Good morning! Ok, I guess I will start with our ship, the Viking Star. It was really nice, first class all the way. It held less than 1000 passengers, so the public spaces never felt crowded. The staterooms were roomy that we never felt that we were tripping over each other. (We were on deck 4) Huge bathrooms and nice "living" area with sofa, console table with makeup mirror, etc, nice balcony and wonderful cabin stewards that couldn't do enough for us. Rumor is that the ship is going into dry dock at the end of the year to be totally refurbished. It boggles my mind because it looked perfect to me. Curious to see it when it is redone.
As far as the age of the passengers, we were definitely one of the younger couples on board. (We are in our mid 50's) We knew that going in and we were fine with that. Everyone that we interacted with was extremely friendly and had interesting stories to tell. We enjoyed thier company on our excursions and they enjoyed ours. No kids under 18/16 (I forget the age) and that was great because there wouldn't been anything for them to do while on the ship. It wasn't that kind of cruise. I guess and time and place for everything!
Now the ports ~ we boarded the ship in Barcelona, then came Marseille, then Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, Naples, Corfu Greece; Dubrovnik & Split Croatia, and lastly Venice. With only one day at sea! 6 countries for a total of 16 days. I actually lost 8 pounds with all the walking that we did. I have to say that Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Florence were our favorites, but for different reasons. We flew into Barcelona a few days early and loved the extra time that we had to explore. They food was fabulous, the atmosphere was fun, and we had a great time chatting with the locals. It was an adventure! Monte Carlo was good for the fact that our excersion that day took us into both Nice and Eze France. They were both so beautiful. The scenery just takes your breath away. Monte Carlo itself was very pretty, the big draw there of course is the casino. We are not casino people, but we enjoyed having drinks in the lounge and the fact that we had a chance to visit. The wealth there is mind blowing. Yachts are as big as our cruise ship. (not really, but close enough!) In Florence we took a trip into Tuscany and took a cooking class in a castle with amazing grounds. Olive orchards and vineyards as far as the eye could see. And such beautiful gardens. The food was good and the wine was better. What a perfect day!
Marseille France was the stop that we like the least. I'm sure it is also beautiful, but our excersion that day was kind of the pits. I felt it was more about us shopping in the outdoor markets and less about the town of Marseille and it's history.
All in all, we had a fabulous time. It was our first time in Europe, so the cruise gave us a little taste of what to expect when we decide to return.
By the way, a trip to the Greek Islands sounds fabulous. I'll have to add that to our bucket list!
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