This is the first time on a Viking Ocean cruise and will probably be the last. Have been on two previous Viking River cruises in Europe. Our cabin was 6042 (deluxe veranda). We have been on more than 24 ocean cruises and have experience with numerous cruise lines. Our favorite cruise line still remains Oceania even after trying Viking Ocean. The cruise embarkation (Jan 28, 2019) was late starting. Everyone had to wait in the common spaces until 2:35 PM before the cabins were ready because the ship had to be disinfected due to GI problems on the ship on the previous cruise. On that cruise no one could serve themselves at the World Café. We had no food problems like that on our cruise. There must have been a special deal in England for this cruise because 375 of the 913 guests were from there. The ship never felt crowded and there was never much of a wait for anything. Lots of times it felt deserted. The rule that keeps anyone under 18 from being on this ship certainly skews the age of the passengers. The average had to be in the 70's. Pregnant looking men (and women) were in abundance. The elevators were put to a strain. The entertainment wasn't much. However the guitar and piano players who circulated into different spots on the ship were excellent. The violin and cello music duo would have been more appropriate at a wake and it sounded like it. The dining was mixed. We could make two reservations prior to embarkation and we did so for Manfredi's and The Chef's Table. We were able to snag another Manfredi's reservation while on the ship. It's almost impossible to get extra speciality reservations while on the ship as they are really booked. The Chef's Table theme changes about every three days. We had the Mexican theme and the food was great. Manfredi's was a disappointment so we tried it twice to be equally disappointed. What Italian restaurant has no tablecloths? The answer is Manfredi's. So you end up with a placemat on a wooden table and when tables are cleared next to you it doesn't look too good. The food was nothing special at Manfredi's. The main restaurant lighting looks like you are eating in a very well lighted cafeteria and is way too bright. We complained and joyfully ended up at a table with less lighting. Ask for table 175/176/177 if you want it to be a little less bright. The design of the main restaurant is poor- narrow spaces running down both sides of the ship. Have they ever seen the main restaurant on Oceania Marina or Riviera? That would have been a plan to follow. The cabin design also needs help. There aren't enough drawers to put things in. The bathroom is nice however. Bring a bunch of coat hangars that you have saved from your dry cleaning and use them in the closet because there aren't too many supplied. I guess you could ask for more but the ones you being don't weigh much and you can leave them there when the cruise is over. The TV entertainment system has lots choices of things to watch but it constantly buffers and it freezes and you can't hear anything for 5-10 seconds and it happens ALL the time. Even with their own ship broadcasts the system constantly buffers. Try to listen to the shore excursions briefing on the TV and it is a real chore. Watch a movie, others have mentioned, and it buffers in the middle of it and it could never be restarted. Speaking of the free shore excursions. They aren't much! In the Caribbean they are just a 2-3 hour open bench seat bus holding about 20 people or a 20 person small bus that takes you to places to look at things. We opted for 2 paid shore excursions. One was at Saint Luicia and was a 6-7 hour tour on a catamaran that took us to a nice hotel resort for lunch and then back to beach to swim or snorkel a bit and then back to the ship. it was nice but $498 for two was a high price. Harrison Cave on Barbados was the other tour we paid for and it was nice but the cave was really nothing special if you have seen other larger, more beautiful caverns. Other complaints I have with Viking overall is that they never offer shipboard credits when making a reservation. So NEVER book directly with Viking. Our travel agent gave us a $600 shipboard credit that paid for the $30.00 per day gratuities that they add and the drinks that we had plus a purchase in the store. Also Viking charges you $100 apiece if you make a reservation and then cancel it. No other line does that I think. Also with the Viking River cruises they want their money almost a year in advance which is ridiculous. Wouldn't do it again. Read Less

