Viking star with cancelled tunis/algiers port stops - our experience so far.

Some friends were on a Princess ship some years back that was chased by Somalia pirates. Had to go to public area with critical possessions and life jackets. Captain was able to outrun the pirates. Better to skip ports and stay safe.

I'm in the camp that wine tastes the same whether in stemware or stemless. It is now the "IN" thing to serve in the stemless.

I most certainly would be thanking Viking for taking our lives into consideration when skipping a port. Passenger safety is their number one concern, and should be! If someone is upset then perhaps booking a separate land vacation would be in order.

I prefer white wine to stay cool. Hence my preference for stem glasses. I don't want to heat the wine by my fingers wrapping around the glass to lift it. That's why those glasses have stems.

Peregrina,

How is the evening entertainment? I was hoping they had “up’d” their game given the pervasive comments that their shows were not up to par.

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On the Star in June, we had a great time with the entertainment. It wasn’t broadway per se but I didn’t expect it to be like broadway. But we loved the piano player, the guitar player, the three piece musical entertainment and the evening shows in the lounge and the big shows were very entertaining. Some better than others but we stayed for everyone

Peregrina,

How is the evening entertainment? I was hoping they had “up’d” their game given the pervasive comments that their shows were not up to par.

 

 

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If your idea of par is adagio dancers, Las Vegas show girls, and the current top 20, and the other mainstays of the mainstream cruise line entertainment packages, then you are asking the wrong person. I usually skip the evening show (bedtime) but the ones I have seen, I loved. I love ABBA. I love Beatles, I love Ratpack era popular songs.

I also love classical music so the piano man, the classical trio and the guitar man are right up my alley.

I'm in the camp that wine tastes the same whether in stemware or stemless. It is now the "IN" thing to serve in the stemless.

 

I most certainly would be thanking Viking for taking our lives into consideration when skipping a port. Passenger safety is their number one concern, and should be! If someone is upset then perhaps booking a separate land vacation would be in order.

Wine should be served in glasses with stems, both red and white. As for stemless being the "IN" thing, that may be the case in some restaurants in your state but it is probably so that the glasses can be better accommodated in the dishwater rather than to enhance the flavour and temperature of the wine.

Wine should be served in glasses with stems, both red and white. As for stemless being the "IN" thing, that may be the case in some restaurants in your state but it is probably so that the glasses can be better accommodated in the dishwater rather than to enhance the flavour and temperature of the wine.

Though a regular wine drinker, I am so far from being a connoisseur that I hesitate to express an opinion. I can understand that at a party where I am holding my glass in my hand, it could affect the temperature of the wine. Seated at a bar or restaurant, my glass usually sits on the table, so does it really make that much difference? Besides, even if it is just to facilitate running the glasses through the dishwasher, maybe if restaurants can save on the cost of breakage of stemware, then perhaps they can reduce the mark-up on the wine!

We wish we could, like you did.

 

 

 

We asked the waitress and she indicated that wine glasses would be offered only for wines which you have to pay extra for. She was quite clear about that. We did not wish to cause to scene. What else would you do in our case?

I am just off the Star and had a similar experience. Wine glasses in The Restaurant and Manfreddi’s had stems. Wine glasses in the World Cafe and Chefs Table were stemless. When we asked to have glasses with stems in the Chefs Table, the waitress asked us if had the Silver Spirits package and we simply said “No but we prefer glasses with stems”. No problem. She brought the stemmed glasses for us.

I will note that the Silver Spirits wine glasses (at least for red wine) are different than the free wines. The red wine glasses are the traditional more rounded size that you would use for red wines.

Cheers!

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We are going on the Star in mid February and were wondering if there was any dancing on the ship. We especially like ballroom and swing dancing. Thanks

We are going on the Star in mid February and were wondering if there was any dancing on the ship. We especially like ballroom and swing dancing. Thanks

I suppose it depends on what the entertainment team put on on each cruise but there wasn't any ballroom or swing on the Star on the Christmas cruise. No dance lessons either. There is a small "disco" tucked away for late night dancing.

Lorna

DAY 6 & DAY 7

 

As we were not docking in Palma de Mallorca on Day 6 till noon, we thought we would have a lie in. We realised that cruising , no matter how enjoyable it can be, could bequite tiring – spending hours packing, thenhaving to fly many hours to get tothe ship, getting up early in time to get the excursion tours, rushing to therestaurants, then going to exercise like mad to try burn up the caloriesconsumed, going to the laundry, checkingthe maps for next visits, and again spending more hours flying back etc, etc.It would be nice to have a proper rest when we get home, said us, rather cheekily!

