Viking Spirit 2018

Hello all,

My spouse and I are fairly experienced cruisers (Celebrity X 10 and Disney X 1) but were looking for something different for Europe in 2018. We came across a Viking Ocean cruise that looks interesting, "Iconic Cities of the Western Med" July 15, 2018 on the Viking Spirit. I am a bit hesitant as, if I'm doing my research right, the Viking Spirit is to be constructed and delivered sometime in June 2018 and that date would be only its second voyage. How has Viking previously performed delivering these new builds on time and were there any significant service or experience related issues in their early cruises?

Thanks in advance,

doc

We are doing the first cruise for the Sky in Feb. Time will tell.

There have only been a few so far, so hard to say. I would surely think it would be better as time goes on. In reality, that is a year and a half from now.

Doc,

We were on the maiden voyage of the Viking Star, the first ship of Viking Oceans. The ship was delivered on time and we had a great cruise from Istanbul to Venice. Yes, there were a few glitches on that cruise but nothing that spoiled my enthusiasm for Viking as we recently completed a cruise on the Viking Sea, the 2nd ship in Viking Oceans fleet. That cruise was even better than the first. The ship's are beautiful, the food and service arewonderful and the ports are very enjoyable.

Becki

We actually just booked what looks like will be the maiden voyage on the Spirit - Iconic Cities of the Med - July 8th, 2018.

Really looking forward to cruising Viking on a small ship similar to when we first started cruising 30 years ago.

My biggest fear is that it will be hard to go back to a more mainstream line afterward.

Thanks everyone. We will probably end up booking the July 15 cruise in the end. The smaller ships, their design and atmosphere, as well as the reported high food quality all seem to be significant pluses.

I also personally like the 2 days in Tuscany for the itinerary, an area I absolutely loved for the short time we were there last summer. Will probably take the train from Civitavecchia to Venice at the end and spend a few days for a nice conclusion. Now just need to figure the booking method (TA probably) to get the best bang for the buck.

Thanks everyone. We will probably end up booking the July 15 cruise in the end. The smaller ships, their design and atmosphere, as well as the reported high food quality all seem to be significant pluses.

 

I also personally like the 2 days in Tuscany for the itinerary, an area I absolutely loved for the short time we were there last summer. Will probably take the train from Civitavecchia to Venice at the end and spend a few days for a nice conclusion. Now just need to figure the booking method (TA probably) to get the best bang for the buck.

Hello, doctorj2-- My husband and I are actually looking at booking this same July 15 cruise. Have you booked? We have sailed on Viking for the Paris to Normandy River Cruise and enjoyed it tremendously. We also looked at a similar itinerary on Silversea (whom we sailed with for an Eastern Mediterranean cruise) but Viking pricing seems better. Hoping to hear from you since this thread seemed to end in February.

We did the Viking Sky Inaugural cruise this year. The ship was full and everything went perfect. You would have thought they had been sailing this ship for a year. Thinks really went well.

We also were on the maiden voyage of the very first Viking Oceans cruise. We took back to back, 29 days, so had a great feel for Oceans (already loved Rivers).

As Becki mentioned, there were a few glitches, but we loved the ship, employees, food, service, cabin.....we are booked again end of this year. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. There is something extra special, IMHO, of experiencing the first sailing of a ship....

Wife and I just booked the Spirit from Venice (August 12) all the way to Hong Kong. The thought of "glitches" doesn't bother me, they will make the trip more interesting. Hope she still has the "new ship" smell when we embark.

The sail out from Venice is amazing! Be sure to be in the Explorer's Lounge for that. :)

Becki

My wife Linda and I have been on many cruises and just booked our first Viking sea cruise on the Viking Spirit, Nov. 30, 2018, Bali to Sydney. Anyone else signed up?

Regards, Peter (weinpal)

My wife Linda and I have been on many cruises and just booked our first Viking sea cruise on the Viking Spirit, Nov. 30, 2018, Bali to Sydney. Anyone else signed up?

 

Regards, Peter (weinpal)

There is already a roll call started for your cruise. Nov 30 2018 Bali to Sydney

Hello, doctorj2-- My husband and I are actually looking at booking this same July 15 cruise. Have you booked? We have sailed on Viking for the Paris to Normandy River Cruise and enjoyed it tremendously. We also looked at a similar itinerary on Silversea (whom we sailed with for an Eastern Mediterranean cruise) but Viking pricing seems better. Hoping to hear from you since this thread seemed to end in February.

Hi there. Just seeing your post now for some reason. We did go ahead and book the cruise in a PS3 cabin. Now just a little over a year to wait.

We did the Viking Sky Inaugural cruise this year. The ship was full and everything went perfect. You would have thought they had been sailing this ship for a year. Thinks really went well.

That is because they have the same team of hotel managers launching each new ship. The hotel staff is made up of mostly experienced Viking personnel who have been working to together for a couple of months before the first guests actually arrive.

Sky has launched and very shortly the inaugural team will be moving on to the Sun.

Hi there. Just seeing your post now for some reason. We did go ahead and book the cruise in a PS3 cabin. Now just a little over a year to wait.

