I Waited 8 Years To Try My First Luxury Cruise – It Changed Everything

I’ve just disembarked a luxury five-star cruise, which has changed the way I think about cruising forever.

Even though I’ve been cruising since I was a child, on this cruise I saw and did things I’ve never experienced before and never expected to. 

I usually cruise with budget and mainstream cruise lines, normally in the cheapest inside or oceanview cabins to keep the cost as low as possible.

I’m very used to sharing cruise ships with thousands of other guests, so this experience on a small luxury cruise ship really was a shock. 

Seven years ago, I was able to visit a Viking ship very briefly, and ever since then, it has been at the top of my bucket list to get back on onboard for a real cruise.

I did wonder if I had built up the experience too much in my mind and that the reality would be disappointing, but in those seven years, I’d never found a cruise that I could afford anyway, so it always remained a pipe dream. It was an unanswered question. 

I just couldn’t let this dream go though, so what I decided to do was to head to Viking’s website and to sort every cruise for the next 3 years, in the entire world, by price, low to high.

The date didn’t matter, the destination didn’t matter, the only thing I cared about was the price. I just wanted to be onboard. 

When I saw that the cheapest cruise was a 7-night cruise over the 2025 New Year in the Mediterranean.

I was very happy. It was £1990 ($2663) per person, which is still double what I’d usually like to pay for a week-long cruise, but it was half the price of most of the cruises on sale, and I’ve never seen a Viking cruise that cheap before. 

I thought that this would be my opportunity and that I should grab it.

I booked it right there and then. I did wonder if maybe there was a reason that this cruise was so much cheaper than the others, maybe the itinerary wasn’t good, or this ship was worse than the rest. I didn’t know. 

I knew that Viking cruises included a lot, so I was optimistic that it would be good value even though it was the most expensive cruise I’d ever paid for. I had so many questions.

I didn’t know what day-to-day life would be like onboard. I wasn’t sure how the dining worked or the excursions.

I did wonder if I might be bored since luxury cruises really aren’t about the onboard entertainment, and I was a little bit nervous about whether there would be strict dress codes.

I did read one review which said in the middle of it when talking about the cabin “we made the crew repaint a wall”.

That confused me, I wasn’t sure if I would fit in with the other guests if they were the type of people to demand somebody repaints the walls mid cruise!

I didn’t know if I would feel uncomfortable and out of place; maybe everybody else would know that I didn’t really fit in. I hoped not. 

We flew to Rome to board the Viking Star, and the luxury treatment started before we even got onboard.

Viking posted our luggage tags and gave us stickers so that the Viking crew could find us in the airport.

Normally, you’ve got to find the crew, but they were there to find us, a small but important difference.

I was really looking forward to being looked after for the week, or so I hoped. As with every cruise, it didn’t go completely to plan, there are some cruise issues even luxury lines can’t avoid.

Our transfer was included and took around an hour to drive to the port of Civitavecchia. We had a guide with us on the bus, and the bus wasn’t full, which was a nice treat. This was a sign of things to come, but I didn’t know that yet.

Embarkation was really easy, there were no queues anywhere at all. I was so excited at this point, after seven years of waiting.

I really, really hoped that I hadn’t spent money on something that would be a disappointment.

I’d brought my family along too and had been telling them how amazing Viking cruises are for the last seven years (based on very little!) I really didn’t want to be wrong. 

As we boarded the ship, we walked pretty much right into the middle of the atrium area, and I was instantly blown away.

All of the decor, the cushions, the books, the lights, looked fantastic. There were crew members everywhere welcoming us onboard and directing us straight towards our safety muster station.

A muster drill is something that has to happen on every cruise by law, but something that doesn’t normally happen was that we were all handed a glass of prosecco – or maybe champagne – I can’t tell the difference, as we walked into the theatre.

It was a great start. I felt so fancy. 

After watching the video, I decided to head up to the buffet to find some cookies.

