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What are meals like on a Viking Ocean cruise?


gb88
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You can eat any time you want! The Restaurant is open between 6:00pm and I think 9:30pm. Just walk up to the desk and give them your room number. They will ask if you want to share or have a table for 2. No reservations necessary.

 

You can also eat at the World Cafe. Just find a table and sit - inside or out. It’s a buffet, but they will bring you drinks.

 

There are also 2 specialty restaurants - Manfredi’s and the Chefs Table. They are included - no extra charge. You need reservations for those. You can make one or 2 online depending on your cabin category. You can make them onboard at the desk in the World Cafe or at the desk by each restaurant.

 

All the food was fabulous!

 

 

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The Aquavit terrace is in the stern as opposed to the bow on river. :)

I prefer the restaurant on river vs that on ocean but can't say exactly why. River seems more sedate. Ocean restaurant has tables for two. Best thing about ocean restaurant, you don't have to dine at a set time.

Ocean specialty restaurants are excellent. Can't reserve beforehand? Reserve on board when numerous people cancel. Manfredi's is superb. Chef's Table changes menu every 3 days. Loved their Asian dinner. Struck up fun conversations with adjoining tables for 2.

World Cafe is an unexpected gem. Thought my wife would prefer restaurant instead she loved the World Cafe buffet. Everything served in the Restaurant plus all kinds of extras from pizza to sushi. Easy and fun to visit other tables of new friends after we finished our own dinner there.

Not a big fan of the pool restaurant except for the daily changing dark beer special. Don't drink beer much but it was a treat.

Mamsens is liked by many. Not my taste. Your mileage may vary.

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The Chef's Table seems to be the venue most open to debate. People either love it (we do!!) or not so much. It is a themed set tastings menu, with five courses of smallish portions with paired wines. Some accommodations can be made for food allergies, but the menu is really designed to go together. The menu changes every three days. When you make reservations before boarding, you will not know the menu. Once onboard, people often cancel and rebook these reservations based on the menu.

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The World Cafe, while it is laid out as a buffet, has MANY dishes that are custom prepared to your order, allowing you to customize by preference and get a fresh, hot dish as opposed to the typical "old and cold" items on the usual buffet.

Very tasty!

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Viking Ocean has better food than Viking river, which was mediocre at best. Lots of two top tables-which we prefer. Tables are nicely placed next to another two top, you can converse with the next table if you want to.

Manfredi s was excellent. Huge portions, our waiter suggested half portions.

Depending on your palate, the fixed menu at Chefs table is a nice experience, we enjoyed the West Indies menu. Other menus did not appeal to me.

The restaurant food was very good, a few things were excellent. Beef is served medium rare all over the ship and they don’t always ask how you want your entree cooked. I forgot to specify a couple times and did not eat it. Waiters want you to select your dessert when you order everything else. They don’t offer coffee, tea with dessert, you have to ask for it. Their bread is not very good.

World cafe was good, not great. I disliked the self serve format. I had some nice selections from the carving station. Lots of good seating.

Pool grill food was very good but they lack a shaded area to eat, most tables are in the pool area.

We didn’t try Mamsens but saw lots of great desserts and pastries.

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Viking Ocean has better food than Viking river, which was mediocre at best. Lots of two top tables-which we prefer. Tables are nicely placed next to another two top, you can converse with the next table if you want to.

Manfredi s was excellent. Huge portions, our waiter suggested half portions.

Depending on your palate, the fixed menu at Chefs table is a nice experience, we enjoyed the West Indies menu. Other menus did not appeal to me.

The restaurant food was very good, a few things were excellent. Beef is served medium rare all over the ship and they don’t always ask how you want your entree cooked. I forgot to specify a couple times and did not eat it. Waiters want you to select your dessert when you order everything else. They don’t offer coffee, tea with dessert, you have to ask for it. Their bread is not very good.

World cafe was good, not great. I disliked the self serve format. I had some nice selections from the carving station. Lots of good seating.

