Thinking about trying Viking

[Heidi13]

10 minutes ago, duquephart said:

I wasn't talking about industry norms, etc., just suggesting that blindly choosing whatever Viking offers without considering the alternatives might not be the best way to go. Why do so many choose Alla, etc. in St. Petersburg rather than whatever Viking offers? Maybe they think a dozen people in a minibus easily avoiding traffic is preferable to a busload of people looking for a bathroom? In Stavanger the Viking offered cruise to Pulpit Rock is $180pp or you can walk a few yards after leaving the ship and book Rodne for $60pp. Same cruise, same boat, same everything except, of course, the waffle that Viking provides. Plenty of other examples. My only point is that it doesn't hurt to check.

 

You may not have mentioned "Industry Norms" but you mentioned that you disagreed with a previous poster who considered that Viking's optional excursions were moderately priced. Since moderately priced is highly arbitrary, I provided a means to compare Viking's prices, which is with other similar companies.

 

In St Petersburg, we used Alla, as they guaranteed they get us back to the ship, or they pay to get you to the next port. Same guarantee as the ship provides.

 

Just reviewed all posts in this thread and I didn't see anyone blindly suggesting taking Viking excursions. As I mentioned, I believe most Viking pax are sufficiently well travelled and know the pros/cons of ship & private tours. Not aware of any hook to take Viking Tours, in fact we considered them considerably less pushy than other Lines, especially on board.

[duquephart]

4 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You may not have mentioned "Industry Norms" but you mentioned that you disagreed with a previous poster who considered that Viking's optional excursions were moderately priced. Since moderately priced is highly arbitrary, I provided a means to compare Viking's prices, which is with other similar companies.

 

In St Petersburg, we used Alla, as they guaranteed they get us back to the ship, or they pay to get you to the next port. Same guarantee as the ship provides.

 

Just reviewed all posts in this thread and I didn't see anyone blindly suggesting taking Viking excursions. As I mentioned, I believe most Viking pax are sufficiently well travelled and know the pros/cons of ship & private tours. Not aware of any hook to take Viking Tours, in fact we considered them considerably less pushy than other Lines, especially on board.

 

Which moderately priced Pulpit Rock cruise would you prefer, Viking or the one without the waffle? I believe the Viking offering is grievously overpriced and I doubt it is the only example of Viking taking a hefty mark-up. Can't blame them for getting what the traffic will bear among those who fail realize that options exist. In regards to Alla in St. Petersburg ----- thanks for making my point! As to the "hook" I think it's fair to say that Viking does subtly put bees in bonnets with their guarantees. I believe there are a great many tours where there is minimal danger of missing the boat either way.

[Jazmyn49]

One big plus was that the Viking Sun never felt crowded.  There were always quiet spots for a drink or a read.  We experienced virtually no lines for anything with one exception:  the hand washing sinks at the entry to the World Cafe.  Taking far fewer clothes was freeing.  The high tech laundry allowed us to take only one bag each on the World Cruise.  We had cruised extensively with other lines and are now all in with Viking, booking our 3rd World Cruise in a row.  It's rather like the first time you fly business class.  It's hard to go back to economy.

[duquephart]

4 minutes ago, Jazmyn49 said:

One big plus was that the Viking Sun never felt crowded.  There were always quiet spots for a drink or a read.  We experienced virtually no lines for anything with one exception:  the hand washing sinks at the entry to the World Cafe.  Taking far fewer clothes was freeing.  The high tech laundry allowed us to take only one bag each on the World Cruise.  We had cruised extensively with other lines and are now all in with Viking, booking our 3rd World Cruise in a row.  It's rather like the first time you fly business class.  It's hard to go back to economy.

 

Our Homelands cancellation allowed us to, among other things, upgrade to penthouse junior on the re-book. The extra room for sitting, tv, free laundry, etc. are going to spoil us in much the same manner.

[lackcreativity]

10 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You may not have mentioned "Industry Norms" but you mentioned that you disagreed with a previous poster who considered that Viking's optional excursions were moderately priced. Since moderately priced is highly arbitrary, I provided a means to compare Viking's prices, which is with other similar companies.

