Viking Longboats Standard Cabins - drawbacks?

[pontac]

On 1/30/2023 at 9:40 PM, travelnn said:

Hi there

Is there a better side on a longboat?

Thanks

 

What do you mean by better side? 

 

Myself - I'd say it was one that faced the water when moored, rather than the land. River boats generally (but not 100% of the time) moor racing the flow, i.e., they face up river. A Captain explained that it was to protect propellers from being damaged by logs/debris brought down river by the current. But the boat can moor either bank, but assume that if the boat moors by a riverside town then it'll moor on that side of the river, so you could look at a map and see where the overnight stops are and which direction you are travelling. So if you are travelling down river and the town is on the left bank, the boat will pass the mooring point, and turn around and come back to moor so cabins on the left side face the water

 

But - there are many more boats and companies cruising the same rivers and rafting is becoming common, so it could be that after all your research you get a cabin that doesn't face the land yet get another cruise boat along side you. (Make certain to close curtains before going to bed!).

 

This is true for all companies today, and even though Viking has some dedicated mooring jetties, there might be more than one Viking boat moored. At least Viking has its reception on the main deck which means it aligns with many other lines so one can just walk through the other boats reception if moored on the outside, unlike Scenic whose between-deck reception makes its passengers ascend to the sun deck to cross the the other boats sundeck and descend their external stairs.

[gnome12]

23 minutes ago, pontac said:

At least Viking has its reception on the main deck which means it aligns with many other lines so one can just walk through the other boats reception if moored on the outside, unlike Scenic whose between-deck reception makes its passengers ascend to the sun deck to cross the the other boats sundeck and descend their external stairs.

I don’t think it is specifically the main deck reception, rather it is whether the main decks line up fairly well. Some lines have a main deck that is higher than others so it isn’t safe to put a ramp in that area. With sundecks, the ramp can extend over a longer distance to keep it from becoming too steep. Viking ships, being identical, obviously line up. 

[Canal archive]

Fully agree with gnome12 we’ve only ever in all our cruising years with Scenic we’ve only had to go up and over once.

The direction of mooring is for ease of cruising and safety if you look on any river this is how the majority of boats will be moored. On canals it’s not required unless it’s a canalised river.

[CPT Trips]

22 hours ago, pontac said:

At least Viking has its reception on the main deck which means it aligns with many other lines so one can just walk through the other boats reception if moored on the outside, unlike Scenic whose between-deck reception makes its passengers ascend to the sun deck to cross the the other boats sundeck and descend their external stairs.

We have been rafted outside a Viking ship where the receptions were aligned. Viking would not permit us to pass through their ship, but required up and over and down. Makes me wonder how accommodating other ship would be if the mooring positions were reversed. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Canal archive]

It’s much more fun wandering through another vessel it’s quite interesting having a sneaky peak!