Compare Viking Star with Viking Venus...

[What was that?]

OK, I know that nobody has seen Venus - she is still fitting out at Fincantieri. But I am curious to know if any features of Star fell by the wayside as the VO line was built, or perhaps if newer ships have features not found on Star.

"Asking for a friend."

Edited September 1, 2020 by What was that?
Minor grammar issue.

[TayanaLorna]

I also have not seen or read about the Venus.  Beginning with the Sun, 4th in the VO fleet, I know of a few improvements.  The Viking Star DV size stateroom did not have enough drawer space.  Beginning with the Sun, there are now 3 drawers in the closet.

The Orion and Jupiter have a Planetarium on the top floor of the Explorers Lounge.  I heard they were removing that feature for newer ships.  Other physical feature changes in Orion and Jupiter, which will probably continue, is a larger gym but smaller shops area.  

 

 

[Heidi13]

A number of new SOLAS requirements came into force effective Jan 1st - subdivision, damage stability, stairway width, testing standards for fire protection materials. Probably a few others, but those are the ones I recall reading.

 

The Chief Engineer on the Sun, when we did the ECR tour, mentioned the new ship's dimensions will change to accommodate the changes, but not sure how much that will be noticed by most pax.

[deec]

Sky and Sun also have the larger gym and smaller salon.

Starting on Sun ( i don't remember the if Sky). also allow passengers to control floor heating....I think this is huge as I turn it on/off frequently and did not like having to call attendant when we were on the Sea!

 

[Peregrina651]

One thing I know is that after the first 2 builds, Viking made the fitness room larger and the beauty salon smaller. I expect that Venus will have the larger fitness room.

 

Closets in the Venus V & DV cabins may be fitted with drawers where Star, Sea and Sky are not. The closet drawers did not appear until Sun, which is the designated World Cruise ship and thus needs enough storage space for pax who are packing for 4 months or more  in multiple climates.

[deec]

the drawers were essential IMO!!!

 

[What was that?]

Thanks, all.

[cruzzzinma]

13 hours ago, deec said:

Starting on Sun ( i don't remember the if Sky). also allow passengers to control floor heating...

Yes, for the Sky. It was a welcome improvement.

[Clay Clayton]

The newer ships no longer have the outdoor gym equipment on the sports deck. Not sure if that change was made due to lack of use or maintenance issues (or both). The space the equipment used next to the superstructure now has additional seating.

[Heidi13]

Clay - the Sun doesn't have that equipment up on Dk 9, so possibly only the first 3 ships?

[deec]

I don't think the SKY had it...maybe only the first two but I don't remember them on the Sea in 2018....maybe Viking removed them when Sea was in her first drydock.  They  had NOT installed drawers in the DV cabins at that time. I hope they are doing that for all ships during this drydock.

[CCWineLover]

41 minutes ago, deec said:

I don't think the SKY had it...maybe only the first two but I don't remember them on the Sea in 2018....maybe Viking removed them when Sea was in her first drydock.  They  had NOT installed drawers in the DV cabins at that time. I hope they are doing that for all ships during this drydock.

Dee - we were on the Sky and then the Sea for our first 2 Viking Cruises and I don't remember them at all on either.  In fact, I took a lot of exterior pics on the Sky (our first cruise - Homelands) and the equipment doesn't show up.

[deec]

I was pretty sure BUT my memory sometimes has its own filters, delete buttons and trash :)!

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by deec

[Clay Clayton]

Well, I KNOW the equipment was in Viking Sky (or was in March 2018) and I thought it was there this past March 2020 but Mike says he thinks it was gone. I am with Deec about the filters, delete buttons and trash!

[Peregrina651]

It is entirely possible that only some of the DV/V cabins on the Star, Sea and Sky were retrofit with drawers in the cabin -- so Clay you not might be losing your marbles.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Peregrina651

[deec]

I think the discussion was about the out side exercise equipment .  I am pretty sure NO ONE has been on an older ship than the SUN that has drawers in the closet.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, deec said:

I think the discussion was about the out side exercise equipment .  I am pretty sure NO ONE has been on an older ship than the SUN that has drawers in the closet.

 

Okay. Sorry.  I'm definitely the one with a marbles problem.

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Correct.  I was talking about the outdoor equipment.  I haven’t experienced the drawers in the closet....yet 🤞

[What was that?]

3 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Correct.  I was talking about the outdoor equipment.  I haven’t experienced the drawers in the closet....yet 🤞

I would think the exercise options the closet drawers provide would be rather limited...

[OnTheJourney]

On 9/10/2020 at 4:30 PM, CCWineLover said:

I took a lot of exterior pics on the Sky

 

Betcha I got one that nobody here has....from about 100 feet ABOVE her!!!  😳  Pretty cool actually (in more ways than one)

Edited September 11, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

Betcha I got one that nobody here has....from about 100 feet ABOVE her!!!  😳  Pretty cool actually (in more ways than one)

That's a good one.  I had forgotten you were on that Sky cruise. . . .

