Are there differences between the Viking Ocean ships?

[MarkBearSF]

I'm currently loving our cruise on the Viking Orion around Bermuda and am in awe of the design of her. Everything seems so well planned, the decor is beautiful and the fit-and-finish of the details is impressive. 

Which made me think. No design or plan is perfect. Inevitably, there will be things that just don't quite work as planned, or new improvements. Obviously, with so many ships queued up (and the advantages of keeping the same design for training and operations), there would likely be little opportunity for major changes, but I'd imagine there would be little changes would be made as they refine their product.

Are there differences as they've gone through the years?

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

I haven't been on them all, but the ones I've been on (Star & Sky and possibly one other) were identical.  Orion has a planetarium and I believe Jupiter too.  But other than the very newest ships, I think the ships are all the same.  But if not, hopefully someone will let me know!

[JeriGail]

Starting with the Sun and on all ships after her, drawers were added to the closet to provide more storage in the V and the DV cabins.  Also starting with the Sun, a noodle bar (omelet station) was added on the end of the World Café.  The newer ships also have expanded fitness centers.

[molymoo]

We’ve been on 4 ocean ships … two of the earliest (Star and Sky) and two of the more recent (Orion and Jupiter).  They are basically identical but they have tweaked things here and there as they went along.  The original Star had a larger salon area and smaller fitness center.  I think by the time they got to the Sky they enlarged the fitness center making the salon smaller.  The heated floors were originally not adjustable by the passenger.  If you wanted it off they had an engineer come up and take care of it.  They have since given them controls in the bathrooms and I believe they have retrofitted the original ships as well.  There have been other small changes here and there but the basic ship design has remained the same.  I’m sure this makes sense for Viking from a practical point of view and for the passenger it’s nice … it feels like “home”!

[gma1]

9 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I haven't been on them all, but the ones I've been on (Star & Sky and possibly one other) were identical.  Orion has a planetarium and I believe Jupiter too.  But other than the very newest ships, I think the ships are all the same.  But if not, hopefully someone will let me know!

Yes it does seem like home! We have been on Star twice, Jupiter (23 day)and now scheduled for the Sea (21 day) Aug. 30 . I have not detected any difference! YES you are correct the Jupiter has a planetarium...so that changes the very top bar/lounge area (up the stairs from explorers lounge ) where the planetarium is located. We have been on the river cruises too. The European river long boats are the same, which is smart for when the river is too low or high & you have to be bused around the area to a different longboat up or down the river. Yangtze China river boats are different. We have been on 1 also, back in 07 I think, when they were leasing...I think they have their own now.  After cruising for many years we now only cruise Viking...as they seem to cover & anticipate anything and everything! We are spoiled!

 

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

1 hour ago, gma1 said:

Yes it does seem like home! We have been on Star twice, Jupiter (23 day)and now scheduled for the Sea (21 day) Aug. 30 . I have not detected any difference! YES you are correct the Jupiter has a planetarium...so that changes the very top bar/lounge area (up the stairs from explorers lounge ) where the planetarium is located. We have been on the river cruises too. The European river long boats are the same, which is smart for when the river is too low or high & you have to be bused around the area to a different longboat up or down the river. Yangtze China river boats are different. We have been on 1 also, back in 07 I think, when they were leasing...I think they have their own now.  After cruising for many years we now only cruise Viking...as they seem to cover & anticipate anything and everything! We are spoiled!

 

I'm from DC too - hello!  You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the area where the planetarium, would you? I'd love to see, even though I'll be on Jupiter soon...and yes, Viking anticipates and covers everything better than any cruise line I've been on, although that's mostly just one other.

[CILCIANRQTS]

1 hour ago, gma1 said:

Yes it does seem like home! We have been on Star twice, Jupiter (23 day)and now scheduled for the Sea (21 day) Aug. 30 . I have not detected any difference! YES you are correct the Jupiter has a planetarium...so that changes the very top bar/lounge area (up the stairs from explorers lounge ) where the planetarium is located. We have been on the river cruises too. The European river long boats are the same, which is smart for when the river is too low or high & you have to be bused around the area to a different longboat up or down the river. Yangtze China river boats are different. We have been on 1 also, back in 07 I think, when they were leasing...I think they have their own now.  After cruising for many years we now only cruise Viking...as they seem to cover & anticipate anything and everything! We are spoiled!