My wife and I have cruised many times with Celebrity and always received 1st class service. We have completed many of the popular cruises more than once so was looking for alternative itinerary's. We booked an Explorer Suite with Viking (similar price to a Penthouse with Celebrity) expecting a premium cruise experience but how wrong we were. We opted for the flight and cruise package just in case of any delays etc but unable to pre-book our seats so we could not sit together. Check-in was OK but the welcome champagne was an inch in a glass and no member of staff to show us our suite. The suite was as expected, sensible size decorated with furniture from Ikea. The one big issue was trying to keep the room warm as the outside temperature was as low as -18. We had all the curtains closed, all heating including an electric panel heater on full, blankets on the bed and still cold. The same for the pool area and the world café, you needed a sweater or fleece to eat your lunch. Service was very slow with many dirty tables waiting to be cleaned and members of staff just walking past. Must say food quality and variety was good. Room service was very slow to start, 1230pm and still no clean, 8.40pm no clean or turn down. After a couple of complaints this did improve. Shore excursions a complete joke, they were either cancelled or changed at the last moment and those that did proceed were poorly organised. I complained to Judi Buikman the shore excursion manager as she cancelled Northern Lights tours as not dark enough, tidal water phenomenon as it was low tide and a train and snow mobile tour as there was a road incident at 7am and she was worried the bus could not return passenger's back to the ship at 4pm. When I pointed out she failed to do her homework on the excursions, she replied "fair comment". We had arranged dinner reservations prior to sailing for the specialty restaurants but then refused to alter the seating from 2 to 4 persons as we had met new friends. After a sharp conversation with the Hotel Manager and Restaurant Manager this was changed but it should not be this way. The service in the Lounge Bar was very slow if at all, quicker to order drinks at the bar. The evening entertainment was fine for us, either a guitar or piano entertainer. One day the Cruise Director Drew Raitch performed his song book for us, it was embarrassing, the man cannot sing at all so please don't try. Viking Ocean Cruise are a new start-up cruise line (not river cruises) and it shows. The staff are not trained or experienced at ocean cruises and require constant direction from the Officers who themselves require more training. The ship itself was very well maintained but then it is only 2 years old, it is however very noisy when in rough seas and when using the bow thrusters, no pods fitted to this ship. My wife and I really wanted to like Viking as our new "go to" cruise line with different itinerary's but not a chance. Viking are now what the cruise industry was 10 years ago and customers paying premium rates for the top suites and Penthouses demand service. Celebrity have a Butler who takes care of everyday issues such as excursions, dinner reservations, laundry etc. They also have a dedicated restaurant and lounge bar with concierge for suite guests only and unlimited use of the speciality dining rooms. We are so glad we booked Alaska with Celebrity in May and not Viking, we would have been so disappointed. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we had heard such wonderful things about Viking River cruises. The timeframe and itinerary fit our needs. Our expectations were of luxury and perfection. Pros: The ship was beautiful and well maintained. The staff was so friendly. We were in Explorer Suite 3095. We have been on other high end cruises, also in suites. The suite was the largest one we had been in: an actual living room, a dining table that sat 4, a bedroom (with a door), and a double sink bathroom with plenty of storage . Our cabin stewarts, Erik and Puput were so friendly and most helpful. The toiletries (constantly replenished) were wonderful. And the wrap around deck was fantastic. The enrichment programs were very interesting. Great speakers, interesting and varied topics. Cons: The food was hit or miss. When it was good it was delicious. When it was bad it was awful (Example: Twice at the World Cafe the roast beef, being carved at the station, was so tough and inedible. Heard from other people that they also had this problem.). It is a matter of opinion whether the menu was varied enough. The ridiculous: At the World Cafe (buffet) at breakfast there was sugar free syrup. However,at the main dining room (The Restaurant) we needed to ask for it. Every waiter who got it for us made sure that we knew that they had to go from the Restaurant (2nd floor) to the 7th floor (World Cafe). One time I was finished my pancakes before the syrup came. Twice..count ‘em..twice they printed the wrong time to meet for our tours. We were tendering in so it wasn’t as easy as going down the gangplank on to shore. We miraculously were