Guides
Viking ocean ships guide: the Viking Star class
Written by PerkJolt's AI desk from official sources; facts checked on the dates shown. We may earn a commission from links; it never changes what we recommend.
The lite guide is free; the full guide is $4.99.
At a glance
- Viking's official fleet page lists seventeen ocean ships, each carrying fewer than 1,000 guests (checked Oct 14, 2026).
- Viking Star's page gives a guest count of 930 (checked Oct 14, 2026).
- Every stateroom is described as a veranda stateroom.
- The line's page says Wi-Fi is free, beer, wine and soft drinks come with lunch and dinner, and one shore excursion is included at each port (checked Oct 14, 2026).
- No casino aboard, per the same page.
- As commonly described the ships are adults-only; Not confirmed on https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/why-viking/ as of 2026-10-14 — confirm the age rule before you sail.
- Our representative Scandinavian week runs Stockholm to Bergen.
The short version
The Star class is the name cruise fans use for Viking's run of near-identical ocean ships, beginning with Viking Star. The practical message is that these ships feel alike, so you should choose your itinerary, dates and cabin location first and let the ship follow. The official fleet page names Viking Astrea, Jupiter, Leda, Libra, Lyra, Mars, Mira, Neptune, Orion, Saturn, Sea, Sky, Star, Vega, Vela, Venus and Vesta.
The size is the draw. Under 1,000 guests means short walks, a calmer lounge, and smaller piers. The Viking Star page lists a glass-roofed main pool, an infinity pool, a theater, the Explorers' Lounge, the Torshavn bar and a sports deck with a bocce court, and your sister ship will likely resemble it (checked Oct 14, 2026). The line's page promises unlimited free Wi-Fi and one included excursion per port, which changes the maths of what you would otherwise pay extra for.
Where should you start? Read our Viking ocean line guide at /guides/cruises/viking-ocean/, then the river side at /guides/cruises/viking-river/, and the expedition ships at /guides/cruises/viking-octantis-polaris/. For a long itinerary, see /guides/cruises/viking-mediterranean-odyssey/. Cabin choice matters more than ship choice on a small hull; our cabin guide is at /guides/cruises/choosing-a-cruise-cabin/. For the night before a Stockholm departure, see /guides/stockholm/.
On the safety side, the U.S. State Department rates Sweden Level 2 [read 2026-10-14, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html — Level 2, issued 05/18/2026], Denmark Level 2 [read 2026-10-14, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html — Level 2, issued 09/17/2024] and Norway Level 1 [read 2026-10-14, https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html — Level 1, issued 07/06/2026]. Level 2 means increased caution in crowded places; re-check before you sail.
The full guide goes deeper: deck-by-deck orientation, cabins to book and avoid, how to reserve dining on day one, a day-by-day Stockholm to Bergen week, base cards for the night before, a points mini-playbook with our chart ratios, a cost sheet and a printable day plan.
3 free (or low-cost) things
- Gamla Stan, Stockholm. Walk the cobbled lanes of the old town in the early morning; the streets are free, and the light is softest before the crowds. It is the best use of an embarkation morning.
- Nyhavn, Copenhagen. The colourful old harbour is a public waterfront. Arrive before the lines build for photos and take a coffee along the quay if you wish.
- Vigeland Park, Oslo. An open-air sculpture park that is free to walk; it gives you art without a museum queue, and it is a good fit for a mid-afternoon port stop.
Get the full guide
The full guide is $4.99 and covers everything above in detail. If you only read one thing from this free version: pick your region, dates and cabin location, then check which ship you are on. Open the full guide when you are ready to book, and use the cost sheet to keep your total honest.
What the sisters share
Because the hulls are so alike, almost everything you learn on one carries over to another. The fleet page promises a consistent small-ship feel across all seventeen names, and the page for Viking Star confirms the public rooms that make up that feel: a theater for evening shows, the Explorers' Lounge, the Torshavn bar, an atrium, shops, two pools and a sports deck (checked Oct 14, 2026). Pools matter less in cool northern waters than in the Caribbean, so a glass-roofed main pool is a practical feature on a Scandinavian week.
How to use this guide with the line's own site
Treat the line's website as the source of record for fares, dates and cabin numbers, and use this guide as the layer that explains what you will actually do on board and ashore. When you are ready to compare real prices, open the line's booking page and fill in your own dates; we never quote a specific sailing's fare because those change daily. Instead, the cost sheet in the full guide lists the official page for each line item so you can fill in your own numbers in a few minutes.
One more practical habit: save a copy of your booking confirmation and your cruise documents on your phone before you leave home, since airport and hotel Wi-Fi is not always reliable. The line's page says Wi-Fi on board is free (checked Oct 14, 2026), but you will need your documents in the airport and at the terminal before you step aboard.
A last note on timing: if you can, arrive in Stockholm a full day early so a delayed flight cannot cost you the sailing, and keep your first evening aboard light. The free things above all fit into an hour or two, which makes them ideal for port days when your included excursion ends early and you want to stretch your legs before the ship leaves again.
Also worth a free look: Bryggen in Bergen, the last stop of the sample week, which is a wharf of wooden houses you can walk past on your way to the airport.
This is the free lite guide. The full day-by-day guide, with maps, photo stops, rain plans and the points playbook, is part of PerkJolt All-Access.
Good to know before you go
Facts here were checked 2026-10-14. Confirm fees, schedules, port calls and policies on the official page or in your booking before you sail. The route in this guide is representative, not a published sailing.