This was our 5th cruise, 3rd with Viking. This was the best boat we've been on, but Viking continues to be plagued with problems. Embarkation was very smooth, as was disembarkation when we finished. Dining: It was extremely difficult to make restaurant reservations ahead of the cruise, with a limit of 1 reservation per restaurant. That didn't get any better when we boarded...one of the staff members took all our requests, said he'd leave us a message confirming them, and then did absolutely nothing about it. The main dining restaurant (The Restaurant) doesn't open for breakfast until 8am, much too late for early morning shore excursions. And you can't just go in and find a table — get in the line and let them seat you! I have no idea why on earth they need to know your cabin number for a meal...it's all included! It just slows the whole process down, and I would not recommend going there at all for breakfast. They aren't even open for lunch. Dinners there were decent. The one day we ordered room service, they showed up with stuff we didn't order, and were missing stuff we did order. Not good. Shore Excursions: In this area, Viking gets an EPIC FAIL. Viking's cruises are plagued with old, infirm, and obese people who simply cannot walk comfortably around a town or city. So every single excursion you take will have several people who are limping along telling the guide to slow down, etc. It drove us nuts. Even on the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum excursion, which was rated by Viking as "Demanding", we had 8-10 people in our group who could barely climb stairs. This aspect ruined most of the shore excursions for us. Local Guides: they weren't as good as we've had in the past. 2 of them gave us incorrect info about the location of shuttle buses back to the ship, leading to some anxious moments. Tipping: As usual, you need to constantly be looking to ensure you've got 5 Euros or 10 Krone or whatever, to tip the bus drivers and guides. Viking advertises itself as "all inclusive" but it isn't. Those tips and the daily "tip" that they automatically add to your stateroom bill add up. Viking needs to adopt the Scenic Cruises model — get on board and put your wallet in your safe...no tipping needed, it's truly all inclusive. That includes the beer you have after returning from an excursion at 3pm — on Viking, it'll cost you $8 but on Scenic it's all included. One of our shore excursions (Flam Railway) returned too late so we missed our afternoon excursion, despite Viking's schedule showing them as do-able. And on that excursion, our guide neglected to tell us that we'd be getting lunch. So I bought a couple sandwiches and sweet rolls on the train — for about $40 CDN — only to subsequently discover that they were giving us lunch at the end of the train ride. Staff: All the staff, with the exception of the ship's security officer, were friendly and helpful. We got very rude and aggressive treatment from the ship's security officer when we tried to join a shorter line re-boarding the boat after Berlin. I explained that we were just trying to help speed things up, but we were ordered to get back into our original line (now at the very end of the line). So about 40-50 people had to wait an additional 10 minutes to clear security when the other shorter line cleared, but Mr. Gestapo refused to let anyone go to that line. After a very long day, that finished us...we'll find another cruise line in future. Staterooms: Wonderful. This was the best boat we've been on. The rooms were very quiet compared to any other ship we've been on — you couldn't even hear your neighbouring rooms flush a toilet, or their TV. Comfortable king-sized bed, and plenty of room in the shower. Other: the ship had lots of nice lounges and areas to go have a coffee, read a book, play cards, have a drink, etc. The spa didn't meet my wife's simple needs — a gel fill for her nails. They don't do gel nails, which is ridiculous, as nearly every nail salon in Canada or the USA does. So they proposed to remove her gel nails in one session ($$$) and then put nail polish on her natural nails (um...NO) in another session ($$$). Another EPIC FAIL. Entertainment: we don't go on cruises to see the entertainment. But feedback from our travelling companions led us to believe that the entertainment on Viking Star was very middle class. Port Talks & Info Sessions: a few of these were very educational and entertaining. But the Port Talks (about next day's port) were held at 6:45 PM, right in the middle of the dinner hour! Another questionable judgement by Viking. All in all, I doubt seriously we'll be back on a Viking cruise. These same problems come up again and again with them, and it's time to move on. Our experience with Scenic Cruises was that they have the same boats, service, etc as Viking, but you don't have to bother with all the tipping as it's pre-paid...well worth the extra few bucks. Read Less

