Viking Ocean Cruises - Viking Mars Reviews

It was a great trip! The Viking Mars is a beautiful ship with exquisite design and artistry displayed throughout the ship. The staff were professional while at the same time displaying a playfulness that was engaging. Food was diverse and plentiful. Excursions were well done and efficient but, sadly, the excursion to Gaspe was cancelled due to inclement weather. There was much to do on board the ship as well as off. A beautiful blend if busy and relaxation.

excellent trip --- ship was terrific -- Carol Brocksmith from Avoya planned everything perfectly --- She is a wonderful agent and very easy and pleasant to work with

We found the Viking Mars (which, as I understand, is the same as all their ships) to be comfortable, spacious, and well appointed. With the Thermal Spa, Wintergarden and ample places to hang out we enjoyed sea days in a way we never did before. The staff was friendly, the service was very good. The the ship quickly becomes your floating home away from home. This is not a cruise if you are into lively music and blockbuster shows. The entertainers we did have were quite adequate, mostly low key. The exception was the duo in the nightclub bar (Torshavn) - they were as good as we've seen at any high-end big hotel nightclub in New York or San Francisco. If we have any criticism, it's that Viking included shore excursions need to be better sorted by mobility. There are always multiple transports for these, but they put the very-low-mobility guests on the tsame tour with average-or-above capabilities. That caused a lot of tension (we witnessed a mobile octogenarian yelling at a limited mobility sixty-something because she kept telling the guide to go slower and slower while we were walking in blistering sun). Also, loading of all the tours is rather cramped and chaotic - here they could learn something from HAL, who does a much better job of managing the loading of excursion transport. We didn't know what to expect of an adults-only, smaller-ship, all-inclusive cruise line for a long voyage. It's quite a bit more expensive. In the end we found it to exceed our expectations, and to be worth what we paid. We have already booked another 30+ day adventure with Viking!

What a fantastic Viking cruise! From India all the way to Athens, Greece we had an amazing experience. So much to see and such wonderful excursions. We absolutely loved everything about this cruise!

This cruise was my worst one for the following reasons 1. Too much time on the ship 2. Entertainment was very bad and no games such as bingo 3. No classes such as Zumba or aqua classes 4- excursions were short and really bad 5 food quality were sub optimal 6. Time spend in each country/port were too short. We didn’t see anything in Malaysia and Singapore

Weather was terrible

We booked this trip two years prior to the ship being completed and christened anticipating our 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Then, of course, COVID came. The trip was cancelled and rightfully so. We booked again for the following year; COVID continued, the trip was again rightfully cancelled, and we, of course booked it again, this time on the soon to be christened Mars and doing the itinerary in reverse. Was it the five years of anticipation? Was it the fact that time marches on and we are now five years more senior? Was it COVID grumpiness? Or was it just too much Viking Ocean hype? The ship was nice, clean, very Scandinavian in decor. The crew with direct passenger contact was efficient, kind, personable and generally quite delightful. The food was satisfactory, no better or no worse than that offered by the other cruise lines we have sailed with. The are, however, two items that I need to share. First, a friend traveling with us ordered a steak “medium” on two separate occasions and returned “rare” steaks to the kitchen. Second, our experience with the chef’s table was terminated quickly in spite of the waitress’s urgings for us to stay. The menu items that night included the dishes we love best from our local takeout Asian restaurant. Coming from a specialty restaurant, this was disappointing. One of the ports we were to visit was besieged by rough seas, and, rightly so, the Captain explained we simply couldn’t dock. And we continued on. My understanding is that those who paid for excursions in that port were reimbursed. The next couple of nights the waters were rough, but endurable. There were lots of classes, lectures, presentations and an opportunity to view the latest Christening of an ocean ship of the big screen with free champagne and finger sandwiches and canapés. The guitarist, generally entertaining twice a day, was simply outstanding. High point #1. Evening entertainment was fair except for singer/actor/dancer Phillip Browne who put on two fabulous shows, pianist Sofia who is wonderfully talented and the exceptional “Classical Duo.” Beyond that, the entertainment was just okay. Excursions generally did not allow for “free time” to shop, grab a local delicacies

Good help from Avoya consultant David Locke