"Regular Verandah?"

[janmcn]

Could someone give me an idea of how the less expensive cabins are on the ship? We sailed on the Viking Skadi so know they will probably be nice, but for a 29-day cruise? We are normally HAL cruisers.

[roothy123]

I haven't been on Star yet, and I haven't been on Holland either, but since nobody has responded yet, here's some info:

 

Here's a link to one person who cruised in a regular veranda room in April: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2195337

 

I assume you're familiar with the perks that you DON'T get with the regular veranda rooms - can't advance book the specialty restaurants (must wait to get on board), can't get into your room on embarkation day until (I think) 3 (although everyone gets to board at 11), no alcohol in your mini-fridge, and things like that. Viking Oceans' website outlines those differences in a chart on its web site. Other than the perks, and probably location on the ship (usually cheaper rooms are lower), I don't think there are any differences between the veranda rooms and the deluxe veranda rooms. However, if you're really picky about what time you want to eat in the specialty restaurants, that may be one thing to think about. I don't remember hearing anyone complain that they couldn't get in those restaurants once they boarded, but if you have a birthday, anniversary or something you want to celebrate, it might be important to you to be able to advance book. Of course, the specialty restaurants are only 2 of the dining options available, and one doesn't sound to be nearly as popular as the other, so in the grand scheme of things, advance bookings may not be any issue at all.

 

From what I've read, about the only thing people don't like about the rooms (both deluxe and regular) is that there aren't enough drawers for clothing, at least for those who went on the full 50 day cruise. However, there is apparently a good amount of space on a rack above the hangers in the closet, similar to the space that other cruise lines use to store the life jackets. (Life jackets are handed out at the muster station or lifeboats, which has caused a little bit of concern, but actually makes a lot more sense to me. We've always been told that people shouldn't be going back to their rooms for life jackets, especially in a fire or something catastrophic.) Some people reported a lack of hangers, but that has been the situation for every cruise ship I've been on, so no big deal - easily rectified by asking the stateroom attendant for more, or putting things that don't have to be hung up on the shelf (pants?). Luggage can slide under the bed, so if there are things you really don't need often (like a warm jacket?), they can be placed in a suitcase under the bed.

 

Everyone has been quite happy with the bathrooms in all rooms as far as I can tell. I don't know how large Holland's cheaper staterooms are, but Viking's are pretty large, at least compared to what I'm used to on the 3 other ocean lines I've used - and dimensions are the same for verandas and deluxe verandas, so really the difference boils down to the perks unless you have a specific preference for location. If you have any inkling that you may get seasick, you may want to be far down and in the middle of the ship. Way up high seems to be the place to be status-wise, as that's usually where most of the expensive rooms on cruise ships are placed, but I've never really understood the attraction.

 

Personally, if you're trying to decide with going with the regular veranda or the deluxe, I would just go with the regular veranda - if they're not all taken yet! If you're worried about space for a long cruise, I would compare amount of space and perks for one of the more expensive rooms and see if you feel it's worth it to spend the extra money.

 

Hope that helps. If not, perhaps can fill you in! Also, there are a number of reviews of Star now, so perhaps if you find a few written by cruisers in regular veranda cabins, those might give you an idea of what people thought. I've also seen pictures of the veranda cabins somewhere, but at this point, I forget where those are - perhaps on the blog written by travelinsubman? Not sure.

[jlp879]

If you watch this video:

 

http://www.avidcruiser.com/2015/05/06/viking-star-day-5-avid-cruisers-viking-star-video-review/

 

you get a look at one of the regular verandah rooms at 3:30 in the video.

[jkerr]

We had the least expensive Veranda room. Our room was right next door and on the same floor with the room size and configuration as those who paid more for a coffee pot and more again alcohol. You can order room service any time in the morning and they will deliver a pot of coffee within minutes. You can make a reservation for the speciality resturants once you board and there is no problem with availabilty for seating times or dates. You can walk into The Resturant ( finer dining than the World Cafe) and have no waiting for any meal. You can bring alcohol on the ship in your suitcase when you originally board and beer and wine daily if you like. But they really do serve beer and wine for about 3 hours at lunch and again for 3 hours at dinner, what they free flow.

