The ship is lovely. We have cruised on the Viking River Cruises with smaller ships, so this was a very nice change. We booked excursions for every day which gave us little time to use the amenities throughout the Star. We did enjoy the areas to sit and watch the sea and read a little. I do miss the closeness of the shores from the river cruises. The Baltic is very large and we mostly saw water when sailing (typical of ocean cruising) . We will definitely look for additional cruises in the future, but may go back to the river cruises. The atmosphere is more friendly because there are fewer people.

Most of our excursions were very good and the guides were also very knowledgeable. The pace was pretty fast and we sometimes got left a little behind trying to absorb all that was around us. Our favorite was the FLAM Rail trip. The excursions where we were invited to eat lunch, were way too crowded. There needs to be a way to spread the number of people all trying to be served at one time.

The Viking staff made most of the travels to/from the ports for excursions simple and we knew where to go. Buses were well marked and we were directed correctly. Bus drivers were excellent.