This was our 6th cruise with Viking, but obviously the first ocean voyage, and we felt that Viking did an outstanding job translating the "Viking Experience" to a larger ship. Were there small glitches? A few ... but I certainly expected them on the maiden voyage, and nothing that happened in any way spoiled our overall satisfaction with the ship and our journey.

My husband and I are seasoned travelers and history fanatics who are primarily interested in optimizing our time in port. If you want to party 'til dawn, this is not the cruise for you (although the shows were fun and the musicians were outstanding.) True to the Viking model, there was an included excursion with local guides in every port...and we took full advantage of the city tours to get some background and a sense of how each city was laid out. We were also appreciative of the free shuttles in almost every port that allowed us to explore on our own and be certain of arriving back to the ship on time before sailing.

The Viking Star is extremely spacious and well-designed with multiple beautiful lounge/library/seating areas. We sampled all 6 dining venues - our favorite was Manfredi's, the Italian specialty restaurant that offers 2 seatings/night. The daily seafood, sushi and raw bar in the World Café was wonderfully fresh; there were always great vegetarian options in the both the Main Dining Room and World Café - and the traditional Norwegian and Scandinavian open faced sandwiches in Mamen's were marvelous. We even got a chance to dine al fresco for lunch on the back deck .. a pleasure we hadn't expected sailing in May in the Baltic. Every server in every restaurant was personable, upbeat and efficient. We deeply appreciated the fact that there is no additional charge for the specialty restaurants, and very good house wine and local beers are always included with meals - plus the bar cocktails are excellent and reasonably priced. The goal of Viking is always to provide value - not to "nickel and dime" passengers with extra charges. Internet is also free and we had fairly good service throughout - although it was better in some ports than in others (great in Norway and Sweden) and definitely better in port than at sea. Read more