Viking Star is coming to the UK

[boxman52]

4 hours ago, Taunton Trotter said:

Home yesterday after our first Viking experience.  

The great stuff - beautiful ship, really good standard and plenty of cabin space even in the cheapest option.  Staff were fantastic and, because it was so quiet, had learned names and preferences by a couple of days.  Nothing was too much trouble.  Food was awesome.  Portsmouth port was a good experience, parking easy to find and use.

 

The negatives - it was really really quiet onboard to the point it was a bit spooky at times but that’s not Viking’s fault.  Having no freedom at shore stops was really frustrating (though I see it up to a point) as sitting on board for hours watching a port you wanted go and explore was a bit meh.   The standard of included tours was patchy, ditto the guides.  We had complete freedom to explore Tresco for 4 hours but next day in Falmouth I got rebuked for trying to buy a takeaway coffee during the one 30 minute stop … yet I could use the non too clean loos.

Given how long we were onboard there was a distinct lack of onboard activity.  Couple of 45 minute talks and something in the theatre a few times (at 8pm which is prime dinner time).  Most things there were were well attended so there was a definite need.  Apparently this is a Viking *thing* that we should just relax …maybe when you can fill your port days but otherwise it leaves a lot of sitting reading or knitting time.

Overall - nice relaxing week, loved the ship but we’ll probably not sail with them again unless they liven it up a bit especially on sea days.

Well if you think it was quiet last week I'm on board now and I've been told there are 200 less passengers.

The Explores Lounge has 6 people in currently

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, mancunian said:

Very envious of your interest in the Silver Spirit cruise in September.  We have three cruises booked on her next year.  I guess we like Silversea most with Oceania second and HAL and Viking joint third.

 

The thing we liked most on Star was the ship itself.  We liked the musicians  around the ship but hated the music in the theatre.   It is a wonder we have eardrums left.

 

I guess we did not like the food as much as on Silversea and Oceania, and indeed HAL.  Having said that we liked Manfredis and Mamsens very much.  We thought that for us there was really too little vegetables with main courses and having simple tastes had trouble making choices on occasion.

 

There we have it.  Horses for courses and all that.  I do not say we would never go with them again just that it is not as likely as the others.

 

We were desperate to go on a cruise and did not mind the restrictions too much.   We used the main terminal both arriving and leaving.. We did enjoy the rest

 

 

It's a little late now, but in the MDR, when you want more veggies, ask the waiter for a bowl/plate of steamed veg. We requested one many nights.

[PeabodyMa]

Who is the Cruise Director on Viking Star?

[photopro2]

The cruise director is currently Graham Seymour. Though new to Viking British-based Graham has a long history in the industry. My feeling was that he still needed a little time to settle into the Viking "style" but I am sure that he is professional enough to quickly do that.  

 

Strangely, as I write, he is on The Star with no passengers to entertain! At the end of the series of British Isles cruises most of the entertainment staff left the ship for breaks at home. However I understand that Graham stayed on board as the ship sailed to Denmark, maybe to later transfer to one of the currently active ships, I did not think to ask. 

[Staffordshirecruiser]

Hi Mancunian, looks like we are going to book the Sep 15 sailing on Spirit which is now a round UK cruise.  Reassured that you liked Star, so presume we will like Spirit.  

[mancunian]

Very envious.   We have sailed with Silversea before though not on Spirit though we have got three cruises on her next year, in February, April and July.  That sounds over the top but one was booked three years ago, one is a cancelled cruise from this summer and one was pure greed on my part when we saw the one in April on special offer.  We really liked Silversea on previous trips and Spirit looks even better.  Look for Visit with us on You Tube.  They have seven videos about her.  They are enough to sell her to me as they look even nicer than Silver Shadow.   What I particularly like about her is the outdoor sitting areas with proper seating to have coffee or drinks.

 

The cabins (suites) on Silversea are lovely and despite wondering what we were going to do with a butler we really enjoyed ours.  Do have your dinner in your cabin one evening.  It is not like room service.  Coffee table converts to proper dining table, white tablecloth and your Butler brings the courses at times specified by you.  It is from the dining room and their menu.

 

 The food is also very good.  I personally prefer the food to that on Viking, though that too is good.  Enjoy.

[Staffordshirecruiser]

16 hours ago, mancunian said:

Very envious.   We have sailed with Silversea before though not on Spirit though we have got three cruises on her next year, in February, April and July.  That sounds over the top but one was booked three years ago, one is a cancelled cruise from this summer and one was pure greed on my part when we saw the one in April on special offer.  We really liked Silversea on previous trips and Spirit looks even better.  Look for Visit with us on You Tube.  They have seven videos about her.  They are enough to sell her to me as they look even nicer than Silver Shadow.   What I particularly like about her is the outdoor sitting areas with proper seating to have coffee or drinks.

 

The cabins (suites) on Silversea are lovely and despite wondering what we were going to do with a butler we really enjoyed ours.  Do have your dinner in your cabin one evening.  It is not like room service.  Coffee table converts to proper dining table, white tablecloth and your Butler brings the courses at times specified by you.  It is from the dining room and their menu.

 

 The food is also very good.  I personally prefer the food to that on Viking, though that too is good.  Enjoy.

