Viking Venus Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose the British Isles Explorer cruise as 1) we love everything British and Irish, and 2) we visited so very many of the places I had studied in my undergraduate majors. The weather turned out to be excellent (except for one day) so the excursions were fun, enlightening and highlighted the local history so very well. (Skara Brae and Jarlshof met all my expectations and then some!) The Viking Venus is a beautiful ship; it was light, airy and so very comfortable in our stateroom and all the public rooms. While I believe the Venus was at or near full capacity, the only line we waited in was for the gelato station and even then it was only four to five people at most.
I want to especially call out the service as it was outstanding in all categories: stateroom stewards, restaurant/buffet/room service staff, and on-board excursion staff. They were the very best and I cannot say enough good about each and everyone of them.
Cabin Review
Penthouse Veranda Stateroom
What a lovely stateroom! Storage was excellent and we actually left some drawers empty. The finishings were lovely and comfortable and I wish I had been able to take the shower home with me. I would highly recommend the Penthouse Veranda to all future travelers.
Port Reviews
Belfast
The tour of Belfast brought home the continuing "Troubles" of this city. Wish there had been an additional tour focused on the Titanic.
Bergen
Meh. The tour guide mainly spoke about fish...
London (Greenwich, Tower Bridge, Tilbury)
We took the included city tour of London and as we have visited many time before, it was a lovely "review" of the major sites.
Dover
Originally scheduled the included Canterbury morning tour but then, with the help of excursion staff, added the tour of Walmer Castle and the town of Sandwich in the afternoon. The "castle" was fascinating and Sandwich was charming. Would recommend both tours.
Dublin
Enjoyed the included tour of Dublin but wished that we were able to add the Guiness tour but it was already fully booked.
Holyhead
Took the included tour or Anglesey. It was very green with lots of sheep (the lambs were cute) and not much else.
Liverpool
We took the included tour of Iconic Liverpool but, in hindsight, wish we had gone on the longer tour to Chester.
Kirkwall
Highly recommend the Highlights of Historic Orkney as Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar were so very impressive.
Edinburgh (South Queensferry)
Took the full day tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia and Edinburgh Castle. The yacht was well worth seeing and a great tour. Loved Edinburgh Castle but it did "try to kill us" with the steep uphill climb to the top. Having said that, we would certainly do it again.