The staircases are pieces of the Bayeux tapestry which I loved looking at. It’s not easy to make a staircase feel luxurious, but Viking definitely did it.

It didn’t take us long to reach deck seven.

Viking Star is a relatively small cruise ship by modern standards, she holds 930 guests at full capacity and is as tall as 88 capybaras in a pile, that’s around 44 metres.

Comparing her to the biggest cruise ship in the world, Icon of the Seas, she’s roughly one-fifth of the size. Viking Star is similar in size to Titanic, who was huge for her day but would be considered small now. 

Heading into the buffet we were asked to wash our hands and to dry them on these tiny little cloths.

That felt very luxurious to me, I’m more used to a paper towel. The little extra touches like this were everywhere.

I’m not sure if the regular Viking guests overlook things like this because they’re used to them, but I was determined to take note of every little thing. 

The buffet itself was beautiful, and at the back, there was an area which was double height with a bar in the middle.

This area leads out the back pool and I wandered outside just to have a quick look around.

It felt as though there were exciting things to look at around every corner and all of the tables were set up for lunch, the infinity pool itself looked so tempting. 

I picked up a cookie from the buffet and we headed along the ship to the inside, outside pool.

I say inside-outside pool because it can be both; the roof completely retracts. I didn’t expect to see that on our cruise because I wasn’t expecting hot weather, but it didn’t matter anyway, I wasn’t looking at the roof.

I was looking at the towels neatly lined up on every sun lounger, I was looking at the little plants, and I was amazed that there were so few people around because on the big cruise lines I’m used to this would be full of 20 people or more in this pool. 

To the side was a pool grill and we decided to get some lunch from here. The food was absolutely fantastic, and calling it a poolside grill really doesn’t give it the credit it deserves.

If an of this was served in the main dining room I’d still be really impressed.

There was pasta, potato salad, vegetables as well as the pool grill menu of burgers and other things, including a vegetarian burger which I had.

The cookie was amazing too, and I knew right there and then that I’d be having one every day of the cruise. 

After we’d ordered our food and sat down, and it can’t have been more than 10 seconds later that a crew member arrived to pour us some water and to ask if we wanted any other drinks.

Viking do include beer, wine and soft drinks at meal times but when I booked the cruise there was an included drinks package offer on so I had that included too, I just got lucky with the timing there.

I don’t usually pay extra for drinks packages, but when they are included, I definitely will use them. I knew that having a drinks package would help me to get the value for the price that I paid.

During the meal, I went off to find the public toilets, and this isn’t something that I’d usually put in my cruise reviews, but I have to.

It was like a little trip to the spa. The toilet spa. Because there was so much space per person I almost never in the room at the same time as somebody else and they played bird song and water noises. So nice.

The toilets were always spotlessly clean, and I did end up using them more than I’d planned to on this cruise because my cabin toilet broke on three out of the seven days. 

I’ve been on loads of cruises where the toilets have broken, and I do find it funny that no matter how luxurious a cruise line is, they are still relying on the same toilet technology, which unfortunately does break sometimes.

Luckily for me there was a public toilet not far from my cabin.

I wasn’t expecting everything to be perfect on this cruise all the time even though it was luxurious, no cruise ever goes perfectly and there are so many things that can happen out of the cruise lines control like weather, especially in January. 

Wandering along the length of the deck we walked through what is called The Winter Garden, this is where they have afternoon tea and I knew I’d have to come back to try that out.

I went to a strange afternoon tea last year on a Carnival cruise, and I do usually try it if it’s an option, so I had lots of experience to compare it to.

Comparing Carnival to Viking is like comparing spaghetti to a lawn mower; they are just so different, and they’re not trying to do the same thing. The only similarity really is the ocean. 

The Winter Garden room itself is very grand, but I was equally impressed with these areas along the sides.

I think they are beautiful and I love the little touches like the cushions and the books. These screens too between the sofas, I love them. 

