Live from the Viking Star

[rjscott]

Roothy,

I saw on another tbread you had asked about the binoculars. They are indeed in the cabins. We found them in the cubby under the flip-up desk panel. Nice, compact ones.

 

Becki

[roothy123]

Roothy,

I saw on another tbread you had asked about the binoculars. They are indeed in the cabins. We found them in the cubby under the flip-up desk panel. Nice, compact ones.

 

Becki

 

Thank you; that's one less thing to bring.

 

Thanks also for posting about Athens. I've been waffling on what to do there. I have never made the long climb to the top of the Acropolis.

 

Hope you get to post again, but don't worry about us armchair travelers at home if you can't. I usually start a cruise with good intentions of emailing our pet/house sitter each day, but as the cruise goes on, the emails get less frequent - too busy, too tired, or too cheap to pay for WiFi, although with the WiFi included on Star, I will at least try!

 

Enjoy beautiful Santorini.

[rjscott]

We are back on the ship after a fantastic day in Santorini. It was another beautiful day, weather- wise, and our tour was one of the first to be tendered. We had decided to take the included tour, 'Summits & Countryside'. We were met at the tender pier by Agatha, our very enthusiastic tour guide. She gave us a lot of history of Santorini as we drove around the island and we stopped for various photo ops. Agatha also gave us info on the neighboring island of Thira and the earthquake that devastated Santorini in the '50's. We made a stop in Oia and had about an hour to explore and/or do some shopping. We chose to take the route Agatha recommended to get those picture postcard shots, and we were not disappointed. From Oia, we returned to Fira, and had the rest of our time in port to wander around Fira Before taking the cable car down to the tender area to return to the ship. We took the opportunity to have a light lunch in a café overlooking the water, with a view of our ship and the Costa Mediterranean. We then did a bit of shopping and our friend took a donkey down, while the other 3 of us took the cable car. About a 10 min wait for the cable car, and another 10 min wait to board the tender. Not bad at all.

 

We will end our day with dinner in The Restaurant.

[SmilingTraveler64]

Sounds wonderful!:)

[rjscott]

Sounds wonderful!:)

 

Thank you, it is!

 

Becki

[Vineyard View]

Enjoyed reading your upbeat positive review! Thank you for sharing!

[Katgoesonholiday]

I'm loving your review! Thank you for taking the time to post.

[cassandra44]

We are very anxious about the dining since we cant make any reservations.

Would really appreciate hearing about early dining around 6.30-7

[roothy123]

We made a stop in Oia and had about an hour to explore and/or do some shopping. We chose to take the route Agatha recommended to get those picture postcard shots, and we were not disappointed.

 

Curious about this: did Agatha recommend going all the way down to an old fort? Could you see windmills from where you went? Oia is SO beautiful....

[rjscott]

Cassandra,

Actually, the open dining seems to be working quite well. We went last night when they opened at 6:30 and there were only about another 10 people there already. We were seated promptly at a table for four, but if you have a larger group, there were several tables available to accommodate groups of 6-8, and even 2- top could be pushed together to accommodate groups of any size.

We ' ve gone as late as 7:30 and also been seated promptly at that hour.

 

Becki

[rjscott]

Roothy,

Yes, the direction that Agatha suggested we walk for the best photos in Oia did take us to the old fort. Those views! I could have stayed another day there just taking it all in. Yes, we did see the windmills also. So different from what we're used to.

We are having the calmest seas we have ever experienced out of 20 some cruises. Of course, more motion than a river cruise, but, surprisingly, not a whole lot given the size of the ship. I'm sure the lovely weather we've been having is greatly contributing to that, so here's hoping it lasts! :)

 

Day at sea today

 

Becki

[rjscott]

Today we spent most of the day around the infinity pool. The weather was a bit cool and windy, but the sun kept it nice and warm. The husbands got into the infinity pool and seam around a bit. It is 5'10" deep. Soon some others joined them. Then they alternated between the pool and the hot tub. My husband decided he wanted to swim some laps, so padded down to the midship pool, where there were lots of people relaxing on loungers, but no one in the cooler water. He enjoyed the opportunity to swim his laps and we then sat in the sun back on the aft Aquavit Terrace.

We decided to have lunch there on the Aquavit Terrace, so found a table and went through the line inside to select our lunch choices. There are two separate lines serving a variety of meats, pastas and sandwiches for lunch. There is wait service for drinks.

