Viking Sea Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and the great price. We have cruised 15 other times but never on Viking, although we have seen their ships on our 2 river cruises on another line.
I found that dealing with them that their agents were multi-purposed. The answered questions, made the reservation for the cruise, scheduled meals at the specialty restaurants and helped with optional excursion questions and reservations. Always had pleasant exchanges and I was never put on hold waiting for an agent. This is NOT typical in the industry!
That said, those people did not alert us that there was a PROVIDED water shuttle service to take us from the port to St. Mark's Square - about as far as you would want to go away from the ship. That would have saved a lot of time and expense for many of us. I remember asking one of the agents about how far it was from the port to the sights. He told me that I would take the monorail to the transfer station then walk.
Cabin Review
I chose the cabin because it was on the stern of the ship and I wanted to be somewhat blocked from any wind that would prevent us from enjoying the use of our balcony. Weather was predicted to be in the 50's and low 60's; turned out to be way warmer :) We were able to sit out and watch the sail out each evening on the padded deck chairs with the provided blanket an a cup of coffee [from our in room machine] or a soda [free from our refrig.]
It was also at the end of the hallway so we had absolutely no one passing by to disturb us.
The bathroom was nice but a bit small for 2 people to be in there at one time. The shower had a modern rain shower head and there was a seat to sit on to let the water beat on you or to shave your legs.
Bed and pillows were like clouds and the linens were super deluxe. Towels were large and fluffy and replaced, if use, morning and night. There was a nice toss-over blanket to snuggle under to take a nap.
As said above, there was not enough shelf or drawer space to store clothing. The closet was ample and I would hope that future ships would put a single row of shelves in the closet. The closet door was hard to operate and since it had an automatic 'on' light when you opened it or walked near, it awoke us a few times at night when it would slide open with the movement of the ship.
A nice feature is that there is a dim nightlight that shines at the base of the cabinets to guide you to the bathroom at night but not bright enough to keep you awake.
AAHH the floor of the bathroom is heated so never cold toes.
Port Reviews
Koper
The tour was nice, nice scenery, but the tour guide was awful. He jabbered on and on - mostly about how great he was and also made inappropriate references to bodily functions, politics and sex. He was so proud of the drinking culture of his country. The Farmer's Market was fun and it was nice to be able to speak with the locals and hear more about their way of life.
Kotor
Enjoyed walking the narrow streets and seeing the various homes of the aristocracy and where business was transacted centuries ago. Could tell where the aristocracy and the general townfolk lived.
Athens (Piraeus)
Tour guide was great. In my opinion, the walk up was dangerous because of the slippery stones. It should be noted on future descriptions.
Santorini
I loved taking the cable car ride up and walking around among the blue roofed buildings on my own after the tour concluded. Tooks lots of pictures of this beautiful place.
Not at all pleased with the tour guide. It seemed that the tour bus Those of us in the back of the bus continually told the guide we couldn't hear so she'd speak up then we'd say we could hear and she would then lower her voice and it came across as mumble. After the tour she told us to visit the chapel on our own which was closed. She also recommended the Tomataki - tomato based sandwich with the 'famous' tomatoes. Several of us searched for a restaurant only to be told that the tomato was out of season and NO one had that sandwich. I think she should have known that it was not available at this time of the year and that the church was closed.