Books were such a big theme of this cruise, and they were everywhere. There was so much variety too, and loads that were easy just to flick through while having a drink. 

On the otherside of the Winter Garden, I found a space called the Explorers’ Lounge.

It is a beautiful and massive venue which is split over two levels. On the bottom, there’s lots of seating, a bar and an area called Mamsens, which served food throughout the day.

On the top there are loads more comfortable places to sit, desks and ship models. And hundreds and hundreds of books, of course.

On most cruise lines things like this would be stuck down, partly to stop them falling over in bad weather but also to stop people from taking them, they weren’t on here though, clearly we were trusted with the items.

Plus they do have CCTV everywhere as most modern cruise ships do, it would be very stupid for anybody to try and steal anything on a cruise.

They do have little jails called brigs onboard, though, in case anybody is naughty and needs a time out. 

Find out more about that here:

Cruise Ship Jails and Security (A Security Officer Reveals All) – What Are They Like?

The carpets deserve a special mention too because they looked amazing. 

Everytime I walked into the lounge I’d notice a cabin door to the side and wonder what it was like in there. I had a look at the Vikings website when I got home and my goodness me, it looks like the cabin has its own sauna?

That’s amazing. I had the cheapest room on the ship of course, right near the front, and that was fine by me.

The main downside of that for me was that having the cheapest cabin meant that we were last to be able to book excursions and speciality restaurants. But I was just happy to be onboard. 

In the evening, they’d have a trivia in the Explorers’ Lounge, usually at 8pm, and it was always great fun.

They’d have live music too. It was mostly relaxing background music, but that was exactly what I wanted, my main aim of this cruise was to relax.

On some of the big big cruise ships you might have 5 trivia quizzes a day, sometimes more. On Viking it was usually just the one a day. 

As well as relaxing, my aim was to eat waffles. I’d heard that they had the most amazing waffles in Mamsens, but I decided to save that for a special treat. 

Our cruise was seven days long, and we had one sea day. In every port, we had an included excursion, and we actually had two overnight stays.

Our second overnight stay was our disembarkation port and that meant that some people disembarked at 2 am, I’ve never seen that before because you usually dock around 6 or 7 in the morning and get off after that.

The people leaving at 2 am were flying back to the West Coast of the US, and they did decide to do that; as far as I know, they weren’t just assigned that.

I don’t think I’d bother going to bed if I had to disembark at 2 am, luckily for me I didn’t have to do that and disembarkation day was still very far away at this point, I’ve just scratched the surface.

By this point, I was really starting to wonder where everybody was and who would be on this cruise.

I knew that everybody was onboard because it was nearly time to set sail, but the ship still felt so empty. I could have had 10 seats in the lounge if I wanted to, and that is just not something I’m used to.

Generally speaking, the cheaper the cruise line, the less space you have per person. I’m very used to not being able to find a seat in a bar or lounge if there’s some popular entertainment on, like a live band.

I’m used to needing to arrive early to the theatre or plan to be in a bar before trivia, but that couldn’t have been further from the reality here. 

Many people had told me I would find this cruise boring, and some reviews said the same.

I don’t think I’ve ever really been bored, though. I’m quite happy to entertain myself, and Viking has free WiFi, so I could go on my app, The Cruise Globe, until my heart was content.

I was always checking our ship’s live position and where we’d been. I loved seeing how we deviated from the planned route because we did have a port change.

That said, though I was looking forward to seeing what entertainment would be onboard, I wasn’t expecting a lot, so my bar was quite low. That’s the British, not the American, quite. 

Viking don’t have any set dining times, formal nights or table sharing and all the restaurants are included in the cruise fare. Even those which would be considered a speciality restaurant on any other cruise line.

That meant that I had a real shot of coming off this cruise with a £0 onboard spend, which I was aiming for after spending as much as I did on the original cruise fare.

You do have to book the speciality restaurants on Viking cruises, but you can show up to the main dining room whenever you want.

