OnTheWater50

Yes, I have looked into those also but it would take about 2 hours, with luggage. No fun.

We have been informed our cruise ending in Venice will disembark at Chioggia in November of this year. We are staying independently in Venice for 2 more nights. What time can we expect to have to disembark? I would like to walk around Chioggia in the morning before our transfer to Venice if possible (without luggage!).

Any recommendations for private transfer for 4 people from Chioggia to Venice? It's hard to find much information as this cruise terminal is pretty new for Viking...

Yes, without any complaining on our part, Viking sent us a future cruise credit of 25% of what we paid for the cruise only (no air, after agent discount, etc) - which was very smart on their part as I am already looking at booking an ocean cruise! We have done one ocean cruise with Viking and loved it. I'm looking forward to a return.

We just returned from our Viking Danube cruise, Budapest to Nuremberg, October 5-12. We were notified we would not be leaving from Budapest about 2 days before the cruise started. As we were already in Budapest (2 nights on our own) we were asked to come to the Viking Idun, moored in Budapest, the afternoon of embarkation. Viking took our luggage and we boarded the Idun for a nice buffet lunch. We left by bus around 3 pm and embarked our ship in Komarom, Hungary. So we missed late afternoon/evening in Budapest on the boat. Viking bused everyone back to Budapest the next morning for the included excursion but we skipped it as we did not want to spend more time on the bus and we had seen some of Budapest on our own. We walked around Komorom and crossed the bridge to Slovakia to walk around. The boat was moored near the police station and was not scenic but we had a good laugh about that. 

Day 2 (after Budapest excursion returned) we left for Vienna. We did the included excursion of Vienna (walking tour by subway, very good) and walked around after. The boat did not leave Vienna until midnight, allowing late evening excursions to return.

From Vienna, we moved to Krems/LInz. Toured the Gottweig Abbey and cruised the Wachau Valley (yes, the boat cruised the whole thing).

From Krems /Linz we moved to Straubing, Germany and a ship swap.  Bused to Passau from Viking Var for walking tour, organ concert, and lunch in Passau. Bused back to different boat, Vking Tor, at 2:45 or 5 pm (passenger's choice) in Staubing, Germany (middle of nowhere but quite pretty with a lovely sunset). Moved to Regensburg at night, moored in town.

Regensburg walking tour (very good), ship leaves just after lunch. Some passengers stayed in Regensburg for the afternoon and a bus transferred them to the boat at Kelheim (we stopped only to pick up passengers). Moved on to Nuremberg, moored just outside of town, bused in to town for tours. 

All in all, I think Viking did a good job dealing with unusual water and weather conditions. The key is flexibility! Given our experience and what I now know about river cruises, I don't think I would book private excursions during the cruise. There is just too much variability as to what may happen when on the river. Anyway, I feel lucky we got to cruise as much as we did - even with the ship swap (which was fine by the way) during this hot and dry year on the river.

We are on the Viking Var, Budapest to Nuremberg, right now. We were told the ships cannot get to Budapest due to low water and were bused from Budapest to the boat 90 min away in Kormoro (?) Slovakia. We are moving now on the boat but have been told we will probably have a ship swap in 3 days. The service and food are great but it is disappointing to use up time on a bus and miss time in the cities.

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Thanks for posting! We are doing the same cruise leaving October 5 (this Friday) and your information is reassuring. Enjoy your cruise!

We have a river cruise on the Danube booked for this October and I am sorry to hear of this development. We chose the cruise partly because of the opportunity to eat outside in a more casual setting for dinner if desired.

We have eaten in Manfredi's on Viking Ocean and loved it (some of the best meals we had on Ocean and the food was really good on that ship!) but the menu is huge and the portions are generous on Ocean. The menu described for Viking River is not appealing and not at all reflective of the Danube/Germany/Hungary.

I hope Viking is listening - my vote is a return to casual outdoor dining for dinner, a feature of Viking River extensively promoted by Viking when I booked my cruise.

If you go to the top of the Cruise Critic page you will see 'Research'. In that menu you will find 'Reviews'. There are over 2000 reviews for Viking Ocean. They start with the most recent reviews submitted. Happy research!

