Top Things Right and Wrong on board the star

[OneBag]

Thanks LadyVol1....just what I was hoping to hear.

 

Nevertheless, MVJ's Dining for our July 11 cruise still shows fixed as well as open seating, and the 6:30pm fixed is full.

 

The moral of the story is, with Viking, be prepared to be disappointed or pleasantly surprised at any point along the journey, starting at home with MVJ (which is a mess).

[sitraveler]

 

A quick question. I have booked our shore excursion in my account. Does this account have to be paid in advance of the trip?

 

 

Shore excursions must be paid before or they are NOT booked.

[jkerr]

Only the speciality resturants the Chef's Table and Manfredi's are by reservation. The World Cafe( buffet) and the sit down venue, The Resturant, are open sitting.We have just walked in and there are always tables available. We are a V2 cabin and were we able to make a reservation at Manfredi's when we boarded. There are so many places to eat and food is so good, you will not be disappointed. If you want to eat at 6:30 you will not have a problem. Because the sunset sets so late and the days are so long, most people eat much later in the evening.

[goksucats]

Shore excursions must be paid before or they are NOT booked.

 

If I recall when ours when we reserved ours, you can't even get them reserved on your calendar until you have paid.

[OneBag]

If I recall when ours when we reserved ours, you can't even get them reserved on your calendar until you have paid.

 

Or, in our case, you can indeed have them reserved on your calendar but showing as UNPAID even though they are paid. Don't ask me how, it's a Viking secret.

[goksucats]

Or, in our case, you can indeed have them reserved on your calendar but showing as UNPAID even though they are paid. Don't ask me how, it's a Viking secret.

 

Well.. interesting. Ours state "you have successfully booked this excursion" but I suppose it doesn't say it has been paid. But it also doesn't show that it is unpaid.

[OneBag]

Well.. interesting. Ours state "you have successfully booked this excursion" but I suppose it doesn't say it has been paid. But it also doesn't show that it is unpaid.

 

In our calendar, the times for booked tours (both included and *paid*) show up as solid colored blocks marking off the time for whichever one or both of us has booked and paid an excursion. The name of the excursion is there, but no mention of paid or not. I believe it is assumed that it is paid if it appears that way.

 

Then there are these other colored blocks for other excursions and these are not solid, they have diagonal lines across them with the words PAYMENT REQUIRED next to the name of the excursion. As has already been mentioned, if payment hasn't been made, that excursion is *not* booked. In fact, if I click on that diagonal striped box, it takes me to the popup description of the excursion and shows the following:

 

"Your reservation is not complete until confirmed through the checkout."

 

However, for us, we have paid for those excursions as well and have the email receipt from Viking showing them listed with the others. So go figure, but not your problem.

 

Now the rest of this is just for fun:

 

Under where it warns that "Your reservation is not complete..." there is a clickable GO TO CART box, presumably to allow me to pay for the excursion that I have already paid for. And when I click that, I get my shopping cart which says <<<drumroll please>>> "Your cart is currently empty." Under that there are words that invite me to add things to my cart. And I can do that, I can add things to my cart but it doesn't matter how many things I add to the cart, the cart is always empty.

 

Except it's not! There's a little numeral at the top menu where it says Shopping Cart and if I put something new in the cart, that number increases by 1. And Viking Woodland Hills can see all that stuff in my cart, though I cannot. And they are as puzzled as I am. This appears to be a permanent condition.

 

It as though they hired Joseph Heller to design MyVikingJourney.

Edited May 19, 2015 by OneBag

[Ontario/AZ]

Thanks all. We will pay them in the next few weeks. Kind of hoping the Canadian dollar would do a bit better!

[cassandra44]

CAD climbing up....sloooowly.....But once oil prices start to rise all will be well :-)

[OneBag]

The broken shopping cart, inaccurate calendar, and out of date excursions pages at my and my husband's My Viking Journey pages have been fixed. It took a long time, but at least it was fixed well in advance of our July 11 departure. All our paid excursions are showing as paid, the calendar no longer shows unpaid paid excursions, we can now see accurate information regarding sold out excursions, changes to times, etc., and our shopping carts function again. Yay! :)

[Ontario/AZ]

Thanks all. We will pay them in the next few weeks. Kind of hoping the Canadian dollar would do a bit better!

