Just Returned

[agnesd]

This was our first Viking cruise.  We have 7 Crystal Cruises, 5 Oceania and 5 Tauck River cruise under our belt.  For reasons we did not want to leave the country so we picked the Eastern Seaboard.  We were hesitant about Picking since we heard it did not have the personal service of the other ships.  I have to say that not only was it equal but superior to the other ships.  The 27O0 sq foot cabin was th first cabin we have ever felt it was like a little home.  The only complaint I had was the lectures.  They were boring, boring and boring.  other than that everything was equal to or superior to our other cruises.  We can't wait to go on another.

[SrCruizer]

We have done 3 VO cruises with a 4th one on the horizon in December. Surprised to read that you found the lectures boring. For the most part our experience has been just the opposite although I will comment that some lecturers were better than others. Be sure to provide your feedback to Viking because they do take it seriously and the good lecturers are invited back.

[Cyber Kat]

We also just got back from the Eastern Seaboard on the Viking Sea. Were you on the Sea or the Sun?  They followed us all the way. 

 

This was our second Viking Ocean cruise. We have done 2 Viking River cruises and several other cruises with other lines in the past. Viking has become our go to first line. We have 1 other ocean and 1 river booked. We really enjoyed this cruise for so many reasons. 
 

We enjoyed the lectures, especially those given by Bill Miller on Floating Palaces aka ocean liners and their evolution into cruise ships. He was quite entertaining and had lots of interesting anecdotes. 

[orchestrapal]

10 hours ago, agnesd said:

This was our first Viking cruise.  We have 7 Crystal Cruises, 5 Oceania and 5 Tauck River cruise under our belt.  For reasons we did not want to leave the country so we picked the Eastern Seaboard.  We were hesitant about Picking since we heard it did not have the personal service of the other ships.  I have to say that not only was it equal but superior to the other ships.  The 27O0 sq foot cabin was th first cabin we have ever felt it was like a little home.  The only complaint I had was the lectures.  They were boring, boring and boring.  other than that everything was equal to or superior to our other cruises.  We can't wait to go on another.

The largest suite on Viking Ocean is under 1500 sq ft I believe you are speaking about  a 270sq fr cabin.

 

Yes, compared with lectures on Crystal the lectures on our VO cruises were very uninteresting but there are many wonderful high level TED TALKS on your cabin TV.

While I would no compare service or food be on the same level as Crystal the ship was very comfortable an the crew very friendly.

Glad you had an overall good experience.

Edited October 19, 2019 by orchestrapal

[agnesd]

14 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

We also just got back from the Eastern Seaboard on the Viking Sea. Were you on the Sea or the Sun?  They followed us all the way. 

 

This was our second Viking Ocean cruise. We have done 2 Viking River cruises and several other cruises with other lines in the past. Viking has become our go to first line. We have 1 other ocean and 1 river booked. We really enjoyed this cruise for so many reasons. 
 

We enjoyed the lectures, especially those given by Bill Miller on Floating Palaces aka ocean liners and their evolution into cruise ships. He was quite entertaining and had lots of interesting anecdotes. 

We were on the Sun.  I really did enjoy the ship and would like to book another.  

[lackcreativity]

16 hours ago, SrCruizer said:

We have done 3 VO cruises with a 4th one on the horizon in December. Surprised to read that you found the lectures boring. For the most part our experience has been just the opposite although I will comment that some lecturers were better than others. Be sure to provide your feedback to Viking because they do take it seriously and the good lecturers are invited back.

We too found almost every lecture on our three cruises educational/interesting and some very entertaining as well.  It does remind me how subjective our evaluations are of these cruise related topics, and I don't mean that in a critical way. I am glad the original poster found many aspects of their first Viking cruise to be most satisfactory. We were leery about cruising in general,  but found our first Viking cruise to be a perfect fit for us. 

[philw1776]

Tastes differ.  One lecturer on Med Odyssey was so interesting that we booked another cruise because he is on it. 
We'd have bull sessions after dinner in the Explorer Lounge.

Edited October 19, 2019 by philw1776

[haydn12]

I found all the lectures quite good on the Viking Jupiter back in July.  They had a variety of topics that were quite informative.  We did have an astronaut on our ship that was sick at the beginning of the cruise.  He was a little shaky on his talks although the information was great.   I spoke to him at Spacefest in Tuscon, Arizona a couple weeks after the cruise and he told me it was the first time he had ever did talks like this so he was nervous.