 

In Palma de Mallorca, we took the free Viking shuttle buswhich dropped us off near the La Seu Cathedral – guess if anyone who knowsnothing about Palma de Mallorca, they will know the picture of the Cathedral.As we had been here just a few weeks ago for 10 days, we did not go with the free excursion as itwould be doing the same thing we had done over again. We just went to El CorteIngles and C&A and did some windowshopping ( we bought nothing, as there was hardly any bargains even postChristmas!). Some friends of ours, who took the Scenic Mallorca excursion saidthey enjoyed it thoroughly. They went to Valldemossa, which we have beenbefore, and that is one of the loveliest and best kept villages on Earth !!!!

 

In the evening, we went to the first of our two bookings atthe Chef’s Table. Their menu reminded usof molecular gastronomy - carrot andcardamom cream for starters, then spicy tuna, followed by ginger & terragongranitea, a beef tenderloin with 4spices for main course, and a tarte tatin for dessert.

 

Trouble was, the waitress gave us the impression that as it was a “high class” restaurant, we are supposed to know nothing. It just felt a bit pretentious. She even tried to explain what an Apple Tarte Tatin is. The menu was supposed to be wine pairing, but at least one ofthe wines was those “free” wines offered in the buffet and other restaurants.The wines were not served in wine glasses (even The Restaurant serves wine in wine glasses) , just tumblers glasses , that is unless you are willing to pay a hefty sum for “better wines” (my “wine connoisseur” partner looked that thelist of their better wines, and felt it was not worth it). What was more, theyear of the wines were missing in the menu, including the list in the “better”wines . If they are trying to cater to someone who appreciates wines, by notputting in the year, that is quite something.

 

I had my share of “shock” when I had a mouthful of the spicytuna tataki. It tasted so awful that I nearly fell off my chair! For me, itreminded me of food essence, but of washing up liquid perfume.

 

The tarte tatin it tasted a bit “austere”. It might taste better if it came with some accompanying cream ,custard or ice-cream, but there was none.

And lastly, the dessert wine mentioned in the menu was different from what was served. It was not mentioned at the beginning of the meal ; we only noticed when the wine was served. The waitress never mentioned that it was different from that in the menu until we asked her -perhaps a bit unprofessional, we had thought.

 

 

It was quite unfortunate as we had looked forward to goingto this restaurant. We had always been impressed with specialty restaurants oncruise lines, but felt the Chef’s Table was an exception. So much so, we CANCELLEDour next evening’s reservation with them.

 

Of course, as mentioned before, food (and restaurants) are subjective.

 

The evening entertainment at the Theatre were the duo – the Virtuosos,who performed a few nights ago. Idecided to give it a miss, as I did not enjoy their show before, so I thought I would not enjoy them that evening.

 

As we went to bed, the sea was a bit choppy. I felt the cupboard door vibrating, and the shipwas not as calm as before. My bed was also vibrating a bit , it reminded me of lying on one of those Japanese electric massage chairs! But a lot more comfortable, of course. Lol.

 

 

DAY 7. On our last day before disembarkation,at breakfast, the captain announced that due to strong winds, we had to waitfor further news to see if we could dock at Valencia. Fortunately, we weregiven the clearance to dock, although a bit later than schedule. We took thefree excursion, a 3 hour Valencia City Tour. Even though we had plenty of time,the guide did not arrange for us to stop at the famous, stunningly beautiful and futuristic City of Arts and Science. Hejust got the driver to drive around it for a couple of minutes, and the rest ofthe time seems to be spent in the vicinty of the old town. It was like taking us on a tour of Paris with having no more than a couple of minutes glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Felt let down. He took usinto a cathedral, and for church lovers, they would probably enjoy it, but forthe rest of us, we felt he could have made the tour be more balanced betweenold Valencia and the modern Valencia.

 

Tonight, everything on the ship seems to be turning down.The menus in the restaurants was not so interesting. Even in the buffet, thenightly crabs, langoustines, king prawns and the sushi has not appeared. Theroast chicken was dry, whereas, a few nights ago, they were succulentThere wasno show in the Theatre.

 

We joked with our cruising friends what were they going tohave for dinner when they get home tomorrow. “Probably lettuce leaves” was thereply. We laughed.

 

It is rather interesting how one’s impression of a cruisechanges from the first day to the last. We may try later, after settling down back home, to give a more roundedreport of the entire cruise. Just wondered if anyone would bother to read it(maybe no one! Gulp!!)

 

Hopefully, if others do the same, we can “exchange notes”and learn from each other this way.

Thank you so much for your very helpful comments and for taking the time to share your experiences.