I'm on Homelands NOW Stockholm to Bergen and loving it!

greetings all from Viking Star.. We have had so many happy experiences with Viking River cruises in the past so we anticipated this cruise with great excitement. Most of the posts we eagerly looked for in the weeks leading up to our June 27 departure were quite negative and I wished I hadnt read them.

I know they were the result of maiden voyagitis but none the less excited anticipation turnd to nervous apprehension.

SO THIS POST IS FOR PEOPLE DOING THIS TRIP SOON SO THAT YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD HAPPILY AND GET A FLAVOUR OF WHAT TO EXPECT.

1. We have been blessed with fabulous weather..blue skies and hot. Do bring sun hat and at least one pair of shorts.

2. The food is terrific...plentiful...something for every taste

3. Do signup ahead for advanced excursion, even the INCLUDED ones. Sems there was an email saying this so we hadnt done it but it all got sorted in the end.

4. Staff are unfailingly polite and helpful... Sure rhere are a few glitches but none worthy of a mention.

5. So far wifi has been absolutely fine....yes, slow at times...but certainly good enough.

6. Tv. And elctronics all seem to be fine

7. Decor and furnishings are lovely. I was nervous about being on a big boat with so many people but the design is so good that you can always find a quiet place.

8. So far just one long sail....stockholm to helsinki ovenitht...and wonderfully smooth. Whatever you do, do not miss stockholm archipelago. Delightful

So thats all for now. Will be happy to answer any qustions and will update later.

Do look forward with excitement. Its great!!

Thanks for being willing to check back in later if people have questions. I won't be on Homelands itinerary (although it sounds fantastic!!) but am doing a Med cruise later. I was just curious if any of the included tours are offered in the afternoon. It sounds like most people have been anxious to get on morning ones but some of us were actually happy to see that Viking was offering at least some in the afternoon. Of course I realize much depends on hours in port, plus things like guide aand bus availability...but just wanted to get a general sense of wht they're doing now. We're still 3 months pre cruise and MVJ only lists morning times for included tours.

Also, if you have tender ports, is Viking still using a simple procedure of having people line up to board tenders or are they issuing tickets in a lounge like most cruise ships do? Thanks and enjoy those homelands. I'm jealous, as it's a fairly unique itinerary! I hope to make it there some day.

Tee fine, so glad you are experiencing and sailing on the same Star that we enjoyed so much. We were 29 days on the maiden voyage - and one week in- Like you, I started a thread while on board for much the same reason - to let people know that they should be excited about their upcoming sailing. I had stepped away from CC due to the frustrations (of which there were valid issues)I was reading about, and I wanted others to know that there was a whole lot of positive going on! Enjoy every single day!!! Thank you for taking time to post this for others waiting to sail.

Roothy - to answer your tender question, it was tickets in either the Star Theater or Torshavn Lounge and depended on your shore excursion time. Independents were in the Torshavn Lounge as well.

About afternoon included excursions - yes there was usually one that left early afternoon, but not always.

Thank you indeed tee fine .... We are also on board and enjoying every bit of it. Weather is perfect, lecturers are great.... It seems such very good value for money... I think they're doing a great job. Upcoming travelers, you're in for a treat.

Also on board! Loving it ! St Petersburg here we come!!

Also on board! Loving it ! St Petersburg here we come!!

Such good news! We are on the 7/11 homelands and can't wait. I felt like I would be satisfied if all I did was eat Gelato for 15 days....well actually I do expect a little more out of this trip than that but I really did feel like they would get the kinks worked out after the first couple of months. We are really excited about the trip!!!

I too am currently on the Viking Star, on the way to St Petersburg.

My only cruise experience is on previous Viking River Cruises. I would say so far things are in the spirit of those cruises, generally informal with good service and good food. Of course the ship is much bigger, and The Restaurant experience is a bit more formal, especially at breakfast. We found the World Cafe a bit more relaxed for breakfast.

The Viking staff has been really helpful - both in insuring my wife can follow a gluten free diet, and in helping us rearrange our shore excursions. So we are happy so far.

