Activities on board Viking ocean cruise

[Shirleygibbs]

Are there activities planned during the day for those guests who have not gone out on an excursion?

[Richard2]

Generally, no. The spa will be almost empty, the pool may be all yours, but the guest lecturers will not be scheduled, movies will not be shown in the theatre, and the musicians will not be playing during the day. Those things will all be for later in the afternoon and evening. I don't know if scheduled tours of the Bridge or Kitchen are offered during port days if there are no sea days during the cruise. The Restaurant is usually closed for lunch on port days, but you can eat in the World Cafe or Pool Grille.

[Peregrina651]

Viking itineraries are port focused and thus Viking expects most of the passengers to be off the ship during the day. Therefore there are usually no activities scheduled before about 4 PM on port days. The ship is quiet and the few passengers who remain on board tend to entertain themselves. The spa, workout room and beauty salon are open.

[cocopico]

Ditto everything said above - no planned activities during port days -- but there are board-type games (and jigsaw puzzles) in the "living room," the sports deck has shuffle board, bocce ball, a putting green, etc., there are lots of books around the ship, the pools are open, there are free movies to watch in your cabin -- generally plenty of things to keep you occupied if you don't go ashore. With 24-hour room service you can eat in your cabin or on your balcony any time you like. Frankly, its sometimes nice to stay on board or come back early and feel like you have the ship to yourself and just relax!

[G. GIRL]

On our recent Mediterranean cruise we took a ship day for places we had visited before on land based holidays and enjoyed our quiet time. We had a leisurely start with breakfast on our balcony, had a peaceful swim, hubby had a massage, it was nice to take a break. Passengers on short tours would start to come back around lunch time but a lovely chilled out morning was very nice to have and extra entertainment was not needed.

[molymoo]

We're (at least tentatively) planning to stay aboard at Edinburgh during our British Isles cruise (we leave Tuesday!). We will be doing the three day pre-cruise extension in Edinburgh so many of the excursions would be redundant and I expect that the Tattoo and Fringe festivals will have crowds at peak levels in the city.

 

We plan to kick back and relax during our day aboard. A mani/pedi at the salon and a trip to the spa ... and we will likely take advantage of what will (hopefully) be some empty laundry rooms! There is also a lot of great programming available on the television in the rooms. Even an afternoon nap would be lovely ... especially on day 14 of our trip which is where we will be by the time we get to Edinburgh!

[Heidi13]

Depending on where they tender you ashore in Edinburgh, a visit to the Royal Yacht at Ocean Terminal might be worth a quick nip ashore, if you didn't visit it on the pre-cruise excursion.

 

We visited it last year during the Tattoo/Fringe Festival and only had a short queue for tickets, but no delays on board. Even got a table for Afternoon Tea without any waiting.

[Capt_BJ]

third day of our recent SKY trip (midnight sun) had reason to visit 'customer service' and while waiting for our 'fix' overheard the party at the next position ranting about NO ACTIVITIES ..... they were quite upset. Their rant was not restricted to any particular time but in general ..... btw this was not the only item on their complaint list .... seems there was a teen on board and they were quite upset that their 'no kids cruise' had been violated.

 

I never saw this troublesome teen myself .... Maybe I did, a girl of 19 maybe who behaved better than some of the adults!

 

ourselves ......

 

we were quite happy to find a lounger against the glass facing out for the day

 

a libation of two in the Explorer lounge around 5

 

and Mrs really enjoyed the 'movies under the stars' ..... the headphones reminded her of being a kid at a drive in with the speaker in the window!!

[Peregrina651]

third day of our recent SKY trip (midnight sun) had reason to visit 'customer service' and while waiting for our 'fix' overheard the party at the next position ranting about NO ACTIVITIES ..... they were quite upset. Their rant was not restricted to any particular time but in general ..... btw this was not the only item on their complaint list .... seems there was a teen on board and they were quite upset that their 'no kids cruise' had been violated.

 

I never saw this troublesome teen myself .... Maybe I did, a girl of 19 maybe who behaved better than some of the adults!

 

ourselves ......