When I went to the buffet, I found the reservations booking desk for the speciality restaurants. 

I booked a meal at Manfredi’s, an Italian restaurant, and at Chef’s Table, a fixed-menu restaurant.

There wasn’t a lot of choice when it came to days or times, but I was able to get a booking for everything that I wanted, and I was happy that I hadn’t missed out because of my cheapest cabin.

The menu for the Chef’s Table rotates, and the day that I booked was the British one, interestingly enough. It promised me a Yorkshire Pudding, so I was looking forward to that. 

The timing of the reservations meant I’d have to cancel a couple of my included excursions, but I decided to do it. I’m not normally an excursion-every day kind of person anyway, and speciality restaurants are a rare treat. 

We decided we’d just head to the buffet for a bite to eat on our first day, but even that felt like a treat.

During meal times, there were fizzy drinks on the side , and I’d usually just pick up one as I went to the table.

I think you’re meant to sit down and maybe have the crew bring these over with a glass and some ice, but I didn’t want either of those, and the crew didn’t mind me picking up a can myself, so I always did.

Maybe this is one of those things that shows that I’m not used to the luxury lines, but I don’t mind drinking from the can at all. I was just very happy to have anything included, and it saves on washing up a glass. 

The quality of the food was really, really good, it was hot, fresh, and there was lots of variety.

There wasn’t a massive quantity of options compared to the bigger ships just given how big the buffet actually is, but we certainly were never stuck on finding something that we wanted to eat.

I went back for seconds of a couple of things which isn’t something I normally do, this pasta was so good I couldn’t resist. 

Viking do include room service too! I knew I’d have to try that one, most cruise lines charge for it, so I don’t do it. “It’s included so why not” was very much a theme of this cruise. 

My favourite part was the dessert section, and I was able to create the most amazing concoctions.

Marshmallows, ice cream, cookies, cakes, you name it. It was a dream come true, and I could put everything together on my plate. The marshmallows were from a chocolate fountain, but I prefer them just as they are. 

Viking has 12 ocean ships, and they all hold around 930 people, meaning that at any one time there are over 11,000 people on cruises like this.

That was hard to get my head around, but for once, I didn’t have to be envious because I was there. 

At 9 pm, it was time for the daily theatre show. Viking often have local acts that come onboard to perform, and we had Opera on this first night and also some Spanish dancers later in the cruise.

They were great. Opera is not really my kind of thing, but I could still tell that they were really good at what they were doing.

I’m more into the singing, dancing showcast kind of shows, and I was optimistic that we would see some of those.

The thing that really blew my mind about the theatre was the blankets.

I remember the blankets from my brief time onboard in 2018, and ever since, I’ve been sad when I’ve been in a theatre without a blanket.

Theatres do tend to be quite cold, and I was usually wearing a dress.

Before heading to bed, I decided to go to the atrium for a bedtime cup of tea.

Tea and coffee like this are included for everybody all of the time. It was peaceful, I had my own little teapot and a string duo was playing. It really was such a pinch-me moment.

I found my favourite chair on the whole ship in the book corner and nearly fell asleep in it.

Luckily for me, I only had a couple of decks to go back to my cabin, and I knew I had one last task of the day to complete: I needed to order my breakfast room service.

I ordered an omelette, some fruit and another tea. It came around 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, which did make me jump.

But I thought I could cope with my included food turning up before I got out of bed. That’s not a terrible problem!

Speaking of terrible problems to have, I did find some complaints online that really made me laugh.

Someone gave the cruise one star because the Italian restaurant’s spices weren’t Italian. How anybody knows that is beyond me, but I was looking forward to trying it. 

Our first port stop was Livorno, and we had an included excursion to Pisa. I was so excited to see the leaning tower.

The trip included the bus ride, which took around 40 minutes each way, a walking tour and some free time. 

I’m not a huge fan of cruise line excursions just because I don’t really enjoy being in such a big group following a flag or a paddle, but it was a really easy way to see the place and to learn about its history.