early enough to make all the tenders but those two times it was by dumb luck. An example: the first time that was wrong is when they told us to be at the meeting place at 8:15. We were called for our tender at 8:01. One person on our tour actually believed the 8:15 time. We had to wait until 9:00 for our tour bus to begin driving! That was when the next tender arrived. Everyday at the same time (6-6:45) there was a program of live music with a viewing of Munch paintings. We never heard or saw it because we always ate at 6 when the restaurants opened, Unchangeable due to medical issues. The tour talks downplayed (at least one of the two) the included tours. The tour director actually downplayed two paid tours. We definitely disagreed with him on one but didn’t on the other. He said that unfortunately the description of the botanical garden that we were given in our initial information, at the time we booked it and paid for it, was too nice and it wasn’t that interesting. It wasn’t. On other lines we recieved more perks as suite passengers. Read Less

It was an opportunity to travel to Cuba, which hasn't been readily available and may not be in the future, who knows! Traveled with my husband, my mother, and my sister. We stayed in Key Biscayne for 3 days prior to the cruise, and got to the ship terminal 2 hours prior to our 3:00 pm embarkation time. But very few people were there, and we breezed through. We were given our room key and our luggage was there when we arrived. Disembarkation was equally as smooth. Our overnight trip to Havana was marred by the tornado, so we didn't see the Tropicana show. But friends of ours were there the previous night, and said it was fantastic. The Melia Hotel was quite nice (we were expecting worse). And the CARS!!!! The tour guides were very knowledgeable. The tour to Trinidad was a long bus trip, and not as interesting as we anticipated. In Santiago de Cuba, we decided we couldn't stand to be on another bus, so we went out on our own. We (my sister, my mother, and I) passed through customs, and were kind of standing around considering our options, when a man came up to us and asked if we needed a guide for the day. He was wearing a blue Infotur shirt and hat, and was very professional, explaining that he was with a state-run agency. It cost $40 an hour for the driver and old-car taxi, and $20 an hour for the guide. We took the taxi to the cemetary, and arrived well before the tour busses, which were arriving as we were leaving. This in itself was worth the $40! We then drove through the streets around town, and were dropped off in the city center. Our guide, Wilbert, stayed with us for over 3 hours, and only charged the $20 (I gave him a $20 tip, bought him lunch and drinks too). He took us all over, and it was a true person-to-person experience. He took us inside his home, showed us the ration book, took us to a neighborhood restaurant for lunch. My mother and sister had coffee with him in his home, and we all ate the local lunch (yes, including fresh veggies and lettuce) and didn't get sick! We brought a bag of toiletries, which he was very thankful for, and said he would share with people who needed them. Advice: Don't be afraid to interact with local people. They are very friendly and appreciate tourists. I would definitely go again, when we're able to just go as tourists, and do what we want. Read Less

Main reason for choosing this cruise was the itinerary and length of cruise. First the good points. A great airy and spacious ship,never felt crowded,all crew were excellent,the cruise director Jenna and her assistant very good !!.Food very good,buffet excellent (despited two/three days of G.I onboard meant highlighted hand washing and non serving yourself !) free internet good and speedy,spar (altho closed during GI) was excellent.Cabin altho smaller than expected was kept spotless by excellent steward and helper.24 hr cabin service very good and used !!! Not so good. Welcome at airport by cruise staff was poor and not well organised,they did'nt seem to know what to do and we were kept waiting for over 30 mins,When finally got to the ship no welcoming drink (after 24 hrs travelling ) and no direction where your cabin was,on other cruises i've been on both were provided (hope Viking read this !!) Service at speciality restaurant manfredis,was dire and we walked out,waited 40 mins for appetiser which never came,when I asked why the wait ? server laughed at me !! on walking out the manager was spoken to by me and he offered no reason other than bluster,contacted me the following night to explain they were having problems with the kitchen,pity he did'nt say that in the first place,felt like a poor excuse !! never went near the place,very disappointing,spoiled an evening,DIRE !! Included tours were all the same 2/3 hr run round mostly the same islands on poor transport,on very poor roads. Did three optional tours ,two whale watching which were very good as we saw whales !!,third one on St Kitts railway a complete waste of money and time,saw three bridges !!! and lots of grass,and some chap shouting at us for 2 hrs . For what I consider a expensive cruise I did'nt think I had value for money and will hesitate to use VIKING AGAIN. Read Less