 

Wish I had paid for the excursions that were in my shopping cart. I waited a week and 2 were sold out so we had to choose 2 others. Disappointed as I didn't know how long we had to wait to pay. Everything is now paid. :)

[filbert-kc]

It would be really nice if Viking would give any kind of prior notice before hosing down the verandas. Today makes twice now on our stay on Viking Star that I have looked out to see a crewman hosing things down. The first time I complained to Karl the general manager, and was assured that it would not happen again.

 

It did.

 

This happens to be a particular pet peeve of mine: I'm fine with cruise ships doing whatever maintenance they need to do. But veranda cleaning isn't any kind of emergency thing, it's routine maintenance. A civilized cruise ship gives guests some prior notice of this kind of veranda maintenance, but no, apparently Viking feels no need to give their guests that kind of consideration. (I said it was a pet peeve, yes?)

 

It would also be convenient if they would actually close the veranda dividers when they were done (mine is still wide open to my neighbor's stateroom veranda, at 7 pm ship's time).

 

Now, to be fair, I do not recall off the top of my head if Viking ever advertised private verandas . . .

[algaes]

Early on there were letters dropped off in rooms advising of veranda washdowns the next day. Obviously the practice stopped.

 

Someone didn't coordinate with the painting maintenance crew who were touching up the railing areas outside World Cafe today only to have their fresh paint soaked. Wonder if that will set properly.

[algaes]

Observed an irate elderly couple at 10:50pm trying to get Explorer's Desk personnel to take seriously a discrepancy in instructions between the disembarkation letter and this evening's Viking Daily.

 

One says proceed off the ship at the time in your letter and the other says meet in Star Theatre for processing at your designated time. They had a very early departure time (I think he said 5:50am) and were trying to get this settled so they could get to sleep.

 

This is Star's 4th time at disembarking passengers and the maiden voyage excuse is wearing thin.

[TERRIER1]

This is Star's 4th time at disembarking passengers and the maiden voyage excuse is wearing thin.

 

According to wikipedia this is the definition of a maiden voyage:

 

The maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it.

 

Was there ever a shakedown journey with only the crew? Does Viking Oceans consider the maiden voyage the first year :D. Problems should have been solved a while ago. I think they should compensate everyone who sail with them until they get things straightened out.

[PopsA]

Was there ever a shakedown journey with only the crew? Does Viking Oceans consider the maiden voyage the first year :D. Problems should have been solved a while ago. I think they should compensate everyone who sail with them until they get things straightened out.

 

 

Yes, there was a shakedown with Viking employees and family members. One of the concerns here on CC was "I hope nobody sleeps in my cabin before me".

 

By your logic cruise line companies would be compensating passengers as long as they continue to offer cruises. There will always be bumps in the road when dealing with passengers and vacations. Just because a TV is out for a few hours doesn't warrant compensation.

 

I'm sure there are many passengers, myself included, who expected a trade off between almost everything going right and the excitement of participating in a maiden voyage. Does Viking expect compensation for us talking about how we were on their maiden voyage? Not that I've seen. And I'm pretty sure almost everyone who sailed on the maiden voyage will tell all their friends, and everyone they meet on future cruises, how they sailed on The Viking Star's maiden voyage. The only difference is most of us will have nothing but good stories to tell. There are a few who may still be complaining, but then again, they will likely be complaining about whatever situation they find themselves in.

[jkerr]

Totally agree PopsA. It was pleasure to be a part of the Maiden Voyage. It is a beautiful ship. Even the Veranda rooms were spacious. We had no coffee pot but room service delivered coffee within 5 minutes of our phone request every morning. The open spaces never seemed crowded. We were sitted immediately when we entered The Resturant. There was never a shortage of seating in the dining venues.

We were able to make reservations in Manfredi's upon boarding and were able to eat there as many times a s we liked.

Wine and beer is definitely free flow. Bar prices are very reasonable, food was incredible.

This was a fabluous way to see the Baltics. We stayed on board and watched the Christening from the ship and is was a thrill to be a part of the festivities. People who cancelled based on reviews they read on this website and have cancelled the trip of a lifetime.

