Viking Star

Anyone booked Viking Star? Looks like it will be a nice smaller ship!

All the posts on this board are for the Star

I am looking for a room mate for a mediteranean cruise on the viking star departing barcelona Feb 21, 2016

http://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/western-mediterranean/grand-mediterranean-tour/index.html

deadline to pay for the current 2-4-1 offer is March 31, 2014.

message me if you are interested.

We are booked on the Viking Star leaving Venice on 4/20 for Barcelona. I have been trying for some time to get info on shore excursion and dining reservations.

By email, I was told that it would have to be done through my travel agent, a real pain if you think about it. Then their FAQ says you can do dining on line, no word on shore excursions. Then I wrote them about the confusion--promised an answer in 48 hours---no response. No info on what the shore excursion options are, and reservations can supposedly be made by my category next week.

It looks like they are unprepared here.

Does anyone have any info on this?

Willie. See my posting about dining etc.

We are booked on the Viking Star leaving Venice on 4/20 for Barcelona. I have been trying for some time to get info on shore excursion and dining reservations.

 

By email, I was told that it would have to be done through my travel agent, a real pain if you think about it. Then their FAQ says you can do dining on line, no word on shore excursions. Then I wrote them about the confusion--promised an answer in 48 hours---no response. No info on what the shore excursion options are, and reservations can supposedly be made by my category next week.

 

It looks like they are unprepared here.

 

Does anyone have any info on this?

Someone on our forum checked and was told it will be available on the Viking website on Jan. 15.

Thank you very much. That is good news. Does it cover both dining and shore excursions, if you know?

Viking is being unresponsive to all requests for details on our upcoming cruises. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with the 900 passengers per ship and all the logistics involved. Large suite passengers were promised a 90 day window before the cruise, this was not honored. Times in port have not been posted, this should have happened long ago. We will see how this shakes out.

I posted about this a few weeks ago and am copying in my previous post below. There's not really any further update since then. I'm not real confident that on Jan 15 all the confusion will be resolved. My guess is it's going to really rocky.

"I talked with a rep from Viking today and got some new information. She told me that on Jan 15th, they are revamping the Viking Oceans website, and all the information about port times, excursions, costs, etc will be posted. Also on the 15th, the Suite passengers who have 90 days to sign up, can sign up (that gives them about an 85 day advantage). But all of us will be able to see what’s available and the costs on the 15th. We will get an e-mail on how to sign-up a few days before our respective sign-up windows.

On “The Restaurant” reservations, signing up for a specific time is optional. If you do make a reservation (and show up at that time of course), you will not have to wait in line – they will have your table spots waiting. If you do not make a reservation, you will have to wait in line, if there is one. The main dining room seats 468 people at one time, so that’s about half of us, and of course, some of us will be in the Specialty Restaurants and some will be eating off the buffet or eating in port, so the dining room should be adequate. The “al fresco” dining on the Aquavit Terrace is separate and is a buffet and is first come, first served.

For those of us signed up for the whole 50 day cruise (that’s us crazies), or multiple segments, we will not be able to sign up all at once, we will have to do it when the respective window becomes available for the various segments based on the class of cabin.

Spa appointments have to be made once on board and cannot be done ahead of time. Neither will a list of services be available beforehand (but she said to call about a month ahead of launch and they MIGHT have some info on this). There will be one hairdresser on board. This is critical for those of us crazies taking the 50-day cruise.

If you’ve been on-line in the last several days, the links to the excursions are not working very well – that’s because their techies are working on the website to get it ready for the Jan 15 launch. Let’s hope this launch goes better than the roll-out of Obamacare!

And finally, you can use regular magnetic stripe credit cards to settle your onboard account. It does not have to be a Chip & PIN credit card. And Amex is fine.

That’s all I learned, but I felt pretty good that at least we might get SOME information before we embark.

This is extremely informative. Thank you. Also, there are comments on the Board here about the loss of free internet. I have seen nothing that would infer that except a confusing item from Viking that there will be free internet in port, which looked good to me. Have you learned anything about that?

I just spoke with an agent at Viking. There is still free internet on board.

Free wifi in port?

I just spoke with an agent at Viking. There is still free internet on board.

From my understanding free internet is only in port. Also, there are charges for certain cabin levels and above a certain usage. I have emailed Viking for clarification.

The FAQ is confusing since it mentions free wifi in port. But, my original brochure from when I ticketed in 8/13 says "free wi-fi", which was confirmed on the phone with me today to mean at sea. The port thing must be an extra, but I am interested in what you may learn.

The FAQ is confusing since it mentions free wifi in port. But, my original brochure from when I ticketed in 8/13 says "free wi-fi", which was confirmed on the phone with me today to mean at sea. The port thing must be an extra, but I am interested in what you may learn.

Here is Viking's response :

You are correct, complimentary Wi-Fi service will be offered while in port locations each day, but in a Deluxe Veranda stateroom you will be limited to a complimentary amount of 50mb per day. You may upgrade your service amenity to include unlimited downloads for an additional $4.95 per day.

