Beautiful Mediterranean cruise with a few wrinkles

Viking Star Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 66

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Verified Review
Viking Star

12 Night Mediterranean Odyssey (Barcelona To Venice)

Sail date: August 29, 2019

Ship: Viking Star

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 4074

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

It was a beautiful cruise after what we felt was limited and conflicting communication the initial day of boarding. The ship was well maintained, Staff was very attentive, dinning was exquisite, ports of call and excursions were all worthwhile. We enjoyed it thoroughly even if we lacked a little sleep due to location of our room.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Primarily dined at the “Restaurant” and Manfredi’s for dinner and found the food and service to be excellent. Only dish that disappointed was the swordfish. World Cafe provided typical buffet breakfast and lunch and an excellent dinner buffet including sushi and King crab.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Viking cruises focus on off ship excursions which are excellent. We did use the aft pool and deck which was not crowded when we visited. The pools are for swimmers only being 5’10” deep throughout.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
We were not expecting much evening entertainment on Viking, but found the performances given by the Viking band, cruise director and her staff, and Legends singers very entertaining. What was provided was excellent.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
We found the staff to be very attentive.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Cabin lacked sufficient shelves or drawers to store clothing. Bathroom was spacious. We were awoken a number of nights by a loud hydraulic sound lasting 15 to 45 seconds. Initially the staff were uncertain of its cause but did offer a room change near the end of our cruise. We later found that this room was directly over a crew only room marked “ultra fog flushing valve”. We not would recommend choosing room 4074.

Ship tip

Make Manfredi's dinner reservations for days you want on day one of trip.

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
We did 2 excursions in Barcelona. First was the well worthwhile optional “ Scenic Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey.” Beautiful scenic location. We followed this up with the included afternoon “Panoramic Barcelona” bus and walking tour. Only drawback was walking off one bus right onto another to do second tour. Guides were very knowledgeable and informative.

Toulon, France

5 out of 5
We chose the included “Scenic Marseille” tour. Enjoyable bus tour followed by short walking tour and hour plus of free time to shop and tour Marseille beautiful port area.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

5 out of 5
We chose and highly recommend the optional “Nice, Eze & Monte Carlo” tour. Excellent tour guide and free time in Nice and Monte Carlo.

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5
We chose the optional “Florence on your own” excursion. Informative Guide accompanied us on bus trip to/from Florence and gave a brief walking tour and worthwhile sightseeing and shopping suggestions.

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5
We chose the optional “Highlights of Rome and the Colosseum”. Excellent tour guide with ample time inside the Colosseum. Walking tour included the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
We chose the optional “Sorrento and Pompeii” excursion. Beautiful and informative. Guide was very good. Highly recommend.

Cruise Ionian Sea

5 out of 5
This was not a port but a day at sea. A good chance to relax between days of beautiful excursions.

Corfu, Greece

5 out of 5
We chose included “Panoramic Corfu & Old town walking tour”. Combination bus and walking tour with knowledgeable guide. Worthwhile tour.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5
We chose included “Dubrovnik Walking Tour”. Beautiful historic city. Excellent tour with free time. Recommend walking the wall during free time (worth the fee). No need to pay the Viking wall tour, do on own.

Split, Croatia

5 out of 5
We chose the optional “The Krka Waterfalls & Town of Skradin” excursion. The national park is beautiful. The 30 minute boat ride was from the park to Skradin where we had a very nice lunch included.

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5
We did the optional 1.5 hr walking tour of Venice followed by as much free time as you want up until 10:30 pm. Ship only docked at noon. We did our own gondola ride during our free time. Gondolas are plentiful to find and less than 1/2 what you pay for a Viking optional gondola excursion of the same 30 minute (standard) length.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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2 Comments

GDS55    5 years ago

Thanks for your great review We are sailing to many of these ports next September,and appreciate the information.

queenb12702    5 years ago

Wow! Sounds an unforgettable experience! Thanks for the review!