We did arrive by air booked by Viking, were met by Viking agents, and were dropped off outside of the working San Juan terminal at about 6:30 am. We (and our luggage) were NOT allowed inside the terminal until embarkation time of 11 am.

It was a mess - to be fair, this was back in January of 2017 and Viking followed up with us rather extensively post-cruise. Hopefully, the kinks have been ironed out for early arrivals.

Would love to hear more recent Caribbean early arrival experiences...

FYI - We arrived for our January 2017 cruise at around 6am (Viking booked the air) and no one would take our luggage. Our group of around 15 piled our stuff up outside the fence (not secured) and kind of took turns watching/checking on the luggage pile. Embarkation was at 11 - my understanding is that as San Juan is an American port, the ship must be completely cleared before embarkation can begin (no overlap between passengers from the outgoing/incoming cruises). Thing may have changed but I doubt it. (BTW, we were told ahead of time we would be able to board early and wait for our stateroom to be ready by our TA and Viking but this was not true)

My advice would be to plan on arriving at the ship at 11am or later. You will get right on and have a lovely lunch while waiting for your stateroom.

The rest of the cruise was fantastic!

Hi all, I am the OP. Let me start by saying our Viking Ocean cruise was one of our favorite vacations ever - and we have another one booked. HOWEVER - we did arrive around 5:30 AM, were picked up and transferred to the ship docked in San Juan, dropped with our luggage and left there with no food, water, bathroom, chairs, shade or any assistance for 5 hours. Our luggage was unsecured so our group of 13 or so people took turns keeping an eye on all of our luggage while we ventured out in search of bathrooms, etc. After hours of terrible or no communication, we finally boarded at 11am - and proceeded to have a wonderful cruise. If only we had been given accurate information about boarding, I would have made plans ahead of time (I am a big planner). I think Viking should have had a group area at a local hotel so we could have access to a bathroom, water, something to eat, a place to rest - Viking booked us all to come in that early. At least they should have given me accurate information so I could have planned for place to hang out for the morning (and I would have been fine with that). We could not arrive a day early as our air was included and booked by Viking. After much ado, we were given a small OBC (which I was fine with). After our return, we were contacted by Viking customer service and, after discussing our experience, given a larger credit towards a future cruise - which we have happily booked.

So, all's well that ends well but better communication from Viking would have prevented the whole painful start of the cruise.

Here is what I understand now: If you are embarking on an ocean cruise from an American port, the rules are different than ports in other countries and/or river cruises. The debarking and embarking cruisers WILL NOT be allowed to 'mix'.

Debarkation will be completed before embarkation begins and the company will NOT take you (and probably not your luggage) early. EMBARKATION WAS 11 AM AND THE PORT AUTHORITIES WILL ENFORCE THE RULES.

Sorry, I don't know about Miami but I would make plans to have some place to hang out until embarkation.

Thanks for a lovely and detailed review. A pleasure to read and look at your photos!

We are tea drinkers at home and a bit particular about our tea brewing.

The coffee maker in the room is one of the pod things - I didn't even look to see if they had a tea pod as I tried that once at a hotel and it was horrid.

The tea on board varied quite a bit. At the restaurant (and, I think, the buffet service) it was a bag with a small metal pot and china cup, acceptable but not great. The tea available all of the time at the buffet (self-service bags with hot water) was barely drinkable. The tea at the Wintergarten (during tea service in the afternoon) was good but, as I remember, they only had 2 black teas and I didn't care for one. Tea in the Wintergarten is loose leaf and brought in a china pot with a strainer. The best (always available) we found was a bagged tea that seemed to be available only at the bar in the Atrium so we went there for our cups. The bar also had good coffee so we sometimes had a latte instead. Herbal teas are also available everywhere. Enjoy!

The included excursion, Scenic St. Martin, was scheduled for 2.5 hours and was offered morning and afternoon. Enjoy!

Hi all,

We were on the Viking Star West Indies in January of 2017. Here is my long review - I read so much here on Cruise Critic before I book or sail and I wanted to pass along our experience. Please ask any other questions you may have. Thanks to the many members who helped me in planning our trip!

