Viking Neptune Cruise Reviews

Overall, we enjoyed this cruise very much. Viking is great and I would continue to travel with them. The only concern was slow dining room service which, we were told is a problem in Vikings Classic boats. Viking is apparently selling their Classic boats. Because of heavy rains the previous week, the boat could not sail under the bridges north of Paris so we were about an hours bus ride north, which was disappointing considering we were supposed to dock near the Eiffel Tower.

Very nice cruise.  Had excellent weather, 60's throughout.  Unusual for November.  Crew and staff of Neptune were excellent.  Great food, great scenery, great service.  Plenty of wine with meals.  Only down side was lack of adequate air conditioning in stateroom. We unfortunately selected a stateroom with a window that did not open.  No elevator on board was a little tough on wife's knees.  BUt overall it was a very good cruise.  Paris was great, Normandy beaches and cemetery were fantastic and unforgettable.  Excellent Program director, very knowledgeable and funny too. Excursions were very good.  Embark and disembark was super easy.

This year we had a full travel schedule but were swayed by the price of this cruise and an opportunity to try Viking.  We are very experienced travelers, with a number of land tours, three river cruises and maybe 60 ocean cruises, mostly on Celebrity Cruises.

Viking had a few flaws but in total I think its an excellent, well organized company. We will travel Viking again!   To be concise:

pros-

1. The European staff were excellent with excellent language skills.  Ocean cruises have a surplus of very nice Asian and Indian people with poor English language skills.  It was a pleasure to be served by people who communicate easily.

2. Ditto for the guides.  

3.  Viking featured some nice service touches, including a staff member to direct us to the correct airport gate for embarkation.

4. Dinners were generally excellent and the wine was good and local.

cons-

1.  Service was a little slow because of the understaffed dinning room.

2.  Lunch was ordinary but fine.

We like sight seeing on our own and skipped several excursions for various reasons.  We aren't war types, so the very creepy cemetery at Omaha Beach (been there) was optioned in favor of a wonderful day in Rouen.  However,Viking did a good job of highlighting attractions in Paris and Normandy.

We recommend Viking and will travel again with the company.