My family selects a cruise based on the itinerary, as we view the ship as a floating hotel. We had been on the Viking Star during part of its “maiden voyage,” the year before we booked our second voyage on the ship.

We had been on several Viking River Cruises. We found the Viking River Cruise line to be exceptional in quality, service, itineraries, and value. At first glance, Viking cruises are more expensive than other cruise lines. However, Viking included shore excursions and beer and wine with meals.

The Viking Star cruise was titled “In the Wake of the Vikings.” It started in Bergen, Norway, which is the Viking Cruise Line’s headquarters. The itinerary included stops in Lerwick, Scotland, the Torshavn Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Saguenay, Quebec and Montreal, Canada. The cruise is fifteen days in length, with three sea days. The sea days included lectures, sea watching, or whale watching. The Explorers Lounge is located on decks seven and eight. Passengers can sit in the Lounge and listen to lecturers discuss the Northern Lights or the Ocean, or look for whales. It was very windy on our voyage. There are entrances and exits on both sides or the Explorers Lounge. Both entrances and exits have two very heavy doors, with signs instructing everyone to close one door before opening the second door. Of course many of the passengers ignored the signs and opened one door while the other was still open, causing the very dangerous slamming of one door of very heavy doors. Read more