The leaning tower of Pisa is over 800 years old, if you can believe it. It still hasn’t fallen over, which is good.

We were so incredibly lucky with the weather and we had the most glorious blue skies, it was around 10c which is 50f.

We listened to our guide using what is called a Vox Box. These charge up in the cabin when you aren’t using them. 

I remember using one of these on a tour before, where the guide went through a door that closed behind her.

Half of my group was stuck behind the door, we could hear her saying “where are they?” but Vox boxes aren’t two-way, so we just had to wait until she came back for us! 

It definitely felt like most people on this cruise were doing excursions every day.

I only did the included ones, no surprise there, but there were lots of longer ones you can pay for. Some people did multiple excursions in a day.

What that meant was that the ship was very quiet when we were in port.

I decided to make the most out of that and to head to the main swimming pool. We had it completely to ourselves and this big bubbly warm hot tub was my favourite part.

When I was onboard for a few days back in 2018, I did use this pool, but only for the Blue Nose Ceremony. You have to jump into a pool of ice as you enter the Arctic Circle. That was fun, but the hot option was much better. 

I was curious if it would get busy on the sea day, and I really wanted to find out where all the other guests were from. They sounded mostly American to me at this point, but I have been wrong about that before. 

This pool area was used a lot in the evenings, and we had a barbecue here, which was a really nice change.

The atmosphere was so fun, and it was one of the few times on the cruise I saw lots of the other guests together at one time.

We were sailing over New Year’s Eve on this cruise, of course, so I assumed there would be some kind of party. 

As the sun was shining, we headed up to the top deck, where I found a few games like bowling.

There were loads of lovely areas around where you could sit, and even the smoking area was gorgeous.

That isn’t something I’ve ever said before, usually the smoking area feels like an after thought and its just a few tables and chairs, here though it felt like a welcoming place to be. 

There were so many places onboard like this, even the entrance to the main dining room was beautifully designed.

We headed there for dinner and were always seated straight away. At the entrance to the main dining room was the dress code. I had seen it mentioned before, but seeing it here too and having it confirmed was great.

The dining room opened at 6 pm, so I’d usually be there not long after that. I do like to eat early if I can. 

I was a little bit nervous pre-cruise that the dress codes would be strict, but I found them far more relaxed than on the mainstream cruise lines like Cunard or P&O.

In the main dining room, you have to wear either some sort of shirt with a collar, which could be just a polo shirt, or a dress or a blouse.

You’re not meant to wear jeans in the main dining room, but I did see a few people doing it, as long as they aren’t all holey or ripped, I don’t think anybody minded.

I love it, I don’t mind dressing up, but I really don’t want to be told what I have to wear. The other guests seemed so friendly and relaxed, too, which really put me at ease. I didn’t feel out of place at all. 

I would find out later that we were some of only 43 British people onboard though, so I was in the majority.

There was one country from which 817 of the guests were from. I will let you guess where that was… 

The service was good, the food was lovely, and we were all very happy.

Allergen markings were clearly marked on the menu, and they always had one vegetarian main.

I will say that was not very inspiring though, I don’t know many people who want to eat just a cabbage for dinner but I did try it and it was a good cabbage I guess.

Having said that, though, I’m convinced that you could ask for almost anything that you wanted, you could probably make up a food that doesn’t even exist, and they would try to find it for you.

That is a massive perk of a luxury line. They have far more time to customise things. With cruises like this, it is always a worry that it might be “all mouth and no trousers”, but I’m happy to say that it was the right ratio of mouth to trousers.

If that has confused some of you, that’s because it’s my Britishism of the week. If something is all mouth and no trousers, it means it boasts a lot but doesn’t actually live up to it or follow through. 

The waiters didn’t take long to remember our orders at all when it came to drinks, and some would remember our names, which blows my mind.

I’m not good at names at the best of times, let alone having new names to remember every single week. I tried lots of drinks on this cruise, and it didn’t take me long to find my favourites. 

