Some observations around the few who weren't so happy

[Fairfield Nana]

My wife and I and another couple are on the Star Viking Homeland cruise in July 2016, and I have been glued to the commentary posted by many of y'all regarding this maiden voyage. I really appreciate your comments and sincerely trust that Viking Mgmt is paying attention to some of the "challenges" you have pointed out, as well as their strengths. I feel very comfortable that our future cruise next summer will be an even larger success, due in large part to your honest comments. Thank you!!

[cassandra44]

My husband and i are really enjoying the cruise. A few glitches re excursions...guides not being familiar with Quietvox for example and A/C issue on the long Berlin excursion but overall a great experience.

On the subject of reviews of the inaugural cruise i just want to say that I think all the reviews were helpful....and im sure Viking took all the comments into account.

[roothy123]

Avonglen - Perhaps Viking is adjusting or changing port calls based on early feedback and/or logistical difficulties, time to get there, overfilled port schedules, etc. It is, however, disappointing to see something you've signed up for changed for the next year's cruise. I'm a bit worried that since some people complained about Pula, Croatia in April, that stop will be changed. I'm looking forward to it, but of course, if it's changed, I'll just have to find something else to look forward to!

 

I can assure you that you're likely to find the "new"cities to be fabulous. We went to 3 of them last year on our cruise last year and loved them. We haven't been to Bordeaux, but Lisbon and Barcelona were fabulous, and Gib was pure fun - plus it's a stop outside the EU that allows a cruise line to avoid some high VAT taxes that Spain and Italy are requiring to be passed on for entire cruises departing from their countries.

 

Good luck on your wait! I hear ya!

[traveltwin]

i'm new to these boards, and have only been on a Seabourn Caribbean trip two years ago, Alaska educational trip many many years ago --- and many river trips with Smithsonian, Grand Circle, Viking. I have loved the river trips because of the freedom it gives to wander on your own since you're docked so near the towns.

We are going on 6/27 on the Star -- eagerly looking forward to it. OF COURSE there are logistics and glitches to be worked out on a totally new ship, number of people, itineraries.

That's part of the price of being on the first year....

We will surely avoid the naysayers -- i do in my life at home too. Life is too short.

Here is a question -- it sounds as though there is little walking around time on the stops.

We have been to St Petersburg and will have a couple of predays on our own in Stockholm. It sounds as though there were some issues of just time getting on and off buses. Are places like Gdansk worth the hassle if all you do is ride in a bus? Any other ports to skip the bus??? I'm perfectly happy staying on a ship while everyone goes.

Thanks.

[roothy123]

Are places like Gdansk worth the hassle if all you do is ride in a bus? Any other ports to skip the bus??? I'm perfectly happy staying on a ship while everyone goes.

Thanks.

 

Just my opinion, and haven't been on Viking Star yet, but from my experience on another ocean line on the Baltic, plus doing a lot of reading:

 

I assume you saw another post about the bus trip to Gdansk. At least for what was offered on the maiden voyage, it was not entirely a bus trip, but yes, any tour will require a bus trip of to get there, as you don't dock right in Gdansk. I think the poster said it was about an hour, but perhaps that included a short stop at a church; can't remember. I think they had 2 hours in Old Town Gdansk, especially if you didn't go with the guide the whole time. That's enough to see a lot in Old Town. I would definitely go if you've not been to Gdansk. Some of the Viking tours seem to have time at the end for wandering or sitting down for a cup of coffee, or whatever. If nothing else, you could use that time to do a minimal amount of wandering.

 

My Viking Journey should give you an idea of what kind of excursion it is. "Panoramic" usually implies mostly bus touring, which is more likely in the bigger cities, and especially those which have an old, pedestrian-only center city. In many ocean cruise ports, it's possible but not easy to use the included tour as a starting point and coming back on your own after more exploring, assuming the bus actually stops! However, if you're a newbie to ocean cruising, that probably won't appeal to you much, as cabs or public transportation would be required, and sometimes local money.

 

I think you're going to Berlin and Gdansk. Berlin requires a bus ride to get there and back (or in the case of Berlin, a train if you want to go on your own). Warnemunde is a nice but not ostentatious resorty place, or you can easily find the train station there and go to Rostock, Schwerin or Berlin if you don't want a long bus ride. I liked both Berlin and Warnemunde. The effort to get to Berlin was worth it to me as I had lived in Germany and wanted to see Berlin post-Wall, but some may not want to make the trek.

Gdansk I've touched on.

