Any reports from the November or December 2023 West Indies Explorer cruises?

[Texanniew]

We are going next year, and most of the reviews I have read are from Covid times or earlier.

Thanks!

[Texanniew]

Bumping up

[hadone]

Hi. We are booked 1/9/24. Getting excited. Also searching for latest news. We are in Galveston flying out of IAH. You?

[hadone]

I see a few showers likely so planning accordingly. Wonder if snorkel goes in rain anyway??

[Texanniew]

1 hour ago, hadone said:

Hi. We are booked 1/9/24. Getting excited. Also searching for latest news. We are in Galveston flying out of IAH. You?

We will be going in October.  Also out of IAH. Anxious to hear what the recent travlers have to say about their trip.

[hadone]

Well, if nothing else I can send my report in upon our return!! Super excited! Viking Homelands was one best trips of our life!!

[stephenandrew]

We just got back from the 12/20 to 12/30 cruise.  This was our first Viking experience.  It was very nice and we enjoyed ourselves, but based on our experience I wouldn’t be rushing back just to sail Viking.  If we found a cruise with an attractive itinerary, price, and schedule, we would certainly consider another Viking cruise, but I’m not sure taking what is essentially a standard Southern Caribbean cruise on Viking represents a fabulous value.  Don’t get me wrong, the food, service, cabins, etc.  were all solid (though not without issue) but for the price, I think you can get a nearly equivalent experience for less money.  This may have to do with the itinerary…Caribbean ports are “standard” places to visit, and the things people like to do are go the beach, sail, snorkel, shop, etc.  I can see where being on a smaller ship that is run by an entity that specializes in more “exotic” ports of call would be superior to larger mainstream cruise lines, but I just don’t see Viking adding a lot of value for this itinerary.  Again, I’m sure you will enjoy yourself…it is overall a very nice experience.  I know I could have taken a similar itinerary for a significantly lower fare…and for me, Viking doesn’t add enough value to justify paying for this itinerary.

 

I’m happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

Edited December 31, 2023 by stephenandrew

[Azulann]

I am doing this  itinerary in Oct 2025. Got a great deal. 

Having only been to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten  on a Viking TA, I would like to know your experience of the various  islands and ports. What  excursion by Viking would you recommend?  

Are the ports of call easy to just walk into town or hire a taxi to see the highlights of the island? 

Did you do any of the food excursions? 

Which island was your favorite?

Edited December 31, 2023 by Azulann

[stephenandrew]

14 minutes ago, Azulann said:

I am doing this  itinerary in Oct 2025. Got a great deal. 

Having only been to Puerto Rico and St. Maarten  on a Viking TA, I would like to know your experience of the various  islands and ports. What  excursion by Viking would you recommend?  

Are the ports of call easy to just walk into town or hire a taxi to see the highlights of the island? 

Did you do any of the food excursions? 

Which island was your favorite?

We did not take any of the Viking excursions except for the included (free) walking tour of Old San Juan.  I’m not a big fan of group tours, but the the San Juan walking tour was pretty decent—-good guide, saw some interesting sights, time spent was appropriate at different places, etc.

 

For the other islands we booked our own excursions and got a few suggestions on the port of call boards here.  We like snorkeling and sailing so that’s where most of our focus was, but we did take one island tour on St Kitts.

 

You can walk into town for all of the ports—-you should have no trouble hiring a taxi at any of them.

 

We were partial to Virgin Gorda, St Lucia and St Thomas, but we spent all our time on the water or at the beach on those places which is kind of our thing.

Edited December 31, 2023 by stephenandrew

[Azulann]

18 minutes ago, stephenandrew said:

We were partial to Virgin Gordy, St Lucia and St Thomas, but we spent all our time on the water or at the beach on those places which is kind of our thing.

Thank you for your quick reply.

I will read ports of call on CC  for more information about  private tours.Always find  that forum to be very helpful too.  I have lots of time to do research.

 Almost all my cruises have been in Europe , so I see this cruise as a relaxed one to  enjoy the view, beaches, water and food and of  course the ship!

We have a DV1  aft cabin which is our favorite.