But, this does not say you will not get (excuse the double negative) the free wi-fi when we are not in port. The guy I checked with on the phone, went off line to check. When he came back he said that there is definitely free wi-fi at sea. I did not tell him what my cabin category is.

Now the real question is, can you get a connection, and how slow will it be? It may not cost you anything, but you may not be a happy camper either. I'm not trying to be negative, just keep my expectations in check based on other cruise lines I've been on. Perhaps Viking will have the WiFi connectivity issues totally solved since this is a brand new ship. Just saying that on our other cruises, connectivity and speed were real issues, even though because of our cabin category it was "free" as well. It was only when we were in port that you could get a decent signal. But I'll keep my fingers crossed, since we love sending our family and friends a couple of pictures each day of what we've seen that day.

Here is Viking's response :

 

You are correct, complimentary Wi-Fi service will be offered while in port locations each day, but in a Deluxe Veranda stateroom you will be limited to a complimentary amount of 50mb per day. You may upgrade your service amenity to include unlimited downloads for an additional $4.95 per day.

Here is the another Viking response after I emailed and stated the original brochure at time of booking said free internet.

When the preliminary brochures offering this cruise tour were printed the restrictions were not all known, we reserve the right to update and change the written materials describing the amenities and or the itinerary at any time. We still are offering what we promised which is complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the entire vessel, but this amenity is only complimentary for higher booked staterooms. The lower staterooms will have the same amenities available, but at an additional cost, like an optional tour, or other optional items not included in the cost of the cruise tour. We can advise that while in port all staterooms will offer free Wi-Fi and the speed should be reasonable to cruise the internet in ease whereas on the river it was often an issue as the connection was unstable.

Unbelieveable. I think this may be my first and last cruise with Viking.

Here is Viking's response when I asked when they will be publishing the port schedule:

Nautical schedules are never publicly released as they are subject to changes and adjustments. The detailed day to day itinerary will offer general times for sailing and this is to be used for planning purposes. We recommend you check with the concierge desk aboard if you have specific questions related to the nautical schedule.

Are these people crazy? Every cruise line out there publishes their schedule.

They seem to be making a distinction (maybe) between free internet access in the public areas of the ship and the staterooms for certain cabin categories. That is very strange.

They can just change the promised amenities that were part of the deal? No more free wine at lunch and dinner? What do they consider a promised amenity that they can change after you pay?

Reading this thread makes me wonder if we made a mistake booking our cruise before Viking Ocean was up and running. Cruise lines having to change itineraries is known, understood, and even expected. But, to state that amenities can be updated or changed after they appear in written brochures does not give me a good feeling about the practices of Viking Ocean. In good faith we paid for our June 2015 cruise in December of 2013 based on what was presented as itinerary and amenities. Will there be more "amenities" that will be changed before we sail? I am feeling less and less confident the cruise will be what we thought it would be.

So, they finalllly posted excursions.

Costs seem reasonable, although my experience is with Oceania's vastly overpriced excursions.

I've been to most of the cities before, they've changed several of the early included tours. I notice Istanbul and Venice.

Wondering why they charge for opting for no tour in a couple of cities, the "on your own" options.

Now, I only have to wait to book.

Plus the guarantee of making the ship provided you don't miss the tour bus back

I missed that guarantee of having the ship held if you make the tour bus back! However, guarantee or no guarantee, I’m not worried as it has been my experience that ships get held ANYWAY if that happens. Sometimes ships get held even if missing people are late when doing independent touring. We once got held for over an hour and a half on Celebrity because the captain took pity on a honeymooning couple! We overheard that the dock folks were working overtime when the ship finally took off. Perhaps they were happy but the 1250 Celebrity passengers may not have felt the same way! Anyway, perhaps Viking’s new Captain pointed out that it was dangerous to guarantee that the ship would be held. He has tides and schedules and port rules/charges and the possibility of setting a precedent to think about.

For my cruise, the fact that there is no included excursion in our embarkation port (Venice) was posted on the web site at least a few months ago. The San Marco basilica is free and almost always accessible (with reserved times available for 2 euros if you don’t like lines), and vaporettos can be taken for a lot of touring, so I’ll just do my own thing for the afternoon. The ship "turns around" that day and I think it would be impossible for Viking to get the previous 900 people off, get a new group of 900 on AND coordinate excursions for them that day.

I agree that costs for excursions seem reasonable. That is a nice surprise!

There is also at least one nice tiny surprise I've noticed so far. In Santorini, we will be given tickets to use on the cable car to get down to the tender point. If we don't bring money for the cable car (and I forget if credit cards are accepted, maybe not) we won’t have to walk down the cliff with the donkeys! That is not a pretty (or nice-smelling) way to get down a cliffside if you're short on time or find yourself without euros for a cable car ride!

You would need euros for the next many stops anyway.

My question about "your way" is a guided tour of Rome vs transport only.