Viking Venus Cruise Reviews - Reviews

As usual, my husband and I had the best times at Viking Ocean cruise. Never disappointed. Always beautiful views, excellent food and dining, professional staff ready to please all guests!

A Return to Our Viking First Love Having disembarked the Viking Neptune just a few weeks ago, we were interested to see how our first love - the Viking Venus would compare. We love the Venus because of the special memories we have as it was the first ship we embarked upon after Covid. Coincidentally, both the Neptune and the Venus were new when we first sailed upon them. The itinerary for this short 7 night cruise was Barcelona-Cartagena-Malaga-at sea - Vigo- at sea- Portsmouth- Tilbury. The embarkation process was amongst the best we have ever had, from kerbside to boarding the ship took only a matter of minutes, disembarkation worked really well too. One of the things we love about Viking is that all of the ships are the same, so it’s easy to find your way around. What we love most about Viking, is they are cruise ships in every sense of the word, unlike some of the larger ships which we describe as floating hotel resorts, Viking ships provide the perfect opportunity to experience the true essence of cruising. From the Explorer’s Lounge on the bow, to the outside area on deck two at the stern - these ships provide plenty of uncrowded outside areas. I have to say, Viking Ships are easily our favourite shops amongst the cruiselines we have sailed upon, but then, we love smaller ships, but understand many people enjoy the larger ships. On the Neptune we had a Penthouse Junior Suite, this time on the Venus we had a penthouse Veranda, and to be honest, there wasn’t that much difference - we will probably stick with the Penthouse Veranda in the future although it means less reservations for the two speciality restaurants - The Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s. The other difference being you have to pay for your laundry, but you still get your free alcohol in your stateroom. The cabins are a classic Nordic design with plenty of storage space, though a little cluttered. We love the heated floor in the bathroom. Both the main restaurant and the world cafe buffet are spacious and never seemed crowded, though oddly we never had to queue for the main restaurant on the Neptune but had to on a few occasions on the Venus. There is also a pool bar and grill and Mamsens in the Explorers Lounge for additional dining opportunities. We were disappointed by the food - not the quality, but the lack of variety and repetition. The Lounge areas are mainly open and spacious, but we find Torshavn - one of the main entertainment venues a little cluttered and too dark for our taste. Entertainment on board consists of enrichment lectures, a guitar/vocalist, a classical duo, a pianist and of course a number of shows in the main theatre, all of which are of a standard you would expect from a premium cruise line. In over 60 cruises Paulo the guitarist/vocalist is one of the best we have ever seen - be sure to catch his late shows too. Elmer the cruise director was also top class - and their joint sing-a-longs were great fun. There is a clean,spacious and modern well-equipped gym, with additional space for floor exercising and stretching etc. I’ll say what I always say - we feel the Spa is expensive and it’s not a facility we would use. The main pool and hot tub are under a retractable roof, so you can swim whatever the weather. There is an additional hot tub and small infinity pool on the Aquavit Terrace on Deck 7. Once again we met some nice people on this cruise which always enhances your cruise experience. We had the impression that many of the staff were new and still getting used to their roles. Needless to say, we have the upmost respect for their dedication and hard work. One of the other things we really love about Viking is their brilliant internet which is so reliable and best of all, free. IN SUMMARY We have a theory that the best staff are always deployed on the new ships, which as previously stated, this ship was when we first embarked on her after Covid, and the Neptune hadn’t even been christened when we sailed on her before Christmas. I mention this because the service was exceptional on both of those occasions - sad to say we could not say the same about this cruise. Now before I end this review, there is something I want to address, which, having received feedback from a number of cruise related Facebook groups and other social media, it is abundantly clear that many people were not aware of the importance of ensuring your passport is stamped when leaving the EU/Schengan country, assuming it was stamped upon entry, as ours was when we flew into Barcelona. Two days into this cruise, we went to Guest Relations to ask what the arrangements were to ensure we had proof of our departure from spain ie a passport stamp. Non EU/Schengan citizens are only allowed to spend up to 90 days in any 180 in the member countries, They looked at us like we were crazy and it took several days before we were able to speak to a Senior Officer who finally made the arrangements to ensure that non-EU/Schengan citizens could have their passports stamped before leaving our final Spanish port. Do not assume that the cruise line will automatically take care of this. We are in no doubt that these arrangements would not have been put in place if we had not persistently raised the issue, as was confirmed to us by the lovely General Manager ( thanks to him for his persistence too) and it’s not just a Brit thing. When we raised this across several Facebook sites a helpful American friend who had previously worked in this field for the state department told us that lots of US citizens had encountered problems because they hadn’t realised. Since we raised this we have heard lots of horror stories about problems people have had when trying to re-enter an EU/Schengan country, you can be liable for a heavy fine or even denied entry. So please, to prevent any unnecessary problems, make sure your passports are stamped.

