LIVE! from the Viking Star Maiden Cruise

[id4elizabeth]

We're about to board the Viking Star in a few hours. Saw her tied up to the Istanbul docks yesterday. She appeared to be the only cruise ship tied up in port. We had a great day touring Istanbul yesterday; sunny, chilly and very windy. Tulips, daffodils, and glorious smelling hyacinths are everywhere.

 

Will try and post pics of cabins as soon as we board.

 

Carolyn - I'm having great difficulty on posting pictures or doing anything other than "replying" to another person's statement on the Events Live chat and a couple of my posts have been rejected by the "moderator" so I'm falling back on the regular roll calls that I'm familiar with. Hope that's OK.

[coco-girl]

Good Morning id4Elizabeth,

 

We are booked on the Med Odyssey in October, so have a long time to wait. We booked way back in 2013 as soon as we became aware of Viking Star.

 

I have been following the posts on this thread since it's creation, so I am aware of all of the ups and downs, trials and tribulations you pioneering 50 Dayer's have endured.

 

I would like to thank you and all of the 50 Day Crazies for all of your hard work.

It takes a lot of time and effort researching a trip like this and you are all very generous to share your research and experiences.

 

I hope this adventure proves to be as exciting and rewarding as you dreamed it would be. I can only imagine your excitement this morning :-)

 

Make sure along with all the posting and the uploading that you take time out to enjoy the Star in all it's glory. :D

 

Bon Voyage!!

 

Coco x

[Azulann]

We're about to board the Viking Star in a few hours. Saw her tied up to the Istanbul docks yesterday. She appeared to be the only cruise ship tied up in port. We had a great day touring Istanbul yesterday; sunny, chilly and very windy. Tulips, daffodils, and glorious smelling hyacinths are everywhere.

 

Will try and post pics of cabins as soon as we board.

 

Carolyn - I'm having great difficulty on posting pictures or doing anything other than "replying" to another person's statement on the Events Live chat and a couple of my posts have been rejected by the "moderator" so I'm falling back on the regular roll calls that I'm familiar with. Hope that's OK.

 

So glad you have started this thread. I too had some problems with posting on the live chat too.

Look forward to your postings whenever you have some down time. Which hopefully will be sparse. ;)

Your journey through Europe on the Viking Star has begun!

[id4elizabeth]

The ship is beautiful inside and out. Very clean Scandinavian design and calm color scheme. There are lots of public spaces that look very comfortable indeed.

 

We had an 11:00 am check-in which did not go smoothly. In order to get to the passenger terminal through the Gate, they kept asking us for our "tickets" which of course we don't really have. I showed them our baggage tags and that seemed to be OK. I noticed others had their Viking booklets that we received in the mail and that seemed to work too. We sat in a waiting area until about 11:20. We started the check-in process in the passenger terminal and they scanned our Passports, kept our passports and gave us a passport receipt which they said we could get back as soon as we left Turkish waters. I'm glad we had photocopies to carry around with us for the day, so you may want to make sure you have photocopies of your passports if walking around a foreign country on your own without one makes you nervous. Then they took our pictures and we walked to the ship itself. Smiling crew were there to greet us, but we were told our cabins weren't quite ready and we were escorted up to the World Cafe. We waited...and waited... Lunch was not yet ready either. A little after 12:00 the buffet opened and we ate lunch. Still no announcement about cabins. We met up with Leo (algeas) and his wife who are in an Explorer Suite and they were waiting too. After lunch, in frustration I went searching for someone who could tell us when our cabins would be available. I finally found the "Explorer Desk" and they said our cabins were available and had been since 11:00. I said "but we have no keys" and the fellow said "they are in your cabin"! :eek: All this time we had been waiting when we could have been touring Istanbul!!

 

However our cabin is delightful - we're in a Penthouse Junior Suite. I took lots of pictures but when I try and upload them they get rejected because they are too big. Leo is going to help me tomorrow afternoon. CrusinSubMan has posted some on his blog though (see his thread under Viking Oceans). Lots of drawer space in our cabin. Big nice veranda. Not enough hangers.

 

One downside I have to tell you is that the infinity pool is QUITE SMALL. Don't think it's quite like the 'artist's renditions' we've all been admiring.

