DrKoob

Wore exactly what you are talking about on our Viking Ocean cruise. But after three meals in the loudest dining room I have ever been in, with strange and inconsistent service we ate the rest of the 21 night cruise either in the buffet, room service (we were quarantined for four days) or the specialty restaurants.

I'm not saying the ship design doesn't work. I am saying that Viking would rather not have to deal with it but so they can say they do deal with it, they provide some fairly high priced staterooms where there is more room to accommodate a few. Then they can say that they are "accessible." Please don't interpret my explaining their business as endorsing their policies. I am just saying that as a person retired from the travel industry and from another marketing position, they do what they want because the CAN do it. They will continue to do it until they no longer have people who want their product. As far as being "socially responsible," they feel that they have done that because they have high-priced suites that they can show as being open to those with accessible needs.

Absolutely it will but that hasn't happened yet because of the quality of the cruising world in general. And Viking makes sure that TAs absolutely love them. As a former TA, I can tell you that they are the BEST at paying commissions because they pay commission on EVERYTHING! And they have the best phone reps in the industry. They ALWAYS answer the phones before the third ring and you never get a hold time that exceeds a very few minutes. I have sat on hold with some of the mainstream lines for more than an hour.

Social responsibility really does not apply here. You have a choice as to which cruise you take. If you have wants or needs that do not fit the Viking model, you should go elsewhere. If Viking was the only cruise line in the world, then yes, they should allow for some leeway. But there are plenty of other cruise lines (many have been listed here) that would be happy to take your money.

You are correct. Some corporate policies can be changed like the deposit/final payment situation. But they won't be changed until their ships start sailing with a lot of empty staterooms. So far, even with all the complaining, that hasn't happened yet. I tell friends about Viking and they complain about the deposit/final payment policy but lo and behold, they are on the cruise with me. Because they like the Viking experience. Other corporate policies can't be changed because of the physical environment. For example, ship design can only change with new ship builds. God knows, Viking likes to build ships but Tor discovered you can save a buttload of money by reusing the same plans over and over again. And that some people don't care (the ones he wants to attract) that every ship looks the same. They don't need the whiz-bang water slides and the platforms that go up and down on the side of the ship. They just want to go to cool places, on beautiful ships, see the ocean and not get nickeled and dimed to death. That said, the ship design doesn't really work with scooters and chairs, so they won't push for that particular guest. They will continue to do what they do in their niche. And those who love them will come back because they are in that niche.

You should try Windstar. They have a lot of single staterooms without a single supplement. And there are a lot of lines that now have single staterooms. And I totally agree with your assessment of the cruise industry in general. Even though ships are sailing full, they are still hurting from the pandemic and from trying to keep their shareholders happy.

If anyone wants to know why Viking does not encourage scooters or wheelchairs, you should realize it is the same reason they make us pay deposits a year ahead in most cases. It's because they can. When Tor started Viking Cruises, he decided to do a cruise line he would want to take, add all the things he would want and not worry about the things he wouldn't. Then, provide such a great product that loyal customers would put up with a few things being missing. If you want to go on Seabourn, Regent, Oceania or which ever other cruise line because you can take a scooter or get an accessible stateroom lower than a suite or pay a deposit only 3-6 months in advance, Viking is willing to have you do that because they have lots of other people who will take your place. Their ships and riverboats always seem to sail full or they do a last minute sale. Either way, not a lot of empty staterooms around, just a bunch of very loyal cruisers.

While I love the burger at the Dive-In, on our last HAL trip (on Koningsdam in May of last year) the wait for one was more than an hour between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. They only had three people working. It was horrid. I finally got one and it was cold. My best buddy ordered a simple hot dog and never got it. Sad.

Thanks so much for coming back to answer.

We are stopping there off Viking Venus in June. We signed up for the early morning included excursion which will get us into the city. We will just stay in and then make our own way back via taxi or train/shuttle. While I am here, it's been a few years since we were in Edinburgh, are either Uber or Lyft available?

You should have at least tried Vista. Those older R class ships are just that...old. A brand new ship has a vibe of its own. And the food we had on Vista was better in the specialty restaurants...even Embers (that I didn't like that much) than in Manfredis (where my wife got food poisoning) and the Chef's Table (but that's just because I don't like fixed menus.

No they don't. They dock at Pier 66. NCL put millions into Pier 66 to be the only company (with all their subsidiaries including Oceania) to use it for embarkation and disembarkation. I have a close friend who works there. She only gets NCL and Oceania. This has been true for about five years. And to answer the OP question, it is a VERY easy walk and one of the safest in Seattle. I can walk it with luggage in less than 10 minutes, all flat surface.

You are correct. My mistake.