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Azulann

[Breckski]

We did the Nov 16th? one.  We've cruised Viking several times before and had a good time.  Was actually better than expected.  As others have said, we picked this cruise for the value and number of ports.  We were able to treat the ship as a true floating hotel with stops each day.  

 

The Carribean is so very commercialized.  But with that said we still had an enjoyable trip - just make sure your expectations are reasonable.

 

Someone asked about excursions.  We had our best excursion ever while on a cruise ship in Philipsburg - the yacht "race" on the historic Stars & Stripes yacht.  We'd never been on a racing yacht before, so it was a really unique experience for us.  If you've been on such yachts before, you may be disappointed, but we had a ball.   I'd say for the most part they are standard Carribean fare excursions - scuba, drive around the island, look at waterfalls, distillery tours, etc.  

[Texanniew]

7 minutes ago, mwike said:

We did the Nov 16th? one.  We've cruised Viking several times before and had a good time.  Was actually better than expected.  As others have said, we picked this cruise for the value and number of ports.  We were able to treat the ship as a true floating hotel with stops each day.  

 

The Carribean is so very commercialized.  But with that said we still had an enjoyable trip - just make sure your expectations are reasonable.

 

Someone asked about excursions.  We had our best excursion ever while on a cruise ship in Philipsburg - the yacht "race" on the historic Stars & Stripes yacht.  We'd never been on a racing yacht before, so it was a really unique experience for us.  If you've been on such yachts before, you may be disappointed, but we had a ball.   I'd say for the most part they are standard Carribean fare excursions - scuba, drive around the island, look at waterfalls, distillery tours, etc.  

The race is the one I really want to do. What level cabin were you? I am DV4; worried it will be booked before it’s my turn to sign up.

[Texanniew]

37 minutes ago, stephenandrew said:

We did not take any of the Viking excursions except for the included (free) walking tour of Old San Juan.  I’m not a big fan of group tours, but the the San Juan walking tour was pretty decent—-good guide, saw some interesting sights, time spent was appropriate at different places, etc.

 

For the other islands we booked our own excursions and got a few suggestions on the port of call boards here.  We like snorkeling and sailing so that’s where most of our focus was, but we did take one island tour on St Kitts.

 

You can walk into town for all of the ports—-you should have no trouble hiring a taxi at any of them.

 

We were partial to Virgin Gorda, St Lucia and St Thomas, but we spent all our time on the water or at the beach on those places which is kind of our thing.

What excursions did you do? What company did you use?

[Breckski]

6 minutes ago, Texanniew said:

The race is the one I really want to do. What level cabin were you? I am DV4; worried it will be booked before it’s my turn to sign up.

 

We were in a PV of some sort.  I'd make sure to register as soon as the window opens.

[millybess]

12 minutes ago, Texanniew said:

The race is the one I really want to do. 

DH did that in 2020 and loved it!

[stephenandrew]

1 minute ago, Texanniew said:

What excursions did you do? What company did you use?

We went to Virgin Gorda on our own…took Sensations Ferry at 8:30 am, and returned on their 1:45 pm Ferry.  They have a “package” where they will drive you from the pier in VG to the Baths and back with RT Ferry tickets for a reasonable price…I forget what it is, but way cheaper than Viking.  Easy to do yourself.

 

We booked an Island Tour with a guy named “Royston” on St Kitts.  He will take you pretty much wherever you want to go—-we saw the entire Island….lots of scenic views, hit the beach, saw a fort.  You can get his contact info on the St Kitts port of call Board.  Caution:  it is not a deluxe tour—-his Toyota van is uber run down, but it adds to the experience.  Nice kid too.

 

St Lucia we used Israel King and took a speed boat tour around the island….hit some beaches, did some snorkeling.  If you want to do some hiking ad go to the volcanic baths, you can do that too.  Jerome was our Captain….very nice guy as was his first mate—-Chris.  We booked their larger boat….Israel King II….very comfortable.

 

St Thomas…we used Stormy Pirates out if Red Hook and took a cat ride for 6 hours….snorkeling, lunch, sailing.   By far our favorite excursion, but we had perfect weather.  The owner is a bit particular about how she handles things, but the entire operation is well done, very professional.  I’d do this trip 100 times more.

