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tocruiseguy

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  • Location
    British Columbia, Canada
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Med

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  1. We did a long Viking Ocean cruise last spring and were surprised about the same thing. The worst part was the ship's activities seemed to be aimed at the 80 year old plus demographic...sea days which we had a lot of, has almost no activities unless you like playing bridge. Entertainment was equally "old", I think I might had heard songs newer than 1979 maybe half a dozen times. Even my 92 year old dad likes newer music than that. The "free" excursions were generally, pile on a bus, drive for a hour, get out, take a picture, pile back into the bus. Staff and food was good not great and was much better, including the food quality on the Celebrity Cruise we took in the fall last year and at about 60% of the daily cost of the Viking cruise. Bottom line, if you want to pay $700 per person a day to sit around and read a book on sea days or listen to music from the 60's Viking Ocean is your thing. If you like even a modest amount of entertainment on a cruise, my recommendation is to try another line.
  2. Was just on the Apex, had the filet and two lobster tails on "lobster" night, there was no uncharge. Food was excellent on the cruise as was the service.
  3. Agreed and maybe the braintrust at Viking will someday realize there have been 4 decades of music since the 1970's. Even my 92 year old father likes some music from the 80's, 90's, etc. The music on our Viking cruise was brutal, how many times do they have to play "Celebration" on a Viking Cruise?
  4. Recently sailed on the Mars, internet was very glitchy and slow, at times I could not even access my Bank's internet banking website. I don't expect to stream 4K movies on a ship's internet but being able to payi the odd bill is a pretty minimal ask. Viking needs to do better.
  5. Snarky is saying someone isn't "cut out" for something. I really don't get why people take other peoples opinions about a company so personally, but carry on.
  6. Cut out? I'm not cut out to spend $1200 a day so I can read a book on a lounger on a sea day and go to bed at 9 pm, not cut out for that? 😀
  7. Well aware of the options. Having a desert like waffle in the morning or fighting room service trays in our room isn't our thing. We tried those "sandwiches" and frankly most were not great, but not a high tea person....Celebrity's cafe is pretty well open at least partially, all day until late. Plus having split pea soup for a midnight snack isn't very appealing...
  8. We aren't voting or leaving anything, not sure what you mean by that as we were never "with" Viking or Celebrity for that matter. More than willing to try any cruise line and we also don't just cruise for travel, we like a variety. Based on our recent Viking cruise, we just wouldn't rush back to Viking, it's just a little too sedate for us. Again thats how we feel, if you don't feel the same same, perfectly fine.
  9. Most of the cruises we have taken to date have been on Celebrity, recently did a longer Viking Cruise, our first one. Firstly the entertainment on Celebrity is significantly better and sea days on Viking were devoid of activities, unless you want to learn to play bridge or other rather sedate activities. The age demographic, at least on the Viking cruise we took, I would guess was 75 plus and Viking really caters to that age group. Almost all the music played was from the 1970's and older, not sure why Viking doesn't realize there have been 4 decades of music since 1979.... The staff on Viking were excellent and the food was generally very good, although repetitive at times and strangely the hours were somewhat limited in the World Cafe. Viking did a good job of providing "local" cuisine in the World Cafe. We find the staff on Celebrity equally good (and we are usually in a regular state room). but there seems to more Viking staff around so I am guessing Viking has a better staff to passenger ratio. If you like to sleep in, forget about breakfast due to the world cafe hours, and there was really nowhere to grab a snack late afternoon when we returned from excursions. Ship was very nice/clean and our stateroom was good. Gym was good, as it wasn't busy, not really any gym classes though. Spa was good, much of it included. A few of the bar staff were excellent, went above and beyond, although at times in The Restaurant and Manfredi's we found almost too many staff were servicing our table which resulted in confusion. Viking's included excursions are basically, pile into a bus, drive around for an hour, get out, take a picture, get back in, rinse and repeat. The included excursions seemed to be catered towards people who don't really want to move a lot (not us). Some of the paid excursions weren't much better. Our best days were either self guided stuff or private tours we arranged ourselves. Bottom line for us, even though the ship and staff were very good, we find Viking too sedate and even though there are some great Viking itineraries the excursions provided and sold do not live up to the potential of some of the ports, at least on the cruise we were on. Based on the additional daily cost on Viking we don't think it's worth it, but that is subjective and our opinion.
  10. Really? You judge others based on their musical taste? Of any age no less....wow....
  11. Rolling Stones? Thats pretty old stuff too. 😀 The Beatles and Abba though, thats absurdly old. I was in single digits in age when the Beatles broke up, yeah I have heard their songs but not a fan at all. Those in their late 50's and early 60's would have "grown up" musically in the 80's and even 90's, which is still 30 to 40 years ago so Viking's entertainment is actually targeting the 70 to 80 year old demographic, an age range which at the upper end some people stop travelling. God forbid, some of us actually like some current music hits! Even my 92 year old Dad likes music like the Back Street Boys (which isn't new at all) and pop stuff like that. Just because we get old doesn't mean we need to live in the past. I think the older people get the more entitled we get and expect the world to revolve our tastes and likes.....
  12. OMG, passengers having fun on a cruise vacation that doesn't fit with your standards......this is madness and must be stopped....😀
  13. Maybe I will need to detox after our upcoming 27 day Viking cruise, after all....😀 PS thats more than twice as long as our longest cruise ever to date....
  14. So I can bring a bottle of hard liquor on board?? Wow.
  15. Interesting discussion......if anyone cares, I did the math and by the time we have a few sparkling waters, a diet coke or two plus highballs etc, I think it makes sense even if we don't hit $25 a day. Like many have posted, the convenience is great, if I feel like a fru fru cocktail with an umbrella in it, I can order it or if I feel like a decent scotch I can do the same. One more thing for Canadians. I think it is best to purchase the package pre-cruise, as the everything on the ship is priced in USD you will avoid any exchange charge on your credit card.
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