Pool grill food was very good but they lack a shaded area to eat, most tables are in the pool area.

We didn’t try Mamsens but saw lots of great desserts and pastries.

 

As usual - different strokes for different folks

 

We liked the food on both river and ocean, but ocean definitely has more variety. While Manfredi's was good, I preferred the Chef's Table experience. We did the Sweet & Salty, and thought it was very good - the diver scallops were fabulous. We shared a table at Manfredi's to get a time that suited us more. The couple that we shared with were great put they put us a table that would maybe be comfortable for 3 - 4 was a challenge - especially with the size of their plates!

 

As far as the meet goes, the temperature suited us. We found it to be more medium, but you could have asked for your preference once they brought it instead of not eating it. Our favorite restaurant team, would have taken care of that right away. They were always asking if everything was okay. I generally ordered dessert with the meal, but we saw plenty of people getting the menu again to choose dessert. Our waitstaff never insisted on it. I just usually know what I want, so it wasn't a problem. We were always asked if we wanted coffee. I always had a cappuccino and our favorite waiters always asked if I wanted it.

 

We loved the bread, but I wish they had more of a variety in the Restaurant. The bread in the World Cafe was awesome!

 

We ate breakfast and lunch at the World Cafe and enjoyed the food. I had wanted to try it for dinner, but we never did. We do like being waited on for dinner. We never tried the Pool Grill, but Mamsen's was good. They had open faced sandwiches for lunch - not a big variety - and the awesome Success Cake!

 

We also enjoyed tea in the Wintergarden, but only got to do it once.

 

So you are all going to have to just experience it for yourselves and see what you think! :D

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The "shared" tables in Manfredi's are new since last year. We were lucky enough to eat there 6 or 7 times on our 3 week cruise but could have eaten there more if there were more than 2 of us. They would ask when we tried to make a reservation if we had friends that we could sit with since they had larger tables available. I think it's a great idea. We love meeting new people and we really really loved Manfredi's. We ate at the World Cafe a lot more than I thought we would....you could get a steak or chicken or shrimp and pasta cooked to order and the buffet was great. We really enjoyed it. The Restaurant was fine....it took a long time, at least 2 hours if not more. I like my meat rare, and they always asked how I wanted it cooked, so I wasn't aware that the "norm" was medium rare on the ship. The pool grill is just outside of the World Cafe so you can always get your food at the pool grill then bring it into the World Cafe to eat if you don't want to be outside.

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I had forgotten about the Success Cake at Mamsens. Thanks for the reminder Cyber Kat!

 

Having done both River & Ocean cruising with Viking, we prefer the dinning on Ocean. The river experience was wonderful, and mean no disrespect, but we just prefer the Ocean cruising with Viking.

 

My advise as to dining is don't discount Mamsen's. It has a very 'sweet' background story as to it's origin and the waffles make for a great breakfast! Don't cheat yourself, you need to experience the 'Brown Cheese' (I forget the name). And the Success Cake!

 

One last tid-bit, as an early-riser one of the most convenient locations for coffee 'out-of-the-room' is just past Mamsen's at the end of the bar in the Explorers Lounge.

 

Manfredi's is also excellent. Over the 5-7 meals we've had there all were outstanding. During these same cruises our 1 1/2 meals at the Chief's Table were not to our liking, but I account this to our not having 'sophisticated palates'.

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I had forgotten about the Success Cake at Mamsens. Thanks for the reminder Cyber Kat!

 

Having done both River & Ocean cruising with Viking, we prefer the dinning on Ocean. The river experience was wonderful, and mean no disrespect, but we just prefer the Ocean cruising with Viking.

 

My advise as to dining is don't discount Mamsen's. It has a very 'sweet' background story as to it's origin and the waffles make for a great breakfast! Don't cheat yourself, you need to experience the 'Brown Cheese' (I forget the name). And the Success Cake!