 

we were quite happy to find a lounger against the glass facing out for the day

 

a libation of two in the Explorer lounge around 5

 

and Mrs really enjoyed the 'movies under the stars' ..... the headphones reminded her of being a kid at a drive in with the speaker in the window!!

 

Don't you just love people who don't do their homework and then rant and rave about what isn't available. More power to the men and women who man the customer service desks. I feel sorry for the TA who booked that one. Reminds me of the waiter in Palm Beach who walks up to the table and asks the four older ladies seated around it, "Was anything okay?"

 

Glad you enjoyed your time on board.

[BruinBuckeye]

Haha! I love that comment, "Was anything ok?" I agree that you have to do your homework on cruises. We've been on mainstream line (Princess) with 2500 and up on board with lots to do, kids programs, loud music & crowded pools. Also sailed on Crystal Serenity a year or so ago which was totally different (not to mention costlier but this was no surprise). Our first Viking Ocean cruise will be next July & we are very much looking forward to another relatively quiet experience. As many have said, it's a port intensive cruise & evening entertainment & other organized activities are not the strong suit on board.

 

We had no problem on our Princess cruises, but on that line & others, one is subjected to regular upselling in many places on board, everything is extra & port time is sometimes inadequate. Our general preference is for a quieter experience which may mean we don't cruise as often since the smaller lines tend to be more expensive...

 

Leslie

[Peregrina651]

As many have said, it's a port intensive cruise & evening entertainment & other organized activities are not the strong suit on board.

 

 

Leslie, I kind of think that it is along the lines of "Suppose you throw a party and nobody comes" or "Which came first the chicken or the egg." In other words, I think that there isn't much organized entertainment in the evenings because there is not much demand for it. There is a bunch who are closing up the disco every night but I don't think I have heard any stories about them having to turn folks away because it is too crowded. Viking takes the comment/criticism sheets that we are constantly asked to fill in very seriously and I think that if there were more demand to be entertained that Viking would respond to the demand. I think they pay close attention to which venues are filled in the evenings and what people are doing and at the same time, I think they are staying close to their river cruising roots and giving us a new take on ocean cruising--for those of us who have had it with the the steel drums and the adagio dancers and the Las Vegas showgirls.

[dln929]

Are there activities planned during the day for those guests who have not gone out on an excursion?

 

I saved the Viking Dailies from our Trade Routes cruise this past spring and pretty much the only thing offered on a port day are BBC movies and Ted Talks in the cinema. But on the other hand, as everyone has said, you'll have the spa to yourself, the pools, lots of peace and quiet, the chance to play a game of Scrabble, chess, or backgammon...personally I think it sounds heavenly.

[Geosez]

Some random thoughts on the subject:

 

First, it's frequently said that VO is "port intensive" -- not sure how that applies to the trans-atlantics, though! ;-) We've sailed with VO only once -- Wake of the Vikings, looking forward to Majestic Iceland next year -- our other ocean cruises were on the big box boats. (never again!) I never refer to our VO voyage as a "cruise" and get a little defensive when others do. For me, a "cruise" is what you do on Carnival in the Carribean, if you get my drift. I'm fine entertaining myself. Lots of opportunities for that on those beautiful ships.

 

Second, as far as feeling sorry for the TA that booked Mr. and Mrs. Nothing OK -- not sure I do. That's part of my TA's job when she sells me the trip. If there's something different, she lets us know. Now I do know that's the advantage of having a long-time relationship with a super-competent TA in her own business. Her little touch of "pit bull" doesn't hurt either! I guess if you've sailed on other lines, you might assume VO is another version of the usual. I'll give you that, but seems like curiosity would at least send you to the website -- or see the commercials on TV -- where you'd quickly find out there's nothing "usual" about it.

 

Third, doing your homework. Well, duh! There have been a slew of folks on this forum and others that I regularly read that don't have a clue. Especially re Viking, how did they not know that there's no casino? No formal nights? I mean no disrespect to the OP on this thread -- that was an appropriate question asked in a succinct manner -- thank you for that! Sometimes folks need to be reminded that CC is not a travel agency and nobody gets paid for offering help and advice. At least, I haven't gotten a check yet, have you, Peregrina? Oh, and the search function is great.

 

 

OK, current rant over. Back to the subject at hand.