Beautiful day on the Viking Star! I've been onboard for about a week now...
I still have a few more days left in my 10-day cruise... but I think now after about a week,
I'm ready to talk about the hits and the misses with Viking Star.
What they really got tremendously right...
and then a few things that they got horribly wrong!
But there's a lot more that they got right than they got wrong, that's for sure.
It's certainly been one of my best cruise experiences.
So, let's start with the positive stuff: what they got right...
and the number one big thing is that this ship is completely un-crowded.
They have a capacity of 930 passengers
and this week we actually only have 877 passengers onboard.
Right now we're in St Kitts and we're docked next to the Carnival Fascination
and they've got about 2,500 people onboard that ship
and that ship's about, roughly, the same size as this.
2500 there, 877 here.
You can imagine that this is a totally un-crowded ship.
There's absolutely no problem in getting a lounger by the pool
If you've ever tried that mid-day on a Carnival, or Royal Caribbean,
or Norwegian Cruise Line ship... it's impossible.
But absolutely possible, every day of the cruise, here on Viking Star.
No crowding.
And then the other thing that's great is that this is an adults-only cruise.
There's no children onboard.
They don't even allow anybody under 16 years of age...
and the youngest person that I actually saw onboard might have been 40.
The median age is probably about 70.
So, it's a it's a very older demographic.
It's certainly an adult's cruise...
and everything is tailored that way.
All the the music and the entertainment and everything.
So, as a 59 year old guy, it strikes me just right... and I really love that.
The other thing is that there's no nickel and diming.
This is a gigantic issue on cruises.
You go on any major cruise line...
and they're always trying to get more money out of you.
They're trying to sell you alcohol...
and photographs...
and jewelry...
and they want you to play bingo and all that stuff on the major cruise lines.
And there's none of that here!
Almost nothing costs you extra here.
There is a mini-bar in your cabin... a little refrigerator...
it's stocked full of stuff that's all free.
There's candy bars and there's soft drinks...
And depending on your category of cabin that you're staying in
there may or may not be alcohol.
So, some of the lower cabin categories... there's not free alcohol in the fridge in your cabin...
And in the upper categories, there is.
At lunch time, and at dinner time, you have free wine offered in the restaurants...
free beer, free soft drinks...
So, they're not trying to sell you any of that stuff... It's all included.
In the cabins, the "pay-per-view" movies are not pay per view.
All the movies are free on the cabin TV system.
The Internet access is free onboard... and that's huge!
To be able to snap a photo and upload it to Facebook immediately at no extra charge is great
and man, I just love that about Viking Ocean Cruises.
There's a free shore excursion in every port
Now, they're not the best shore excursions that are free...
The better shore excursions, where you'd go to a beach or something like that,
That will cost you a little bit extra.
But it's great that in every port there is at least one free option for a shore excursion.
The laundry facilities are free... even the soap!
So, if you need to do some laundry halfway through the 10-day cruise...
No problem... doesn't cost you anything.
One of the things I really love is that they have gelato on this ship...
And that is totally free, and it's delicious.
Our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, was included with our cruise fare.
I don't know if that was a special promotion...
Or if they do that for everybody, all the time...
But it was certainly a great benefit of our cruise.
And another thing I really like about this ship is that they allow you to carry on your own alcohol.
So, I was able to bring on a full bottle of Malibu rum with me.
The Coca-Cola in the cabin is free...
So, all cruise long, it's free rum & Cokes for me... I never have to buy a drink.
Now, if you do buy a drink in the bars here onboard...
Much less expensive than on the other big cruise lines...
It's about seven or eight dollars for a mixed drink
where that would be ten dollars or more on a lot of the big cruise lines, so...
Good value there!
And then the other thing is that they've got this great thermal suite in the spa...
with a big indoor pool... and a Jacuzzi... and steam rooms...
And a really great shower... and heated tile loungers.
A great place to relax!
They have something very similar on the newer Norwegian Cruise Line ships
But it costs extra. Here on Viking Star, that's all included.
Every passenger has access to the thermal suite for free.
The other thing is that all the cabins here on Viking Star...
they're all balcony cabins.
There are no interior cabins with no windows...
There's no ocean-view cabins with just a window, but no balcony.
Every cabin onboard this ship has a balcony. That's fantastic!
When you talk about the things that they got right on Viking Star,
You also have to talk about things that they didn't do.
They didn't put a casino on the ship.
They don't do art auctions.
They don't have all these announcements over the public address system...
Trying to get you to buy gold by the inch...
Or go to play bingo, and stuff like that.