 

Jim

[agnesd]

12 hours ago, orchestrapal said:

The largest suite on Viking Ocean is under 1500 sq ft I believe you are speaking about  a 270sq fr cabin.

 

Yes, compared with lectures on Crystal the lectures on our VO cruises were very uninteresting but there are many wonderful high level TED TALKS on your cabin TV.

While I would no compare service or food be on the same level as Crystal the ship was very comfortable an the crew very friendly.

Glad you had an overall good experience.

jThank you for correcting the obvious spelling error.

[agnesd]

There was one lecture that was quite interesting. The  polarization of our Congress.  We were on a cruise with Bill Miller and he was wonderful.  We love the lectures.  One cruise was a Broadway theme that was beyond wonderful.  But I must say that Viking had so many wonderful qualities that we would not let us stop us from booking again.

[agnesd]

Someone commented on the high cost of transfers and how easy it was to transfer to the Montreal pier at half the price.  Why I decided this was a good idea I don’t know!  When we arrived at 10:45, we were awake since 3am and very tired.  Luckily the Viking transfer was right there and had extra seats,  They took our bags right away and we were whisked off to the ship. The extra $ we’re well worth It! 

 

 

 

[Cyber Kat]

On 10/20/2019 at 1:55 PM, agnesd said:

Someone commented on the high cost of transfers and how easy it was to transfer to the Montreal pier at half the price.  Why I decided this was a good idea I don’t know!  When we arrived at 10:45, we were awake since 3am and very tired.  Luckily the Viking transfer was right there and had extra seats,  They took our bags right away and we were whisked off to the ship. The extra $ we’re well worth It! 

 

 

 

We don’t generally pay extra for Viking transfers.  We only use them if they are included. We flew up 2 days early for our recent Eastern Seaboard Explorer on the Viking Sea. We just took a cab to the hotel from the airport.  It’s a set rate and I think it was $40 Canadian. 
 

When we do an extension on our own, we usually either take a cab or arrange for a car service through our hotel.  That’s a wonderful option for early arrivals - especially when flying to Europe. 
 

It worked out well this time. We had a 2:30 flight out of JFK and arrived around 3:30pm, got to the hotel around 4:00 and were able to check in right away. We had 2 wonderful nights at the charming Auberge du Vieux Port. 
 

We loved this whole itinerary and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. 

[OnTheJourney]

Might depend on the sailing. Our onboard lecturers on the Northern Lights cruise were great - two of them particularly so. Very interesting. The presentations got jammed - could hardly find a seat unless we went early. 

Edited October 25, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[agnesd]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Might depend on the sailing. Our onboard lecturers on the Northern Lights cruise were great - two of them particularly so. Very interesting. The presentations got jammed - could hardly find a seat unless we went early. 

Good to know since we love the lectures. 

[OnTheJourney]

We've only done one cruise with Viking so far, so I'm not the best person to comment on it I suppose, but I suspect that you'll enjoy whomever they have on your cruise. 

[Cienfuegos]

17 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Might depend on the sailing. Our onboard lecturers on the Northern Lights cruise were great - two of them particularly so. Very interesting. The presentations got jammed - could hardly find a seat unless we went early. 

 

We had a similar experience on the Viking Sky, Trade Routes of the Middle Ages.  All three principal lecturers were excellent.  Several lectures were standing room only crowds to the theater

 

Brian Healy had an immense deck of art history and cultural materials for his lectures.  This is what you will see, this is what it means, etc.  Shirley Hutt has traveled the world, and taken photos everywhere. Her ability to convey excitement about upcoming stops was amazing.

 

Bill Simpson drew on his Royal Air Force background to describe the events unfolding in Spain, almost in real time.  How modern Spain came about, the turmoil of the 1930s to the present. The (then underway) trials of Catalan leaders by the Spanish government.  What the various flags and colors meant in the context of politics.  Mr Simpson was a regular presence in the Explorer lounge, listening to guests and exploring current topics of interest.

 

Viking offered a similar cadre of lecturers for the Cuba trips, and their presence added immensely to the value of the trips