 

Tonight is the event for the Explorer's Society, Viking returning passengers.

 

Tomorrow is Kotor, Montenegro.

 

Becki

[cassandra44]

Thanks for that Becki! That sounds good....

..but we did see another post that said on the maiden voyage there are only 600 rather than 900 passengers so we will see if that can be confirmed. Hopefully by the end of May if there are issues Viking will find a way to make things work.

In any event the ports of call are the main attraction for us....

[roothy123]

Thanks for that Becki! That sounds good....

..but we did see another post that said on the maiden voyage there are only 600 rather than 900 passengers so we will see if that can be confirmed. Hopefully by the end of May if there are issues Viking will find a way to make things work.

In any event the ports of call are the main attraction for us....

I wouldn't worry, Cassandra. This is the first week for new crew, ship, line, passengers, etc. There's a guy on our roll call who has been on a maiden cruise. He says what's being reported for Star this week is peanuts compared to what he experienced on his maiden voyage. Now, the line he was on (Disney) gets great reviews. The important stuff will be ironed out. The rest may get better, or maybe not, as I don't think Viking ever planned this cruise line to compete with the megaships who can justify having many, many more services. I know I have been sounding like a Pollyanna when I post (and I'm planning to bite my tongue and post less), but quite honestly, I believe Viking will turn out to be an excellent line for those of us who like port-intensive, rather unusual itineraries on a less crowded ship that has good food and service and a functional stateroom at a competitive price The rest is just icing on the cake for me, as I seldom use all the other stuff (spa, stores, activities, casinos, movies, shows, climbing walls, etc.) I'm always out in the ports during the day, and with few sea days, that leaves only enough time to enjoy a nice meal, chill, and prepare for the next day. But I'm a weirdo, I guess...and I've never been on a cruise ship for more than 2 weeks, so perhaps those things are more important when you're on a ship for 50 days.

 

I'm just glad Becki is posting at least something about the ports, excursions, etc. We're on the same itinerary in the fall so it has been helpful to me. I'm fully expecting people to ask why in the heck Viking goes to Pula, which will make me laugh, as my husband and I are usually the ones who have the most fun in oddball places like that!

[coco-girl]

I wouldn't worry, Cassandra. This is the first week for new crew, ship, line, passengers, etc. There's a guy on our roll call who has been on a maiden cruise. He says what's being reported for Star this week is peanuts compared to what he experienced on his maiden voyage. Now, the line he was on (Disney) gets great reviews. The important stuff will be ironed out. The rest may get better, or maybe not, as I don't think Viking ever planned this cruise line to compete with the megaships who can justify having many, many more services. I know I have been sounding like a Pollyanna when I post (and I'm planning to bite my tongue and post less), but quite honestly, I believe Viking will turn out to be an excellent line for those of us who like port-intensive, rather unusual itineraries on a less crowded ship that has good food and service and a functional stateroom at a competitive price The rest is just icing on the cake for me, as I seldom use all the other stuff (spa, stores, activities, casinos, movies, shows, climbing walls, etc.) I'm always out in the ports during the day, and with few sea days, that leaves only enough time to enjoy a nice meal, chill, and prepare for the next day. But I'm a weirdo, I guess...and I've never been on a cruise ship for more than 2 weeks, so perhaps those things are more important when you're on a ship for 50 days.

 

I'm just glad Becki is posting at least something about the ports, excursions, etc. We're on the same itinerary in the fall so it has been helpful to me. I'm fully expecting people to ask why in the heck Viking goes to Pula, which will make me laugh, as my husband and I are usually the ones who have the most fun in oddball places like that!

 

 

I am loving your work Roothy :-)

[cassandra44]

Roothy.... Thanks for that. I must say we like the same things - I never use the spa, stores, or the casino and would never ever go on those mega ships with climbing walls etc....well maybe if we took our grandchilden but never otherwise! Our preferred line up till now has definitely been Oceania but we loved the Viking river experiences and wanted to give them a try.

We always choose a cruise based on the destinations and quite often we join groups on cruise critic for private excursions so we have smaller groups.

On days at sea we like to find quiet spaces to read our kindles but this upcoming Baltic cruise is very port intensive so there won't be much time for that!