 

In St Petersburg, we used Alla, as they guaranteed they get us back to the ship, or they pay to get you to the next port. Same guarantee as the ship provides.

 

Just reviewed all posts in this thread and I didn't see anyone blindly suggesting taking Viking excursions. As I mentioned, I believe most Viking pax are sufficiently well travelled and know the pros/cons of ship & private tours. Not aware of any hook to take Viking Tours, in fact we considered them considerably less pushy than other Lines, especially on board.

Thanks, as always, for your  detailed information about pricing for excursions and comparisons with private tours. It supports my instincts that Viking's are usually moderately priced,  in my opinion.

 

We also used Alla tours in St. Petersburg (great experience) for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we wanted to see as much as possible in what would likely be our only visit to St. Petersburg. We were not sure we could accomplish that with the individual Viking tours on offer, and the Viking full two day tour was considerably more expensive. Alla was a group that was very highly recommended here in this forum, and we were glad we made that choice.

 

We do not have the extensive travel experience that some of you do, but we have been to Europe ten times, by land and by sea. Some parts of that has been independent outings, and we are not nervous of heading off on our own. However, as we are in our late sixites and still working, we want our vacations to be as easy as possible. Using ships excursions allows us to find something that suits our wishes with minimal effort.  With one exception, those choices have all been most satisfactory.

 

I did not want to imply that I was encouraging the original poster to choose Viking excursions. However, since there is one excursion per port included in the cruise fare, it might at least be worth considering if some of those might be of interest. 

[duquephart]

"the Viking full two day tour was considerably more expensive" --- But still "moderately priced?"

"one excursion per port included in the cruise fare" --- One thing to consider is that when you purchase an optional excursion you are actually buying two. Perhaps Viking could temper their mark-up a bit on these grounds. It's like skipping a port --- does Viking refund your portion of the port fees/taxes?

[CurlerRob]

On 5/31/2020 at 10:28 AM, Fred321 said:

Would appreciate any insight into pros and cons of the line itself and this particular ship and any other useful info. Thanks in advance.

Fred321, you've had a lot of information from many on this board, and I hope that's been useful. I won't try to cover all the same items, but here's a few thoughts from a 300 day HAL couple. We were on the Sydney - Ft. Lauderdale stretch of the 2019 world voyage, and were highly dissatisfied with the overall loss of quality apparent on the Amsterdam.

 

That prompted us to experiment, which happened to be the short Bergen - Montreal leg of the Sun's recent (almost) world cruise in September 2019.

 

The ship is gorgeous - new, clean, open,  modern. Seating is comfortable and there are any number of small nooks and areas to pause and relax in. We found the MDR food comparable to HAL, but the World Café (Lido) lunches superior, as many more items were prepared 'live'. There were also a number of extravaganzas done on the pool deck - some of the best food we've had anywhere.

 

DV cabin size is roughly equivalent to a Vista suite on HAL - but the bathroom is larger, and I'm not sure anyone has mentioned the heated floors - perfect for quick drying wet shoes!  As you noticed, the drawer space is limited in a DV cabin compared to an Oceanview or Vista, but we found it manageable overall. On a long haul, I'd leave the 'other season' stuff packed, and swap it as the temperatures changed - there's a ton of room under the beds for suitcase storage, and easy access. The A/V is superb.

 

The internet service WORKS - including video calling. Obviously, there are some geographical areas where it's lost, but it was immeasurably better than HAL's service (which generally doesn't work), and HAL's outrageous pricing.

 

Sun also has a full-deck promenade, although it does get a bit snug at the bow - being able to walk fully around the vessel is something we like.

 

Explorer's Lounge - the Crow's Nest upped 100% or more. Two levels, the lower is dedicated to viewing, holding the bar and Mamsen's - unbelievably good Norwegian open faced sandwiches and desserts (you can live on 🍺 and smoked salmon on Viking, and I almost did). The upper level is viewing and library-oriented. We've never experienced the revamped Crow's Nest on HAL ships, but were not impressed by the descriptions. On Viking, this area is about watching the sea, and our favorite spot. (Our weather was too scratchy to enjoy the aft deck restaurant / lounge, but it looked really inviting in acceptable weather).