Drinks in the bar are cheap $4-6.00. You would have a hard time spending the difference in room price in the bar.

We picked up a cancellation 18 months in advance for the Maiden Voyage and I was not disappointed in our decision to book a plain ole Veranda room.

It was fabulous!!!!

Edited June 19, 2015 by jkerr

[Ingra Tor]

We had the least expensive Veranda room. Our room was right next door and on the same floor with the room size and configuration as those who paid more for a coffee pot and more again alcohol. You can order room service any time in the morning and they will deliver a pot of coffee within minutes. You can make a reservation for the speciality resturants once you board and there is no problem with availabilty for seating times or dates. You can walk into The Resturant ( finer dining than the World Cafe) and have no waiting for any meal. You can bring alcohol on the ship in your suitcase when you originally board and beer and wine daily if you like. But they really do serve beer and wine for about 3 hours at lunch and again for 3 hours at dinner, what they free flow.

Drinks in the bar are cheap $4-6.00. You would have a hard time spending the difference in room price in the bar.

We picked up a cancellation 18 months in advance for the Maiden Voyage and I was not disappointed in our decision to book a plain ole Veranda room.

It was fabulous!!!!

 

 

Hi Jkerr,

We have been in the DV cabins on deck 5 and have now booked cabin 3012 (V1) for next year. Do they have a fridge ( all be it an empty one)?

Yours with thanks

Ingra Tor

[cassandra44]

The basic veranda cabins do have a fridge. On boarding we found it stocked with cold drinks and a couple of small chocolate bars. We dont drink pop so we never used any of it. There is no coffee maker but we were very pleased since we wouldn't have used it and it would just have taken up space.

I dont see any disadvantage to booking basic veranda. Initially we had fears about being able to book the main or specialty restaurants but since the main dining room has gone to flexible dining (first come etc basis) then no problem at all.

We were able to go to Manfredi's on 3 occasions and the other speciality restaurant once but I dont think there would have been a lot of problems if we had wanted further bookings.

The other issue is priority booking for excursions....we did only the included ones and booked a private tour for St Petersburg so others will have to comment on whether they were disadvantaged in booking paid excursions.

[id4elizabeth]

Just to let you know, the plastic parts inside the fridge can all come out. As is, a bottle of wine, or in my case a carafe of iced tea, won't fit inside the fridge because of all the plastic dividers. But if you pop the dividers out, a bottle of wine (bought on shore) can fit with a little tilting and one of the water carafes filled with something else can easily fit. Along with other goodies like cheese, prosciutto etc.

[sitraveler]

We were in a DV because the lower category cabins were sold out. Used the frig for bottled water, the standard water is a carafe they refill all the time. I took out the coffee set up to get more storage space. Viking's website shows no frig in the standard cabins, don't know if they will have them in the new builds.

We're looking to book for 2017, were very pleased with Viking and the ship.

[cassandra44]

Yes - I confirm that there are fridges in basic veranda - we had one

[rjscott]

We were in a veranda cabin and our fridge was stocked once with a complimentary supply of Diet Coke (my choice). After that, it would have been a charge per can. I chose to bring a supply onboard at some ports of bottles, as I could drink what I wanted (I am not a coffee drinker, and my Diet Coke is my 'morning coffee'), and close and refrigerate the bottle for later.

I liked the bed; it was comfy. Wish we'd had a loveseat instead of the two chairs in the sitting area, but that was a personal preference. I thought the size of the cabin was decent. We've had both a veranda cabin and a French balcony on Viking river cruises and found this cabin to be a bit larger than both of the river cruise ships. As already noted, drawer space was limited, but there was substantial space over the closet rod for storing things like jeans, sweaters, etc. that didn't need drawer space. The bathroom was fantastic. Large and well-appointed.

 

Becki