 

One last tid-bit, as an early-riser one of the most convenient locations for coffee 'out-of-the-room' is just past Mamsen's at the end of the bar in the Explorers Lounge.

 

Manfredi's is also excellent. Over the 5-7 meals we've had there all were outstanding. During these same cruises our 1 1/2 meals at the Chief's Table were not to our liking, but I account this to our not having 'sophisticated palates'.

 

Absolutely try Mamsen's!!! It is a very under-rated and often overlooked food option on the oceans. When we have had enough of the (often, not always, but often) hectic hub-bub in the World Café we grab an open faced sandwich from Mamsen's and enjoy the peace and quiet of the Explorer Lounge ... or we have even taken the sandwiches to our room! They are delicious and the brown cheese was a delicious surprise! It is a special form of goat cheese ... called Brunost. It is made using the whey and has a delightfully nutty, almost sweet flavor. The waffles are wonderful and on the days we indulged in afternoon tea and not really hungry for dinner (:() we tried the "late night" pea soup! It was a very special treat!

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As usual - different strokes for different folks

 

We liked the food on both river and ocean, but ocean definitely has more variety. While Manfredi's was good, I preferred the Chef's Table experience. We did the Sweet & Salty, and thought it was very good - the diver scallops were fabulous. We shared a table at Manfredi's to get a time that suited us more. The couple that we shared with were great put they put us a table that would maybe be comfortable for 3 - 4 was a challenge - especially with the size of their plates!

 

As far as the meet goes, the temperature suited us. We found it to be more medium, but you could have asked for your preference once they brought it instead of not eating it. Our favorite restaurant team, would have taken care of that right away. They were always asking if everything was okay. I generally ordered dessert with the meal, but we saw plenty of people getting the menu again to choose dessert. Our waitstaff never insisted on it. I just usually know what I want, so it wasn't a problem. We were always asked if we wanted coffee. I always had a cappuccino and our favorite waiters always asked if I wanted it.

 

We loved the bread, but I wish they had more of a variety in the Restaurant. The bread in the World Cafe was awesome!

 

We ate breakfast and lunch at the World Cafe and enjoyed the food. I had wanted to try it for dinner, but we never did. We do like being waited on for dinner. We never tried the Pool Grill, but Mamsen's was good. They had open faced sandwiches for lunch - not a big variety - and the awesome Success Cake!

 

So you are all going to have to just experience it for yourselves and see what you think! :D

 

I agree with you on everything. We did eat at the Pool Grill and once we did, we went there often. I found their shrimp salad sandwich amazing.

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I've never had the shrimp salad sandwich at the pool grill. I'll have to try that next time (81 days as I write this!).

 

In addition to the Success cake, I had also forgotten about the pea soup at Mamsen's. Guess that's old age sneaking up on me.

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We loved the grilled tuna from the pool bar, that and a salad from the World Cafe were our usual lunch....well, and a scoop of ice cream!

 

Other items we enjoyed that I hadn't read about before our cruise:

-Sea Bass at the Restaurant- the best dish we had onboard

-Onion rings from the pool grill

-Sushi and crab claws from the World Cafe at sunset with a cocktail

-Pistachio bun at the Living Room in the morning with a latte

-Pizza at the World Cafe AFTER you ask to have the slice put back in the oven to crisp up the crust

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We loved the grilled tuna from the pool bar, that and a salad from the World Cafe were our usual lunch....well, and a scoop of ice cream!

 

Other items we enjoyed that I hadn't read about before our cruise:

-Sea Bass at the Restaurant- the best dish we had onboard

-Onion rings from the pool grill

-Sushi and crab claws from the World Cafe at sunset with a cocktail

-Pistachio bun at the Living Room in the morning with a latte

-Pizza at the World Cafe AFTER you ask to have the slice put back in the oven to crisp up the crust

I will agree that the seafood station in the cafe is pretty marvelous!IMG_20180117_222437_447.thumb.jpg.ec3bf919fbc0cd99a95220ce36b50a6d.jpg

 

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There are things on Viking's dining plan that are really great. For me, I think the buffet is the best we've had, and usually was just about as good as what was served in the MDR. In addition, since it is a buffet, you pick and choose what you like best. Unlimited king crab legs. Divine!