 

Dining - a bit of an adjustment for us, as we had always taken the set late seating on HAL. On Viking, it's all open. However, we never waited more than 10 minutes to be seated, and that only because we tend to like to dine privately. No different than if we'd used open seating on HAL I suspect.
 

Manfredi's, the Italian specialty restaurant, is outstanding. Compares favorably to any high-end eatery at home. The HAL equivalent is not even in the same universe, although I don't think it tries to be. The Chef's Table is fine, but we were not overwhelmed. A lot depends on how one is disposed to the 'fixed' meal being offered there on any given night.

 

Staff and crew - outstanding service, something we always received from HAL as well. The only thing we noticed was that Viking's crew is more diverse - for example, our favorite server in the Explorer's Lounge was a Macedonian. Immaterial, just different from the HAL Filipino / Indonesian prevalence. We have been fortunate enough to make many friends among the crew over the years, and expect that to continue with Viking.

 

Viking's shoreside customer service is really excellent - attentive, accurate, and responsive. I had a number of examples where I sent in a question and had the answer the same day. Obviously, that's a bit harder to do right now ...

 

Enough. Suffice to say that after our test drive, we booked two more trips immediately, sadly, both have been lost to the pandemic at this point. However, we are holding hope for the Grand Pacific (Auckland - Vancouver) in 2022!

 

Hope that helps your decision making a bit.  🍻 🥌
 

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by CurlerRob
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[Jazmyn49]

Why should there be worries about it being a one class ship?

[Clay Clayton]

Ronbe65

 

I agree with Jazzmyn49, what’s wrong with a single class?

 

Also, in our four Ocean Cruises we haven’t had any issues getting reservations for alternative (Viking’s preferred terminology- “all Viking dining venues are special”) dining venues. 
 

What did you find about Viking’s spa that made it less than first class?

[lackcreativity]

2 hours ago, Jazmyn49 said:

Why should there be worries about it being a one class ship?

Obviously I am not certain, but I bet that was a typo and the poster meant there should not be worries about that. At least that is my experience.

 

 

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, ronbe65 said:

As a sad note, we missed the first class spa and outstanding open deck spaciousness we enjoyed on the top HAL ships (Nieuw Amsterdam).

 

 

Having never sailed on HAL, this one surprised me, as I found the open decks very spacious, with chairs/loungers always available. In the 4 months we found both pools always had loads of space, with hardly anyone on Dk8 & 9. Comparing pax numbers, I noted Nieuw Amsterdam has 2.25 times the pax count of Viking, so is the total open deck space more than double the Viking ships?

 

Viking's spa may not be as fancy as some of the main stream mega ships, but we found it more than adequate and the price was right - free. 

[Jim Avery]

Actually “free” might be a tad wrong. How about included?🍸

[DaveSJ711]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:48 AM, lackcreativity said:

Thanks, as always, for your  detailed information about pricing for excursions and comparisons with private tours. It supports my instincts that Viking's are usually moderately priced,  in my opinion.

 

We also used Alla tours in St. Petersburg (great experience) for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we wanted to see as much as possible in what would likely be our only visit to St. Petersburg. We were not sure we could accomplish that with the individual Viking tours on offer, and the Viking full two day tour was considerably more expensive. Alla was a group that was very highly recommended here in this forum, and we were glad we made that choice.

 

We do not have the extensive travel experience that some of you do, but we have been to Europe ten times, by land and by sea. Some parts of that has been independent outings, and we are not nervous of heading off on our own. However, as we are in our late sixites and still working, we want our vacations to be as easy as possible. Using ships excursions allows us to find something that suits our wishes with minimal effort.  With one exception, those choices have all been most satisfactory.

 

I did not want to imply that I was encouraging the original poster to choose Viking excursions. However, since there is one excursion per port included in the cruise fare, it might at least be worth considering if some of those might be of interest. 

