Anyone sailed Viking OCEAN cruises?

[mrsaquashark]

In terms of price, your experience might be different than mine, and I really only know pricing for itineraries I've booked. However, our off season Mediterranean Viking itinerary was less expensive than our Greek Isles cruise on Azamara in July of 2015, more expensive than the Aqua Class cabin we have booked for January 2018 in the Caribbean, and less expensive than what the Sky Suite price was when I checked recently for the same Jan 2018 Silhouette itinerary before they sold out. All 3 cruises in the comparison were 7 days. However, those comparisons might be irrelevant depending on itinerary, time of year, and ports.

[Hlitner]

Thanks for the great feedback!

 

Viking Ocean Cruises is a high quality product (just like their River Cruise line) that offers more then you get when booking normal mass market lines. So when comparing prices one needs to try and adjust to make it Apples to Apples. Since Viking includes excursions in all their ports, this can save some folks a lot of money, (especially those who normally book cruise line excursions). On the other hand, for DIYers like moi (we normally avoid tours/excursions like the plague) Viking might not be the best fit.

 

Hank

[tunaman2011]

Greetings

 

We are avid Celebrity cruisers but were looking to try new things. Last year we cruised Celebrity, Oceania, Azamara, Viking Ocean and NCL. I will have to say that Viking Ocean was spectacular. Great ship, tremendous service, very good food. They were however the most expensive of the bunch. And to get the best rates you have to pay in full over a year in advance. IMO Viking Ocean is close to joining the "super premium" lines and it is reflected in their pricing.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[mafig]

No casino?:(

[maggie.1008]

I would like to try Viking Ocean. Our last 2 cruises on Oceania were fabulous and next month we are cruising on Crystal Serenity. After 25 cruises with X we were ready for a smaller ship with less passengers. We book AQ and Sky Suites on X and the prices are about the same as Oceania. Shop around you might be surprised.

[mrsgoggins]

We took the Viking Oceans Homelands cruise last year and could not fault it. It was not cheap, but almost everything we needed was included. I think we paid for one additional tour in St Petersburg, but otherwise, apart from the occasional coffee ashore and souvenirs, we paid for nothing.

 

There were 4 guest speakers on board and they were all excellent and covered varied topics, mostly related to the areas being visited. The ship was state of the art and the entertainment was much better than I had expected for a small ship. Classical music lovers were well catered for, but 'popular' entertainment was good too. There is no casino of course, and no constant badgering you to buy stuff!

 

I loved having underfloor heating in the great bathroom, 2 armchairs rather than a sofa and a coffee machine in the room.

 

We don't have another Viking booked, but I expect we will at sometime.

[villauk]

We took the Viking Oceans Homelands cruise last year and could not fault it. It was not cheap, but almost everything we needed was included. I think we paid for one additional tour in St Petersburg, but otherwise, apart from the occasional coffee ashore and souvenirs, we paid for nothing.

 

There were 4 guest speakers on board and they were all excellent and covered varied topics, mostly related to the areas being visited. The ship was state of the art and the entertainment was much better than I had expected for a small ship. Classical music lovers were well catered for, but 'popular' entertainment was good too. There is no casino of course, and no constant badgering you to buy stuff!

 

I loved having underfloor heating in the great bathroom, 2 armchairs rather than a sofa and a coffee machine in the room.

 

We don't have another Viking booked, but I expect we will at sometime.

 

Current pricing on their site states that everything is included in the price - flights, excursions in ports and gratuities. I take it the included drinks are only provided with meals and all additional have to be purchased separately? What was the average age on your particular cruise?

[Azulann]

Current pricing on their site states that everything is included in the price - flights, excursions in ports and gratuities. I take it the included drinks are only provided with meals and all additional have to be purchased separately? What was the average age on your particular cruise?

For my upcoming Viking Sea Cruise we will buy the Sliver Beverage package. It is $20.00 pp per day. Much better than the Celebrity premuim package. This includes all drinks up to $15.00, wine beer, cocktails anytime. Wine and beer are included during the lunch and dinner time in the price of the cruise. You can also bring any wine, spirits on board at any port. No corkage fee either!

[mrsgoggins]

Current pricing on their site states that everything is included in the price - flights, excursions in ports and gratuities. I take it the included drinks are only provided with meals and all additional have to be purchased separately? What was the average age on your particular cruise?

 

Yes you are correct about the drinks with meals only being included. As an almost non-drinker, I tend not to take notice, but I know that my husband enjoyed the wines served, and if he had a favourite that had been served on a prior evening, the servers would get it for him.

