William's Greatest Journey

Last week I was invited by Viking Cruises to spend the day on the Viking Sky one of their Ocean Cruise Ships. The Viking Sky is a relatively new ship only and is a sister ship to The Viking Sea and The Viking Star. I am so grateful to Viking for having me on board for the day, so I could wander around and be thoroughly nosey and now I am able to share this amazing ship with you!

I spent the day on board, starting with welcome drinks and then we had a tour of the ship finishing with lunch in The World Cafe. Firstly I just want to start by saying I loved the Viking Sky. It was such a beautiful ship, simply clean and crisp but so very elegant. I was really unsure when I knew I would be going on this visit what I would actually think of it. It’s such a small ship compared to the ones I would normally choose. I always think if I choose a larger ship there will be so much more for us to do when we are on board and the majority of the time this is true. But I was so pleasantly surprised when I stepped onboard the Viking Sky. The central atrium certainly isn’t small, I loved the shape and design of the Atrium which I believe they have taken from their river vessels. The way the whole ship is decorated in style, it makes it feel a lot larger than it actually is. It’s Scandi style at its best, Certainly not IKEA

During the tour of the ship, which gave us all a really good idea of what it would actually be like to spend a week or more on here. Firstly we were shown around the spa. I think this was probably one of my favourite places on the ship. It was so relaxing and calm, the perfect place to unwind after a long day of excursions.

There were lots of different things to try out but my favourite by far was the Snow Grotto. I had read about it before actually going on to the ship and I loved it when I saw it. Fresh snow is pumped in every morning and then you can just sit in there, for as long as you can. Best of all the entry to the spa is included in the price you pay for your cruise. You just pay for treatments if you want them. I thought this was a brilliant bonus. It was such a nice spa and most other cruises I have been on you need to pay for passes just to get access.

We then went on to look at the restaurants on the ship. There are seven places to eat on the ship and all of them are included in the price, as well as the 24 hour Room Service.

There are also 2 speciality restaurants, or should I say Alternative Restaurants, now speciality gives the idea that the food in these restaurants is special and better, it's not the case, all the restaurants are special and the food is great in all of them so on Viking they call them alternative dining restaurants, which you don’t have to pay extra for but you do need to make advance bookings. The first is Manfredi’s an Italian restaurant. It was quirky and decorated with Hollywood movie stars giving it some old school glamour. The second, slightly more formal is the Chef’s Table offering a tasting menu every evening to make it a more upmarket experience. House wine is also included with lunch and dinner, so you don’t need to pay any extra if you want a glass or two!

We ate lunch in the World Cafe, the ship’s buffet restaurant. The food was lovely. So much to choose from and all freshly prepared, freshly baked bread and salads and hot food if you wanted something more substantial. There was even a gelato station, that has different flavours every day, so you could try all of them if you wanted! Again all drinks were included at lunch and they came round to top the water up throughout the meal.

As you can probably tell I absolutely loved the Viking Sky. It was so calming and relaxed, clean and crisp. I can see that you would feel like you were on holiday right from the word go. Viking cruises can be slightly more expensive than some other mainstream cruise lines but when you look at what’s included then they start to seem like really good value and I would definitely be willing to pay the extra to get to spend my time on such a gorgeous ship.