 

Count us as big Alla Tours fans.  We cruised with Viking last July on an itinerary that gave us 3 full days in St. Pete (an exception to the normal 2-day stay), which we found essential to best see such a beautiful city.  Alla fit the bill for us because it offered a 3-day tour, great reviews, small minivan, local university prof. as guide, great meals and drinks, and relaxing time seeing the sights at a fair price.

 

In Viking's defense, though, I have to say two things.  First, there was never any pressure, overt or subtle, to choose Viking's tours over a private company.  Second, the people we spoke to who went with Viking enjoyed their tours, too. 

[duquephart]

4 hours ago, DaveSJ711 said:

 

Count us as big Alla Tours fans.  We cruised with Viking last July on an itinerary that gave us 3 full days in St. Pete (an exception to the normal 2-day stay), which we found essential to best see such a beautiful city.  Alla fit the bill for us because it offered a 3-day tour, great reviews, small minivan, local university prof. as guide, great meals and drinks, and relaxing time seeing the sights at a fair price.

 

In Viking's defense, though, I have to say two things.  First, there was never any pressure, overt or subtle, to choose Viking's tours over a private company.  Second, the people we spoke to who went with Viking enjoyed their tours, too. 

 

We had heard all sorts of good things about the Alla Tours and were planning to book them on our cruise that would have been taking place here shortly. We may well be doing Viking on the rebook next June however just to use up some of our 125%. There are at least of couple of cases where the private company tour clearly looks much better and more attractively priced (Pulpit Rock is another example) but we are going to have a lot of FCV to burn through.

[timbloom]

If you go to YouTube TV or website and search for "Viking Star Cruise Ship" here in the UK the first video that comes up is by an American called Jim Zim, and I think is titled "Viking Star a Review- hits and misses". Although a few years old and about I think the first ever Viking ship from around 2014, it sums up exactly why we loved our first ever cruise 2 years ago with Viking. There are some other reviews up there as well, but his is spot on as far as we are concerned.

Last year we went a bit downmarket and cruised with P & O, and although we loved the destinations [Norwegian Fjiords] it could not compare with Viking.

As a special treat for our golden wedding anniversary in Oct 21 we have booked to go on Viking cruise from Venice to Istanbul with 2 other couples.

Happy to answer any questions we can about Viking.

[lackcreativity]

11 hours ago, DaveSJ711 said:

 

Count us as big Alla Tours fans.  We cruised with Viking last July on an itinerary that gave us 3 full days in St. Pete (an exception to the normal 2-day stay), which we found essential to best see such a beautiful city.  Alla fit the bill for us because it offered a 3-day tour, great reviews, small minivan, local university prof. as guide, great meals and drinks, and relaxing time seeing the sights at a fair price.

 

In Viking's defense, though, I have to say two things.  First, there was never any pressure, overt or subtle, to choose Viking's tours over a private company.  Second, the people we spoke to who went with Viking enjoyed their tours, too. 

We were also on the Russian and the Baltic Seas cruise (May 2019 - great cruise). Even with the three day stay and many excursions to choose from, Viking does not offer a comprehensive three day tour of St. Petersburg, just a two day option. Their Ultimate Saint Petersburg covers a lot, but still not as much as we saw with Alla, and at a reduced price.

 

This is the only non-Viking excursion we have taken so far (three cruises) and we selected it for all the reasons you listed. It was top notch, but as you mentioned, we have enjoyed our Viking excursions as well. 

[Clay Clayton]

But what is wrong with only having one class?

 

 

[loge23]

There's a lot to like about Viking Ocean - the food is terrific and plentiful, the ship is beautiful, no kids, and the access to the awesome spa is open to all. For a World Cruise however, it may get a bit small. The cabins are well-appointed but tight unless you're in a full suite. The entertainment is heavily geared towards classical music and rather amateurish stage shows by the crew entertainers, not counting the local acts that they bring in which are usually quite good. There's usually a "pop" musician as well, often a solo guitarist - it can get  a bit repetitive on a long cruise. They do have a swell jazz club, but we didn't hear any live jazz on our 28-day jaunt as none was to be heard. As noted on this thread, all-inclusive does not include the Silver Beverage package which, if you are a tippler, is a great deal (much less than the big cruise lines) and needed. 