 

 

Understand from another thread they will be pulling the “planetarium” (it’s not really, it’s just a curved movie screen) off the Jupiter and restoring the

lounge space - thank God!! 

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

 

Understand from another thread they will be pulling the “planetarium” (it’s not really, it’s just a curved movie screen) off the Jupiter and restoring the

lounge space - thank God!! 

Source? There was discussion of this and hope they would have done this during the lay-up, but Orion still has it. Was it someone on the Jupiter, currently in Iceland, reporting this? I am not a fan of the planetariums. We were on Orion in Nov. 2019 and Jupiter soon after launch in Feb/March 2020. We enjoyed the upper level of the Explorer’s Lounge on the Sun and Sky before that and thought the planetarium was a waste of a great lounge/viewing area.

[gma1]

2 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

 

Understand from another thread they will be pulling the “planetarium” (it’s not really, it’s just a curved movie screen) off the Jupiter and restoring the

lounge space - thank God!! 

Actually we enjoyed the planetarium on Jupiter...since we were on a 23 days cruise with lots of Sea days and managed to get tickets for all 3 shows. I certainly learned lots of things about our galaxy! Was very informative.   It didn't take away from the Explorers Lounge space downstairs...which seemed adequate & unchanged....however we did have a small meet N greet gathering on the Sky in that area that was super nice.

[CILCIANRQTS]

27 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Source? There was discussion of this and hope they would have done this during the lay-up, but Orion still has it. Was it someone on the Jupiter, currently in Iceland, reporting this? I am not a fan of the planetariums. We were on Orion in Nov. 2019 and Jupiter soon after launch in Feb/March 2020. We enjoyed the upper level of the Explorer’s Lounge on the Sun and Sky before that and thought the planetarium was a waste of a great lounge/viewing area.

 

 

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

17 hours ago, MarkBearSF said:

I'm currently loving our cruise on the Viking Orion around Bermuda and am in awe of the design of her. Everything seems so well planned, the decor is beautiful and the fit-and-finish of the details is impressive. 

Which made me think. No design or plan is perfect. Inevitably, there will be things that just don't quite work as planned, or new improvements. Obviously, with so many ships queued up (and the advantages of keeping the same design for training and operations), there would likely be little opportunity for major changes, but I'd imagine there would be little changes would be made as they refine their product.

Are there differences as they've gone through the years?

@MarkBearSF, Great thread & glad you're enjoying your first Viking Ocean cruise. In my biased opinion, these are the best ships I've had the privilege to sail aboard, even better than the Holland America R Class. If there are things I'd change that would definitely be the Aquivat Terrance & pool. Its a beautiful space, but the pool is too small & the hot tub is awkwardly close to the tables. If the deck & pool were longer, that'd make the space better. The second thing I'd change is the Star Theater. It's not horrible by any means but I don't think as a space it matches the beauty of the other public rooms. To me it feels slightly utilitarian. Then on Deck 2 at the forward elevator & stairwell landing the space gets very congested after any event in the Star Theater, it seems like a design mistake. The stairwells are the most beautiful I've ever seen on a ship, but I wish the tapestries were real woven wool hangings, not the wallpaper as is now. Maybe it's a SOLAS regulation issue. These are just very minor things that stick out to me & don't diminish my abject joy of sailing aboard any Viking Ocean ship.

 

I love spotting the differences in ships that are mostly replicas of each other. Viking Sky & Viking Orion are the two ships I've sailed aboard. As others have mentioned the space on Deck 8 ,the second level of Explorers Lounge isn't the same ambiance with The Dome in the way. I much prefer just the lounge seating. It's my favorite spot onboard during sea days, especially trans-Atlantic crossings. You will find the art is different. That central stairwell in The Restaurant is where this is most obvious. On Viking Sea it is a beautiful blue piece, on Viking Orion there were moon glow plates.

I loved the smaller paintings along the side bulkheads in The Restaurant aboard Viking Orion! Very bold, psychedelic! 

Edited July 17, 2021 by Myrtle Ave. Mayhem

[LindaS272]

3 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

 

 

This just has the discussion I was referring to that Orion and Jupiter still have the planetarium, and that the new build—Venus—does not have it. You had referred to a source that said they were going to pull the planetarium out of the Jupiter. ..?

Edited July 17, 2021 by LindaS272
Typo

[MarkBearSF]

I also love the paintings in The Restaurant. And I just got out of the post-theater jam around the elevators. I can imagine what it's like on a full ship.

