Tell me about Viking please ..

[Piaa]

Good afternoon everyone,

 

I am wondering if anyone might post some general info on Viking as we are looking for a new cruise line to try and know nothing of Viking.  We love SeaDream for those who are familiar and in the past have sailed on Azamara but after returning from a not so great cruise on the Onward, we are looking to expand and it was mentioned to someone else (in a post on another forum) that Viking and Regent might be a good fit for them so it now has me wondering if it might be a good fit for us also (I don't think Oceania would work for us as it sounds a little too "formal/stuffy") so here goes..

 

Dress code?

Formal nights?

Average age?

All inclusive (tips? alcohol etc?)

"Luxury" level (for the want of a better word)

General condition of their ships ? (Onward was definitely in need of going back to dry dock to be completed - they needed at least another 6 months to finish her to a good standard) 

 

Thank you for any insight and off to read the hundreds of posts on this forum now 😀

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Dress code? Business Casual for dinner. No other dress code the rest of the time.

Formal nights? None

Average age? Skews older. No children allowed. Average age is probably in their 60s.

All inclusive (tips? alcohol etc?) There is no nickel and diming. No casino, No photographer, etc.

For tips, there is a recommended amount per day per passenger that you are asked to add at the end of your trip but is not mandatory. Many people also tip their stewards and servers separately as well but that is a personal decision.

Beer and wine is include with lunch and dinner. All alcoholic beverage prices include the tip. The unlimited “Silver Spirits” beverage package is available to purchase before your trip. That includes an expanded wine list and all drinks less than $15, which is just about everything except champagne. That package needs to be purchased by everyone in your cabin.

There is an excursion included at every stop as well as optional tours. All tours need to be booked in advanced via the My Viking Journey web site. If openings exist on optional tours, you can also try and book when on board but the optional tours usually fill fast.

All cabins have a balcony. There are no inside staterooms. All cabins in a category are identical. The difference in price is location dependent. There is no charge for dining at the specialty restaurants and all ship amenities are available to all passengers. Use of the spa is free but spa services (massage, etc) are additional charges.

The ship decor is Scandinavian Modern. The fleet is modern. The ship series named after planets are all less that 4 years old. 
Service is excellent. Within a day or two everyone will recognize you and know your name. I’ve read that the crew studies pictures of the passengers to ensure a personal experience.

Edited September 13, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[Piaa]

14 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Dress code? Business Casual for dinner. No other dress code the rest of the time.

 

 

 

Wonderful - sounds like it might be a wonderful fit for us.  Just a question on "Business Casual" - I assume no jacket for men is needed (obviously long pants and collared shirt/polo?)  ?

 

Thank you so much for responding.

[OneSixtyToOne]

Just now, Piaa said:

 

 

Wonderful - sounds like it might be a wonderful fit for us.  Just a question on "Business Casual" - I assume no jacket for men is needed (obviously long pants and collared shirt/polo?)  ?

 

Thank you so much for responding.

Yes. No jackets. Collared shirt, no jeans or torn clothing. The “uniform of the day” for men is a polo shirt with khaki pants.  

[Jim Avery]

We are also SeaDreamers and find the crew on Viking to be just as good as SD.  Love the ship decor too.

[TayanaLorna]

To add...WiFi is included.  If you want more then the wine or beer of the day for lunch or dinner and do not get the Silver Spirits Package, premium wines are $6.00 a glass and most mixed drinks and liquor is $6 -8.  Bottles of wine start at $25.  People in an Explorers Suite or a Veranda cabin are treated the same - there are no private spaces or lounges for more costly cabin guests.  There is no casino.  The ships are gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows in many spaces and lots of light.  The oldest ship was built in 2015.  The Viking website has some great 360's of all the cabins and spaces on the ship at Viking.com.

[OneSixtyToOne]

12 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

To add...WiFi is included.  If you want more then the wine or beer of the day for lunch or dinner and do not get the Silver Spirits Package, premium wines are $6.00 a glass and most mixed drinks and liquor is $6 -8.  Bottles of wine start at $25.  

Also worth mentioning you can BYOB and if you find a bottle of wine you like at a port, you can bring it to dinner and they will serve it with no corking charge.