 

I just read about the Helsinki included tour on a blog by "Ukalady" - did you see that? See http://oceancruisenewbie.com/2015/06/helsinki-spring-is-here-including-lilies-of-the-valley/ Having a bus and walking tour allowed them to go to more places than I did when I went there on my own, although I DID include a short ferry ride in lieu of some of the Helsinki highlights. Unless you get really lucky with docking location, Helsinki is a short ride to town, but yes, a ride. In Copenhagen on another cruise line we docked fairly close to the famous mermaid, and then it was a short way to a waterbus that took me to various sites I wanted to see. Not sure what Viking's included tour involves, so can't really say more about Copenhagen. Tallinn Old Town isn't far from dock, so I'm guessing there might be a combination of walking and riding there. I've been to Norway, but not the ports on your cruise, so have no clue what they involve.

 

I'm the type of person who never stays on the ship in ANY port I go to, but of course others may be different, especially if they have been to a place already, are averse to buses or crowds, or have mobility challenges. If you want more specific info on the ports and tours, you may get more help if you post a new thread, and ask for info on the ports and tours you'll be visiting.

Edited June 9, 2015 by roothy123

[traveltwin]

thanks, Roothy. We spent some time in Berlin a couple of years ago. I plan to just go with the flow and probably make some last minute decisions.

Do you know anything about rough seas on this route?

One thing occurs to me about all these reviews -- as humans we are all totally different with different expectations, etc. Just as when someone tells you about their favorite restaurant or pizza place and you go there and aren't so impressed....

[roothy123]

thanks, Roothy. We spent some time in Berlin a couple of years ago. I plan to just go with the flow and probably make some last minute decisions.

Do you know anything about rough seas on this route?

One thing occurs to me about all these reviews -- as humans we are all totally different with different expectations, etc. Just as when someone tells you about their favorite restaurant or pizza place and you go there and aren't so impressed....

 

Yes, I totally agree with you on your last sentence. I tend to love the off the beaten track places, but some people think those places are boring! Oh well, it's a good thing there are PLENTY of vacation choices out there!

 

I don't remember any rough seas in the Baltic, but of course, weather can be fickle, plus I've learned to not worry about it, as I've never gotten sick or lost my balance or anything bad! I only read a couple things on here from people who were anticipating them there, but then I never really heard much about them. I wouldn't worry about it, though. Modern cruise ships have stabilizers and despite feeling more movement than on river boats, we've seldom run into any truly rough seas. Mostly the ship moves at night, which helps make things less noticeable even if you DO experience them! I forget where the dining venues on Star are located, but I think they're down towards the bottom. If so, that's an excellent place in terms of ship movement. Oceania's specialty restaurants are way up top, which is the place where you normally feel movement the most. It makes for an occasional wobbly walk to and from your table! I think Star's placement of restaurants makes more sense. In any case, should you experience any wobble, don't worry about walking a straight line, go with the flow and don't dwell on the movement. Also, remember there's a nurse and doctor on board for advice, and if they're anything like the ones on Oceania, they don't charge much, either!

 

What I found slightly annoying in the Baltic were the frequent time changes (but just an hour at a time!) and the many currencies involved. If you just use the Viking tours you probably won't need anything besides the occasional euro, but I'm a really independent soul and needed local money in some ports for public transportation. Swedish & Danish kroner, zloty in Poland, lats in Latvia, and Russian rubles (didn't get any), forget if Norway used euros or something else, plus euros - whew! The Baltic was wonderful.....and I'm jealous about you going to those "Viking homelands" ports. Our cruise included 2 Norway ports but not the ones you're going to. It's expensive up there, though - another "whew" for prices up there!

Edited June 9, 2015 by roothy123

[avonglen]

Many thanks for your words of encouragement Roothy123. Having accepted that changes happen, I have, as you say, found other things on the cruise to look forward to!

[roothy123]

What I found slightly annoying in the Baltic were the frequent time changes (but just an hour at a time!) and the many currencies involved. If you just use the Viking tours you probably won't need anything besides the occasional euro, but I'm a really independent soul and needed local money in some ports for public transportation. Swedish & Danish kroner, zloty in Poland, lats in Latvia, and Russian rubles (didn't get any), forget if Norway used euros or something else, plus euros - whew! The Baltic was wonderful.....and I'm jealous about you going to those "Viking homelands" ports. Our cruise included 2 Norway ports but not the ones you're going to. It's expensive up there, though - another "whew" for prices up there!

Oh, and one more thing: Since there are multiple time changes in the Baltic (at least on the itinerary I took - but may be different for you!): If you think you'll need wake up calls, don't use your cellphone/smartphone for that. Some don't always flip over to the local time. If Viking doesn't have alarm clocks, bring a small travel alarm and use it, re-setting it after each time change. (Viking will put info on time changes in the daily paper.)

