High on elegance and service, Viking Cruises consistently garners top awards in the luxury cruise category. The lovely Viking Star is (so far) my favorite ship in the impressive fleet. The cruise-friendly luxury elements are legion: heated bathroom floors, large glass showers with a shelf perfect for personal care products or for propping a foot up for leg smoothing, generous bathroom storage options, large safes, good lighting, padded headboards, double easy chairs, good-sized desks and great bedside storage. A range of outstanding dining venues and the stunning Explorer’s Club are designed with both shared and intimate spaces, while the lovely Wintergarden is the perfect light-filled space to enjoy classic afternoon tea.

Viking Sea in Venice © Viking

The Viking Star also has one of my hands-down favorite spaces at sea: a large spa equipped with a heated pool, a wall-long fireplace, private men’s and women’s saunas, an herbal steam bath, experience showers, private cold plunges and an ice bucket shower. The stunner is the enclosed ice cave, where you can punctuate your healing heat circuit with a sojourn on a bench in a snow-filled, glass-walled room. Other special onboard touches include guest laundry spaces and excellent service, tour infrastructure and shore excursions. This includes a Quietvox Voice Controlled Transmitter System for tours with in-room charging stations. Daily in-room printed guides alert guests to tours that will use the system so they can be prepared ahead of time.

Ready to set sail? Consider the new Antiquities of the Mediterranean from Venice to Barcelona, a 22-day cruise visiting seven countries and offering 16 separate tours. The cruise departs from Venice, Italy, and journeys to Split and Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; Corfu, Katakolon, Athens and Crete, Greece; Sicily, Naples, Rome, Florence and Pisa, Italy; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Marseille and Montpellier (Sete), France; and makes port in Barcelona, Spain. Along the way, cruise the Ionian Sea, the gateway to the Adriatic. Good to know, because you won’t want to disembark: Pre- and post-cruise extensions are available.

Viking Cruise Ship © Viking