We had a very relaxing cruise, ate well and enjoyed seeing new places. Unfortunately we had two days/nights of pretty rough seas and could not stop in Portsmouth on our last day. Everything was done well and I would do this cruise again.

High quality, Excellent value, and extreme customer care.

The Good : the ship is nice and the ports are interesting. Manfredi’s is a great place and the man who manages it is a very accommodating fellow. Our room Steward was very good. The not-so-good: The silver liquor package is not worth it anymore. When we traveled with Viking on the Budapest to Amsterdam river cruise the higher-end wine and liquor were worth the extra money – on this cruise the wine/liquor that was EXCLUDED from the silver package is the higher quality. Definitely a downgrade since 2019. The Music on the ship was fine the first day – But became very repetitive and tedious. The group that traveled with us averaged around 70 and we all felt the music was way too sedate for an “every night” entertainment package. The Viking band was good – when they played. Everyone else was average or below. Booking air through Viking: Avoid at all costs. They are interested in the most low-cost solution and really don’t care how many legs of the trip you have to travel and for how long as long as it's cheap. If your luggage is lost – you are basically on your own. Both our bags were late making it to Bergen – when they did arrive the Viking agent found one but “missed” the other. We spend the rest of the cruise missing that bag and spent about 9 hours with the Viking explorer desk or on the phone with Delta/Air France trying to get it to us. The common theme from the Viking folks was…it’s the airline's fault…there is nothing we can do. I heard that about 10-12 times. The ship manager – who has the aura of self-importance – was interested in talking to me – only until he realized how messed up our situation was…then he could not wait to pass me off to one of the front-line people (who were very nice – but undertrained and not real effective) and then basically spend the rest of the cruise hiding in his office or avoiding me when I was talking to his underlings – clearly problem solving was beneath him. For the inconvenience of missing ½ of our luggage and clothes for the 14 days (plus the 3 we spent in London after) Viking gave us $150. Shore excursions – be prepared to sit in front of your computer and be ready for the excursion booking window to open up – whenever that is – if you don’t all the interesting excursions were booked within the first two hours of the booking window being open. Side Note: I felt bad for our tour guide in Greenwich - there we two (quite entitled) couples from our ship that were incredibly rude to the poor guy - because he was requested to wait a few minutes before starting the tour - I was embarrassed for them and us...it was an "ugly American" event. This was no fault of Viking. Overall, Dinning – Food was okay – be prepared though – in the world restaurant – if it says they close at 9:30 am – that actually means 9:15. The staff will start to close up and hurry you out at 9:15. The cruise director – I only heard – never actually saw him – not sure he was on the ship – I think he must have phoned in his announcement from a remote location. The assistant Cruise director was a very good singer. We have been on 7 ocean cruises and 1 river cruise before this. I doubt I would take an ocean cruise with Viking again. Surprising given how much we enjoyed the River cruise with Viking – Maybe my expectations were too high. Either way, it was a disappointing 2 weeks. Oh yes and 22 days later we still don’t have our luggage. But that's not Viking's fault

The shore excursions advertised were generally not available. I paid for the trip with the belief the score excursions that are advertised were all available. That is absolutely not the case. I really believe Viking is playing a game of "bait and switch". This may be OK with many people. Lots of the passangers were more interested in the ship, food, drink, and entertainment. For many people the ship is the destination. We wanted the shore experience and we were very disappointed. Do not let Viking book air. For some reason the last leg of the flight was cancaled and we had to stay an extra night in a hotel. Viking did NOTHING to help us. They washed their hands of the problem. This is truthful although it is hard to believe. They changed our reservation to where we arrived in Newark and left from Laguardia with no plan of how we get from Newark to Laguardia. A number of the passangers had awful experiences with the air reservations. book your own.

We love Viking cruise line. This trip was a bit of a let down. We had to be tested everyday and had a mask on everywhere. We felt and many I have spoken to felt the same way. We will not cruise with Viking till they relax the restrictions.

Too many Covid restrictions ruined an otherwise great cruise.

A wonderful cruise with a premier cruise line who've met the challenge of Covid-19 without compromising quality and enjoyment. Once you've cruised Viking, you'll never go back. The best Rest, Relaxation and Reset we've ever experienced.

