August 8 Viking star passage through western Europe

My husband and I were supposed to be on this cruise but canceled due to the ship's mechanical issues and altered itinerary. I have spent the last two weeks reading posts about the ill-fated Homelands cruise that was supposed to end in Bergen on August 8th. I have not seen an posts about the passage through Western Europe cruise and what people thought of this cruise. I would still love to do a cruise in the future and am looking for feedback.

orchid

We to were supposed to be on the VS on the 8th and decided to cancel at the last moment. We were very fortunate to be able to get all of our monies refunded but never the less are still curious as to how the cruise went; we booked a trip on another cruise line for South America in February 2016 and are looking forward to this.

We have just returned from the delayed 8/8 "Passage Through Western Europe" cruise. I had anticipated that many who chose to cancel after finding out about the revised schedule might be curious about how it went, so I started a new thread titled "comments from those who chose to stay on the 8/8 "Homelands" sailing. Unfortunately, I misidentified the title of the cruise, and no one else chipped in with their comments. Anyway, if you scroll down to that thread, I recounted in some detail what went up until the time we actually got on the ship. I also intend to write a full review of the cruise shortly, but in the meanwhile, I'll give you the Cliff Notes version.

Once aboard Viking Star, we loved the ship, had absolutely outstanding service from the crew and had an enjoyable time. However, what set this cruise apart from many similar offerings was the unique opportunity to sail up the Thames and Seine to overnight near London and Paris. By deleting these two "crown jewels" of this cruise, it became just another cruise, and an expensive one at that. We were already in Norway when the altered itinerary was announced so we were pretty much committed to go, but for those of you who cancelled before departure, it was probably not a bad decision.

Thank you for your response Shipnc. We had spent two years planning this trip, as I am sure many people had. With the significant change in itinerary and uncertainty of more possible changes, with heavy hearts we decided to cancel. I am glad to hear that there were not further problems and you enjoyed your trip. I look forward to reading your review and that of others, as we would love to book a future cruise with Viking.

Orchid

I read somewhere that Viking had about a 30% cancellation rate on the 8/8 cruise. So, with that number of empty staterooms, I'm sure the service was superb for those who did chose to go.

id4elizabeth - Glad to see you're still there to help with Viking "Star" questions. Really relied on you to get ready for our July 25 cruise. Not sure I'll have the "heart" to continue to read this particular forum or contribute. Will be posting a few positive reviews though under "Ports" section for the Stockholm Ice Bar and TJ Travel in St. Petersburg. Also really appreciated that Viking helped us set up a very nice "meet and greet" on sail away day. Another positive - the new CC friends who went through the experience with us.

There is a member review of the August 8th sailing if anyone is interested. Sounds like the ship has mechanical issues.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=511228

There is a member review of the August 8th sailing if anyone is interested. Sounds like the ship has mechanical issues.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=511228

Thank you for pointing out this review. The poster certainly was paying attention to all details. Very interesting info about the mechanical issues still being a concern at least in his opinion. I will continue to follow the issue.

Found his review interesting. He complained about some of the same issues we had on the 50-day Maiden cruise that I wrote about in my review and got blasted for. I too mentioned the heated floor and towel rack and got derisive comments back. I agree totally with him. When on the Homelands cruise or anywhere in Northern Europe, that sounds really nice, but in 90 degree weather in the Mediterranean, it's not so nice. We had to have an electrician come and shut off the floors, but the towel rack, even the electrician was never able to turn off. I thought his comment about growing orchids was hilarious! And I agree totally about the Shore Excursions - some of them were really a waste of time, even some of those you had to pay for. We too had the problem of unanswered phone calls. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this hasn't been fixed by now. Keep in mind that the ship for his cruise was not full as a lot of folks had cancelled their plans, so can't figure out why no one answers the phones.

Thankfully we had none of the engine problems! Nor any of the schedule deviations except the single day London / Paris, which we knew about before we boarded.

Although the Star has a lot going for it and the working staff is great, we too are going to wait a few years before looking at VO again.

There is a member review of the August 8th sailing if anyone is interested. Sounds like the ship has mechanical issues.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=511228

The comments and details in this review are 100% accurate! We were there as well. We have cruised Viking River twice before. Those extremely positive experiences, along with "2 days Paris" and "2 days London", and a beautiful new ship were the reasons we chose this cruise. Unfortunately, the cruise did not meet our expectations, nor Viking standards. For the time being, we will stick with Viking River cruises.

Thank you for pointing out this review. The poster certainly was paying attention to all details. Very interesting info about the mechanical issues still being a concern at least in his opinion. I will continue to follow the issue.

Yes. Thank you for pointing this out.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=511475

I have just posted a review of our altered Passage through Western Europe cruise. I tried to relate the details and misfortunes we experienced on this cruise while keeping in mind our problems were (hopefully) unique to this cruise and not a reflection of how the ship was otherwise.

Good review shipnc!

I have one question. You mentioned that the crew likes working for Viking on a salary as opposed to working exclusively for tips. Can you elaborate? I didn't realize that other cruise lines do not pay their crew a base salary and that the crew JUST gets tips? If Viking pays a salary, is there any chance the crew don't get the tips? And that Viking uses the auto-gratuities to pay their salaries? Or do they get a salary PLUS the tips / auto-gratities?

Thanks!

While we were not on this specific segment that you were on, I have to applaud your balanced review. I personally thought it well done. Thank you for taking the time - as you, we will be waiting (we were on maiden voyage) for a good year or two most likely before visiting VO again.....and like you, we are open to VO in the future. Great ship. Great crew.

