Viking Sky Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We cruised 3 weeks with Viking, ending in Athens. Our cruise was set to start in Barcelona, but we were notified two weeks ahead that the departure would now be from Tarragona. As we had booked our own flights and hotels, Viking said we were now responsible for getting to Tarragona on our own, necessitating either a 210 Euro taxi, or navigating an unbelievable scrum with 4 suitcases to barely get on a train, which is what we wound up doing.
First night, we were awakened at 11:30 pm, first by a phone call, then a knock at the door. We'd been asleep for an hour and a half, so slowly shuffled to our door. "You need to turn your lights out and close your curtains, as it's interfering with navigation." I pointed around the room - "Do you see any lights on or curtains open?" Ten minutes late - knock, knock, knock. I shuffle over again. "The light must be coming out of your bathroom window." I'm about to take him over and show him a dark bathroom with a closed curtain, but he gets a call on his radio, then tells me the problem is solved. Turned out the problem was in room 4001, while I was in room 3001.
We were set to dock in Venice for 3 days. Friends of ours from Zurich were able to make the half day drive down to spend Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning with us. Then our docking port was changed from Venice to Chioggia, from where it takes between 1 1/2 and 2 hours to get to Venice via tender. To have dinner and spend time with our friends, the only solution now was to book a hotel room in Venice for 400 Euros, which we did.
Response from VikingS, Community Team
Cabin Review
The explorer suite on the third deck is spacious, and pleasant to sit in. It is close to the machinery used during docking (particularly the anchor), and the bathroom window looks out over the front of the ship where workers sometimes are, so if you'd prefer less noise or better privacy, one of the higher suites may be more to your liking. None of this bothered me, except for the 3001/4001 foul-up described above. There was enough room in the living room for my wife to create a bed out of couch cushions on the floor, so to spend the quarantine week sleeping in a different room than me; and luckily she was able to avoid contracting COVID.
Port Reviews
Barcelona
Barcelona is a great city, full of things to see and do, with abundant restaurant options. Our departure port was changed at the last minute to Tarragona, so we did not see as much of Barcelona as we would have preferred.