 

I would say that the average age on that particular cruise was in the sixties, although I did see many who were younger (but not many below 50) and obviously some older. We were on the first Homelands cruise of the season (departed from Bergen) and so the ship had sailed up from the Med with quite a lot of Americans on board who had booked for 50 days. That fact in itself, possibly made the average age a bit higher than normal.

[Lastdance]

Questions:

 

1. What times are meals?

 

2. How is the gym?

 

3. What you miss from larger ships?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[Celiac Cruiser]

I have cruised Viking Ocean, Princess, HAL, NCL along with Viking River. I haven't tried Celebrity yet but have my eyes on their New Zealand/ Australia cruise on The Solstice. I liked Viking Ocean OK but I am not 'sold'. I priced the Viking 15 day New Zealand at $14,000 whereas the Celebrity 12 day New Zealand is $4400 in Concierge Class! Granted with Celebrity I will have to pay for shore excursions but the price difference is crazy.

Now for my evaluation of Viking: Very pretty ship, all brand new. Service, Food, Cabin, live classical music was Good -Very Good. Older (70's) clientele (No one under 18 allowed on board) - if you like to sit and read a book, they have lots of quiet spaces-

Now for the faults: Entertainment was lacking- Live show was High Schoolish - I saw several people walk out - live music (other than classical) was sad - no casino - the bars were shutting down by 10 PM.

- overall organized entertainment was boring (and this comment was shared by many whom I spoke with) - unless your idea of entertainment is a history lecture. Yes, it was an "expert" historian but it was still a history lecture. In their defense, they expect folks to take their cruise to get to exotic ports of call not to dance the night away in a fun disco.

 

 

On their river cruises, they will bring on local talent to entertain nightly. That is not done on the Ocean (I understand that is not practical but it was disappointing).

 

 

Of the 3 couples I know who enjoyed Viking River and then took Viking Ocean, none of them plan to return to Viking Ocean. Not that it was terrible - just wasn't Fabulous.

 

 

FYI- I (we) are a young retired couple in our early 60's. We have traveled to much of the world but want to see more and want to enjoy the journey not just the destination. Will we like the Celebrity Solstice?

[helen haywood]

Yes, you will love the Solstice. We had sailed Royal, Carnival, Costa, HAL, MSC and several river cruises before we first sailed Celebrity. We loved Celebrity...but then we had our first Solstice Class ship experience...on Solstice. She is such a beautiful ship!

 

 

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[mnocket]

No casino?:(

 

That's my problem too. DW and I like to hit the casino after late dinner.

[caribill]

We won't be taking any of the free included excursions - they're basically all bus tours of the islands. Not gonna' happen. Plus we know what we like on the islands, been to them all many times. Hopefully Viking will get different/more varied included excursions on their ships as time goes on.

 

I suspect Viking already has those different/more varied excursions, but they are not the included free ones.

[Celiac Cruiser]

1) Main Dining Room is 'open seating'....no assigned time. Different waiter, different table every night. (I am 'old school' and like having the same waiter each night so that they get to know your preferences you get more personalized service). If you go to dinner between 6:30-7:30 expect to wait to get in. At the speciality restaurants you make a reservation. BTW: Manfreddi's was awesome (better than fabulous) food! Chef's Table was not good. Food was just a little too weird tasting and quantity small.

2) Didn't use the Gym. Free use of Spa is a nice perk!

3) a little too quiet - no party atmosphere - no casino. The evening entertainment options were lacking. Sure didn't miss the lines! Easy on and off for shore excursions.

 

We did the 14 day Homelands Cruise this past May. I will say that Viking is very attentive to customer service. I made some comments on their questionnaire early in the cruise and followed up with a post on Cruise Critic and Boy-O-Boy, I had attention to the issue from all sides.

 

 

Questions:

 

1. What times are meals?

 

2. How is the gym?

 

3. What you miss from larger ships?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[TLCOhio]

Viking Ocean doesn't have a liberal smoking policy. Smokers were in a very limited area on the sundeck aft of mid ship on the starboard side. There is no smoking anywhere inside.

 

Appreciate these many posts and comments. Great to get this clarification that their smoking policy seems appropriate and fairly narrow. Like the size of these Viking ocean ship and they seems to have incorporated many good design/service options that fits our interests.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 185,587 views for this posting.

[casper106]

We have friends who are long time cruisers. They travel exclusively on Viking. They love it. Very interesting cruise itineraries,great food and service. If price isn't an issue,definitely worth trying from what I've heard.