[Vineyard View]

Avonglen, we had some itinerary changes as well. A full day for Paris/France and a full day in London was dropped, as well as sailing the fjord to Flam. We received that news less than 3 months out. A lot of us were up in arms.

DH and I decided to get over 'our mad' (took a little work!), and not let it spoil the trip because what good would that do? We ended up sailing way up to Rouen, which most cruise ships do not do so that those going to Paris did not have the 3 hr each way bus ride most cruise lines have, and we sailed up the Thames further than any cruise ship had ever done of our size, which allowed us to take the water taxi into town - we had an extra day in Bergen, so did the Norway in a Nutshell (in the pouring rain) and made it to Flam and back to Bergen in a 13 hr day. Still wish we would have had two days in France and London - they were key decision makers for us paying 2 years in advance. But it didn't happen, and we still had a fabulous time. Maybe Viking is changing some of your early ports so you will have extra times in London/Paris? I Don't know.

Regarding Rough seas - coming out of Gibralter we rocked a bit for a couple nights and part of a day. And Coming out of Stavanger the seas were high that night. It is a small ship, and even with stabilizers you are going to feel the sea more than you will on a big 3,000-5,000 pax ship. No way around that. But we found it actually made for good sleeping for the most part! Baltic was smooth sailing for us.

 

Regarding excursions - hopefully they will improve this category - but as I said earlier we generally DIY in ports so the impact to us was minimal. Many/most ports you can walk into from the ship. Exceptions are Gdansk, Berlin, St Petersburg. I commented on those ports on another thread I started after being on board 1 week.

Yes, do not trust your cell time - you will change times frequently in the Baltic and cell phones can't grab them all. Use the auto wake up on the phone or bring a small portable alarm.

 

Hope this helps. As I said before, given the right itineraries, we will sail Viking Oceans and Rivers again.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Vineyard View

[PopsA]

I thought being rocked gently to sleep from Gibraltar to Rouen was part of the experience. I do miss the rolling seas. That at the World Cafe for breakfast.

[rjscott]

Vineyard View,

I so much appreciated your fair and balanced assessment of your cruise. I also appreciated your addressing the issue of the daily Viking bashing, where it must have seemed to those not on the ship that absolutely nothing was going right. Yes, I know this is Cruise "Critic", but seriously, it did become a bit like "Lord of the Flies" after a while. There was almost a mob mentality to it all, especially when people were so gleeful about how low the member reviews were. How juvenile!

While I am in agreement that people do need to know that they might expect some issues, and I did not shy away from mentioning those in my daily posts, I didn't think it necessary to make a huge issue of minutiae. Did I think the drawer space in the cabins was adequate? Heck no! I thought it was a terrible design. But, there was good space in the overhead in the closet, so that's what I focused on. Would I rather have had a love seat in my cabin rather than those 2 chairs? Yes, but that's a personal preference, not something Viking did wrong.

But, I stayed out of the fray when I saw how people responded to any who tried to put a positive spin on the negative comments. It seemed that they wanted to be proven right in their negativity, and, Vineyard View, from your comments about how some cornered new cruisers to regal them with tales of woe, I think I'm right.

I'm glad that you had a great experience and that others, like AzulAnn and Roothy are looking forward to their upcoming cruises, thanks to the posts from cruisers like you.

 

Becki

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Becki. I have tried to be fair in my postings. I agree with your assessment as well. I think it sad that some people were so miserable - and that some people ran into more issues than we did - or were more troubling than ours were for us - however I am hopeful that there is in fact another cruise line that actually makes them happy and meets their expectations - for their sakes as well as fellow passengers in the future. There were issues, there were problems, there were frustrations. I haven't been on a vacation - or in any life chapter - where there isn't. The key for us was not to let it permeate into all the positive, that for us, outnumbered the negative by far. The issues needed to be addressed - absolutely. The 'feeding frenzy' you refer to though - I just had enough of, and I didn't want all those waiting to experience The Viking Star to be totally convinced and worried that they had made a mistake in booking. And if some still feel that they did make a mistake, then by all means they should go to the cruise line that works perfectly for them, that has absolutely no issues for them in in meeting their expectations. Then the rest of the passengers can enjoy their vacation on the Star. Life is short.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Vineyard View

[roothy123]

Vineyard View,

 

While I am in agreement that people do need to know that they might expect some issues, and I did not shy away from mentioning those in my daily posts, I didn't think it necessary to make a huge issue of minutiae. Did I think the drawer space in the cabins was adequate? Heck no! I thought it was a terrible design. But, there was good space in the overhead in the closet, so that's what I focused on. Would I rather have had a love seat in my cabin rather than those 2 chairs? Yes, but that's a personal preference, not something Viking did wrong.