All cabins have a refrigerator with soft drinks. DV cabins and above have it restocked daily. You can tell the stewards your preference and they will stock it with you preferred beverages. 

Edited September 13, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[sugarside]

Lots of Youtube videos of the ships available.

[Piaa]

44 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

We are also SeaDreamers and find the crew on Viking to be just as good as SD.  Love the ship decor too.

 

Hi Jim - hope to meet you one day (we are on SDI in March - can't wait)  Thanks so much for responding

[Piaa]

39 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

To add...WiFi is included.  If you want more then the wine or beer of the day for lunch or dinner and do not get the Silver Spirits Package, premium wines are $6.00 a glass and most mixed drinks and liquor is $6 -8.  Bottles of wine start at $25.  People in an Explorers Suite or a Veranda cabin are treated the same - there are no private spaces or lounges for more costly cabin guests.  There is no casino.  The ships are gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows in many spaces and lots of light.  The oldest ship was built in 2015.  The Viking website has some great 360's of all the cabins and spaces on the ship at Viking.com.

 

Wonderful .. thank you so much for taking the time to reply .. the ships sound wonderful.

[Piaa]

9 minutes ago, sugarside said:

Lots of Youtube videos of the ships available.

 

Thank you 

[janetcbl]

47 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Also worth mentioning you can BYOB and if you find a bottle of wine you like at a port, you can bring it to dinner and they will serve it with no corking charge.

All cabins have a refrigerator with soft drinks. DV cabins and above have it restocked daily. You can tell the stewards your preference and they will stock it with you preferred beverages. 

PV and above cabin refrigerators also have small bottles of liquor which are replaced daily. You can ask to have wine instead of the alcohol in your refrigerator.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Piaa said:

Dress code?

Formal nights?

Average age?

All inclusive (tips? alcohol etc?)

"Luxury" level (for the want of a better word)

General condition of their ships ? (Onward was definitely in need of going back to dry dock to be completed - they needed at least another 6 months to finish her to a good standard) 

 

 

 

Dress Code - After 18:00, in the MDR and both alternative restaurants the attire is "Business Casual". For gentlemen that includes a short or polo/golf shirt and trousers. The World Cafe has no restrictions other than no swimwear, athletic gear, etc which should be restricted to the gym and pool deck.

 

Formal Nights - None

 

Average Age - probably mid to high 60's. Nobody under 18.

 

All Inclusive - varies depending on the cruise. World Cruises are almost completely all-inclusive, with everything included - gratuities, all drinks (<$15), flights, luggage shipping, Visas, etc. Regular cruises, they add gratuities and beer/wine is only available at lunch & dinner. Wifi is always available, alternative restaurants are complimentary, self-service laundry is included (includes the soap liquid) and an included shore-ex in each port.

 

Luxury - the definition is very subjective. Having experienced the tail end of the luxury liners, I do not consider any current cruise line meets the definition of luxury. I find the clean Scandinavian design and decor a pleasant change from the rich wood panelling and opulence of the ships I worked on. Service may not be "Silver Service", but it is still exceptional, with the crew highly trained and responsive to pax needs and expectations. 

 

Food is also highly subjective, with us being very satisfied. On a 4-month cruise the menu did not repeat and they had an excellent selection of destination themed dishes. Meals were prepared and presented.

 

On Viking you are treated as a responsible adult, as Viking have no restrictions on bringing aboard any alcoholic/non-alcoholic beverages. If you bring your own beer/wine into a dining room, the staff will open and pour, with no corkage fees. Same in the bars, you bring you own bottle and they provide the glasses.

 

Condition of the Ships - Viking ships are very well maintained. Most issues we noted in the cabin were identified by our Cabin Steward, who raised a work order for Engineering. Repairs were either that day or the next.