Hi Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touch.

[mancunian]

Hi Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touch.

 

 

    That sounds good to me.  I hadn't really realised there was such a thing.    Not sure where you found it or what details we need.   How can we get in touch.   I can put a phone number (rarely  used top up phone) on here.  What do  you think.

 

If you decide to watch Visit with Us videos there are seven of them. You might not want to watch them all but I recommend you watch the one on the veranda stateroom, the ship tour and the food one.   I think their videos are excellent - he is a very good cameraman and they very rarely show themselves.   Very professional.

 

Angela

[Staffordshirecruiser]

21 minutes ago, mancunian said:

Hi Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touch.

 

 

    That sounds good to me.  I hadn't really realised there was such a thing.    Not sure where you found it or what details we need.   How can we get in touch.   I can put a phone number (rarely  used top up phone) on here.  What do  you think.

 

If you decide to watch Visit with Us videos there are seven of them. You might not want to watch them all but I recommend you watch the one on the veranda stateroom, the ship tour and the food one.   I think their videos are excellent - he is a very good cameraman and they very rarely show themselves.   Very professional.

 

Angela

Hi Angela, yes please, it would be lovely to speak to you in person as we did not get the chance to speak on Star.  
 

[Jazmyn49]

Different stroke department here.  We went on one Silversea cruise because of the itinerary and were very, very disappointed.  It was stuffy, the staff standoffish and sometimes downright unhelpful, the passengers not friendly to newbies.  The lectures were far below Viking in quality with most of them delivered in heavy accents, difficult to understand.  The cabins were smaller, the food repetitive, and we had a difficult time disputing 2 hefty charges on our final bill before we disembarked.  We ran back to Viking as fast as we could.  The things we dislike about Viking are:  Zero, nada, zilch.

[Staffordshirecruiser]

26 minutes ago, Jazmyn49 said:

Different stroke department here.  We went on one Silversea cruise because of the itinerary and were very, very disappointed.  It was stuffy, the staff standoffish and sometimes downright unhelpful, the passengers not friendly to newbies.  The lectures were far below Viking in quality with most of them delivered in heavy accents, difficult to understand.  The cabins were smaller, the food repetitive, and we had a difficult time disputing 2 hefty charges on our final bill before we disembarked.  We ran back to Viking as fast as we could.  The things we dislike about Viking are:  Zero, nada, zilch.

Hi Jazmyn, that must have been really surprising and disappointing for you.  Forewarned is forearmed as they say, so thanks for the heads up.  I will report back in due course.  Viking was faultless as you say, the advantage of the Silversea one next week is that you are allowed off at ports independently and there are more port days and coverage of Scotland.

[Not a Georgia Peach]

Viking is not always faultless!  I don't think that anyone or anything ever is faultless.

[Tom.in.nc]

1 hour ago, Not a Georgia Peach said:

Viking is not always faultless!  I don't think that anyone or anything ever is faultless.

How about “lt is very difficult to find fault with Viking!”?

Always, never, and not ever don’t exist in the real world.
 

Tom

[Staffordshirecruiser]

12 minutes ago, Tom.in.nc said:

How about “lt is very difficult to find fault with Viking!”?

Always, never, and not ever don’t exist in the real world.
 

Tom

Sound good to me Tom 👍

[Not a Georgia Peach]

Unfortunately we didn't find it very difficult to find fault with Viking.

[mancunian]

Staffordshire

i Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touc

 

07432656298

[mancunian]

Jazmyn99

 

Different stroke department here.  We went on one Silversea cruise because of the itinerary and were very, very disappointed.  It was stuffy, the staff standoffish and sometimes downright unhelpful, the passengers not friendly to newbies.  The lectures were far below Viking in quality with most of them delivered in heavy accents, difficult to understand.  The cabins were smaller, the food repetitive, and we had a difficult time disputing 2 hefty charges on our final bill before we disembarked.  We ran back to Viking as fast as we could.  The things we dislike about Viking are:  Zero, nada, zilch.

I guess our experience was very different to ours.   The passengers on ours were very friendly, and apart from one waiter who was having a bad day the staff were great.

 

I guess you were in a standard veranda cabin on SS and a penthouse on Viking, because the veranda cabins on SS are bigger - much wider than the verandas on Viking.   They are longer too, because you have your dressing room, wardrobe area included in that.

[Staffordshirecruiser]

44 minutes ago, mancunian said:

Staffordshire

i Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touc

 

07432656298

Hi, written down you no, so fine to delete.  

[Heidi13]

If you are discussing booking Silversea cruises, may I suggest taking your discussion to the Silverseas Board, since this on is for Viking Ocean.

[Staffordshirecruiser]

On 9/13/2021 at 9:10 AM, mancunian said:

Staffordshire

i Mancunian, as you have helped us decide to go on a Silversea cruise, it may be we could give your details so we both get a discount.  No worries if that isn’t your kind of thing, and we are not 100 per cent sure yet because of an insurance issue, but if you would be interested let me know and we can try and get in touc

 

07432656298

 

[Staffordshirecruiser]

Just now, Staffordshirecruiser said:

 

Hi Mancunian, just tried the number, but it wasn’t you at the other end! No problem, I am sure we will be on a cruise together soon