Comparing Viking Ocean to Regent

[travelwell]

I guess 2/3’s better then nothing. I have been lurking on the Viking boards, although all cruises can have mishaps it makes you wonder if Viking Ocean cruises growing too fast.

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

17 minutes ago, travelwell said:

I guess 2/3’s better then nothing. I have been lurking on the Viking boards, although all cruises can have mishaps it makes you wonder if Viking Ocean cruises growing too fast.

 

 

Right, the engine problem or whatever it is.  I too am lurking big time, and following the WC blogs.  We'll see.  Today I'm feeling hopeful about Mariner, but definitely keeping my eye on Viking.

 

Let's hope we get to meet up on this cruise!

[BarbarianPaul]

On 1/10/2019 at 9:56 AM, 1982CruzStart said:

Our Viking River cruise was the worst vacation experience i have had in the past 15 years. The food was awful, the shore excursions with 50 people per bus were awful as well as other things.  The one positive is we did meet some intelligent, well traveled people.  I would never do another Viking River cruise even it was given to me free. Our experience has made me very hesitant to try Viking Ocean. Won't say never but highly unlikely. 

We weren’t huge fans of the Viking River experience either, for pretty much the same reasons. But we had sailed Viking Oceans prior to the river cruise, and had a great time.

[1982CruzStart]

13 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

We weren’t huge fans of the Viking River experience either, for pretty much the same reasons. But we had sailed Viking Oceans prior to the river cruise, and had a great time.

Glad to hear your Ocean experience was much better than the river one. 

[Missymssy]

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Missymssy
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2628260-random-thoughts-on-my-first-vo-cruise/

[mrlevin]

At least Regent has never had to evacuate an entire ship one by one by helicopter.  Viking Sky less than two years old broken down and forced to evacuate at sea.

[Focused1]

Just disembarked a Viking Cruise on the Orion from Auckland to Sydney on March 12. It was our first cruise on Viking and we stayed in an aft Explorer Suite (not to be confused with the beautiful Explorer Suites on the Regent Explorer).  I have to say, that is where the similarities with Regent end. Viking is a premium line not a luxury line so comparisons from an apples to apples 🍎 perspective is difficult. Suffice it to say that food, service and entertainment are good...just good, not very good or great. There are lots of options for alternative dining. The general ambience on the ship is minimalist, a bit stark but tastefully done. Passengers are friendly and engaging and no children are allowed. Where they really fail is in their suites of which there are only 3 categories, Jr penthouse, Explorer, owners (only one). Our suite was cramped, furnished poorly (oversized, low quality) and the bathroom was just horrible, small and with a shower and bathtub combination which flooded the entire bathroom floor each time used. The wrap around balcony contained bulky and weathered furniture which required massive cushions being brought into the already cramped space each evening.  Overall, it just seemed too mass market for us.  We wanted to try it and we have, so now back to Regent and Seabourn. If you want to try something different , go for it but be prepared to pay in full at least one year or more in advance and do not think it will in anyway resemble your Regent experience. 

[jctdlt]

Right now a Viking ship is being evacuated off the coast of Norway.  Really scary!

[tripperva]

And as mentioned above, it is a new ship. The injured pax evacuated by helicopter to hospitals and the ship now towed by two tugs into port.

[rcandkc]

We have been in rougher weather on Voyager in the Tasman Sea near New Zealand...30 foot seas, 80 mile winds, 2 dining windows broke...BUT we had NO mechanical problems.  Losing engine power is scary!  That failure will certainly be investigated and the findings could maybe help all Captains.  Sounds like the passengers and crew handled it very calmly.  Thank goodness it wasn’t a mega ship. 

[Travelcat2]

She is docking now - live video 

 

 

[BarbarianPaul]

19 hours ago, Focused1 said:

Just disembarked a Viking Cruise on the Orion from Auckland to Sydney on March 12. It was our first cruise on Viking and we stayed in an aft Explorer Suite (not to be confused with the beautiful Explorer Suites on the Regent Explorer).  I have to say, that is where the similarities with Regent end. Viking is a premium line not a luxury line so comparisons from an apples to apples 🍎 perspective is difficult. Suffice it to say that food, service and entertainment are good...just good, not very good or great. There are lots of options for alternative dining. The general ambience on the ship is minimalist, a bit stark but tastefully done. Passengers are friendly and engaging and no children are allowed. Where they really fail is in their suites of which there are only 3 categories, Jr penthouse, Explorer, owners (only one). Our suite was cramped, furnished poorly (oversized, low quality) and the bathroom was just horrible, small and with a shower and bathtub combination which flooded the entire bathroom floor each time used. The wrap around balcony contained bulky and weathered furniture which required massive cushions being brought into the already cramped space each evening.  Overall, it just seemed too mass market for us.  We wanted to try it and we have, so now back to Regent and Seabourn. If you want to try something different , go for it but be prepared to pay in full at least one year or more in advance and do not think it will in anyway resemble your Regent experience. 

