Viking Sea Review

5.0 / 5.0
1,570 reviews

New, clean, included almost everything, no casino, wonderful food, great cabins

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Viking Sea
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Small is better
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2018

We picked this trip because it included a trip up the Amazon River. We have been on other smaller cruises with 50 to 300 passengers on rivers and seas and one larger one of 3,000. The larger one was to accommodate other members of our family. We actually prefer smaller ships generally. However, our thinking has changed somewhat due to the Viking Sea. They have definitely found a niche with services of the big ships with thousands of guests and the intimacy and comfort of smaller ships.

Planning all the details of our trip was easy. The telephone Viking people are always helpful and knowledgeable. They know their product. No long waits to be connected. Once I had booked, I used the My Viking Journey website to book restaurants and excursions, including the times for the included excursions. There is one included excursion for every port. I will handle those reviews individually. There is a lot of good information on the Viking website, as well as, My Viking Journey. From lists of what to pack and not pack to whether you need a visa or not, make sure that you explore both websites. Once on the ship, Viking Voyager takes over with information including the daily newsletter, your spa/restaurant/excursion reservations, etc. It updates immediately with any changes that you make.

Embarkation was easy. We used the official transfer included with the air purchased with our cruise. By the way, the flights chosen by Viking were exactly the flights I would have chosen. They were midday non-stops from my preferred airport. They took charge of our luggage as soon as we removed it from the carousel. The next time we saw it was when it was delivered to our cabin. On the bus ride to the ship terminal, we were told about San Juan. We were handed our cabin cards and excursion tickets in a warehouse like area that must normally serve the big ships. Our cabin class had a 1:00 pm cabin access which was perfect. Our steward showed us around our cabin and explained all of the key items from coffee machine to night lights.

Cabin Review

Cabin Penthouse Veranda

The cabin was very roomy. Besides a king sized bed, there was a small couch, coffee table, and stuffed chair plus a desk type chair at the vanity/desk. We also had a veranda with two chairs and a small table with space to spare. All cabins on Viking Ocean ships have verandas. There are no inside cabins. We emptied out our large suitcases and carry-ons and still had room to spare in the drawers and closet. We kept our empty bags under the bed. The bathroom was very generously sized with heated floors and recessed night lights. There was plenty of storage here also with drawers and shelves. Everything was kept spotlessly clean. When I said our bed was too hard for my comfort on a mid-cruise evaluation, the head of housekeeping worked with our stewards to put a quilt under the sheets for extra cushioning. I should have told our stewards sooner. We had filtered water in a decanter refilled twice a day which I much prefer to individual disposable bottles. Included in our cabin class was shoe polishing and ironing. We had no shoes that needed polishing but I did use the the ironing service which takes a bit over 24 hours to get it returned. We also had our mini-bar replenished once a day with soft drinks, small bottles of hard liquor, and some small snacks. We received one bottle of champagne for the cruise. The snacks were tiny pieces of chocolate and some small bags of nuts and trail mix. I commented that I did not really consider that much in the way of snacks.However, since all food is included, we just picked up plates of savories or cookies in the Living Room bar or Mamsens and ate those in our cabin. Room service is included at no extra charge, not even a tip. That menu is limited but we had breakfast in our room a number of times to speed up our mornings including, amazingly to me, disembarkation day. I kept a glass of milk in the refrigerator to use with our room's coffee maker. One day, I made Irish coffee with our mini-bar whiskey, coffee, and milk. Other days, we had rum and coke or gin and tonic.

Port Reviews

Barbados

Included bus tour with two stops - a historic church and a hilltop view.

St. Lucia

Included bus tour that drove around the island with views. We stopped at a private estate for a snack and a chance to see the extensive garden on the hilltop where it is located.

Santarem

Santa Lucia Nature Walk took us to a privately protected piece of the rainforest in Brazil where we walked among the trees with a guide who identified the trees and explained their uses.

Santarem Panorama was an included tour that included a cassava flour meal where we saw its traditional production. We also ate local fruits and sampled other foods and saw how natural rubber is collected. The tour included a small museum and cathedral.

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