Overall: Fantastic!

Us: Four college friends, 2 married couples, now between 55-58 years old. Looking to relax together. Like good food and wine, active, do not shop or gamble. Chose this cruise because of ship design, no kids/photographer/gambling, mostly inclusive, spa, exercise facility, price. My husband and I have been on one Princess cruise (never again) and 2 Azamara cruises (loved them); our friends have been on one Princess cruise (never again) and we have been together on a small charter in Turkey (loved it but a totally different vacation).

Embarkation: The only time Viking fell short. Our air was included and booked by Viking months before our cruise. As soon as we were notified of our flights, I called Viking and our travel agent because we were due to arrive at 6 am in San Juan. I was assured by both that we would be able to board upon arrival (access to our rooms would be later in the afternoon). Ok, fine. Well, we arrived early, at 5:30 am, after flying all night and were collected and driven to the cruise terminal – where we were dumped with our unsecured luggage and told we could not board until 11 am. Five hours without bathrooms, water, food, a place to rest, or secure luggage (we were told we could use the bathroom and buy food at the Sheraton Hotel). Upon embarkation, we had many discussions with customer service (some sympathetic, some not) and finally (after much pressure) given $150 OBC on day 5 of the cruise. We were fine with this and ready to move on – although this should have happened on day 1! After we returned home we were contacted by Viking Customer Service (I think this was through a tellus@Viking.com email I sent during the cruise) and had a lovely conversation with a woman who was trying to find out all of the details of our embarkation so it wouldn’t happen again – and gave us a nice credit towards a future cruise. Very smart as I am already looking for another cruise!

The Ship: Wow! We chose this cruise partly because of the design and were not disappointed. The ship is designed to allow everyone to find a small quiet public space or a larger public space to encourage conversation or the enjoyment of live music. Everywhere you look there is beautiful art, glass work, lovely (and comfortable!) furniture, and interesting objects. Many small thoughtful touches – blankets on couches, small pillows on chairs in the large public areas but also in the restaurants, bird sounds in the public bathrooms (which were always spotless, by the way). The glass ceiling over the pool is lovely but it does get hot when it is closed – during our cruise we asked for it to be opened 3 times and it was opened promptly.

Stateroom: Great. Comfortable bed with nice linens, love the balcony, small but functional seating area, wonderful bathroom with good water pressure. Actual storage in the bathroom with drawers and shelves! Nice toiletries with little scent which I like. Bath towels a little thin. Good climate control. Great lighting with lots of options. Good closet with light (steward brought extra hangers right away) but not enough shelves/drawers. No need for coffee maker (much better coffee at the bar) – would prefer to get rid of coffee maker and have 2 more shelves/drawers. Nice to have a little fridge, we asked to have only tonic water and club soda and that’s what we got all week. 2 tiny candy bars and one bag of chips replenished most days, not needed with all of the food around. Water replenished in the room and in our fridge. We bought some gin and rum in town and had drinks in our room with our friends sometimes.

Spa: Gorgeous and no extra charge. Most afternoons, before dinner, we would access the spa and use the warm tub with powerful jets, the hot tub, the wet sauna, and the snow room. Relaxing and fun! Robes and rubber shoes are available in the changing rooms in lockers that lock with your room key. Our friends had a pedicure (fine) and massage (fine), both expensive.

Gym: 3 rooms with windows. One open/empty for yoga/stretching. One with mats & weights, benches and 2 stretching machines. One with treadmills, weight machines, elliptical machines, bikes. Everything in good order and clean. Water, cleaning wipes, and towels provided. Yoga and some other group class offered about once a day for $10. We never took the classes but did use the gym and enjoyed it.