We’ve been on two previous Viking River cruises and this was the first Viking Ocean cruise – we have trusted and been happy with all aspects of Viking – we wanted to cruise the Baltics and our favorite stops were Tallin, Estonia – Gdansk, Poland – Aalborg, Denmark and all of Norway - all ports were easy to navigate on to shore (no tethering) most by bus but several were walk right off into the community like Aalborg, Denmark and Eidfjorde, Norway - after several free excursions by bus and the general 2-3 hour tour we started to appreciate some of the paid excursions that had around 20-30 people - more personable and enjoyable - we weren’t impressed with larger cities like St. Petersburg as tours to landmarks and museums were rushed and crowded - we are on vacation and do enjoy relaxation and that's what the ship offers in all areas - it's OK to skip a port and just relax on board as there is so much to do - the spa and fitness area offered programs and the top deck had the best fitness equipment and activities like shuffleboard - movie theatres provided themed movies in connection to the areas we cruised - on board musical entertainment was fun and vibrant from lounge shows to pool parties and the dining offerings ranged from great lasgna and an Italian menu at Manfredi’s to a wonderful wine and food pairing at the Chef’s Table – the Restaurant offered a wide range of choices from fish to steak and local favorites – the World Café offered a smorgasbord of main entrees – desserts and snacks – Mamsen’s served a wonderful daily breakfast with fresh pastries and fruit plus waffles and breakfast platters made to order - the lounge choices were fun – warm and friendly – relaxing views of the sea and countryside from the Explorer’s Lounge listening to a guitarist or pianist - to night time entertainment at Torshavn with shows like The Rat Pack – the Viking Bar and Living Room was a great place to hear music from highly skilled musicians and entertainers – we will be cruising another itinerary with Viking Ocean in the future and we highly recommend connecting with Cruise Critic through their Meet & Mingle on board – we have many friends just from that connection – we like the smaller ship with 930 cruisers and no casinos or themed gimmicks – this allowed us to meet so many great people - fun ship and wonderful staff !!! Read Less

This cruise went to the Scandinavian countries and other ports of call I wanted to see. I was interested in a cruise and liked that this was a smaller ship with fewer people. Viking offered great prices at the time so chose them. I had heard great things about Viking form others that had used their river cruises. One of the best things I ever did. The ship was wonderful - the rooms had verandas for viewing, they were so clean and well equipped. The staff was great - very attentive to detail, so helpful and friendly. The food was well prepared and presented at all the different restaurants. You had such a nice variety of eating arrangements available. The excursions were very well planned and organized. They provided a variety of options for choices. They also held informative seminars aboard the ship regarding different destinations. Getting to the ship and dissembarking were very well organized and comforting when you had long trips. This was our first cruise and I would do it again with Viking. Read Less

The ship was beautiful. The staff and crew were very helpful and friendly. The variety of food served at all of the dining venues was delicious. Each deck had a free laundromat. The port talks and enrichment lectures were very informative. It was easy rearranging booked tours or booking additional tours. All the tours had expert guides, were very well organized, interesting and worthwhile. As Viking’s tours for St. Petersburg were full, we booked the two-day deluxe St. Petersburg tour and the evening ballet with SPB Tours. This was a suburb tour and included more sights than the Viking tour and was less expensive. Sunrise was at 4:00 a.m. and sunset about 10:00 p.m. The weather was cool—ranging from the 40s to the 60s. The only day of rain was in Stockholm. We tipped local tour guides in Euros. The Baltic was very calm; only twice, did we feel unusual motion. Read Less

We choose this trip because of all the places we would visit. This was the most amazing trip. The staff was beyond friendly and helpful in every way. We went on some included excursions and some optional ones. By far. Waking up before 5:00 am and traveling through the fyords going into Flam Norway was the ultimate experience. We took the full day rail excursion up into the mountains was the highlight of our trip. We booked a private tour in St petersbutg withAlla Tours and between Viking and Alla it could not have been easier. We enjoyed every city, best of all Estonia and Gdansk. Every city was so different and so much to see. Wod love to go backto every one. The tood was exellent in every venue. We especially loved Manfreds, we ate there 3 times during our trip. They tried to get us to book at The Chef's Table, just was not interested. This was our 2nd trip with Viking and we cannot wait to go on another. Read Less

We stayed in London as part of our pre-cruise package. Viking reps were consistently present and were available for all our queries.We have taken five ocean cruises before this cruise. the Viking Star is a beautiful well deigned ship with classy decor. Food and staff were exceptional always attending to our 'needs' and continual questions....very very gracious. cabin 3077 was immaculate. Cabin stewards were excellent. Numerous activities on going. Service was first class. Dining was super delicious. Yum yum. Staff, again, excellent. The port and shore excursions were all excellent. We took most of Viking's complimentary excursions. We enjoyed each and every shore excursions. Every tour guide was well versed in the purpose of the tour. Where would you see little ducks climbing little stairs from the harbor onto the pier and escorted across to the park? Stavanger, Norway!! Entertainment was always good. All performers were excellent. Disembarkment went smoothly. All 'hiccups' were handled professionally by Viking personnel. We had a wonderful time. Thank you very much. Read Less