 

Food tonight was wonderful. Lots of seating. Our table of 6 was filled by Open Seating diners. We were the only 'fixed time' diners at our table. Lots of empty spaces around the dining room. If tonight was not an aberration there should be no problem for Open Seating diners, but I'll let you know if that changes.

 

Had a wonderful afternoon in Istanbul.

 

Plugs behind beds have a 220 side and a 110 side. They are behind the beds, so you have to pull the beds out to get to them, but it was easy to move the beds. Depending on how long the cord is for your CPAP you should be fine.

 

Our two very large suitcases fit easily under the beds.

 

More tomorrow.

[jkerr]

Thanks so much for all the info. We don't board until Bergen, but excited to hear about your journey!! Can't wait for the photos. Yes, on the more recent photos the infinity pool looks quite small in comparsion to the originals. Oh well, is there also an inside pool??

Bon Vonage!

[Bear_Music]

Yup, she's beautiful. View from the weather deck is fantastic. We rode the viking bus in from the airport and they did our checkin via hand-held computer on the bus so that worked very well.

 

Buffet-style lunch in World Cafe was decent but not outstanding, but of course they were hammered. Dinner in The Restaurant was first-rate. Wine included with dinner will be 3 specific pours; a red, a white, and at least last. night a Rose. They will vary nightly.

 

There are various small glitches and snafus, but overall a great experience. OUR cabin was basically available as soon as we boarded, but we're on Deck and there aren't many up here....

[pukekolive]

Just watched the sailaway on the Galata webcam. Midnight exactly here in New Zealand, 3pm for you I guess. Enjoy your day at sea and I will look for more reports in the morning. Goodnight!

[id4elizabeth]

There's only one haircutter in the Salon. They do not do hair coloring at all, so if you need a touchup while you're on board, bring your own!

 

Not L'Occitane toiletries but, Freyja, which is actually quite nice, but was so looking forward to my Verbena L'Occitane like on the river cruises.

 

There's no weight scale anywhere on the ship. They "overlooked" this, and are planning on getting some kind of scale while in port somewhere, hopefully before Venice.

[Got2Cruise]

Elizabeth I'm loving following along vicariously with you. I'm especially waiting for the excursions and how they compare to the River Cruise excursions. Bon Voyage!

[PopsA]

There's no weight scale anywhere on the ship. They "overlooked" this, and are planning on getting some kind of scale while in port somewhere, hopefully before Venice.

 

When they do get one will it be properly rigged to drop a 1/4 pound per day so I feel like I'm doing fine with my eating on the trip?

[id4elizabeth]

Absolutely right PopsA! At least.

 

I am looking into your Birthday bash in the private dining room. They are getting back to me on it. It will cost extra and they are checking into how much and what the menu is. I have two different Viking guys looking into it and will let you know as soon as I hear. My guess right now is that you may prefer the regular Chef's Table…just a "feeling" from the responses I've gotten, but we'll see.

[id4elizabeth]

We just had a wonderful Meet & Greet in the Explorer's Lounge. Viking did a really nice job! Several Viking Execs were there, and spoke to us. It lasted about an hour and a half - everyone was having such a great time meeting each other in person, although we have to ask each other what our CC handles are, as that's how we know one another. It was great to finally put faces to handles so to speak.

 

We did make one very important decision - we are going to post our experiences on one thread, and we're (arbitrarily) choosing "On Board the Star" on the regular "Cruise Lines" forum --> "Cruise Lines P to Z" sub forum --> and then "Viking Oceans" forum. Under there is the thread "on Board the Star" so that's where those of us onboard will be posting from now on, so check there for updates! We won't be using this thread under Roll Calls.

 

Thanks everyone!

[PopsA]

Thank you so much Elizabeth. I really appreciate you spending your precious time working on getting us the best venue for my party. What started as a group 4 - 6 eating at the snack bar has grown to 12 people dining at the best space on the ship!

 

We will have a great night!

Edited April 12, 2015 by PopsA

[id4elizabeth]

Oops - I told them a party of 10! Not to worry, I'll get that changed.

[PopsA]

Oops - I told them a party of 10! Not to worry, I'll get that changed.

 

Send me an email and I will give you all the attendees names and cabin numbers. Not everyone wanted their cabin numbers out in the clear.

 

brian_plew@yahoo.com