[wcGma]

Experience based on one Viking cruise just completed. Ship was really lovely. Lots of spacious seating areas. Yes modern clean Scandinavian. Design which you can see on website. Cabin had ample storage though would have liked drawers at desk and refrigerator under coffeemaker shelf. VERY minor. LOVED heated floor in bathroom and found bathroom spaces shower excellent. Surprisingly after reading posts I found bed a little softer than I would have liked. Very generous pours of wine beer at lunch and dinner. Bar prices about half compared to Oceania and Celebrity so quite reasonable.  Included excursions very good to mediocre. In city it is a 2-3 hr bus tour but had truly fantastic tour in Geiranger. Food very good in general but found restaurant selection and choices more limited than on Oceania. Breads terrible and desserts often dry but Mamsens open face sandwiches and waffles a joy. World Cafe had terrible time keeping food warm and our room service breakfast was cold. Found restaurant food very reliable and good selections though some choices sounded great and didn’t deliver. Meat and fish dishes excellent. Coffee and lattes very good. Dress code comparable to Oceania which is casual not formal. After 3 Oceania cruises, I never found them stuffy. Though I saw a lot more VERY casually dressed on Viking., e.g. althletic shoes jeans in restaurant at dinner, even in specialty restaurant. Besides itinerary, one another thing I would consider is time in port. Viking seems to leave many ports rather earlier than I would have liked making excursion choices somewhat limited      But then itinerary for me is my main focus. I will add as have many who returned to cruising this summer, my spouse was positive the evening after we disembarked. I too on return home a week later. This after masking on board except when eating. Only about 20% of passengers wore masks on excursions or throughout the ship. We did not socialize, attend any venues and had our 4th shot a month before boarding. This of course is the risk we decided to take to go on the cruise when Viking dropped its masking and testing requirement. 

[Peregrina651]

7 hours ago, Piaa said:

Thank you for any insight and off to read the hundreds of posts on this forum now 

 

Try this older thread:

 

[lackcreativity]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Try this older thread:

 

Peregrina,

Thanks for taking care of this. I tried to hunt it down using the search feature, but of course that is useless (or maybe I am?). I think that it would be a good idea to pin this at the beginning of the Viking thread. New people keep making inquiries, and this is a great way for them to get to know Viking. How might that happen? Thread moderator? Anyone ?

Edited September 14, 2022 by lackcreativity

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

I tried to hunt it down using the search feature

 

The CC search function is USELESS. I had to use Google to find it. Now I keep it among my bookmarks.

 

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

I think that it would be a good idea to pin this at the beginning of the Viking thread.

 

As much as I like the thread, I have a couple of reasons why I argue against having it, or anything else, pinned.

1. It is too long and meandering -- and once pinned will get longer and meander more. Helpful threads are short and to the point.

2. It is dated in some respects -- and thus in some ways misleading

3. I'm afraid the pinning won't stop with just one thread and we will end up with a dozen pins of dubious value clogging the top of the feed, hogging prime real estate on page, taking away space from the hot topics of the day.  (River Cruising has done this. The top 12 posts are pins and have to be scrolled through each time you want to check out what is new or hot in the forum).

 

 

 

 

[lackcreativity]

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

The CC search function is USELESS. I had to use Google to find it. Now I keep it among my bookmarks.

 

 

As much as I like the thread, I have a couple of reasons why I argue against having it, or anything else, pinned.

1. It is too long and meandering -- and once pinned will get longer and meander more. Helpful threads are short and to the point.

2. It is dated in some respects -- and thus in some ways misleading

3. I'm afraid the pinning won't stop with just one thread and we will end up with a dozen pins of dubious value clogging the top of the feed, hogging prime real estate on page, taking away space from the hot topics of the day.  (River Cruising has done this. The top 12 posts are pins and have to be scrolled through each time you want to check out what is new or hot in the forum).

 

 

 

 

As always, excellent points. In particular, I didn't remember this was started five years ago. Much has changed in that time, even though I think most of the important features remain the same. I withdraw my request!

[Haqdeluxe]

3 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

Much has changed in that time, even though I think most of the important features remain the same.

Yes, they still sail with the pointy end going forward. 😁

[rizello]

On 9/13/2022 at 11:36 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

Service is excellent. Within a day or two everyone will recognize you and know your name. I’ve read that the crew studies pictures of the passengers to ensure a personal experience.

Thanks for this thread.  We have sailed one Viking Ocean cruise and are very interested to see how they compare to other lines.  We really loved our experience and I hope to book more cruises in the future.

 

We sailed last year and only 198 passengers on our ship. Loved the service, but definitely did not have the crew recognize us and know our name during an 11 day cruise.  I don't fault that, though, a lot to expect for crew to remember 930 passenger names.