Viking Ocean and Viking River compared

[eaglewatchers]

Having taken a Viking Ocean cruise in their first summer (Viking Homelands, 2015) and just returned from our first Viking River cruise this spring (Tulips and Windmills, 2016), we have been discussing the comparison between the two. Our travel agent asked us the same thing after our return just yesterday. Below is the analysis I gave her, and she suggested I post it on Cruise Critic... So here goes:

 

Background: We had a PV1 room on the Viking Star (summer time) and a balcony stateroom on Viking Bragi (end of March/first week of April).

 

Question: Do you prefer Ocean or River Cruising with Viking and why?

 

Answer:

I can’t award a winner, since each has its advantages. Some of my thoughts are below. My husband may have different ones.

 

Food/wine:

Oceans offers more menu choices (because there are more people and several venues). Quality is equal. We missed the variety of equally good places and times to eat. River’s smaller, informal options simply did not match the quality of the main dining room. We would have liked better buffet lunch options.

 

Luxury

(Remember, we are comparing our two “upper middle level” stateroom options). Oceans wins with 24/7 free room service, robes, larger stateroom. Ocean ships don't have to fit in small rivers! Beds were better on Oceans. There was comfortable seating for two in our stateroom on Oceans. Included minibar on Oceans (at our level) was valuable and fun. We used the free booze and carried elsewhere on the ship. Veranda on River not as useful as on Oceans. A French Balcony would probably have been enough, given the weather this time of year.

 

Common areas:

Equally attractive decor. More options and space on Oceans. We never felt crowded. River has very nice lounge, but it is smaller and is the only real place to go “hang out” as your living room. It got full at times. In summer, this would be less of an issue. It was usually too cold on sundeck for anything other than taking a few pictures while dressed in warmer clothing. The Netherlands are windy. We had a couple of afternoons where we could sit out for a while. In summer, this would be possible in evenings, too, on both River and Oceans.

 

Talks, Entertainment, etc.

I'd call this a draw. River had interesting cultural info and better timing for these (not at dinner hour, could attend while having drinks). Oceans tended to do them at 6 pm which was NOT a good time to attend in a theatre venue. On River, there was usually one evening entertainment option after dinner: a trivia night, a VERY funny game that included staff department heads, visiting musicians, etc. If you did not want to do these, it might have been hard to “hang out” anywhere other than your stateroom, but we enjoyed most of them. River also offers galley and wheelhouse tours. Both were fun! Oceans had outstanding resident musicians and some shows (quasi- musical reviews...not as good as the instrumentalists, IMO).

 

Other passengers:

Similar demographic, just proportionately fewer on River. Same “types,” for the most part. We found people we enjoyed on both cruises. We avoided the ones who annoyed us… We also saw many who were quite a bit older than we (we are not yet fully retired). Not a lot of younger folks, but a few.

 

Staff:

Comparable, but River wins for getting to know people well with smaller group of passengers. Program Director was OUTSTANDING. Lots of individual attention from staff if you wanted it. River can do this with only 166 passengers on our ship (capacity was 190).

 

Excursions:

Mostly comparable. Oceans was working out kinks with new local vendors in its first season, but most were very good. River had mostly excellent guides, but we had a couple who were weak. We ditched them :) Interestingly, River did a better job of offering “leisure” options (translate: slower walking group for those who are less able). This was nice so others were not slowed down. We did more “optional” ($$) excursions on Oceans and opted for only one on River. That was mostly because we had learned how to do more on our own or simply wanted to walk around town without buses and agendas. Daily briefings on River far better than “port talks” on Oceans. More info, less sales pitch. Optional excursions on both tend to include more buses than we like.

 

Ports:

River gets close into town in MOST places. Oceans varies more, depending on the port. Amsterdam docking location is out of Viking’s control. Our final day was at an ugly location outside of town. They had shuttles, but that does limit spontaneity and time. We prefer being able to simply “walk off” the ship. Do your homework on the ports when selecting a cruise!

 

Transfers:

River wins by a mile. We only had transfers at end of trip in both cases, since we went in a day early. Viking reps were extremely helpful at the airport on River cruise. Oceans simply dumped us at the airport door. Not sure if this is always the case, but it was our experience.