 

MDR food was good, but not IMHO on a par with Oceania. And the included wine selections were severely limited there. Service, however, was very good in the MDR, and as noted, they have a lot of 2-tops, and no problem getting in almost any time you like.

 

Specialty restaurants were my big disappointment. Never could get a reservation in the Italian place, and the guy in charge of the bookings couldn't have cared less about accommodating people. I didn;t hear good things about the Chef Table, so we canceled that one.

 

Mamsens had some really interesting things, though it is of limited selection.

 

Pool bar was odd. Burgers were not very good, and their steak and cheese sandwich was an exercise in jaw workout. On the other hand, Mrs TC enjoyed her Reuben there.

 

Overall: good food. Not spectacular.

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In addition, on sea days, the restaruant is open for breakfast and lunch. We ate lunch there more than once. They have starter, entree and dessert , with options in each category.

The cold soups were delicious.

The seafood in each venue was outstanding.

The pasta choices in Manfredi was wonderful.

We had the Scandinavian menu at Chef Table. It was very creative. Lamb and cloudberry soup was ver tasty.

I love the various options and never had a bad meal.

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You hear so often on Cruise Critic: "food is so subjective." I think this could be dramatically cut down if people would preface their food comments by noting whether they are adventuresome eaters or not. Reading between the lines, a lot of the disagreement about whether the foot on a particular cruise or line is "good" comes down to the poster's willingness to think outside the box.

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One person's 'adventuresome' is another person's idea of staid. Personal preference is infinitely variable. Outwith that of course are things like food being too cold, gone off, mouldy etc.

It's good when people just post what they think about the food and let others draw their own conclusions.

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A recent review of a river cruise just saved me a lot of time when they noted that after checking in to their hotel in Lucerne they immediately sought out a Burger King. Just sayin' ;)

 

We actually stopped in Vienna and had a McDonald's lunch. We saw quite a few from our ship in the restaurant. It wasn't because Viking river cruise food was bad because it wasn't. Sometimes you just want a little taste of home.

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A recent review of a river cruise just saved me a lot of time when they noted that after checking in to their hotel in Lucerne they immediately sought out a Burger King. Just sayin' ;)

 

 

 

For me to seek out a Burger King or any other US food chain, I’d have to have been without any food for a month and it would have to be THE only food source for miles and miles [emoji12]

 

 

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We’ve been impressed with the food so far on this cruise. Thanks to all of you, we knew to try the success cake at Mamsen’s, which is indeed excellent. The World Cafe is quite good (the lamb curry was fantastic) and we loved our first meal at the MDR last night (tender steak, flavorful grouper). Manfredi’s was fine but not our favorite, and we canceled one of our World Cafe reservations due to the menu. Will report back after we eat there next week.

 

We’ve also enjoyed our room service breakfasts, which have arrived promptly on time and have been hot, too. Very handy before morning excursions.

 

Might try a waffle at Mamsen’s today since we’re getting a late start.

 

The gelato has been a disappointment. Not as creamy or flavorful as what we had at a riverside cafe in Porto yesterday. But we’re definitely in the minority here; the gelato stand always has a line.

 

Oh, we’ve also had afternoon tea a couple of times. The sandwiches, which are usually my favorite part, could use some help. But the scones and sweets are lovely.

 

All in all, we’re very pleased with the variety and quality of the food.

 

As for the (included) wine, not so much. But we expected that, and we’re not big drinkers anyway. We did have a fabulous drink yesterday at that cafe in Porto — a mixture of white port and tonic. Heady and delicious!

 

We also haven’t found a really good dark decaf coffee yet. I need to go back through the threads here to see what you all recommended along those lines.

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