Perhaps I made some assumptions about other cruise line's crew compensation methods that may not have been true, but my impression was that even if they received some base pay, tips were the lion's share of their compensation. On Viking, I'm sure the tip amount added to your cruise account is used to fund the crew's salary, but the crew gets paid their salary up front regardless. We were talking with some crew members who were on the ship in Tallin while it was being repaired, and even though there were no passengers onboard, they got their full salaries. I'm not sure that would be the case on other ships, but again, I can't say that for sure. In any case, the crew seemed happy and I was happy to give additional tips to those crew with whom we established an individual connection and who served us well.

Thanks shipnc for the clarification. We got a similar impression from the crew - that they were all very happy they had gotten their jobs on the Star and considered themselves lucky. Your clarification explains why. We too gave a few people extra cash that we thought deserved it.

This confirms my uneasy feeling....what have I gotten myself into!

I wonder how the Barcelona to Venice Cruise was??

This confirms my uneasy feeling....what have I gotten myself into!

 

I wonder how the Barcelona to Venice Cruise was??

I have friends on the current cruise who have been in touch almost daily and all reports have been good other than some errors with their specialty dining reservations. Hope that eases your mind a bit.

Thanks for the feedback. I am so grateful that I have this opportunity even though I am not feeling this cruise at all. Hope it will be good. Praying for no fires or rough seas!!

Two weeks ago I returned from the two-week Bergen to Barcelona cruise (changed to Copenhagen to Barcelona due to the previous stbd generator problem).

This was my eighth cruise and my favourite by far.

The ship is an absolute gem with clean Swedish design throughout. It's really easy to find your way around since everything happens either on Decks 1 & 2 or Deck 7. Being of a smaller size too, it doesn't take long to walk from end to end.

There is no casino and only three bars; the whole atmosphere is extremely laid back. The food is delicious, whether you eat in the buffet (World cafe, Deck 7), or Restaurant on Deck 2. The two specialty restaurants on Deck 1 (Manfredi's and Chef's Table) need to be booked due to their smaller size, but at no extra cost. Wine & beer are free with meals (a glass of wine is $4 at other times). The internet is free (what a blessing!), but the connection is inevitably a little shaky since it's via satellite. One tour is always free at each port. There are many other freebies too.

There's quite a large library but unusually, the books are scattered around the ship in bookcases in all the public areas.

The main swimming pool on Deck 7 isn't particularly large, but the sliding roof means it's always available no matter what the weather. The 450-seat theatre – the Star theatre – has sofas and comfortable chairs. It also has the largest, brightest LCD screen at sea which is used to provide some spectacular backdrops to the shows. There are two 50-seat cinemas just aft of the theatre. One was showing TED talks each day. Films are also shown in the theatre (that wonderful screen!), or on another huge LCD screen on Deck 7 just aft of the swimming pool. The Infinity pool on Deck 7 aft gives a stunning sensation, since all that can be seen when looking aft is... the ocean and the ship's wake seven decks down!

The whole ship was friendly and efficient. It was inevitably helped by the fact that some 200 passengers cancelled so there were never any queues, but I doubt there would have been any anyway.

This was definitely the most enjoyable, relaxing cruise I've been on and I can't wait to join Viking Star (or Sea, or Sky) again in the future.

What an uplifting, positive review! Thank you for sharing - it is great to hear of such a fantastic time had by you.

Sorry, I know we all have to start somewhere in posting on CC, but this was a really positive review from someone who has taken 8 cruises and this is their favorite so far. Why only one post??? This is the type of post I would definitely be skeptical about. If I'm wrong, I apologize, and am really happy they were able to enjoy their cruise so much. Also, welcome to Cruise Critic!

Would be interesting to hear what Lifeisbestatsea has to say about the ports or shore excursions. Sounded like this person spent all their time on the ship. If so, I can see why they loved the ship. It is a beautiful ship.

We were on the July 11th Bergen to Stockholm cruise. So sorry those after us had problems but we had a wonderful trip. Nothing to complain about. The ship was beautiful and comfortable....food was very good- loved the gelato bar and Manfredi's and the World Cafe and the Restaurant. Our excursions were good...some better than others but all took us to see things we might have otherwised missed. We past on going to Berlin and stayed in Warnemaude instead and absolutley loved that place. It was such a surprise to walk a block from where the ship docked and be in a summer resort town. Loved everything about it. Hope all the problems are behind Viking now and that everyone else will enjoy their future cruises as much as we enjoyed ours. And no....I am not a Viking "plant" just want to help releave people's fears and offer some encouragement before they embark on their trips. We have booked a British Isles cruises with Azamara in 2017 not because we didn't like Viking but they just weren't doing the trip we wanted so we chose Azamara. Again, we hope everyone has wonderful trips from now on out! One last thing....we booked a private two day tour in St. Pete with10 other people on the Star. We went with SPB tours and really enjoy those two days. No problems at all with Visa issues....SPB took care of everything and Viking let us off the ship first so we could get an early start to our tour.

We were on the June 28 Homelands Stockholm to Bergen, and I concur with the positive review. We got very very lucky. Weather was wonderful and no mechanical issues. We had previously been to St Peteesvurg and also Berlin so also opted to relax and recharge on the ship. we also loved Warnemunde. No question there have been horrid glitches and hang ups on those later trips.

I have done a lot of river cruising and few ocean ... and my travel style these days is to relax and enjoy what I want to do, rather than feeling I have to do, see every place we go to. I think there must be room for improvement of logistics and details on excursions. A couple seemed rather contrived....didn't need an in depth tour of old sardine packing factory.

I want to reassure future cruisers that the ship is gorgeous and there are many wonderful aspects.