 

 

[LisaDee]

We did this itinerary in Feb 2022 and enjoyed it so much we’re doing it again in Feb 2025.  My only complaint is that it was so busy, I wish it were a day or two longer with a couple sea days.  We did excursions in every port but next time we’ll stay on board in St. Thomas which we’ve been to many times and maybe one other port TBD.  

For the person asking about excursions….

 

We did the “free”/included excursions in San Juan (good but required walking uphill and on uneven pavement so it wouldn’t work for some), Tortola (not good, we should have stayed on the ship) and Antigua (really good, we learned a lot from the guide, there were gorgeous views from Shirley Heights and we enjoyed seeing Nelson’s Dockyard.)

 

We did paid excursions in St Lucia (catamaran to Ladera; very pricey but amazing views of the Pitons and so memorable, we still talk about it), St Kitts (catamaran to Nevis; this was great, the crew were really fun and the views of Nevis peak from the beach was gorgeous), Barbados (photography excursion; it was fine to see the sites but too many people, he didn’t really teach much), Dominica (snorkeling the “champagne” reef; very cool experience to do once but getting back into the boat from the water was a challenge), St. Martin (Viking catamaran excursion; it was fine but we have preferred our many speed boat trips with “Captain Bob”, unfortunately it wasn’t an option because Viking wasn’t allowing private excursions at the time due to covid) and St Thomas (catamaran to 2 snorkel sites, one a shipwreck which we could barely see and the 2nd with turtles which was awesome but the water was rough that day).

 

 

[Texanniew]

Stephenandrew…this is great! Thanks so much! I have heard that we will pretty much need to book outside of Viking for any ‘active’ excursions.

[millybess]

4 minutes ago, stephenandrew said:

We booked an Island Tour with a guy named “Royston” on St Kitts.  He will take you pretty much wherever you want to go—-we saw the entire Island….lots of scenic views, hit the beach, saw a fort.  You can get his contact info on the St Kitts port of call Board.  Caution:  it is not a deluxe tour—-his Toyota van is uber run down, but it adds to the experience.  Nice kid too.

 

 

We toured with Royston on St. Kitts also.  Great guide.  There were a few things we wanted to do on St. Kitts and he had it all organized a few days before we docked.  We would definitely book a tour with him again.

[millybess]

7 minutes ago, LisaDee said:

Tortola (not good, we should have stayed on the ship) 

This was the island we enjoyed the most.  In fact, we booked a room at a resort twice for 2 weeks on the island and then Covid intervened both times.  

[stephenandrew]

24 minutes ago, Texanniew said:

The race is the one I really want to do. What level cabin were you? I am DV4; worried it will be booked before it’s my turn to sign up.

FWIW, If you are unable to book this with Viking, I wouldn’t worry.  You can book this same excursion independently….just google it to find the company/website.  Instead of relying on Viking getting you to the excursion, you’ll just need to catch a cab, which won’t be a problem.  

[mluzzy1]

We just returned from the 12/20 sailing of Sea as well. First time on Viking. We were in a DV2 on Deck 5.

Pro's :

Service was very good - crew friendly and engaging and willing to act on special requests .

Food was very good ,especially enjoyed our two seatings in Manfredi's

Ship design is classic and easy to navigate. Never felt crowded.

Embarkation and Debarkation quick and easy. Mustering as well

Port a day - (most of them require an excursion on your own or with the ship to get away from the tourist areas)

 

Issues we had:

Stateroom was small for what we are used to sailing in (bathroom was nice)

We had an issue with our TV/Entertainment system that took 8 days to resolve

Our hallway and stateroom had a musty smell that we noticed in several hallways

 

Having paid under 3k a person I felt like it was a very good value as we had 500 OBC (which covered our tips +). With Wifi,Beer/wine/frsh squeezed  juice and specialty coffees included as well as use of the thermal spa, we will look for similar deals from Viking again. 

 

 

 

[Texanniew]

Mluzzy1, what excursions did you do?

[hadone]

Also curious how was the weather? Water warm enough to enjoy? Cool at night? Trying to pack now...Thanks!

[stephenandrew]

3 minutes ago, hadone said:

Also curious how was the weather? Water warm enough to enjoy? Cool at night? Trying to pack now...Thanks!

You might take a sweater for the dining rooms…I found them to be a bit chilly.

Edited January 1 by stephenandrew