Viking Venus Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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!

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.

Enjoyable cruise with some great ports and Northern Lights! Food and entertainment left a little to be desired, but we are glad we took this cruise.

We lucked out on the weather. Over the week, we encountered two half-day bouts of rain. We even saw the sun several days during the cruise. Beautiful ship - Viking Venus!!

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.

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.

Absolutely wonderful! From the ship itself to the crew to the food to the lectures to the excursions-everthing was wonderful. Viking earns their number one rating! They take care of the little things as well as the big ones.

This was our first Viking ocean cruise. We did see the northern lights in both Alta and Tromso but due to the storm of the century (winter hurricane in Norway) we were kept in port extra days in Alta and Tromso and eventually taken by charter flight from Tromso to London. Viking was wonderful and worked tirelessly to try to move us as comfortably as possible. Given the unprecedented circumstances they did an outstanding job. The cruise itself given all that, was lovely and we have booked two more Viking ocean cruises.

Going in December was great. The crowds were at a minimum and the weather was not that cold. We got to get an up close and personal visit to most of the sites.

Loved Viking size ship! Just a lot of time on buses ! Ravenna port needs to be changed if Venice excursions to be offered!

Viking sets oioothe standard for every key area from embarkation to debarkation. Staff, cleanliness, leader involvement - - all Outstanding. Particularly noteworthy was seeing the Ship’s General Manager and Officers routinely with their “ troops “. There every day to provide well wishes when we left fore excursions, and there again to welcome everyone back aboard., Too many superlatives to list. Best cruise line we have ever sailed in last 20 plus years.

I am not very happy with their ocean cruises and food was marginal . We paid good amount for room and the laughing and music was too loud and could here it in lounge until 1130pm

We found almost everything about this cruise on Viking Venus to be exemplary. The couple of disappointments were handled with concern and follow-up that was very impressive. Viking is not inexpensive (!) but our experience fulfilled all of our expectations and then some. We will definitely sail again on a Viking Ocean Cruise in the future.

We will cruise again! It was relaxing, enjoyable and all the staff were so friendly and easy to talk to and laugh. If we needed anything they were happy to help us. We LOVE Viking

Travelers and their travel agents should know the Viking rules about Air Plus. Disappointing to learn as we went through processes. Avoid flying United domestic and Lufthansa domestic- too chaotic. Cruise overall a big disappointment due to cancelling the heart of the cruise at Alta and Tromso; substitute ports of call did not measure up. Work with TA ahead of trip to nail down reservations for specialty restaurants. Our advice is to avoid this cruise in winter - the weather is just too much of a factor, as evidenced by the number of sail dates for this cruise having serious problems.

The ship was nice, the crew was great, the food was very good. However, with all the port changes and terrible communications from Viking of I had known this cruise was going to to make those changes I would have either rescheduled or canceled the cruise! We spend a LOT of money on this cruise and didn't get good value for it. One comment about the 2 day delay, while weather is never assured on any cruise, the magnitude of this storm (which we heard from the crew made many passengers sick), was known to the captain and Viking management many days in advance. Weather predictions are well established a week or more before a storm actually hits. This ship should have changed the itinerary early, gone to other ports, like Amsterdam or London and spent 2 days there. Their choice impacted both cruises in a negative way. Poor decisions on managements part.

I know Viking can't help what Mother Nature does, however, we paid a lot of money for not much. We missed Amsterdam, Narvik, and London. We should be reimbursed for London since that was an add on, however, I think we should be given something in return for 1/2 of a trip. This was our third Viking cruise and we would be hard pressed to try another one even though we loved the ship etc.

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.

This was our first cruise, and Viking made it so special it wont be our last. As a matter of fact, we booked our next Viking Ocean Cruise while on board.

High quality, Excellent value, and extreme customer care.