Viking Oceans - Alternative to HAL

[voyageur9]

...is this not the cruise experience we all long for ..a smaller ship, gracious and spacious .... I think this beautiful ship will be filled in no time at all...! One hopes the companies take heed, and there will always be these beautiful ships, for the genuine traveller

 

That's refreshingly different from the chorus of HAL CLs.

 

Viking has now ordered two more ships; meaning four delivered by 2017. Viking claims bookings -- even with advance payment -- “selling at an unprecedented rate."

 

Of course that's a hard-to-measure quote. Still with four, new, ships, in effect a new class slightly smaller than but more than equal in elegance to the beloved but fading, aging, and plumbing-challenged S class. Viking may soon be eating HALs lunch. (That may alliviate Lido crowding for the hangers-on)

 

HAL's suitehearts may face a hard choice between paying even bigger subsidies to fill HAL to break-even with the hoi polloi or switch.

 

Or perhaps it will force HAL to deliver a better experience to stay competitive. Either way it's a win-win for savvy travellers.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We cruised on a Viking river cruise this Fall and the food did not compare with HAL. In fact, in all my cruising experience [over 100 ] I have never been served food that was as consistently unappealing and I don't consider myself "hard to please". They even ran out of most German foods the day they served the German buffet! Based on just this one experience, I could not recommend Viking to anyone.

 

 

Thank you for telling us about the food.

[stillwaters]

Just looking at Viking web sight . The price includes some alcoholic beverages, free internet and many excursions. Sounds good to me.

[sail7seas]

We are all about HAL...... :)

 

I read about the other lines and some of the features do sound appealing and I know that for what we pay for "SA" and "S" cabins on HAL, we could cruise any line we wanted but.....

 

HAL is the cruise line we want.

 

For us, it is all about the people. We love the people on HAL ships. :)

 

[Cruzin Terri]

I would suggest that anyone considering Viking Oceans go over to the River Cruise forum and go back to this past summer and read how the passengers were treated when they were stuck on ships because of weather problems and how Viking treated them.

After reading of their problems and many reviews, I would hesitate to book a Viking Ocean cruise.

They may do well when all is going smoothly, but the real test is how a company handles problems when things go wrong.

JMHO

Terri

[GeriatricNurse]

We are all about HAL...... :)

 

I read about the other lines and some of the features do sound appealing and I know that for what we pay for "SA" and "S" cabins on HAL, we could cruise any line we wanted but.....

 

HAL is the cruise line we want.

 

For us, it is all about the people. We love the people on HAL ships. :)

 

 

Do you love the smokers on balconies that have & may continue to be adjacent/above/below you too? :D

[jimmy2x]

Do you love the smokers on balconies that have & may continue to be adjacent/above/below you too? :D

 

We already have one long-term on-going smoking thread. PLEASE not another one.

[sppunk]

I would suggest that anyone considering Viking Oceans go over to the River Cruise forum and go back to this past summer and read how the passengers were treated when they were stuck on ships because of weather problems and how Viking treated them.

After reading of their problems and many reviews, I would hesitate to book a Viking Ocean cruise.

They may do well when all is going smoothly, but the real test is how a company handles problems when things go wrong.

JMHO

Terri

This is very true, some pax were bussed 12 hours daily in lieu of stepping foot on a boat.

 

But, keep in mind many cruise companies fail miserably when facing issues. See: Celebrity Millenium this past summer.

[Retiringworkingstiff]

The ceo Torstein Hagen has a background with ocean cruising - former board member at Holland America and former ceo of Royal Viking.

 

Hopefully this translates into running an ocean cruise line in today's world.

 

 

Their target market is very similar to HAL:

 

 

http://maritimematters.com/2013/05/viking-star-to-shine/

In front of a Chinese audience, I wonder if they would change "English-Speaking" to "Chinese-Speaking". Optics, not good!

[Ship's Wake]

The Royal Viking connection is very interesting. Curious how well the new product will try to recreate some of the touches of the former line.

 

Two additional ships holding 930 passengers have been named. The fleet will now be the Viking Star, Viking Sea, and Viking Star (Royal Viking Line's original vessels were called Royal Viking Star, Royal Viking Sky and Royal Viking Sea).

 

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/news/news-headlines/viking-cruises-names-a-further-two-ocean-ships-has-new-itineraries.html

 

(Tip of the hat to Host Andy for posting this on the Viking Oceans boards).

Edited May 13, 2014 by oysterdam

[cruisemom42]

I like the sound of these new ships.....but like a few others have said, they sound to me more like the Oceania and Azamara-type line than HAL. (At least HAL as I've known it.)

 

I can understand that with only one ship they probably would stick with well-appreciated itineraries. Hopefully with more, they will branch out.

[chrispb]

We are all about HAL...... :)

 

I read about the other lines and some of the features do sound appealing and I know that for what we pay for "SA" and "S" cabins on HAL, we could cruise any line we wanted but.....

 

HAL is the cruise line we want.

 

For us, it is all about the people. We love the people on HAL ships. :)

 

 

By people, I assume you mean crew? I've found crew to be superb on other lines too:)

[iancal]

We have never found a significant difference between the crews on HAL, Princess, or Celebrity.

 

They have all seemed similar to us...great service, personable, etc. Of course there are always the exceptions but overall we see no differences. Never really had a bad cruise or a poor service experience on any ship.

[Riversedge]

I think that comparing cruising on the new Viking Ocean ships to Holland America would be very difficult. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Totally different experiences. We have the new brochure and have been very intrigued by their new ships. We did a river cruise with them and couldn't have been happier.

 

All their new ships have verandahs, all include wine, soda and beer with lunch and dinner, internet is free, specialty coffee is free, there are cultural enrichment talks onboard daily. And the biggest perk for us is the included tours daily. Tours in Europe are very expensive. They did a great job on their tours during the 15 day Grand Tour we were on. And of course there are less people.

 

Very exciting to us to have another option in the future. Yes, they are more expensive but if you add it all up the difference may not be as much as you think.

[mickeyfitz]

Looks very interesting. Does anyone what country the ships will be flagged in and the nationality of the officers?

[rkacruiser]

Looks very interesting. Does anyone what country the ships will be flagged in and the nationality of the officers?

 

Certainly, I do not know. But, a direct query to Viking Cruises should supply you with that answer.

[Vineyard View]

We have a Mediterranean 21 day HAL booked in October. We also have a 29 day Viking Oceans booked May 2015. Yes, there is a price difference. If you book excursions and tours in ports, or you enjoy something other than water, coffee, or tea with your meals, then your costs on HAL will quickly add up - and they are included on Viking witha free outing in each port (optional excursions cost extra) but you will have one covered that is mostly very full coverage of that port.

The payment is required up front, but fully refundable ( minus $100/ea) up to 120 days prior - we are excited about both trips - the itineraries are very different. I think at the end of the day Viking will fall higher than HAL but less than Regent, etc.