Are the little movie theater alcoves in the theater ever closed for movies?

 

[Tom.in.nc]

23 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

Are the little movie theater alcoves in the theater ever closed for movies?

Yes, definitely on longer cruises.  I.e., World Cruise.

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

25 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

I also love the paintings in The Restaurant. And I just got out of the post-theater jam around the elevators. I can imagine what it's like on a full ship.

Are the little movie theater alcoves in the theater ever closed for movies?

 

They were used on my trans-Atlantic crossings. 

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, MarkBearSF said:

I also love the paintings in The Restaurant. And I just got out of the post-theater jam around the elevators. I can imagine what it's like on a full ship.

Are the little movie theater alcoves in the theater ever closed for movies?

 

 

Affirmative, have seen them closed for crew training, showing films, passenger led presentations, etc.

[MarkBearSF]

Another seemingly unused facility is the Restaurant bar near the stairs. It looks like a large passenger bar, but I never see passengers there. Is it used by the serving staff?

[Tom.in.nc]

16 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

Another seemingly unused facility is the Restaurant bar near the stairs. It looks like a large passenger bar, but I never see passengers there. Is it used by the serving staff?

Definitely used by staff during meals and, as best I can remember, unused otherwise.

Tom

[Jim Avery]

Its pretty much a staff bar for service in the Star theatre as you suggest.  I have stood there and ordered a drink and the usual smiling service was there but I did seem to get in their way a bit.  And I also find the Star Theatre disappointing.  First it will only comfortably hold about half the passengers.  And it should take up more vertical space as, unless I am in the first few rows, all I see is heads up to about the performers knees.  And I am tall.  We have had better experience in ships theatre's on any number of lines.  Star just seems a bit of "we only have this space left so call it a theatre".  Just one lowly opinion.🍸 Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.....  Well, maybe sail less than full all the time...

[Clay Clayton]

On 7/17/2021 at 5:35 AM, molymoo said:

We’ve been on 4 ocean ships … two of the earliest (Star and Sky) and two of the more recent (Orion and Jupiter).  They are basically identical but they have tweaked things here and there as they went along.  The original Star had a larger salon area and smaller fitness center.  I think by the time they got to the Sky they enlarged the fitness center making the salon smaller.  The heated floors were originally not adjustable by the passenger.  If you wanted it off they had an engineer come up and take care of it.  They have since given them controls in the bathrooms and I believe they have retrofitted the original ships as well.  There have been other small changes here and there but the basic ship design has remained the same.  I’m sure this makes sense for Viking from a practical point of view and for the passenger it’s nice … it feels like “home”!

Floors on Sky do not have passenger controls. We had to ask our room steward to have them cut off. I seem to recall from an earlier cruise they simply flip a circuit breaker out in the hall. 

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Its pretty much a staff bar for service in the Star theatre as you suggest.  I have stood there and ordered a drink and the usual smiling service was there but I did seem to get in their way a bit.  And I also find the Star Theatre disappointing.  First it will only comfortably hold about half the passengers.  And it should take up more vertical space as, unless I am in the first few rows, all I see is heads up to about the performers knees.  And I am tall.  We have had better experience in ships theatre's on any number of lines.  Star just seems a bit of "we only have this space left so call it a theatre".  Just one lowly opinion.🍸 Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.....  Well, maybe sail less than full all the time...

 

I'll drink to that.

 

Sailing on a Viking ship with 8 pax and 460 crew - simply brilliant. Sign me up again please.😁🍺

[Jim Avery]

1 minute ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I'll drink to that.

 

Sailing on a Viking ship with 8 pax and 460 crew - simply brilliant. Sign me up again please.😁🍺

But lets do it without an epidemic.  Assuming we are part of the 8 going on your chartered world cruise.🍸

[Heidi13]

Just now, Jim Avery said:

But lets do it without an epidemic.  Assuming we are part of the 8 going on your chartered world cruise.🍸

 

OMG Jim, the way we were treated. we had no desire to go ashore😁😁

 

Seriously, we could definitely handle a reunion COVID-free WC with only 8 pax. I'm sure we could increase the compliment to 10, accommodating you & Lois.

 

Going to be a real shock next cruise, to have 900+ pax and not share the pool/gym with the crew, inviting our favourite crew members to lunch/dinner, and be invited to join the crew's evening disco/dances.