Food: Mainly excellent with just a few misses. Nice portion control. Food served correct temp and not too salty – thank you! Had breakfast in the MDR and buffet. Great bowl of fresh berries every morning. Breads and pastries fresh and tasty. Eggs benedict delicious and perfectly cooked. We are tea drinkers – the tea was Ok but could be improved. We usually had lunch at the buffet and ate outside. Loved the fresh salad fixings but often had a long line – they should have salad on both sides of the buffet. Often ordered a freshly grilled chicken breast or shrimp to add to the salad. Yummy gelato with changing flavors. Ordered room service a few times, breakfast was cold/not great, lunch salads/fruit plate/cheese plate were good and served promptly. We generally ate dinner in the MDR as we enjoyed the service. Good, fresh food with just enough variety. Really good crème brulee! However, they should offer more vegetables as part of the entrée and/or offer more and more interesting side vegetables – the ‘extra’ veggies were steamed and boring. How about some roasted vegetables every night? I would also like the MDR to offer more salad variety including an entrée salad. We had great, prompt service and enjoyed the staff. The wines were fine (nothing great). Twice we did not care for one of the offered wines and were quickly and pleasantly brought a different wine we had liked from a previous day. We did not chose the Silver Spirit package (we had plenty to drink with included drinks and the occasional purchase) but it seemed a good value. The included beer was Carlsbad light and dark and was delicious.

Manfreddi’s has an extensive menu and we had 2 meals there. The asparagus over polenta was one of the best things I have ever eaten. The ribeye and veal saltimbocca were also delicious.

The room is lovely and the service was great.

The Chef’s Table was mediocre. We had the Scandinavian menu focused on salmon and lamb. There are no choices so check the menu ahead of time. The food was fine but somewhat pretentious and focused on presentation. The room was one of my least favorite on the ship, with many tables distracted by light coming from the private Kitchen Table room and the kitchen. When we arrived (early seating and first to be seated) we asked if we could be seated by a window. We were told no as we were a party of 4 and the tables by the windows were for 2. As the dinner progressed it was obvious we could have been seated by a window with some creative thinking. Dessert was beautiful and delicious. We all agreed we did not need to repeat

The Chef’s Table. I think Viking should re-work this dining room and concept.

Wintergarden: Just a gorgeous space with comfortable furniture. The fresh scones were wonderful, coffee was good, the tea itself just so-so. Just need some better black tea. Service great.

Entertainment: We watched 2 movies by the pool and really enjoyed relaxing outside with popcorn and blankets. We had big plans to see the shows but ended up just relaxing and talking with our friends. Loved the small groups playing classical music in the atrium.

Excursions: We did mainly included excursions with one extra excursion.

San Juan: Excellent excursion, best of the ones we took. Local interesting guide, loved the QuietVox (I am a photographer and loved being able to move away from the group to take a shot), beautiful walk to the Fort San Felipe del Morro through the Old Town. Longish walk, warm weather, lots of uneven ground.

Tortola: Open air bus ride, beautiful, bit of a wild ride, could not hear bus driver/guide over the microphone. Left for one hour at Pusser’s landing for shopping which we could have done without.

Antigua: Had plans for a private snorkel trip which we could not make as our ship docked at the commercial dock and we were too late for the private trip. Viking did provide small bus transportation to the shopping area. We took a taxi from there to a beautiful beach and swam.

Saint Lucia: Bus tour of the island. Great guide, beautiful views, visit to Stony Hill (private estate gardens) – slightly strange.

Barbados: We hired a private guide and car for the day. Beautiful pottery at Earthworks Pottery, rum tour at Mount Gay (very touristy, pretty good rum).

Guadeloupe: Never left the ship – day off from the bus. Swam in the pools and lots of reading. Did a bridge tour which was really interesting to see, the officer guide was not very interesting. Nice that Viking still offers a bridge tour.

St. Kitts: Bus tour, driver/guide OK, Fairview Great House interesting, had a local beer in their bar.

St. Martin: Longish bus tour with shopping, we are tired of bus tours by now!

St. Thomas: Optional catamaran & snorkel tour through Viking. Big and nice catamaran, a few too many people (around 50?), snorkel provided, 2 sites to snorkel. Snorkeling just OK but nice to be in the water. Drinks and snacks provided after snorkeling. Nice afternoon.

Other stuff: Used the laundry, very helpful, detergent provided and automatically dispensed.

Internet: not so fast but fine, able to check email and news.

