RSSC regular looking into Viking

[CatLuvsH20]

I would like to hear from people who have travelled on Regents and Viking and hear some comparing and contrasting ~

 

Thanks!

[paquebot]

I have been on only one cruise with each of the two lines, the Regent Mariner from Alaska to Vancouver in 2008 and the first leg of the maiden from Istanbul to Venice on Viking Star. Given that Regent was well established at that time and that Viking Oceans is brand new, you need to keep that in mind. We booked directly each time. Regent delivered a complimentary bottle of champagne to our cabin and wished us a great trip. Viking did absolutely zero, except to leave a glossy book on the coffee table promoting their ocean ships..No welcome note.

 

Fellow guests were younger on Regent (perhaps the Alaskan destination), well-traveled, and eager to fully explore the ports on the itinerary. Of course, I was younger then, too!

 

Nonetheless, there is no comparison between the two, in my opinion. Regent's price point is higher and they delivered accordingly: creatively prepared, more luxury food and wine choices at meals, including the specialty restaurants. For example, each night in Compass Rose, they offered a fabulous cheese trolley and glasses of port. These were touches that made the cruise extra special.

 

Seamless service and comfort from top to bottom: cabin was thoroughly cleaned and tidied twice a day, room service was high end and reliable, the few shows we attended were very entertaining, port-related presentations were excellent and scheduled for the convenience of guests, restaurant and excursion personnel were at the top of their game. The ship sponsored port excursions (now included) were well organized, kept to schedule, and served to deepen appreciation of the ports of call. The Mariner is even smaller than Viking Star. Both ships are beautiful. We liked our deluxe Mariner room more than the deluxe veranda on Viking, but both were comfortable. It was a bit tight walking around the bed on Viking Star. The bathrooms on both were very good.

 

We docked or tendered in very close proximity to the ports in Alaska, and often too, on the first leg of Viking. We tendered a couple of times on each cruise. Embarkation and disembarkation was a breeze with Regent, not always the case with Viking, especially when trying to get off the ship in port. We booked private excursions both times and never were delayed in Alaska. Not the case with Viking. With Regent, we simply walked off and back on with no delay. You could always get something to eat were you hungry and we felt pampered the whole week onboard. On Mariner,

I took a complimentary yoga class and walked the promenade deck. It was too cold to swim in the pool in May.

 

Viking did offer free WiFi, a great benefit, but regrettably, they took no personal notice of us, even blowing off our anniversary in the main restaurant, with no apology nor explanation (after two phone calls, early on to the booking agent and on board to the maîtresse d'). Manfredi's kindly acknowledged it the next evening, after I expressed my great disappointment to their staff. We felt as though we got lost in the shuffle, had no track record as repeat guests. Regent communications were superlative, Viking poor, partly due to IT technical glitches that are perhaps now solved. But, Regent personnel went to the trouble to try and remember who we were. With Viking, we couldn't even get through to a restaurant, room service, the Explorers Desk, etc, as calls were not picked up at least two thirds of the time.

 

We enjoyed our trip but would hesitate to take Viking again.

Paquebot

Edited July 30, 2015 by paquebot