Folks, I sit here with tears in my eyes. I'm a solo traveler heading out in October for Istanbul. I have become overwhelmed by the endless list of complaints, valid or not, and felt like I was making a mistake. You all have really been encouraging and I thank you. I am interested in seeing a photo of people actually boarding the ship at a port but I can't find one. Maybe someone can steer me in the right direction. I need to see how steep the ramp is. Have a great trip all!

Staying Afloat--

So far the ramp has been virtually flat, entering at deck A. Not sure if that will vary as we progress as it has only been three days -- I would assume that varies on the port. Will report back as we go along:)

We're on the plane, heading for some pre-cruise adventure before boarding on 7/11. It's great to hear from folks on board--especially good to read that some of the snafus have been worked out and people are happy!

Folks, I sit here with tears in my eyes. I'm a solo traveler heading out in October for Istanbul. I have become overwhelmed by the endless list of complaints, valid or not, and felt like I was making a mistake. You all have really been encouraging and I thank you. I am interested in seeing a photo of people actually boarding the ship at a port but I can't find one. Maybe someone can steer me in the right direction. I need to see how steep the ramp is. Have a great trip all!

Please, oh please, no tears. You'll manage, and you'll have a great time.

I googled to see if I could find a picture of Star with a ramp, but no luck. However, "fuss" says it's almost flat, so that sounds good, although as he/she says, the ramp can be less or more steep depending upon the port and pier. I haven't been on Star yet, but if she is like most cruise ships, there will be a crew member at the bottom of the ramp at each port. If you need help, I would ask if there's anyone available for that. Also, many cruise ships use two entrances - one for crew and one for passengers. Ask if the crew entrance would be easier for you (sometimes it is, and often it's less crowded during peak times), and if so, if you could use it. When boarding in Istanbul (which I hear can be a zoo for many passengers, although probably more so for those on larger ships) you might not want to check in for an hour or two past the allowable boarding time (11, I think). That might minimize your standing in line waiting, although I don't remember hearing it was an issue back in April.

Fuss, is the ramp the stepped type, or completely flat?

If it helps any, we have seen a few instances in which a person was traveling with a wheelchair. I don't know if she was solo or not, but two crew members took her, wheelchair and all, down the ramp. This wasn't on Viking, but perhaps all cruise lines have people to help (not sure).

Hopefully you'll run into a friend or two on board who is willing to help you get on and off at each port. If you're doing Istanbul to Venice, be aware that there's tendering in Pula and Santorini. Sometimes tendering can be a bit of a challenge for people with any kind of limited disability, if that's what you have. (Have you looked at the Disabled Cruisers section of Cruise Critic?)

I'm attaching the only picture I could find that shows where the ramp comes out on Star. This was taken in Dubrovnik, but hopefully will be similar to other locations. Way at bottom, in back of ship, you'll see a big open door. That's probably one exit/entrance, I assume on deck A. To the right of that is another big door, and while it's really hard to see, there's a ramp coming down there. Hopefully this will give you an idea of how steep the ramp is - not steep at all! (See attachment below).

Enjoy! I'm probably on the cruise after you, by the way, so I may be able to answer specific questions later on, just as teefine is doing now!

It was very steep in one Baltic port but I honestly can't recall which.

It does depend on the port. Most of the time they use Deck A whenever possible and the ramp is flat but has little bars going across from side to side on the floor of the ramp to make sure you don't slip if it's at an angle. There are railings along the sides to hold onto. The only tricky bit can be sometimes at the end (ship side not dock side) where the last little flap that connects with the inside of the floor of the ship can be steep. There's usually a little fellow there to hold your hand if you even look as though you might need help for those last 18 inches or so.

Unfortunately, when they use Deck 2, out comes a HUGE (as in 2 story) set of stairs. The stairs are metal and have hand rails on either side to hold onto. The rise of each step is not high - there's just a lot of stairs.

There were several folks on our cruise who were in wheelchairs or with walkers and the crew took them somewhere else to disembark. They did not seem to have a problem getting on and off the ship. Getting on and off the busses was probably more of an issue.

Glad to hear everyone is having a great time. Wish we could do it again now that everything is going smoothly.