Actually, we completely disagree. We enjoyed Viking a bit more.

 

The food is better on Regent, but not by light years. And we really loved the clean, homey aesthetic of the Viking Ship. With what seemed like acres and acres of dark marble on the Explorer, it felt to me at best like a country club where I didn’t want to be a member, and at worst like a crypt. 

 

On the Explorer, we were in a concierge cabin, with the bed facing the veranda. It was great, and bigger than our cabin on Viking. But still, we enjoyed the clean modernity on Viking a bit more. The entertainment and lectures on Viking were better, where more intimate discussions with the lecturers and on board professors were also scheduled.

 

We were new to Regent. We hadn’t sailed with them for 20 years and 100 times, where from reading these boards the things you ask for can happen far quicker. We had some issues with our cabin that took days to address. We were new to cruising at the time, and I guess should have complained louder. That was a lesson we needed to learn only once.

 

Lastly, Viking is, frankly, cheaper. Considerably so. I don’t think they have interest in offering larger, over the top suites. I think it’s more about the ports. A typical veranda cabin works just fine for my wife and I. It is, after all, a cruise ship!

 

 

 

[Focused1]

4 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

Actually, we completely disagree. We enjoyed Viking a bit more.

 

The food is better on Regent, but not by light years. And we really loved the clean, homey aesthetic of the Viking Ship. With what seemed like acres and acres of dark marble on the Explorer, it felt to me at best like a country club where I didn’t want to be a member, and at worst like a crypt. 

 

On the Explorer, we were in a concierge cabin, with the bed facing the veranda. It was great, and bigger than our cabin on Viking. But still, we enjoyed the clean modernity on Viking a bit more. The entertainment and lectures on Viking were better, where more intimate discussions with the lecturers and on board professors were also scheduled.

 

We were new to Regent. We hadn’t sailed with them for 20 years and 100 times, where from reading these boards the things you ask for can happen far quicker. We had some issues with our cabin that took days to address. We were new to cruising at the time, and I guess should have complained louder. That was a lesson we needed to learn only once.

 

Lastly, Viking is, frankly, cheaper. Considerably so. I don’t think they have interest in offering larger, over the top suites. I think it’s more about the ports. A typical veranda cabin works just fine for my wife and I. It is, after all, a cruise ship!

 

 

 

Don’t think I was asking for agreement. Just stating my experience as compared with Regent as the post title describes. Diversity of opinion is what makes Cruise Critic great. Sure, Viking is cheaper but not really by much. But, as I expressed previously, you really can’t compare the two and have the same expectations as one is a premium line and the other is a luxury line. You get what you pay for. 

[BarbarianPaul]

18 minutes ago, Focused1 said:

Don’t think I was asking for agreement. Just stating my experience as compared with Regent as the post title describes. Diversity of opinion is what makes Cruise Critic great. Sure, Viking is cheaper but not really by much. But, as I expressed previously, you really can’t compare the two and have the same expectations as one is a premium line and the other is a luxury line. You get what you pay for. 

You’re definitely right about diversity of opinion. And that is what makes Cruise Critic great! But I disagree with you on the getting what you pay for part. With Regent, at least in my case, I did not feel like I got what I paid for. And with Viking, I feel like I paid less and got more.

[RJ2002]

Uh oh, didn't realize that I'd already commented in this thread earlier!

 

Bottom line... I agree more with Focused1 in their comparison of the two lines.

Edited March 24, 2019 by RJ2002
removed duplicated posting

[Focused1]

30 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

You’re definitely right about diversity of opinion. And that is what makes Cruise Critic great! But I disagree with you on the getting what you pay for part. With Regent, at least in my case, I did not feel like I got what I paid for. And with Viking, I feel like I paid less and got more.

 

And conversely, I feel I paid more and got less on Viking. Diversity of opinion. 

[BarbarianPaul]

4 minutes ago, Focused1 said:

 

And conversely, I feel I paid more and got less on Viking. Diversity of opinion. 

