Viking Star Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We have just returned from an Empires of the Mediterranean cruise on the new Viking Star. We travelled with four friends, two of them were from Canada and two, like us, from the UK, there were six of us all together, all seasoned Viking River Cruise passengers. We all booked Deluxe Veranda cabins, originally in a line but our Canadian friends who booked through America were moved up a deck, their cabin was identical to ours lower down and we all decided that these cabins gave us what we wanted and a larger cabin would have been no better. What an amazing ship the Viking Star is, never did we consider that it was crowded or couldn’t cope with the almost 1000 passengers on board. There are probably not enough superlatives to describe the whole 10 days.
There were many different dining opportunities, none of which are formal but the Chef’s Table and Manfreddi’s are smarter than other eating places. There are more informal dining opportunities around the swimming pool, the Explorers lounge and in the World Café, with a set menu (which changes each day) with three or four options and a standard steak, chicken, salmon option in The Restaurant. The message from every member of the crew is…if you want it it can be done…We ate burgers and hot dogs, one day, in the swimming pool area and raided the ice cream in the café afterwards.
The on-board entertainment was terrific and should have suited every need. There were exceptional speakers who were historians, scientists and diplomats. The musical team were amazing…Beatles, Abba, Opera, The Rat Pack and Spoof James Bond themed shows. The versatility of the entertainment team came to the fore when additional lectures were put on for an unscheduled day at sea. The shore excursions were well organised with good briefings re what to expect re walking and weather. Some of the guides were better than others and unfortunately there were just far too many people in our group for The Acropolis in Athens, the guide rushed on, and there seemed to be thousands of other visitors that day too.
Cabin Review
The cabins are well designed and fitted out, the only down we identified was lack of drawer space (there were three small drawers but an additional unit in part of the huge wardrobe would have suited us better). The bathrooms are great with large shower and good storage space, the floors are heated. Beds and pillows are really comfy and of good quality. The small balcony had two rattan chairs and a table, ideal for a sunrise or sunset coffee or hot chocolate. The cabins all had a capsule coffee machine with the pods provided as needed, but there was 24 hour room service too.