And also, they treat you like an adult on this ship. They trust you.
On the other major cruise lines, If you want a beach towel...
you would have to present your sail-and-sign card...
And if you don't return the towel, you have a charge on your account.
They don't do that at all on the Viking Star. It's totally just a trust system.
There's a million towels out by the pool. Just take one, or take two... whatever you need.
There's towels in your cabin... you can take them on shore.
You're just treated like an adult.
Another thing that they really got right...
I just love who they chose as their Cruise Director.
They totally got that right. For an adult crowd like this...
It's a beautiful British woman with a wonderful speaking voice...
and just a great personality...
and just sets the right tone for the cruise.
A couple of other things that they don't have on Viking Star...
They don't have smoking in the vast majority of the ship.
There's one very small smoking section up on the highest deck...
way out of the way, in an area that you would never go
unless you were looking for the smoking section...
So, it bothers absolutely no one.
The other thing that was really gutsy that they did... they took a stand...
is they banned those electric scooters for the mobility-impaired people.
You know, if you need a wheelchair, they'll get you a regular wheelchair.
But they do not allow those electric scooters onboard.
With an older demographic like they have... the passengers on this ship...
Can you imagine how many electric scooters there would be onboard if they allowed them?
It would just be out of control.
The other thing is that the staff is really friendly and happy onboard Viking Star.
I actually... I asked a couple of the staff members: What was the deal?
Have you worked for other cruise lines? Are you treated differently?
Why do you seem so much happier? And the answer...
I talked to one lady who had just recently worked for Carnival...
and then she moved over here to Viking Ocean Cruises...
And she said it was just a tremendous difference.
The pay is better on Viking for the crew members.
The way that they're treated...
The whole tone of the way that management talks to the workers is different.
They have a larger cabin, a better cabin.
So, they're just feeling better about being at work and it's clear...
You can tell when you're dealing with the crew onboard...
that they're just a happy crew and they're treated well.
Another thing is that they have some really good food on the ship.
I had some Beef Wellington at dinner one night that was just amazing.
And the croissants that they serve at breakfast...
They make them right on the ship here.
Now I've been on a lot of cruises, on a lot of different cruise lines...
I've had cruise ship croissants many, many times before...
They've never been as good as they are on the Viking Star.
Best croissants I've ever had!
Deep butter flavor...
Big, thick, airy croissants. Absolutely fantastic!
All right... So, that's a pretty sizable list of hits...
Things that Viking Ocean Cruises really got right on the Viking Star.
And now we're going to go in to a much smaller list of the misses...
The things that maybe they didn't think through, or...
I don't know what happened!
But the things that aren't quite right.
And at the very top of that list...
I don't know how they did this, but there's...
there's three swimming pools onboard:
Mid-ship pool, aft infinity pool, and then a pool down in the thermal suite.
And those two out on the outer decks are incredibly deep!
And it's just very uncomfortable to be in them because you cannot touch bottom.
There is no shallow end.
The pool is 5 foot 10 feet deep all the way across...
and that's both pools... the back aft pool, and the mid-ship pool.
So, it's uncomfortable.
On the Carnival ships, the pool is maybe five feet deep so that you can stand in it.
And you could stand there on a hot sunny day for half an hour...
and just enjoy being in the cool pool.
But on the Viking ship, the pool is too deep.
So, you have to tread water or cling to the side.
You know, in all the pictures I had seen before the cruise of people in the infinity pool
I always saw them grabbing onto the edge of the infinity pool... and now I know why!
It's because that pool is so deep, you HAVE to grab onto the edge...
Either that or tread water... which you can't really do for very long.
Another big mistake is concerning the mid-ship pool...
and that glass dome that can be slid closed...
to enclose that area on days when the weather's a little cool.
I don't know why it is... if it's a design deficiency, or what, but...
It gets incredibly hot and humid in that area when they close the dome.
Maybe they didn't build an adequate cooling system...
Or maybe they just don't turn it on... I don't know what, but...
It's horrible in there when that dome is closed.
Very hot. Very humid. Very uncomfortable!
I've been on other ships that have the glass domes that slide closed...
Like on the Conquest-class ships on Carnival...
And it's very comfortable in there because they have fantastic air conditioning...
but for some reason, on this ship, they do not. That's a problem.
Another thing that's really strange is the thermal suite in the spa.
They have a very similar thermal suite to that on the newest Norwegian Cruise Line ships...
like on Norwegian Escape, and Norwegian Getaway.
And the big indoor pool in the thermal suite on the Norwegian Cruise Line ships is heated... like a Jacuzzi.