 

Communication:

Pre cruise is pretty weak from both. During cruise, the Viking Daily on both is almost identical. Daily briefings are very good on River. Reception area always available for info, help, etc. Oceans not quite as easy, but not bad. More people = more squeaky wheels who can monopolize staff.

 

My conclusion is that no one should assume that Oceans and River will be “the same.” Each has strengths. A veteran River passenger should be aware that there are differences and vice versa. The overall company mission is quite evident on BOTH. Scale means some differences.

 

My ten cents...

Candy

[Rosethorn40]

Enjoyed reading your thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to write them down. I have taken three river cruises, two European with Viking, and loved them. Have never taken a Viking Ocean cruise (But would like to. The latest brochure is lying open to the itinerary I want to go on, next to my DH's chair hoping that he gets the hint). However, I am a veteran of many an ocean cruise. I think that comparing an ocean cruise to a river cruise, regardless of the line, is comparing apples to oranges. With the exception of the beds (If they can have comfortable beds on Ocean, why not River?) I think with any River cruise you will find a more personal level of service, and with an Ocean cruise more choices. Lets face it, even on an Ocean cruise I have found the bigger the ship, the more it has to offer in dining and entertainment, but you do lose something.

 

I have to agree with you that I couldn't choose what I like better, ocean or river cruising. I just consider myself lucky that I can do both.

[eaglewatchers]

Rosethorn,

At least VO only had about 900 passengers. I don't think we'd EVER go bigger than that. Huge ships are not our thing. Agree with you that I feel fortunate to do ANY cruise!

 

C

[bobinnv]

I've been on two Ocean, three River cruises with Viking.

 

To me, the river cruises are better, hands down. With 900 passengers, which I realize is small for an ocean cruise, it can't help but be impersonal. There are so many passengers, you won't even lay eyes on them all. With only a couple of hundred passengers, it is much easier to get to know people, since you keep running into people again and again. On the ocean cruise, you might eat with someone, and then never even get a glimpse of them again because the ship is so big.

 

As to food, certainly the presentation is fancier in the ocean cruise restaurant, but I'm not convinced the food is any better.

 

I guess to me the real difference is that the river cruises are more casual and intimate. The ocean cruises I find a bit more formal, but I also think that is what ocean cruise veterans expect.

[molymoo]

We have done a bunch of river cruised with Viking and will do our first ocean this summer. We love the river cruises! The small ships provide a relaxing experience and getting to know the crew and other passengers is a real plus for us.

 

We have always had great experiences with Viking (river) transfers ... I remember our escort in Russia and China staying by our sides up to the point where we were to go through security ... the one in Russia even helped us "rearrange" our packed luggage as one of the bags was over the weight limit. We were quite a sight there in the Moscow airport tossing our belongings back and forth and asking the girl behind the counter to repeatedly check the weight ... I think she finally "let us slide" as we were definitely holding up the progress. That would have been difficult without the assistance ... and translations from our Viking escort. :)

[id4elizabeth]

I think they are just different. As far as getting to know people, I quite agree it's more difficult on Oceans. However, we had a great bunch that we got to know through Cruise Critic Roll Calls. Since there's more passengers, there's more chance of meeting up with others on your cruise on CC. We planned lots of private excursions on our 50 days on the Star with folks we met on CC.

 

By contrast, I've been trying to locate folks on our upcoming Eastern European cruise and have found narry a soul.

 

I like the food choices on the Star - you can decide buffet tonight, MDR, or one of the Specialty places for something special. Or even room service. Also like the laundry facilities. Not to mention my favorite amenity, the SPA!!

 

However, I agree one of the pleasures of river cruising is getting to know everyone. Also, although I don't have statistical proof of this, the tour groups seemed smaller on the river cruises.

 

I'll happily go on either though as long as there's new things to see out there, I totally prefer either type of cruising to bus tours!

[Gigilovestotravel]

Thanks for the thorough comparison, eaglewatchers. We have been on 5 Viking river cruises and are about to go on our first ever ocean cruise on the Viking Sea. We love the intimacy of the river cruises as well as easy access to major cities. Looking forward to this new type of cruise. All travel is a gift indeed.