The goal of the cruise was to see the Northern Lights but the weather was not cooperating. We finally had one night where there were no clouds and the Lights were visible. Read up on how to get pictures before you go. Bring clothes for below freezing weather, snow and ice! I loved this smaller (900 passenger) ship.

Firstly, we chose the Veranda cabin. As it was the same size as the much more expensive deluxe Veranda cabin I could see no reason to pay extra. Admittedly, they got to choose dining in specialty restaurants before we did if you wanted to do that. And also they could choose, their excursions earlier. As I had no intention on buying any excursions through Viking, because of their exorbitant price, and they had to give us the included tour, I was perfectly happy to get the last choice, and all of them in honesty suited me perfectly. As for the specialty restaurant, I just walked on, went to the girl who did the bookings for the restaurants and got as many as I wanted. Sometimes they said they were booked out, but when I used the app I got more than enough. In fact, I cancelled some of my restaurant bookings because the restaurants had set menus and it became repetitive. The ship itself is beautiful, filled with books which is great. The staff seem to know what you like after a couple of days, so that’s quite amazing to me. The entertainment in the atrium was a pianist and a cello and violin player. They played classical music, 99% of the time. Now I don’t mind a bit of classical music, but 24 /seven did my head in…. call themselves the thinking man’s Cruise, so they assumed in that everybody would like classical music. As I said, a little bit goes along way. If they have a look at the age, demographic of the people on board, which, in our case was anything from 40 to about 80. Even the 60s and 70-year-old people would’ve been listening to Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Queen etc etc etc. I see no reason why they can’t find softer more contemporary music to play. It does not have to be classical. Upstairs, they had a gentleman who was singing and quite frankly I didn’t really like his voice. He did sing some more modern songs, but that actual area up. There didn’t really appeal to me. They did have four lovely young people who did shows every two or three nights. But mostly they were asked to sing songs from the 50s and 60s and Broadway musical songs. This might have something to do with the fact that out cruise, director and entertainment dude, absolutely loved musicals so that’s what we got stuck with. So if you’re thinking I didn’t enjoy myself you’d be wrong. I just did not like the music but there were so many things to like. I’m a vegetarian wasn’t overly fussed with the offerings for me on some nights. Other nights were perfectly fine. But as I said, I love the staff, I liked my cabin very much, I loved the atrium area where the cafe was and lots and lots of books there. I did like the movies at night in the pool area that was good. I like that there was movies on the TV so that if you went to bed early because you were tired, you could watch a movie. They did do an odd game of trivia occasionally and another game called Baggo. The included excursions were quite okay. In my opinion. I didn’t come here for an in-depth historical lecture, unlike some people who complained. I just want to be shown around some information given and the time for me to be able to wander around and do my own thing. There was plenty of time after the excursions to do whatever you wanted. in fact, I booked five extra excursions myself through a company called get your guide. They were fabulous and half the price of Vikings, Vikings, organisation on the ship was outstanding. They were there every step of the way, if you couldn’t find your way, or couldn’t find something they were there to help. I found by the end of the month I was just getting used to the flow of the ship, and finding that I was less bored because I was used to it. Would I go again? Yes, I probably would. I’d like there to be cruises that were a little less of one particular nationality, I did find some of the people extremely loud and a little bit rude to be honest to the staff. If not rude, I mean, blunt and sharp. This was a cruise for a month that we didn’t actually meet people other than the general chat during the day, but certainly none that we would hang out with on our holiday which is very unusual. But as I said, we found quite a few of different nationalities at all sort of hooked up and quite loudly. Sat around talking. Sometimes we had to move away, but they all seem to be having a good time. The food was pretty good sometimes a bit patchy, sometimes very repetitive, but it was okay. My attitude is if I don’t have to cook it and I don’t have to shop for it and I don’t have to clean up afterwards. Well then it’s pretty dam good.

Highly recommend this trip. We saw so m at places that we would have never been able to see on our own. Great way to see the UK!

It was definitely an adventure. The North and Norwegian seas can be rough. We had 25 to 30 waves first couple of days in the North Sea. Once we were in the fyjords, sailing was smoother. Our experience is you probably will not make every scheduled port. The most important ports to see the lights is Tromso and Alta. Both of these are in protected waters. The added issue for us was the Covid restrictions but we knew this in going on this cruise. All eight of our party went and very much enjoyed this cruise. A lot of guest did cancel prior to this cruise. I would do this cruise again. Magical!