We had cruised December last year on Viking Sea to Cuba. Our friends from cold northern US wanted to go to the Caribbean and this cruise had a different island per day with no sea days. We got cabins on 5th floor near the free laundry (including soap) as no noise and convenient to wash clothes . I think a laundry room on all cabin floors. Needed as Hot and at itmes muggy and hit the beach several times. Cabins seem like they have little storage but ask for more hangers and you will have plenty of storage. Bathroom floor is heated so if bathroom too hot ask your steward to turn the heat off. We asked for 4 towels a day as needed to wash off after beach and in AM. AC works beautifully. Verandas big enough and if want to lounge in sun, lots of lounge chairs and towels near the aft infinity pool and central pool. Infinity pool bromine I think and the central pool a salt water pool (notice how much more boyant you are.)One end of the pool is shallower than the other so you can stand up (if not too short). Both nicely warm. No fighting over lounge chairs so no need to come early and “stake your property” Neither pool ever have many people in it and usually then only to get wet and back to their lounge chair. We only took the included tours or got a private taxi-van. Most taxis are vans. On some included tours transport was packed tight and others lots of room to spread out. Usually morning tours more packed than afternoon. AC on all except Tortola with was an open tram (nice breeze and cool enough). San Juan: nice walking tour and covers all but the Morro fortress. We were there during the San Sebastian festival so the free tram from fort to fort not running. Tortola: incl tour: open air tram with spacious seating and great views. Pro and Con: 1.5 hr at Cane Beach and no way to bail and go back. Lovely white sugar white sand beach with tourqoiuse gentle water. There are umbrellas and lounge chairs you can rent or sit on some picnic tables in the shade or up in the shaded open deck restaurant for the cost of a drink. Tour gives a free rum punch or punch drink near the picnic tables. Nice restrooms, showers and changing rooms free there. Basseterre: We walked ato the end of the pier and got a $100USD total for van private tour of the island. (Lasted 4 hrs but no time limit) .Just keep walking off pier and prices get cheaper. Romney manor and batik making, black rocks, fort and many scenic view points. Castries: awesome long beach nearby. We took tranport offered by pier. They load you up tight in vans (the drivers get one load a day and 300 vans waiting to take people). About a 5min drive (or 2-3 mi walk) to the beaches- really only one beach with mulitple names. Set fee all transport for $5USD/pp. Again sugar white beach. Multiple establishments with drinks, umbrellas etc. Umbrella and 2-3 chair rental $20. Water gentle, turquoise. Beach fills up so come early. Some of us snorkeled- some fish seen. Shipwreck put for snorkeling you can swim to but many tour boats and many many snorkelers there with glass bottom boat meandering among the snorklers. Showers, restrooms and changing room free. Get back by telling your driver when you want ot come back or just walk out and someones van will be waiting . Bridgetown: inc tour: packed tight van/bus. Views of island Roseau: got a private tour for 4 $45/pp Went to other side of island and saw multiple falls St Johns: had a reservation to go out in a boat to a reef and get into the water and feed and stingrays for 9AM.Make reservation online-no money down and pay when you show up. Need to take a taxi out there. BUT was squalling and raining so cancelled the reservation. Took the incl tour to Shirely point old fort and magnificant views and then to the Nelso shipyards- 1700’s georgian working shipywards- neat old buildings,nice quick museum and awesome awesome yahts moored there. Free rum punch or punch drink. Spit rain on us once in a while but still a great day. Nice bus where we could spread out a bit Philipsburg: I wanted to go out to Cul de Sac bay and kayak and snorkel or take a water taxi out to an island there but I got overruled by my “crew” We instead went on the included tour. Bus big enough we all could spread out. A couple got on our bus instead of an optional tour at the same time- so check carefully what you are getting on. Drove around island and stopped at some