They also bar service in the theatre and they had tables in there too. On the sides are two smaller areas which as basically little cinemas. I didn’t see anything in here during my cruise but it’s a nice idea.

There was a showcast show in the theatre next, and I was really impressed by the cast members.

They had amazing voices, and they kept me entertained the entire time by changing costumes and dancing around. I went back to their shows every day, and each show had a theme like ABBA or musicals.

It was here that our cruise director told us that there were 817 Americans onboard. Let me know if you got that one right.

There were only 10 Australians on onboard, 19 from Canada, and 43 from the UK.

Our next day was a sea day, and I made a plan that included waffles and afternoon tea. I slept very well thinking about that, that’s a great plan. 

In Mamsens, they serve lunch from 11:30 am to 2 pm. It’s famous for the waffles, and they did not disappoint.

I had mine with everything on it, including Norwegian brown cheese, which my friend David first introduced me to when we took a cruise to Norway to see the Northern Lights.

He’s a guest speaker onboard who lives in Norway and runs his own YouTube channel. The cheese kind of tastes like fudge, it wasn’t bad but I wouldn’t buy it for myself. 

Check out David’s YouTube Channel here:

Life In Norway – David Nikel

It wasn’t the waffles that most impressed me about Mamsens, though, it was the berries.

Usually, on a budget cruise line, you will find it hard to find berries just because they are hard to transport and store.

I tend to rate cruise lines based on the access to fresh fruit. On the most budget cruises, I sometimes can’t find a banana, but on the most luxurious, just look at these.

Viking cruises handed out incredible amounts of berries. It made me very happy. 

There were talks in the theatre on the sea day too, and a behind-the-scenes presentation about the ship’s operation.

Aside from that, on the schedule are things like shopping and music. It certainly is a relaxing cruise schedule; that’s the whole point. 

There aren’t any casinos on Viking ships at all, so there weren’t any casino events, which usually happen on sea days.

I really didn’t miss the casino, and I loved not being sold to. I didn’t realise how much I’ve got used to it on other cruise lines until it wasn’t there on this cruise.

There aren’t photographers trying to sell you photos, or anyone trying to scan your eyeballs to make artwork; that does happen on a lot of cruise lines. 

It was New Year’s Eve, and I started to see the decorations being added to the atrium and the inside pool.

We could see on the schedule, which was delivered to our room each day and was also in the app, that a party would be happening here later. I was looking forward to that, but first I wanted to try afternoon tea.

We arrived on time, and there were plenty of seats available, which was nice.

On my most recent Cunard cruises (they are known for their afternoon teas), the events were so popular that you always had to be early to get a seat. 

I had a peppermint tea, and we worked our way through the little sandwiches and cakes, all of which were good, but my favourite part was the scone, which I of course made into a scone sandwich.

This is one of the things that I say that shocks people the most on the internet: I put the cream on one side and jam on the other and make a sandwich.

It’s the perfect way to eat a scone, and I’ll never stop, the same way I’ll never stop dipping my pizza in ketchup, it’s just better that way. The pizza in the buffet here was great too. 

I don’t think I could mention anything that needed to be improved about this afternoon tea; it was perfect, apart from maybe swapping out the fruit scone for a plain one, because raisins are disgusting.

If I could improve one thing onboard the ship more generally, though, I would make the symbols on the bathroom doors more distinct.

I don’t know what it is about them, but I always had a little bit of doubt every time I went through the door. I really am clutching at straws for things to improve there, though. 

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Chef’s Table. It has a fixed menu, and each course is paired with wine.

As I had the drinks package, I decided to go for the premium wines. I don’t know why; I’ve never liked a wine in my life, but hey, if it’s included, I’ll try. It’s all good fun. 

The meal confirmed to me that I still don’t like wine, but the food was great, and we had a British menu, which was a scotch egg, fish and chips, roast dinner, and something called a “whim wham”.