[avonglen]

Totally agree PopsA. It was pleasure to be a part of the Maiden Voyage. It is a beautiful ship. Even the Veranda rooms were spacious. We had no coffee pot but room service delivered coffee within 5 minutes of our phone request every morning. The open spaces never seemed crowded. We were sitted immediately when we entered The Resturant. There was never a shortage of seating in the dining venues.

We were able to make reservations in Manfredi's upon boarding and were able to eat there as many times a s we liked.

Wine and beer is definitely free flow. Bar prices are very reasonable, food was incredible.

This was a fabluous way to see the Baltics. We stayed on board and watched the Christening from the ship and is was a thrill to be a part of the festivities. People who cancelled based on reviews they read on this website and have cancelled the trip of a lifetime.

Good to read something positive for a change - restored my faith in humanity!!Would love to hear more about the Christening (maybe photos??) as viewed from the Star.

[id4elizabeth]

I'm claiming victory in the iced tea wars. There is now a tap in both the port and starboard juice machines! Victory at last! Applause please!!! :D

[captainmcd]

I think that our expectations determine our opinion of the cruise. I booked this cruise from the perspective of someone who has worked on many ships over the years. I know how difficult it is for a crew member to learn the ship, especially learn working for a new company with forms and procedures. A newly built ship always has bugs to be worked out. For that reason I did not have very high expectations and was not troubled by the glitches encountered. There could have been a total blackout, lights not working, toilets not flushing, propeller not turning, etc. Things went better than I expected. I think that Viking will correct the problems they are having. In the spectrum of problems they are small problems.

 

Yes, there was a shakedown with Viking employees and family members. One of the concerns here on CC was "I hope nobody sleeps in my cabin before me".

 

By your logic cruise line companies would be compensating passengers as long as they continue to offer cruises. There will always be bumps in the road when dealing with passengers and vacations. Just because a TV is out for a few hours doesn't warrant compensation.

 

I'm sure there are many passengers, myself included, who expected a trade off between almost everything going right and the excitement of participating in a maiden voyage. Does Viking expect compensation for us talking about how we were on their maiden voyage? Not that I've seen. And I'm pretty sure almost everyone who sailed on the maiden voyage will tell all their friends, and everyone they meet on future cruises, how they sailed on The Viking Star's maiden voyage. The only difference is most of us will have nothing but good stories to tell. There are a few who may still be complaining, but then again, they will likely be complaining about whatever situation they find themselves in.

[jiminyC_fan]

I think that our expectations determine our opinion of the cruise. I booked this cruise from the perspective of someone who has worked on many ships over the years. I know how difficult it is for a crew member to learn the ship, especially learn working for a new company with forms and procedures. A newly built ship always has bugs to be worked out. For that reason I did not have very high expectations and was not troubled by the glitches encountered. There could have been a total blackout, lights not working, toilets not flushing, propeller not turning, etc. Things went better than I expected. I think that Viking will correct the problems they are having. In the spectrum of problems they are small problems.

 

I have experienced a maiden voyage. Not Viking but a different line. It didn't run smoothly for a year. I totally agree with you and it's refreshing to read that someone truly understands what it's like and not bashing Viking for glitches.

[Vineyard View]

We had a fantastic 29 day sailing on the Star - Barcelona-Stockholm. I posted my review on another thread. Was it perfect? No. the excursions dept needs improvement. We didn't use them much, but what we did we weren't impressed for the most part. There were some billing issues as well - we directed them with Viking while on board as well as excursion concerns. Internet wasn't great, but it was better than other cruise lines. Yes, there are areas of opportunity and improvement, and I do understand that once we boarded in Barcelona that a number of initial problems had been and were being resolved.

That said -

Food was excellent & No waiting in restaurants

Captain and crew were great - as in life some more excellent than others

Room stewards - excellent. No issues with ice, mini bar replenishment of what we requested daily, room upkeep, replenishment of products, extra pillows when requested..

Comfortable bed. Penthouse verandah had plenty of storage. Shower,bath great

The spa, pools, drinks and refills, service, positive warm attitudes from staff...

I am so glad that we travelled on the Star. And I have to agree with PopsA assessment.

Maybe we were on a different Viking Star than some were on. I can only say what we experienced.