But here on Viking Star, the water is cold.
Well, not cold... but it's like 70 degrees in the big pool inside the thermal suite.
To me, that should be warm... That should be as warm as a Jacuzzi.
So, I think that's a mistake.
Another problem on Viking Star...
Well, it was a problem for me... The evening entertainment.
Few and far between!
There's just not a whole lot to do in the evenings.
They typically have a show about 9:15...
You know, like a musical/dance number...
and then other than that, they'll be a guy playing guitar...
or a trio playing classical music in the lobby...
But that's about it for the entertainment.
Other than that, you're kind of on your own to entertain yourself.
There's a lot of board games around... things like that.
On the other major cruise lines... like Royal Caribbean, or on Carnival...
There'd be comedians...
and there'd be all sorts of entertainment acts going on.
So, a lot more entertainment in the evening on the big cruise lines...
not so much on Viking.
One gripe, food-related: There's not a lot of variety in the buffet.
The lunch and dinner options are pretty similar every day.
Well, the breakfast options, too, really.
So you don't see a whole lot of change from day to day.
If you go to a buffet on Princess or Royal Caribbean...
There are a lot more items offered... a lot wider variety in the buffet on those ships.
So, this is a smaller ship... They're cooking for a lot less passengers.
I guess they just can't do it.
Another problem that really surprised me... I didn't see it coming...
was the lack of storage in our cabin.
We're in what's called a Deluxe Veranda cabin...
and that's comparable to a standard balcony cabin
on Norwegian Cruise Line, or Royal Caribbean, or Carnival, or Princess.
But there's a lot less storage in the Deluxe Veranda cabin here on Viking
than there is on the other ships that I've been on.
So, it was tricky for us to find places to put everything away.
A lot of it is under our bed now...
Where it would be in a drawer or other storage area if we had been on another cruise ship.
Now I suspect if we had booked a Penthouse Veranda cabin...
which is the next category up from Deluxe Veranda cabin...
That there'd probably be more storage.
I don't know that for sure but that's my guess.
The bathroom in our cabin is fantastic... so, no complaints there.
I quibble with the lack of storage, but boy... they did a great job on the design of the bathroom!
There's also a lack of choices in the excursions that they offer.
You know, I've been on a lot of Caribbean cruises on other cruise lines...
and it wouldn't be uncommon for there to be 10 or more choices of excursions in any given port, but...
Here on Viking there was maybe typically, five or six choices...
And there were certain days where there wasn't even a a beach excursion offered.
So, that seemed a little unusual to me.
Well, that's really it as far as the hits and misses...
And I think that brings me down now to a conclusion.
How do I feel, towards the end of my cruise here?
Would I book again on Viking Star?
And if not Viking Star... where would I rather be?
To me, this is far better than the Carnival experience...
The Princess experience...
The Royal Caribbean experience...
because of the lack of crowding, and the adult nature, and the no nickel and diming, and all that.
Now, the real competition, I think...
The most similar offering to the Viking Star...
...is in "The Haven" on Norwegian Cruise Line.
It seems to me that this is a very Haven-like experience here on Viking Star.
But on Norwegian Cruise Line there's only...
I don't know. What is it?
200-300 people within the Haven... which is their "ship-within-a-ship" concept...
But here, EVERYBODY on Viking Star... all 900 passengers...
kind of gets that Haven-like experience of feeling uncrowded and being treated like a VIP.
So, to me, my cruise on Viking Star in a standard balcony cabin...
was very similar to being in The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line.
Now, what you would get in The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line...
that you can't get here, because it's a so much bigger ship...
There's more entertainment options on a big ship like that...
There's more food options...
Specialty restaurants, like a steakhouse. The Viking Star doesn't have a steakhouse.
So, things like that... There's benefits to being on a bigger ship, but inside the exclusive Haven area...
that you don't have here on the Viking Star.
But overall, I would give this a 9 out of 10. Certainly one of the best cruises that I've been on.
And about the only thing that would compare to this experience
would be The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line...
which, depending on the Haven category that you purchase...
It could be a lot more expensive than this.
There is a lower Haven category, called a Haven Spa Suite,
that is really a great value on Norwegian Cruise Line...
And I'd say that would be a really strong contender.
I could see myself, definitely, in a Haven Spa Suite on Norwegian again...
Or thinking about coming back on one of the Viking ocean ships.
I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!
In 2017, I'll be on Allure Of The Seas... I'll be on Harmony Of The Seas...
I'll be within The Haven on Norwegian Pearl...
and I'll also be on the brand-new Carnival Vista.
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