scenic sites, stopped a working carosel (adults can ride too- can buy icecream) then on to a bay and craft market. Free rum punch or punch. Charlotte Amalie: My crew off to Coki beach to snorkel then maybe the included tour. I stayed and enjoyed hte salt water pool,only a few couples spread out on the lounge chairs. Pros and cons of boat Pros: -you see lots and lots of differnet islands- some rainforest and some very dry desert like, come with mangoose so no snakes or birds, some still exporting agriculture goods and some just tourist based. -no children -wonderful friendly crew -great food. I was not impressed iwth Mandifredi’s on both of my cruises but the men love it for the rib eye steak. Chef’s reataurant-wanderful if you like the menu. We did not drink either included or optional wine pairing. World buffet great as food same as Restaurant (check the menu to see if any differences ) and usually has the same food. Hamburger I got at the pool once was just so so. -drinks- only had water, hot and cold tea. My husband says the coke is the good real sugar type not the corn syrup variety. -secret- success cake in Mamsons is our favorite -Room and veranda pleasant. -in public areas or tovrasons- Guitarist was great. - Easy on and off boat even when tendering- well organized so no pushy people. -Pools- wonderful. Loved especially the central saltwater pool -record and play on entertainment system all shore talks and enrichment talks done on board -Wifi good for email. I didn’t try streaming Cons: -saltwater pool out of commission while painting for multiple days -entertainment system pauses( I timed at every 3 min), loose audio when restarts. So unpleasant to watch the shows which were actually probably very good. BBC, Ted Talks, Movie selection good but hard to watch. -entertainment limited. Music in public areas; Pianist (good), strings dueo-selections good but one of violinist strings seemed to need tuning, and acoustic guitarist- very good. Live shows in theater were only a few and even though the entertainers were cute my neices’s Boise ID high school productions had better singers. Suggestion: Seems rain is in AM and gone by 11AM. Plan accordingly. But if going to the beaches go early if not raining. Lots of lovely beaches on most islands. Do some internet searching and plan an early attack with a taxi. Feeding the sting rays (www.stingraycity.com) not on tour options and sorry we couldn’t go because of rain. You can reserve on your own but reveiws say after 10AM full from cruise ships. Read Less

We have been cruising the world since the mid '80s on many of the popular cruise lines including Princess, RCL, NCL, Celebrity, HAL, and others now defunct. While our friends have raving about Viking Ocean ships we postponed trying them knowing that once experienced we might never go back to the others. Now we know. We have been spoiled. The Viking Sea is a beautiful small ship with about 930 passengers. We never felt crowded anywhere. It is such a serene setting compared to most of our other cruises. Some of that is the size and some the fact that there are no children onboard. The colors throughout are wonderful and add to ambiance. The cabins, while somewhat smaller than we have had in the past, are neat and continue a Scandinavian decor. Loved the shower. The food was fantastic. We enjoyed all of the restaurants although Manfredi's was our favorite. Great Italian food! The Grill produced some of the best hamburgers we've ever had. Of course wine or beer at all lunches and dinners is a plus. Drink prices are quite reasonable. Cannot really comment on the lectures as our Caribbean itinerary had us at a different island every day! No days at sea! As a result we were often off enjoying many of the included tours while the lectures were taking place. Entertainment, casinos, art auctions, etc. at sea are not important to us so we really didn't miss anything. The best of the Viking Sea, however, is the crew and staff. We had set up a "Meet and Greet" through Cruise Critic as we have done in the past. Viking set it up for a 6:00 P.M. on our second day in San Juan. FIVE of the ships Officers showed up to greet us! We have never had ANY officers show on any of our other cruise lines. Hors d'oeuvres and drinks were served as we chatted with the Officers and other passengers. It was fantastic. Smiles greeted us everywhere. We've never had such attentive and happy staff. Your wish was their command. We watched them closely .... officers, wait staff, room stewards. Their interaction with each other were happy and genuine. This was a wonderful cruise. And, I should add that we were affected by a Norovirus which closed the pool, sauna, therapy spa and ice room for most of the cruise. It required us to wash our hands every time we entered a dinning facility. Serving lines in the World Court were slower as the crew needed to serve us. Yet, the ship functioned superbly and we never really missed a beat. Yup .... we're SPOILED! Read Less