I am sorry if we have sounded flustered about dining arrangements. We were thrown for a bit of a loop when we found it was fixed dining and we couldnt book anything at all ....we've never been in that situation before so I'm sure you can understand the concern about early dining because we are aiming to get off the ship early every day. We never eat later than 7.30 and so there is some concern. Hopefully it will all work out.

Just hope we can manage one time in Manfredi's just to give it a try!

Viking is flying us into Stockholm from Heathrow (we are doing a deviation via UK) and we arrive rather late - around 5:50 so it's going to be a bit tight on our first evening!

[juliesaddiction]

this is the best Posting to be following!! My mom and I get on in Bergen on May 16 (after we take our pre cruise trip to Iceland). Its nice to know things are getting worked through and hopefully by the time we get on there will be few bumps in the road. We too booked several years ago and were able to pick up the Iceland pre tour when someone cancelled at Payment time. I am excited to see how Viking does Oceans, we have loved Viking River cruises. It will probably be our last with Viking though.....that prepayment so far in advance is killer, which is too bad, they are a great company.

[roothy123]

Thanks, coco girl!

[rjscott]

We too cruise for the ports. We like a port intensive cruise. My husband has been to two of the lectures because that's what he likes. He does enjoy a swim, so enjoys that aspect of the Star, but we normally retreat to our cabin after dinner to read. We are not casino goer's or spa people, either, although the spa onboard is really lovely.

Regarding the # of passengers onboard; the number I keep hearing is around 750. And yesterday at the Explorer's Society event, the Captain announced that 640 of all passengers were Explorers, so a high percentage.

We are cruising thru the fjord into Kotor this morning, and it is really lovely. Be sure to get up early , if you can, to experience the sail- in.

 

Becki

[CTLeeA]

Just wondering if V. has onboard games of any sort or decks of cards for guests....of course we'd like to bring a minimum of things like that.

[rjscott]

CTLee,

There are some games on level 2. There are checkers and Monopoly and Scrabble that I've seen, as well as some decks of cards. There are probably more, but those were the ones out on tables.

 

Becki

[lahlah57]

I really feel a little more optimistic for our January voyage.

I was getting awful close to canceling if I didn't hear something good and stick with Crystal!

I appreciate the improving tone of you folks! Growing pains can be a killer for any new company.

We loved Vikings river cruises but oceans is vastly different with many more amenities and that is what we are paying for besides the ports.

Their brochures make it appear so different than what I have been initially reading!

Thankyou all for keeping me from calling my agent and throwing Viking overboard;)

[CTLeeA]

CTLee,

There are some games on level 2. There are checkers and Monopoly and Scrabble that I've seen, as well as some decks of cards. There are probably more, but those were the ones out on tables.

 

Becki

 

Thank you, Becki.

[rjscott]

Our tour of Kotor, which included the boat trip to the church of Our Lady of the Rocks, a lovely church out in the bay, was cut short today. We visited the church first, which was a great start. We boarded the boat right outside the pier and had a nice sightseeing ride to the island the church sits on. The little church is very pretty and we went into other areas of the building to see some paintiings and artifacts from the church. Very interesting.

 

We then rode to Perast where we had some free time before going back to Kotor for our walking tour of the town. However, while walking along the road, my husband turned his ankle and fell, spraining his ankle and scuffing his knee. The Viking people were very helpful, getting us a local to give us a ride to our bus, getting a wheelchair to get my husband to the ship from the bus and then to the medical center. The Dr. checked him out, gave him an ankle support for the sprain and wheeled him to our cabin. He had to ice his ankle for the next 6 hrs, so we did not go on our walking tour of Kotor. However, I did get him settled, our room steward brought him ice for his foot, I got him room service for lunch and I went to explore Kotor on my own. The town is very visually appealling, with all the old structures so well maintained, and with their colorful shutters. I found myself just wandering taking photos that caught my eye.

 

My husband felt well enough to venture out of the cabin for dinner, so we joined our friends in The Restaurant at 7 pm. The line was nearly to the door, but we didn't have even a 10 minute wait. Dinner was so good tonight. I had the lamb chops and the others had the roast beef of sirloin. Cherries jubilee for dessert.

 

Becki

[Azulann]

Becki,

Oh, so sorry your husband turned his ankle. At least it was not broken. Glad he was able go to the dinning room tonight for the lovely dinner.

Hope he will be able to join you on your next port tour.