That certainly isn’t a dessert I’ve heard of before!

We visited the Italian speciality restaurant too, which was good.

I feel like they gave me what a portion of lasagna is supposed to be, which is good to see because I definitely eat a lot more than this when I’m at home. asa

The atmosphere around the ship was so exciting. I started to see tables appearing with hats and headbands to celebrate the New Year.

On some cruise lines, I’m sure they’d be selling these cardboard hats for $10 (probably plus gratuity and tax), but on Viking, there was nothing else to pay.

Viking cruises include gratuities too if you’re booking from the UK, and entrance to the spa, which was something I very much had on my to-do list for tomorrow. 

Up by the inside pool, the Viking band were playing, and the crew brought out the most amazing huge ice sculpture.

It was a very popular place to be, and this was the only time on the entire cruise where it was too busy for us to get waiter service.

We could just walk over and pick up a few cans, though, so it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe if Viking are watching this, though, you need more waiters at your New Year’s Eve party; everybody likes to go.

The party went on until around 11 pm, and then we moved to the atrium for the balloon drop.

I heard from a friend on another cruise that on their cruise, they had to stop their party early because people were fighting, and that couldn’t have been further from our experience.

We had a string duo playing, and I went straight to bed after it hit midnight. It was so relaxing and such a great way to start the new year. 

I did have a bit of a crisis at this point because I worried that my life and career might have peaked, starting a year like this!

How do you keep up that? I don’t think it’s possible, but I just tried to enjoy it while I was there.

I hadn’t seen yet how much this whole thing would all cost me, so maybe that would change my mind.

When I woke up and wandered through the inside pool, I did not expect to see what I found.

I was actually on my way to the buffet but came across this incredible sea day brunch.

They had a million different foods and even a doughnut tree. I had to take one of those, of course, it’s not every day you see a doughnut tree!

It’s also not every day that I go to the spa either.

Most cruise lines charge you to go into what they call the thermal area and all the time that you are in there they try to upsell you on other procedures and products.

I do enjoy the thermal area though, especially if it’s included.

We got dressed in our robes, which were in the cabin, and put on the slippers before walking to the spa.

Here we found changing rooms, a plunge pool, a sauna, an ice room, which I very briefly went in and a massive bubblely hot jacuzzi.

It was such a lovely treat to spend time here, difficult to film, of course, because I don’t want to film other people, but you’ll get a pretty good idea of what it looked like from here. 

The spa was the perfect place to warm up after a chilly excursion, and our tour in Sète, France, definitely was that.

The included tour was a walking tour, and our guide would play a penny whistle, and we’d follow. I did feel a bit like a rat being led by the pied piper, but he was interesting and enthusiastic.

Have a closer look at this amazing Viking cruise here:

The fact that we didn’t have to fly very far definitely helped to keep this cruise as cheap as possible. 

We didn’t go on excursions in every port, and in Villefranche, we decided to explore on our own. It is such a beautiful place and hard to believe it’s only a couple of hours away from the UK by plane. 

The advertised price that I found when I sorted price low to high was £1990 per person, that’s based on two sharing the cheapest cabin, we both paid that price.

Given that it included flights, transfers, wifi, my drinks package, all speciality meals and spa access, I think that’s incredible value. 

It’s easy to spend that price on a more mainstream cruise line, and I didn’t spend an extra penny the entire cruise.

I hope it isn’t another seven years before I step on a Viking ship again because this cruise really has blown my mind.

There is one cruise that I don’t plan to step on in the next seven years though. Watch this video next to find out why I probably won’t do this ever again, but never say never….

Before You Go

Have a look at the “unusual” cheapest cabin on a luxury river cruise ship I stayed in here:

I Booked The Cheapest Cabin on a LUXURY River Cruise Ship

Have a look at what it is like to sail on a luxury superyacht here:

I Spent 7 Days in a Luxury Suite on a SUPER YACHT (Full Review)