Our 28-day cruise was just enough personally. I really wouldn't to spend 180 days on a ship this size with the limitations as stated. 

 

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

There's a lot to like about Viking Ocean - the food is terrific and plentiful, the ship is beautiful, no kids, and the access to the awesome spa is open to all. For a World Cruise however, it may get a bit small. The cabins are well-appointed but tight unless you're in a full suite. The entertainment is heavily geared towards classical music and rather amateurish stage shows by the crew entertainers, not counting the local acts that they bring in which are usually quite good. There's usually a "pop" musician as well, often a solo guitarist - it can get  a bit repetitive on a long cruise. They do have a swell jazz club, but we didn't hear any live jazz on our 28-day jaunt as none was to be heard. As noted on this thread, all-inclusive does not include the Silver Beverage package which, if you are a tippler, is a great deal (much less than the big cruise lines) and needed. 

Our 28-day cruise was just enough personally. I really wouldn't to spend 180 days on a ship this size with the limitations as stated. 

 

That's why there are so many different offerings from cruise lines out there.  Glad we all have such choices.  At least I hope we return to having such choices.  As to Viking being too small for a World Cruise, I will take your spot gladly.  Two WCs on Viking Sun so far totaling 248 days.  Hated to disembark both times.  🍸😎

[Roger88]

Viking can be very fun at times. You need to  check the program and see the route options. Sometimes the cruise can be very chill and comfortable and sometimes its like a 21 year bday party from which you cant get out. Pick it wisely my friend

[Heidi13]

17 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

That's why there are so many different offerings from cruise lines out there.  Glad we all have such choices.  At least I hope we return to having such choices.  As to Viking being too small for a World Cruise, I will take your spot gladly.  Two WCs on Viking Sun so far totaling 248 days.  Hated to disembark both times.  🍸😎

 

Jim - With the extra segments on the first 1/2, you may have had a few more repeats of the standard shows, but we only had them repeated once. In addition to the additional show created for the World Cruise, our Cruise Director developed about an additional 10 shows, which were all created on board.

 

In addition to the 10 additional shows in the Theatre, they created an additional 4 show in the Atrium, which normally went with Tea at 16:00.

 

Might have competition from Judi & I for those 2 spots, as we will gladly sign up for our 3rd World Cruise as well.😁🍻

[SantaFe1]

Yes, we would take those two spots In a heartbeat for another WC.  But why all vie for the same spot?  Let’s create a 2022 repeaters WC, no segments, just happy WC campers.

Edited June 14, 2020 by SantaFe1

[Jim Avery]

2 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Yes, we would take those two spots In a heartbeat for another WC.  But why all vie for the same spot?  Let’s creat a 2022 repeaters WC, no segments, just happy WC campers.

Great plan!  Now we just have to sell it to Viking.🍸  Count us in for sure...

[Clay Clayton]

Wow! I knew you two were rich but enough to pay for a whole ship just for four of you????  By my calculations using an average cost per passenger on a World Cruise of $110,000, the cost of this charter y’all are creating is a mere $102 million.  So that means the per person cost is only $25,575,000. Presuming it’s a 200 day cruise, that works out to be $127,625 per day or $88 a minute!

 

Too much for my pocketbook...y’all have fun! 

Edited June 15, 2020 by Clay Clayton

[Jim Avery]

47 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Wow! I knew you two were rich but enough to pay for a whole ship just for four of you????  By my calculations using an average cost per passenger on a World Cruise of $110,000, the cost of this charter y’all are creating is a mere $102 million.  So that means the per person cost is only $25,575,000. Presuming it’s a 200 day cruise, that works out to be $127,625 per day or $88 a minute!

 

Too much for my pocketbook...y’all have fun! 

Andy’s paying for it.🍺🍺