We did cultural Cuba cruise from Miami.It was our first Viking ocean cruise,but we have been on river cruises and ocean cruises with other companies.The ship is nice,nice layout,great food and good service except the main restaurant,where it took2 hours to have dinner for 2 people every time.The Manfredi restaurant is excellent,great food and service.But The cruise was very boring,because there was nothing to do in the evening.The had singers3nights and a local band.Each performance took45 min,so after that there was nothing to do in the evening.There is so much music you can listen to.There was no topical cruise games and except lectures during the day,you had nothing to do.We missed last port,because it was too windy and spent extra day at see,which was extremely boring!We didn’t docked in Havana and it was3.5 hours each way to go there on the tour.We did 1 day trip for 290$ per person,some people went on overnight trip for 790$ per person.We spent more time on the bus than in Havana.The botanical garden tour we took in Cienfuegos was complete waste of time and money,there is nothing to see there.I will definitely go on another Viking river cruise,but never on the ocean cruise,because it’s luck of entertainment and it’s boring. Read Less

Honestly, we chose this cruise because we didn’t have to do international flying to take the cruise. Along with that, it’s cold weather at home and a warm climate was appealing. We were also intrigued by stories of Cuba and it sounded interesting. Everything on board was top notch. Food, service, entertainment, all excellent. Excursions were ok. a lot of emphasis from the guides was on helping us buy cigars and rum. Guides were very much into promoting Us/Cuba relations as they “love Americans”. It was heartbreaking to see the areas that clearly had once been so beautiful now delapidated and in disrepair. The guides were so proud of their heritage it seemed they didn’t see it the same way. Probably the highlight of the excursion was the ride through Miramar in Havana in one of the iconic classic cars with the top down looking at the once wealthy area’s beautiful (then) homes. The weather caused us to miss a port of call so we had an extra day at sea. We already had two days of the cruise as “at sea” so there was definitely a lot of boat time. It was good to see Cuba but I would not go back again. It truly is an eye-opening trip to see what can happen to a once prosperous country when put in the wrong hands. Read Less

We heard so many positive things about Viking that we thought we would try them. We have been on 21 cruises with various cruise lines and we can honestly say this is the best of them all! We had originally booked a cruise with them last Jan and also booked our flights with Viking Air to go to the West Indies out of San Juan. Our flight from Toronto to Charlotte was cancelled by weather issues and when we phoned Viking Air all she would say is "I can't get you to San Juan". Thankfully our cancellation insurance refunded all of our money and we promptly booked for this cruise to Viking. 7 days is the shortest cruise we have ever done so we booked a hotel in Toronto for 1 night, 2 nights in Miami (pre cruise) and then one night in Miami and one night in Toronto post cruise to stretch out our holiday. Our experience with Viking was just so outstanding! Not one complaint about anything. The ship is fairly new (2 years old) and she is beautiful! We had a Deluxe Verandah portside. OUr embarkation time was 1 pm but because our shuttle got us there for 11 we were prepared to wait but we were ushered right on board! Very friendly happy staff on board. We had signed up for a Meet and Greet (the Viking Star board wasn't very active) and we received a card in our room with our invite. Even though only 4 of us were there the ship's officers came up and we had champagne and apps during our time with them. Food was delicious! Specialty restaurants are included and because so many passengers went to Havana for an overnight tour we ate in Manfredi's a second night. Chef's Table was an Asian Theme and we loved it. You really don't need a drink package as they are very generous with wine and beer and water during your lunch and dinner meals. We enjoyed our included shore excursion in Cienfuegos and also the one we paid for (Bay of Pigs museum). Glad there is no casino aboard and no little ones around. Loved the spa facilities (everything included except the treatments) and the pools. Service was excellent. Our port stop in Santiago de Cuba was cancelled due to high waves but we enjoyed another sea day. Love, love, love Viking!!!!!! Read Less