My wife and I were celebrating our 10th anniversary and her pending 50th birthday. We wanted to take a "cruise of a lifetime" but didn't want to experience the floating hotel cruise concepts (mega cruisers in excess of 2000+ persons).

The Viking experience was so much better. We had heard rave reviews about Viking's river cruises and knew they were building a small ship designed to get into small ports where the big cruisers just couldn't go. We reserved (at the time of booking) the last cruise date of the inaugural season of Viking Star and got to experience all the "firsts" associated with the laying of the keel and completion of the ship, the hiring of the executive officers, the designs and finishes, etc. It was first class and we had not even been aboard!

Our trip over was uneventful though security was high - we were flying within days of the Paris bombing and going thru Brussels on the way to Venice. Safety was a top concern but we never felt like harm could come to us. Once in Venice, we found the Viking staff eager to welcome us to the ship and provided 10+/10 service to us, from our Penthouse Veranda cabin stewards, to the waitstaff in the dining rooms, to the extraordinary bartenders, our musicians, our on-shore guides, the medical staff and even the executive officers, all of whom were approachable and kind and took time to answer questions. I even got a special meeting with the Chief Engineer on a discussion about the desalinization process on Viking Star . Read more