No. You might have felt you paid less and got less. But you definitely didn’t pay more than Regent. If you had, I’d be annoyed too! I do think, however, that in the future we might try Seabourn or Silversea, or return to Crystal. Will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

 

 

 

 

[Focused1]

5 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

No. You might have felt you paid less and got less. But you definitely didn’t pay more than Regent. If you had, I’d be annoyed too! I do think, however, that in the future we might try Seabourn or Silversea, or return to Crystal. Will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

 

 

 

 

I think I know what I paid and per diem was very close to Regent all things considered. So, yes, quite annoyed. We are on a Seabourn cruise (our 4th) in September. Have been on Silversea about 10 or so cruises. Each has its ups and downs but definitely a nice experience and comparable to Regent. You can’t go wrong with either. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

53 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

No. You might have felt you paid less and got less. But you definitely didn’t pay more than Regent. If you had, I’d be annoyed too! I do think, however, that in the future we might try Seabourn or Silversea, or return to Crystal. Will be interesting to see how they compare.

 

As much as I love Regent, we really enjoyed our Seabourn Quest cruise last fall.  Now when I think about Seabourn in general, I have nothing but good memories and thoughts.  That being said, we're booked on a Regent world cruise because Seabourn's similar cruises don't interest us, or are way too expensive.

 

I have looked extensively at a similar Viking WC, and concluded that the costs would be slightly higher on Viking, in an approximately-sized cabin, with amenity costs added on in the case of Viking.  Of course the world cruise is somewhat different from a normal cruise.

[SedonaJoel]

22 hours ago, Focused1 said:

Just disembarked a Viking Cruise on the Orion from Auckland to Sydney on March 12. It was our first cruise on Viking and we stayed in an aft Explorer Suite (not to be confused with the beautiful Explorer Suites on the Regent Explorer).  I have to say, that is where the similarities with Regent end. Viking is a premium line not a luxury line so comparisons from an apples to apples 🍎 perspective is difficult. Suffice it to say that food, service and entertainment are good...just good, not very good or great. There are lots of options for alternative dining. The general ambience on the ship is minimalist, a bit stark but tastefully done. Passengers are friendly and engaging and no children are allowed. Where they really fail is in their suites of which there are only 3 categories, Jr penthouse, Explorer, owners (only one). Our suite was cramped, furnished poorly (oversized, low quality) and the bathroom was just horrible, small and with a shower and bathtub combination which flooded the entire bathroom floor each time used. The wrap around balcony contained bulky and weathered furniture which required massive cushions being brought into the already cramped space each evening.  Overall, it just seemed too mass market for us.  We wanted to try it and we have, so now back to Regent and Seabourn. If you want to try something different , go for it but be prepared to pay in full at least one year or more in advance and do not think it will in anyway resemble your Regent experience. 

 

What suite type were you in on Viking?  Was it an Explorer (ES3)?

[SedonaJoel]

We'd completed 7 Regent cruises -then did 28 Oceania cruises - all in owners or Oceania suites.  We really like Oceania - but are just bored with their itineraries so we have no more cruises planned with them.  We find the Regent service level (lack of) in the buffet restaurant awful and the food too rich and unremarkable - (so no more Regent for us).  Our new favorite cruise line is Azamara.  Their customer service is excellent - both from HQ and on their ships and they have amazing itineraries.  We did Antarctica this January and loved it.  We're doing Singapore and Myanmar in October and Norway and Svalbard island next year - all on Azamara.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

o

[Focused1]

20 minutes ago, SedonaJoel said:

 

What suite type were you in on Viking?  Was it an Explorer (ES3)?

Yes, we were in 3095. 

[SedonaJoel]

1 hour ago, Focused1 said:

Yes, we were in 3095. 

 

We're booked on the Orion for 37 days beginning 4/21 - we're in suite 3094.  I hope that our experience is better than yours.

[Focused1]

2 hours ago, SedonaJoel said:

 

We're booked on the Orion for 37 days beginning 4/21 - we're in suite 3094.  I hope that our experience is better than yours.

I hope you have a wonderful cruise. 

[Travelcat2]

IF I were going to sail on a premium plus cruise line, it would not be Azamara or Viking Ocean -- it would be Oceania.  We have sailed on her twice - taking the alcohol package - and the quality of the offered alcohols is superior to the other premium plus cruise lines (although the wine is pretty mediocre).