Aside from the paradisical Maldives, the Caribbean islands are my favourite place in the world. Palm fringed, powdery beaches. Great coral reefs. Sun. Laid-back natives with a party in their soul. European culture spiced with Africa and India. History, with pirates. All with a huge island-to-island variety in a very small space. It's always been too difficult to pick just one, so a cruise ship offers a practical solution: a floating hotel that gets you to a new destination every morning. I've always seen too much time on the ship, and particularly whole days at sea, as a frustrating waste of time. The ship was simply a means to an end.
I was cautiously optimistic that Viking would provide more on-board enjoyment than I'd previously experienced. Taking a close look at the marketing for their ocean cruises, I figured we were in the sweet spot of their target market. But primarily, it was just a way to get my half-Danish, sun-averse husband to the tropics for Christmas.
He's happy, and I'm ecstatic. The Viking Star far exceeded my expectations within the first day. Here are six reasons why.
ONE Small really is beautiful
With seven cruises behind me, I have a fair base for comparison. But all of my experience has been on giants ... Princess or P&O. They're pleasant. But in a side-by-side contest, they're a cheerful mid-market chain beside a Michelin starred restaurant. An industrial Marriott against a bijoux boutique hotel. They all have their merits, but I'm delighting in the relaxed elegance that comes with a smaller ship. You find your bearings much faster. The spaces are more intimate. You feel the swell of the waves more and feel the salt spray on the promenade deck. (This might be a drawback for some, but I adore sailing and have always hated the way large ships disconnect you from the whole experience of being at sea.) You start recognising and bump into other guests more frequently, making the whole experience more convivial.
TWO Viking in more than name
I knew that a Scandinavian ship would make my Copenhagen-bred husband feel at home, but I didn't appreciate just how far the company would weave its roots throughout the experience. Every aspect of the design is unmistakably "Scandi". (Of that, see below.) There's a small but well-curated little museum on Viking culture in "the living room", while the adventures of Thor Heyerdahl dominate the Explorers' lounge. Giant reproductions of the Bayeux tapestry decorate the stairwells, foot-high Lewis chessmen guard the library. The spa has all the proper sauna, steam and cool-down facilities (a snow room!) so beloved in the Nordics, and a staff to whom the husband could speak Danish. The on-board draught beer is Carlsberg, brewed in Copenhagen (I watched him melt into a little puddle of satisfied bliss at that discovery), and they have three different kinds of aquavit ... Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Several restaurants carry Scandinavian specialities, including pickled herring and the open-faced sandwiches so beloved of the Danes. My "book Scandi" gamble has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations ... the husband is in his spiritual home.
THREE Exquisite modern design
The Viking influence comes to its artistic apogee in the design of the ship's interiors. I'm not a natural fan of Scandinavian design; I've found too many modern interiors in this style to be overly austere and uncomfortable. Whoever designed this ship took all the best of the style ... the clean lines, blonde woods, pale colours, references to the natural world ... and added lashings of comfort, accents of bright colour and punctuations of surprise. A soundtrack of Northern woodland birds chirps merrily in the public toilets, while cheeky trolls peek from behind the ash tree trunks that decorate the elevator shafts. The sense of pattern is exquisite, from blue-and-white macrame window coverings that channel the Norn's (Viking fates) threads of life and death, to runes cut into dramatic wooden screens to designs in the pool tiles reminiscent of Norwegian sweaters. They've subdivided the ship into a variety of intimate areas; even the main dining room is laid out to evoke the feel of a small restaurant rather than the usual cavernous cruise ship dining room. The spa is as gorgeous as the best land-based retreats, a symphony of cream and slate grey with flooring mimicking pale wood and artificial fireplaces flickering above the pool. There may be palm trees and blazing sun outside, but in here in feels like you're deep in a Norwegian fjord.
FOUR Unapologetically cultured
Viking marketing makes it clear that these are cruises for people who want to learn something while on holiday, and their ship carries through on this promise. The aforementioned Viking display is a wonderful little gem worthy of any museum. Every afternoon a classical trio plays in the main atrium while a large, high-definition screen above them rotates paintings by Edvard Munch, the Norwegian artist who deserves to be known for more than his anxiety-inducing Scream. You can download an app to take you on a tour of the art hung throughout the public spaces. Books aren't just in the official library; multiple public spaces feature elegant shelves stocked with a tempting collection of coffee-table tomes on a wonderful variety of art, culture, geography and world exploration. The onboard entertainment also features a guitarist and pianist, both classically trained. When not live, the recorded music leans towards acoustic jazz. It's not all mellow, however: there are a couple of pop acts delivering a range from the Rat Pack through the Beatles, Motown and '70s soul.) On-board lecturers deliver talks on geology and art. Included tours emphasise local culture and history; the tour guide at Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua told me they love Viking, which delivers to them a much higher proportion of visitors than any other cruise line, who all pay attention and ask intelligent questions. This emphasis naturally self-selects a certain kind of passenger: I doubt any of the other cruises I've been on would have yielded a randomly-assembled pub quiz team debating the wooly wording of the question about the location of the temple of Artemis. Did they mean the obvious one in Ephesus, or one of the many in Greece or Sicily?
FIVE No hard sell
There's no avoiding the fact that Viking is a more expensive than the bigger ships. But you get what you pay for. And those ships aren't always the value they appear. On Princess, it quickly became obvious that they made their margin on the extras, and every cruise became a procession of thinly-veiled hard sells and every staff member tried to peddle drinks, extra trips, photos, upgrades to the better restaurants, etc. Access to the spa is a paid-for privilege on the big ships; it's included here. Nobody tries to push anything on a Viking cruise. You can upgrade your included drinks (house beer or wine at meals) for a comprehensive, all-you-can drink from beverages under $15 a serving for $199 for the cruise. Most passengers do this automatically. Drinks flow liberally. Ice water is provided as you leave the ship. Excursions are there for you to take or leave. The ethos is straightforward: you've paid us already, just let us take care of you and enjoy it.SIX No children
I am an indulgent godmother and a memorably entertaining auntie. I like kids a lot. But I'm not fond of them on holiday. Princess does a tolerably good job of creating adult spaces where you can find refuge, but their presence changes the atmosphere. "Family friendly" cruises also, inevitably, attract large, multi-generational family groups who travel in boisterous packs. This is good fun if you're part of the group, and incredibly irritating if you're trying to tuck into a good book or enjoy a quiet meal while sitting near them. Our cruise is almost entirely couples. Not all romantic ... I've spotted siblings and friends as well as couples ... but all grown ups, and few groups. The result is a much quieter, sophisticated and relaxing atmosphere. Yes, that does also mean everything skews older. We are, in our early fifties, amongst the younger people on board. But we're not unusual. There's a comfortable minority of the under-60s, and the elders are active. I spotted an '80-something couple dancing with flair to the Beatles medley last night.
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