Ports Amazing - Ship No So Much

Item: Viking Star
Rating: 4
Author: kenthompson527

Viking Star Cruise Review to Europe - Western Europe

kenthompson527

Contributor Level: Third Mate

85 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 190

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Icelands Natural Beauty (Reykjavik Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 07, 2023

Ship: Viking Star

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 7002

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

While we really liked the excursions (Ice Lagooon and Volcano ATVs were amazing) we both got sick on this cruise. My wife so sick she passed out at the airport when departing and was transported to a hospital. Turned out we both have bacterial infections. These may not be from on board exposure and could have been from volcanic dust particles in the air from active volcano (major eruption about two weeks ago and active flow still ongoing with some particulates visible in the air space above the volcano near the airport) … this was a major impact to our experience. Coupled with United re-routing us from a relatively short trip (IAH-ORD-KEF) to (IAH-Frankfurt-KEF) on Lufthansa a day late and with loss of luggage for three days made this overall vacation a not so great memory.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We were delayed a day due to airline issues no fault of Viking and when we arrived in Iceland the Viking provided transfer and welcome to the ship was excellent even though the airlines had ‘lost’ our luggage and ship offered items from their L&F inventory.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Portions in the restuarant were ridiculously small. On Surf & Turf night an advertised 1/2 Lobster was but a Lobster tail and the Prime Rib was (factually) 1/4” thick for three of five people who dined at our table.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Not used —- there was no “NA” for this questions so had to rate.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Mediocre —- Viking needs to invest in some better entertainment perhaps swapping with other cruise lines at stops along the route. Singers at 2nd night show seemed badly off key.

Children's Programs

Viking doesn’t allow kids.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The staff did go out of their way to make you feel welcome.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

We had a junior suite on 7th level … highly recommend 7th deck as you have immediate access to the Explorer’s Lounge and Winter Garden and access on this same deck to World Cafe and both pools.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Very nice accommodation, only issues was temperature at times was hard to control and TVs have an issue wih remotes controlling the TV either due to “eyes” not receiving signal OR low batteries. Our “eye” was hanging down on a wire under the sitting area set and was an exposed chip.

Ship tip

Book on 7th deck there are even a couple of veranda, non-junior suites, on this level if yiou can get them.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Reykjavik, Iceland Did not visit port

Arrived a day late so had to miss the excursions in this port.

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Isafjordur, Iceland

3 out of 5

Akureyri, Iceland

4 out of 5

Seydisfjordur, Iceland

3 out of 5

Djupivogur, Iceland

5 out of 5

Heimaey, Westman Islands, Iceland

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Viking makes it easy to disembark with limited wait times and no masses departing at same time.

5 Comments

Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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javawoody 1 year ago

thanks for sharing your experience

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Awesome itinerary. Appreciate your detailed review. Hope you both are feeling better. Glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise in spite of some major hiccups!

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Itspeace4me 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing.

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cruising2004 1 year ago

So sorry to hear you and your wife are ill. Hope you both have a speedy recovery. Thank you for sharing your cruising experience.

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