But, I stayed out of the fray when I saw how people responded to any who tried to put a positive spin on the negative comments. It seemed that they wanted to be proven right in their negativity, and, Vineyard View, from your comments about how some cornered new cruisers to regal them with tales of woe, I think I'm right.

I'm glad that you had a great experience and that others, like AzulAnn and Roothy are looking forward to their upcoming cruises, thanks to the posts from cruisers like you.

 

Becki

 

Pollyanna, aka Roothy here, and yes, I'm definitely looking forward to my cruise. I got my laugh yesterday as I perused the latest blogs by ukalady and travelinsubman. I didn't know Star had an ice bucket - how funny! Those Norwegians sure love their hot/cold stuff!

 

Here I go again being a Pollyanna, but my take on drawers on cruise ships is that they are HIGHLY over-rated! To me, they're just for underwear and little things that don't fit anywhere else. On cruise ships, we do what you do - use the shelf in the closet to stack things. At least there's a back, so nothing gets lost. With a drawer, small socks have a way of disappearing over the top, where they stay and keep the drawer from being pushed all the way in. What to do? Borrow a pair of tongs from the kitchen staff? Maybe Star's drawer design is better so I won't have to worry about ending up with sock orphans. By the way, I once found a pair of boys' briefs that were left in the stateroom. Another time my husband found a very nice nail set, and on another cruise, a tiny flashlight. The treasures you find on a cruise ship!

 

I'm glad to hear about the somewhat secret drawer under the flap of the desk - the one that hides the Quiet Vox boxes. I always pack as little as I can, but inevitably end up having a bunch of little things that need to go somewhere. I guess I'll use the desk!

 

But I digress....

[Gogoguy]

People who have sailed or are actually on board can legitimately speak about their experiences...both positive and negative, Frankly some of us are getting tired of hearing a lot of speculative comments from those who haven't set foot on the vessel.

Wait till you get on board then share your comments but in the meantime get a life!

[rjscott]

 

I'm glad to hear about the somewhat secret drawer under the flap of the desk - the one that hides the Quiet Vox boxes. I always pack as little as I can, but inevitably end up having a bunch of little things that need to go somewhere. I guess I'll use the desk!

 

But I digress....

 

Roothy,

In that 'secret' drawer is where we found our binoculars. :D

 

Becki

[Ulfric_Stormcloak]

I wonder if a lady volunteered one's self to obtain the relish from the pool deck herself? Prob not, I'm guessing.

[Vineyard View]

It was just demanded of the wait staff. Which they (he) jumped to make happen after the two second delay to realize that she (the passenger) was serious.......Viking showed a very classy side in how they handled it. They brought the relish to the table in a nice serving dish and actually placed the relish onto her hot dog spoonful by spoonful until she was satisfied that it was enough relish for her liking!!!

We will travel Viking Oceans again when the right itinerary presents. Class act.

[rjscott]

Class act.

 

Unlike the passenger who demanded it... :rolleyes:

 

Becki

Edited June 26, 2015 by rjscott

[CTLeeA]

It was just demanded of the wait staff. Which they (he) jumped to make happen after the two second delay to realize that she (the passenger) was serious.......Viking showed a very classy side in how they handled it. They brought the relish to the table in a nice serving dish and actually placed the relish onto her hot dog spoonful by spoonful until she was satisfied that it was enough relish for her liking!!!

We will travel Viking Oceans again when the right itinerary presents. Class act.

 

I never got my relish. I got a plain hotdog, described as an 'All American hot dog', and asked for relish...and waited, and waited...then the server came by and said he thought the assistant waiter was bringing it...then, about 10 minutes he told me I would need to get some at the pool. Anyway, that aside, we had a very good time and couldn't believe the wonderful people we met onboard were so unhappy...we heard not one complaint onboard...people, at times, a bit miffed, but nothing like what they wrote on the boards..anyway...thank you Elizabeth for offering us your Manfredi's rez...as it turned out, we had no troubling getting in (twice!). Thank you Bill and Millie fr. NYC...loved chatting with you two. We'd go again in a heartbeat...altho, I might not be as passive next time about relish for my dog.

[id4elizabeth]

CTLeeA - glad you got into Manfredi's twice! To us, they had the best food on the ship, but everywhere was good. Can't say we had any bad meals aboard at all. Hope you also had a chance to check out the High Tea in the Wintergarden. I sure could use one of those scones about now!

[CTLeeA]

CTLeeA - glad you got into Manfredi's twice! To us, they had the best food on the ship, but everywhere was good. Can't say we had any bad meals aboard at all. Hope you also had a chance to check out the High Tea in the Wintergarden. I sure could use one of those scones about now!

 

Yes!! Scone withdrawal was difficult...but...they've been replaced by pizza.