby4352]

Just wanted to say a Big Thank You to all these maiden cruisers, shaking out the Viking Star for those of us who will follow in your footsteps. We sail on July 25th out of Stockholm. It will be the last of the Viking Homeland cruises before moving south to the Mediterranean.

We know Viking will have the little kinks worked out and we'll report as we can. Even tho' we haven't sailed yet I think Viking knows it's hit this out of the box. They started building the two twin sister ships before the Star even sailed. 👍🚢🎉

[PopsA]

Thank you AmyR for your voice of reason. I gather from your post you enjoyed far more than anything that could have been improved upon. And instead of letting the items you felt could use improvement dominating your cruise, you did what you felt was right and reported them to Viking.

 

As for the lengthy lunches and early dinners, if I'm understand what you are saying, guests are looking to extend meals for more opportunity to partake in all the beer and wine that is available with those meals. I guess this is a to each there own. My opinion is the crew does need time to recover and setup for the next meal and cannot keep serving all afternoon to guests lingering for what ever reason.

 

And if anyone wants to drink beer or wine there are other bars open on the ship do to so. The only difference being you have to pay for those beverages.

 

It look at a cruise like this on a brand new ship like the days where I used to play golf. A bad day the golf course is better than a great day in the office. So a bad day day on the Star is far better than a great day at work or home. It's all about attitude and working with all the great stuff on board available to us that enables a wonderful vacation.

 

You had one AmyR, I plan to do the same.

[kathy9]

I agree with Amy about the storage and the closing times. You can not get breakfast food on the ship after 1000 am and don't forget folks on a sea day you are on vacation!

We were in a DV cabin and I thought the bathroom was great, the closet was very nice size and we got the requested extra hangers right away, but the drawer space is really lacking. Perhaps a small set of drawers could be built in the closet.

Our room attendant was excellent, he and his assistant had 18 rooms to clean.... Seems like a lot to me!

What ever we requested he would get for us.

The main issues we had were with the excursions (one left with out us) and the lack of trained waiters in The Restrauant. You could see some were completely overwhelmed and the meal could take hours, hopefully the head waiters will work with them.

I would sail Viking Oceans again but I need to convince my DH ....

[Chico Mima]

Thank you to all you maiden voyagers who have taken the time out of your busy days to "report" back home to those of us anxiously awaiting our turn. I have tuned in daily and have been surprised at some of the comments. So, thank you to Vineyard View and amyr for being a voice of reason. I have no doubt Viking will respond to complaints and will work out some of the mis steps. They have too much riding on this not to be successful in this venue. So for us later cruisers, we do appreciate all of the input you have given. It wil definitely make a difference for future voyages. We are also on the July 25th cruise out of Stockholm. Really looking forward to hearing what you have to say about the Northern Baltic ports. Also, did anyone purchase a drink package? If so, has it been worth it? We found on the river cruises it wasn't necessary. Happy sailing. Don't forget how lucky you are to be experiencing all of this, good and bad. Life is an adventure.

[LadyVol1]

We've ordered room service three times since April 11 and still haven't gotten a complete order. Today we ordered an easy (IMO) breakfast: 2 coffee, cream, 2 toasted bagels, jam, butter, honey and 2 muesli. The delivered tray did not have cream, jam, butter or honey and the 2 cups were dirty. In my opinion, Viking has a ways to go in order to deliver service levels that match what they've advertised. I realize it's only been 12 days, but this room service order and the cleanliness of the dishes seem pretty basic to me. (I did report these issues so that Viking can work on them for future cruisers.)

[OBX Cruisers]

:) Hope you'll join a really nice group over on our Roll Call. It's close to the top now - "Viking Star Stockholm to Bergen July 25, 2015." Chico Mima is there too.

[TERRIER1]

We've ordered room service three times since April 11 and still haven't gotten a complete order. Today we ordered an easy (IMO) breakfast: 2 coffee, cream, 2 toasted bagels, jam, butter, honey and 2 muesli. The delivered tray did not have cream, jam, butter or honey and the 2 cups were dirty. In my opinion, Viking has a ways to go in order to deliver service levels that match what they've advertised. I realize it's only been 12 days, but this room service order and the cleanliness of the dishes seem pretty basic to me. (I did report these issues so that Viking can work on them for future cruisers.)

 

This is not an new build quirk or kink. This is a service issue that is really not acceptable.

[amyr]

As for the lengthy lunches and early dinners, if I'm understand what you are saying, guests are looking to extend meals for more opportunity to partake in all the beer and wine that is available with those meals. I guess this is a to each there own. My opinion is the crew does need time to recover and setup for the next meal and cannot keep serving all afternoon to guests lingering for what ever reason.

 

No, I didn't at all mean that people were looking to over indulge. It wasn't like that at all, and I think a lot of people had packages anyway. It just simply occurred to us that when they were working out meal times and the timing of included beverages, they probably said "Okay, lunch is from noon until 2:00, dinner from 6:30 to 9:00" and etc., and that's exactly when the doors opened. It's like that on the rivers, there's one dining room, the doors are closed, and they only open for specific hours. That seems to work for us on the rivers, but not on the oceans. We were consistently coming back from excursions between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, and on several occasions would have preferred an early dinner at 5-5:30 in the buffet without showering and changing. As it was, we had to wait until 6:30, and with all the struggles in the dining room, we were still in there at 9:00 sometimes. As the trip wore on and we became more acclimated to the time zone, that got easier too. It was just really hard in the beginning.

 

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).

[Vineyard View]

We were on a 21 day with HAL in October. They closed down breakfast before 10:00 every day, including sea days - both Buffet and restaurants. Lunch was also with limited hours. Sounds similar to the hours Viking is keeping.

I hear you Amyr about eating early.....we generally do at home as well. Restaurant hours on HAL were limited for all three main meals. Buffet was limited for breakfast and lunch, but I can honestly say we didn't try it for dinner so not sure about the buffet hours for dinner. On a couple days when we got back hungry and didn't want to wait for dinner hours, we ordered from room service. with the 24 hour room service we often used that in the mornings, or for something light after a nice lunch in port.

Rivers were limited hours as one would expect on such a small venu.....other cruises? I can't say that I kept track of restaurant hours, so can only comment to the one six months back.

[id4elizabeth]

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.

[sitraveler]

Unless they're printing 2 dailies, mine doesn't mention shuttles.

They did announce at 9am there would be shuttles.

 

Went to tea first time. BW ordered iced tea, waitress asked for room number it would be charged. She didn't know that when asked.