We have also booked for the July 15 departure date. I did start a roll call for that sailing but for some reason I have trouble finding it when I look for responses. It's there but perhaps the thread wasn't started in the correct format. It has views but no responses as of now. Looking forward to communicating more as we plan our trip

We have also booked for the July 15 departure date. I did start a roll call for that sailing but for some reason I have trouble finding it when I look for responses. It's there but perhaps the thread wasn't started in the correct format. It has views but no responses as of now. Looking forward to communicating more as we plan our trip

Viking Spirit / Iconic Cities of the Western Mediterranean / July 15-21. 2018

The Viking Spirit has not yet need added to the drop-down menu of the "Find Your Roll Call" tool even though the roll call forum has been added as a sub-forum and there are existing roll calls. People who are new to CC or who don't visit the home page of the boards regularly don't always know that there are alternative ways to find roll calls.

When they do add Sun and Spirit to the drop down menu, your roll call might not get picked up, so, keep an eye on it. I was reading elsewhere that new roll calls are picked up automatically by the tool but that certain date formats are illegible as far as the tool is concerned. If, your roll call does not get picked up, you can ask the moderators to edit the title so that the format is correct. Use the triangle "report" icon to the left of the post number to communicate with the moderators.

One thing that you can do to help folks find the roll call is to add a link to the top line of your signature file (so that every time you post, people will see it). Another is to supply the link any time that you mention it.

Viking Spirit / Iconic Cities of the Western Mediterranean / July 15-21. 2018

 

 

 

The Viking Spirit has not yet need added to the drop-down menu of the "Find Your Roll Call" tool even though the roll call forum has been added as a sub-forum and there are existing roll calls. People who are new to CC or who don't visit the home page of the boards regularly don't always know that there are alternative ways to find roll calls.

 

When they do add Sun and Spirit to the drop down menu, your roll call might not get picked up, so, keep an eye on it. I was reading elsewhere that new roll calls are picked up automatically by the tool but that certain date formats are illegible as far as the tool is concerned. If, your roll call does not get picked up, you can ask the moderators to edit the title so that the format is correct. Use the triangle "report" icon to the left of the post number to communicate with the moderators.

 

 

One thing that you can do to help folks find the roll call is to add a link to the top line of your signature file (so that every time you post, people will see it). Another is to supply the link any time that you mention it.

Thanks, Peregrina 651. I'll keep an eye out.

Hi there. Just seeing your post now for some reason. We did go ahead and book the cruise in a PS3 cabin. Now just a little over a year to wait.

Guess it's a little early for activity on the Roll Call for our cruise. So I subscribed to the Roll Call for the Dec 28, 2017, sailing of the Viking Star for the same itinerary. I hope to get lots of useful information to help in our planning.

Hi, We are on September 8th 2018 sailing on Spirit and the roll call is up and running - only 2 couples so far though!

Hi, We are on September 8th 2018 sailing on Spirit and the roll call is up and running - only 2 couples so far though!

Happy Sailing! :)

Hi, We are on September 8th 2018 sailing on Spirit and the roll call is up and running - only 2 couples so far though!

Guess it's a little early for activity on the Roll Call for our cruise. So I subscribed to the Roll Call for the Dec 28, 2017, sailing of the Viking Star for the same itinerary. I hope to get lots of useful information to help in our planning.

IMHO, read as many roll calls as you can for your itinerary. You never know what little bits of information you will glean. Viking has done a French and Italian Riviera (Barcelona to Rome) itinerary in the past but some of the ports were different from what is being offered on Iconic Cities.

The easiest thing to do is to subscribe to the roll call threads that you are interested in. Choose the daily notification and any day on which there has been new activity you will get an e-mail with the day's posts; no e-mail means no new posts. (And this also works for any thread that you want to follow but don't wish to actually post in.)

To subscribe, look for "THREAD TOOLS" top of the page, right side and click to reveal the drop down menu. Choose subscribe and follow the directions.

Thanks, Peregrina 651. I have subscribed to several threads (and looking for more). l can easily check them regularly through the "subscribed threads" link in the drop down next to my name. I don't get the daily notifications--Cruise Critic seems to have a problem with emails to @bellsouth.net through AT&T.

We are also on the September 8, 2018 Viking Spirit...which is the second leg of our Cultural Explorations "world cruise". So far there is not word on a shore excursion to the Taj Mahal. I've researched such an excursion and it involves a flight and then a land trip to reach the Taj Mahal. Has anyone found any information on this?:)

We are also on the September 8, 2018 Viking Spirit...which is the second leg of our Cultural Explorations "world cruise". So far there is not word on a shore excursion to the Taj Mahal. I've researched such an excursion and it involves a flight and then a land trip to reach the Taj Mahal. Has anyone found any information on this?:)

Have you checked out the ports of call section of Cruise Critic? There is a section for Asia and then search for "Taj Mahal" -- you'll see the the search tool at the top right of the page. When questions are port specific and not cruise line specific, it is many times better to also ask the question in the ports of call forum because the audience is bigger. (But, if you are looking for people to share a tour, you want to do that in the roll call for that sailing).

There is no roll call yet for your September 8 cruise. You can either wait for someone else to start it or you can do the honors and start it.