[OnTheJourney]

My wife wrote later in her journal.."I will never forget the sight of the Sky shrinking below my view"  (referring to looking out of the helicopter window). I could no longer see it once they closed the chopper door being that I was seated on the opposite side from her. It was FREEZING cold in there. 

[Haworth]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

My wife wrote later in her journal.."I will never forget the sight of the Sky shrinking below my view"  (referring to looking out of the helicopter window). I could no longer see it once they closed the chopper door being that I was seated on the opposite side from her. It was FREEZING cold in there. 

We missed out on that treat, we enjoyed the 25 hour theatre show instead😂😂

[OnTheJourney]

6 hours ago, Haworth said:

we enjoyed the 25 hour theatre show instead

LOL...yeah...while wearing a life vest the entire time I'll bet....It was no picnic for all of you who stayed onboard the ship, to be sure. To be honest, in some ways I think the evacuees had it better - once we got all settled in the hotels. The dinner they served us (albeit rather late that Saturday evening) was like manna from Heaven after the events of the day, and then the shopping spree at the mall that Sunday afternoon was pretty cool also! Some of it felt like reasonably normal vacation-type activities. Next to the evacuation itself, the most stressful part of the whole thing, though, was the ordeal to get back to the ship with the alleged intention being to pack up and prepare for a flight. They woke us up shortly after going to bed and claimed that we'd be taken back to the ship and then (with TOO little time to pack) we'd be able to catch a flight. Never happened. We worked our butts off throwing stuff in suitcases and by the time we were packed it was way too late. So the result was that we were on the ship the whole day and would have had ample time to pack carefully. What really impressed us - while in the hotel that Saturday evening and most of Sunday - was how quickly they managed to get medications - even contact lens solutions - etc. - and brought them around to the hotel rooms. Everyone involved - hotel staff, police, volunteers and other emergency personnel etc. were all fantastic. Then, of course, the other thing that impressed us was the meeting with Mr. Hagen. You guys had a totally different experience. I can imagine how emotional it was arriving into Molde judging from what several here (maybe even you?) mentioned - being that people were out waving and cheering the ship back into port. What an unforgettable moment I'm sure. We all sure had several, didn't we? My brother still tells me he's SO jealous of our helicopter experience. He was in 'Nam and rode on several chinooks, etc. but claims he always wondered what it would have been like to be hoisted up to one! 

Edited September 12, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Haworth]

21 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

LOL...yeah...while wearing a life vest the entire time I'll bet....It was no picnic for all of you who stayed onboard the ship, to be sure. To be honest, in some ways I think the evacuees had it better - once we got all settled in the hotels. The dinner they served us (albeit rather late that Saturday evening) was like manna from Heaven after the events of the day, and then the shopping spree at the mall that Sunday afternoon was pretty cool also! Some of it felt like reasonably normal vacation-type activities. Next to the evacuation itself, the most stressful part of the whole thing, though, was the ordeal to get back to the ship with the alleged intention being to pack up and prepare for a flight. They woke us up shortly after going to bed and claimed that we'd be taken back to the ship and then (with TOO little time to pack) we'd be able to catch a flight. Never happened. We worked our butts off throwing stuff in suitcases and by the time we were packed it was way too late. So the result was that we were on the ship the whole day and would have had ample time to pack carefully. What really impressed us - while in the hotel that Saturday evening and most of Sunday - was how quickly they managed to get medications - even contact lens solutions - etc. - and brought them around to the hotel rooms. Everyone involved - hotel staff, police, volunteers and other emergency personnel etc. were all fantastic. Then, of course, the other thing that impressed us was the meeting with Mr. Hagen. You guys had a totally different experience. I can imagine how emotional it was arriving into Molde judging from what several here (maybe even you?) mentioned - being that people were out waving and cheering the ship back into port. What an unforgettable moment I'm sure. We all sure had several, didn't we? My brother still tells me he's SO jealous of our helicopter experience. He was in 'Nam and rode on several chinooks, etc. but claims he always wondered what it would have been like to be hoisted up to one! 

The main reason that I hope the Venus trip happens is to catch up with folks who have have had time to digest that period of our lives, once we were out of the theatre and allowed around parts of the ship, it was amazing to see the state of the gym, shop etc as these had been sealed off but the results of the storm were evident. We got back to our cabin and our room steward brought us clean dry towels and we could shower and change, we were taken to the airport around 21.00 for a flight back to the UK. We arrived at Gatwick and Viking had staff air side to help with luggage and other arrangements, we could stay that night in a hotel or go straight home in the provided taxis, we took the later option as we live about an hour from the airport. The arrival into Molde brought tears to my eyes, the emotion of the crowd and the realisation of what we had been through, I retreated fro the balcony back to the cabin for a few moments quiet reflection.