Viking's smaller ships are old R class ships once owned by Renaissance Cruises who went out of business long ago. They had quite a few of them. Azamara sails four of them, Princess used to have one and Oceania has three (of which Regatta is one). They were great ships once but kind of dated now and I would in no way compare them to Viking's fleet. Oceanias three newest ships including the Vista that we sailed on are much improved. I would never have done a comparison if those were just the only Oceania ship I had been on.

I think you nailed the correct answer. We are long-time temperpedic sleepers and we found the beds on Viking Ocean to be horrid. Even with a mattress topper. Did 21 nights in the Med with only about four hours a night of sleep. That's all my back could stand and I have never had a bad back. Most miserable part of the cruise. I was kind of starting to get used to them towards the end...or maybe I was so tired I just had to sleep. We did our first Viking River cruise in December and had no problems with those beds. Very comfortable.

This was absolutely true for us as well. The Restaurant is just too darned loud. I think it's the low ceilings but we had dinner there three nights out of 21 and couldn't hear the other people at our table for four. Love the World Cafe! Besides, if the weather is good, you can eat outside. Always a plus.

I bet it would be. I would not be a happy camper. Ours is still showing Greenwich. We have non-refundable hotel reservations at a place in Greenwich. Hope ours stays the same. Have a great time.

Can I ask what sailing you are on? And where you found this out. We are on the June 14 departure and we have our own hotels reserved for two nights in Greenwich. Hoping ours is still there.

Absolutely. On our 21-night Med cruise (Athens to Barcelona) my wife got food poisoning (along with other people) at Manfredis and she was down for two days so we cancelled our shore excursions for those two days. Then a week later we got COVID and were quarantined for four more days and we had shore excursions on every one of those days. Cancelled those as well.

Based on the amount of snail mail and e-mail I get from Viking, they have a sale on something pretty much every single day of every single year. 😜

You hit the nail on the head. Viking puts the final payment that far out because...they can. People complain but their ships are always full. We have a river cruise in October and there is not a single stateroom available on the entire river (the Douro) during that time. It's amazing. Loyal Viking customers just keep coming back. We finally bit the bullet a couple of years ago and just did one. Going back again in June. Keep in mind that you get a shorter date when you already have one booked. For instance, we booked our next river cruise with them while on our first ocean cruise. That gave us one that was paid for, so our next ocean we got to wait until six months before to pay in full. That's the June ocean cruise. And since it is paid for, we have until the end of next month to pay for our October cruise. We will probably buy one while we are on the ocean cruise so we will then have one paid for (the October river) and that will make the next one six months as well.

I will do me but it appears you want to do everyone else. Or at least to force your opinion on everyone, not just yourself. I have two problems with your stance: 1) How does it hurt you if someone decorates their door, their room or any other place that is theirs on the cruise? No public areas other than a hallway. We used to decorate our doors years ago when we were traveling with 20+ people. But that was on Celebrity and not VIkng and we wouldn't do it anymore. But we aren't offended by those that do. 2) The real question here is not whether they should or should not have ducks or decorate doors but why you would take the time on a cruise to create a thread (which has turned into a total laugh riot) about it. Seriously, go walk around town or eat or have a drink or socialize or anything but starting a Cruise Critic thread about things that just don't matter.

So let me understand here. You are in the middle of an awesome cruise and you took time out to insult what some others like to do on their cruises? I bet you can find something better to comment on about your cruise. Not sure why you thought this was important enough to start a Cruise Critic thread about. Have the people who like the rubber duck thing ever forced you to participate? Made fun of you because they didn't? Started a Cruise Critic thread to insult you for NOT bringing rubber ducks on board? Come on. Let people do what they want on cruises. It's not hurting you, is it?

There it is right there. I don't compare Viking to Seabourn, Regent and Windstar. I compare Viking to Azamara and Oceania and when you do that, those are about right on the money.

Back in 2005, we met a bunch of incredible people on a Cruise Critic roll call. We started cruising together. First, there were six of us (three couples), but as we cruised and others saw how much fun we were having, we added a few more each trip, and the new folks started traveling with us as well. We have lost a few over the years (some of passed away, others ghosted us) but we are still going strong. Our biggest group on a cruise was 17 on Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2017. That was fun. In all that time, we have never had a problem with "doing things together." In many cases, we would plan excursions together that we could never have done alone. Saved us a ton of money and were almost always awesome. We tried to always get together for cocktails and dinner. You should have seen us when there were 17 of us. A table for 10 and one for 7 right next to each other. The one regret we have now is that we don't meet a lot of new people anymore but part of that is that Viking Roll calls are pretty sparse and we used to meet a lot of people who became good friends during early/late seating assigned dining. But very few cruise ships do that any more.