Still waiting to hear if there's iced tea at one of the taps in the juice machine in the World Cafe and if the paperback book swap exchange is still on the 1st floor???

Still waiting to hear if there's iced tea at one of the taps in the juice machine in the World Cafe

You must really love your iced tea. :)

That's all I drink. On the 50-day maiden voyage, at first iced tea was virtually impossible to get. About a week in, they brought on board some canned peach very sweet iced tea, but it was REALLY sweet, and I like mine unsweet. After about half way through the cruise ( about Barcelona) all the wait staff pretty much knew how to make iced tea, but you had to get someone from food & beverage to make it for you, or you had to make your own by making a cup of hot tea and then adding ice. The wait staff was making it a tea bag at a time, so it took about 20 minutes to get it. Finally, on DAY49, there was a tap on the juice machine that dispensed cold is tea. I felt victorious in my iced tea wars, so am curious if my victory was short lived, or lasting.

Thank you Fuss, roothy123 and ID4Elizabeth for your imput. I did not notice the disabled cruisers section on CC. I will check that out tomorrow. I also never thought about the choice of using the crew entrance, should I need to. I'm a river cruiser and that's a different ballgame. I'll be looking forward to more news from Fuss. Thanks again everyone!

DW and I will be joining the ship 7/11/15 gor the Homelands in the reverse direction. While Viking does a superb job of specifying exactly where to meet the ship in Bergen, they don't give specifics about the Stockholm port location. I wonder if one of you on the current Homelands could give the details that were in your cruise documents about where to find the ship in Stockholm. It would help in planning our departure.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for all of the planning information that all of the CC posters have provided.

If you go to Google maps and look for the Viking Ferry terminal near to the old section (Gamla Stan) of Stockholm, the Viking Star docks right next to the ferry terminal, towards town. The Viking Ferry Service is no relation to Viking Oceans BTW. It's only about a quarter mile walk to Gamla Stan from where the Star docks. If you can't find that, look for the Hilton Slussen - the Star docks about a quarter mile east of the Hilton.

What ports do they tender for the homelands cruise from Stockholm to Bergen?

None that I can remember. Thinking back we were docked everywhere.

From my research we do not tender on the Homelands cruise. Yay!

On the first day there was ice tea in tap of world cafe. Haven't really looked since

St Petersburg uses deck 2. So set of steps. Not steep-- I am so they use a different gangway for disabled cruisers. Will see what is there when we return today.

In traffic of st Petersburg. Our private tour has wifi on bus. Just left hermitage. Amazing.

Roothy - on our port n London where there was a tender, we were DIY and just went to the disembarkation deck to go ashore once the announcement was made that we had cleared. We were not given any direction to proceed otherwise, there weren't any tickets to board the tender. We did not run up against issues getting off the ship. Back onto the ship was the problem with a wait time due to port authorities only running one tender in the late afternoon. We did not tender on the Homelands portion.

So happy to hear all is going so well. Fuss your statement on leaving the Hermitage brings back the memories of an amazing two days in SPB.

Have a great time all!!!

Hi all. We're now in St Petersburg. So far we have not used tenders and I dont think we will be.

My positive experience continues. And I am so happy that this threadis feeding the excitement for soon to be Star-shippers!!! That was the who,e point of me starting this thread. I so wanted to get away from minutiaie like iced tea mchines and concentrate on the bigger picture and most especially get new people involved.

One more bit of useful acvice.

This ship while lovely is BIG..certainly much bigger than I am used to. You may well want to ri g two cell phones with a good data plan for texts so that you can find each other on board! Seriously....once you separate outside the cabin, you really have noidea where your companion is!

In luded excursions.so far we are ery pleased with these. they provide a useful overview and general information.

If you go to Google maps and look for the Viking Ferry terminal near to the old section (Gamla Stan) of Stockholm, the Viking Star docks right next to the ferry terminal, towards town. The Viking Ferry Service is no relation to Viking Oceans BTW. It's only about a quarter mile walk to Gamla Stan from where the Star docks. If you can't find that, look for the Hilton Slussen - the Star docks about a quarter mile east of the Hilton.

Thank you.