TV: all the info about your account and reservations, great selection of movies to watch in room

Port lecture: only went to one, just the cruise director reading about the port so skipped the rest.

Smoking: None! As far as I could tell. Thank you, Viking – this is very important to us.

Service: Lovely staff, very helpful and interesting to talk with, most seemed happy with Viking

As you can tell, we had a great cruise. Viking is a good fit for us and I am planning another cruise with them soon.

Yes, beach towels are available in bins right by the security exit. No need to bring any with you! They also offer bottled water to take along.

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On the Star right now. Stemmed glass in the MDR and Manfreddi's, stemmed plastic outside/pool, glass tumbler at Chef's table for included wines (we do not have the upgraded package).

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We have been given OBC, enough for an excursion, and an apology. We are satisfied with this response, although we wish Viking had responded in a more timely manner. I will review when we return!

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Still no information or resolution from Viking, day 5 of our cruise.

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Thanks for all of your replies.

We are awaiting some resolution with Viking pending offices opening in LA tomorrow, Monday.

I agree with the suggestions to arrive a day early, etc. Unfortunately, when we booked our air was included with our fare. NO credit was offered for booking your own air and NO deviations or Choice Air was allowed. Believe me, I asked!

I don't know if this has changed but, at the time, deviations and/or Choice Air were not allowed on any Caribbean itineraries.

We are currently on the Viking Star, West Indies Explorer. We booked this trip months ago and Viking Air was included as part of the package. When our air was booked I was concerned because we were to arrive in San Juan at 5:50 AM after a red eye flight (San Francisco to Houston, Houston to San Juan). I called our travel agent and Viking Ocean and was repeatedly assured we would be picked up at the airport and allowed to embark UPON ARRIVAL. I was told we would not have access to our room until 2pm but would be able to relax in public areas.

Well, we arrived a bit early at 5:30AM with about 12 other Viking customers and were transported to the patio outside of the cruise terminal. Our luggage was offloaded and lined up along the sea wall. The transportation company called the ship, and after a few conversations where we were told someone from Viking would come talk to our group (no one ever did), we were finally informed around 7am that we would not be able to embark and we could go to a local hotel to purchase breakfast, find drinking water, use the toilet, and sit down. No one from Viking ever spoke to us or offered any sort of assistance. We were also told to leave our luggage where it was - along the unsecured sea wall. We thought that was a bad idea and moved the group's luggage closer to the gate to the cruise terminal. All the luggage was there - outside of the terminal and unsecured- for hours.

Very long story - after FIVE HOURS of waiting without any communication or assistance from Viking, we finally embarked. The ship is gorgeous and we are having a great time but this was a very sour start. We have complained but no news yet.

Really, all they had to do was:

1. Book on a later flight

OR

2. Be truthful! Tell us we would not be able to embark and make a simple plan for us to have a place to rest, eat a bit, get water, and use a bathroom

I'll return with the rest of the story.

Thanks for the fantastic, detailed review! We are on the same Viking Caribbean cruise leaving in January and I am even more excited after reading all of the details. Beautiful photographs also!

Thank you!!!

We are going on this cruise in January and I love all of the extra information for my (over) planning - and, most importantly, my anticipation!

Thanks everyone!

I have also been reassured by our TA and Viking Ocean that we will be able to embark, store luggage, and hang out on the ship. Hopefully, we can be restored by caffeine and go explore a bit. I'll report back!

Well, we just got our (tentative) Viking Air from San Francisco to San Juan for our January Caribbean cruise. We are traveling red-eye through Houston (this is fine, we expected overnight flights from the West Coast) and arriving at San Juan at 6am on the day of embarkation.

Viking has assured me we will be able to embark and drop luggage (our rooms won't be ready until the afternoon, of course). Hanging out on the ship and relaxing will be fine - I'm not sure we will be in any shape to drop off luggage and immediately sally forth to explore/sightsee. Does anyone have experience with really early embarkation? Was it a problem? Is food available?

Viking booked this air/transfer so I'm hoping the plan is to take us directly to the ship from the airport. It's always helpful to hear from other CC members! Thanks!