Just returned from Viking Sea from Bergen to Athens (repositioning cruise). First of all can I say ive been on 24 cruises on mainly Celebrity but also Cunard, Azamara, Royal Caribean and P and O. This was by far the nicest ship for décor Ive ever been on. The simple modern design of all the public areas . The clean colours and the furniture was totally my taste. The staff were incredible from top to bottom (apart from the incredibly false and annoying Cruise Director). Nothing was too much much hassle and there was no stuck up aloofness that you get on Cunard. We had the best meals we have ever had on a cruise ship (or off for that matter). The quality of the food and the incuded wine was top notch. As the ship was underoccupied by nearly 300 there was never any problems getting in to the optional restaurants and we spent many a lovely night experiencing the wine pairing with the set meals in the ‘Chefs table’ with the friendly maitre d’ Michael Everything was totally relaxed and chilled.

The Spa blew any other spa at sea out the water. Fabulous. From the snow room to the pool, the facilities were incredible.

Other mentions are the IT. From the smooth checking in without paper tickets to the screens throughout the ship that you could interatc to get menus or event of the day up to the ordering of meals and drinks with the waiters handheld phones. Everything worked very well. Just the fact that you had unlimited free wifi made a massive difference to the experience. Note to other cruise companies: Viking give free wifi to all their staff. This makes a massive difference in their interactions with theier families back home and we could see the difference in temperament between the staff on Viking and any other ship weve ever been on. They actually liked working for Viking and the turnover of staff was a lot lower than any other lines. Read more