Long Time Celebrity Cruiser

[OnTheJourney]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:50 AM, slewis7 said:

While I loved my first Viking cruise, I have not found it to be as enjoyable on my subsequent experiences (since the pandemic).

Curious as to why? 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Nice room. Sometime also try a Penthouse Jr. Suite. Great location on deck 8. Easy access to Mamson's and also the upper level of the Explorer's Lounge. 

We've been in the Jr Suites twice (once on Deck 8 and once on Deck 6 - I prefer Deck 6 personally) and yes, they are VERY nice! 

[slewis7]

6 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Curious as to why? 

Mostly that food and service on my first Viking cruise was almost always great but on subsequent cruises it was inconsistent.  
 

Also, the Covid testing protocols made things less enjoyable and on one of the cruises we missed a majority of our ports due to having some cases onboard. 
 

I would not fault Viking for the problems directly related to the pandemic, although I guess (hope) quality issues are likely related.

[Virgo61]

32 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Mostly that food and service on my first Viking cruise was almost always great but on subsequent cruises it was inconsistent.  
 

Also, the Covid testing protocols made things less enjoyable and on one of the cruises we missed a majority of our ports due to having some cases onboard. 
 

I would not fault Viking for the problems directly related to the pandemic, although I guess (hope) quality issues are likely related.

Our first Viking Ocean cruise was in 2022, so after they reopened, but I did hear one passenger complaining that she was going to cancel her upcoming cruises due to cutbacks from her previous to Covid cruises. I'm guessing she changed her mind but it proved to me that Viking 2022 was not the same as Viking 2018. But no cruise line is the same. Also a side note about some of Viking's more egregious policies. I was booking a river cruise for October of 2025 and was told that final payment was due in December of 2023, 22months in advance!

[CCWineLover]

On 5/21/2023 at 11:49 AM, OnTheJourney said:

But, since our next to last cruise was with Viking, I will say this - if Viking cruised out of our two favorite (and close by) ports - Baltimore and Bayonne -

OTJ -  Good to see you posting on Viking again.

Will be sailing out of your neck of the woods in a couple weeks!   Viking Saturn from New York to Iceland.  Rumors had it we'd leave out of Bayonne, but fortunately not to be (Boarding at Manhattan Cruise Terminal off 52nd St).  Many (many!) years ago I did a ship fire fighting school in Bayonne.  Haven't been back.  🙂

 

[donaldsc]

On 5/18/2023 at 4:36 PM, DrKoob said:

 

 

All that said, we tried Viking last fall for three weeks in a Penthouse Verandah. Everything was included except gratuities (which we prepaid), and we bought cocktails by the glass because we got cocktails (with free gin, vodka and rum in our mini-bar at no cost). In a suite, you would get the mini-bar as well. But I won't say we were disappointed with Viking but rather that our expectations were too high. We were not thrilled with the specialty restaurants, but then we aren't thrilled with the ones Celebrity has now. But compared to the old Qsine, the United States Dining room on Infinity (and their sister ships), and Murano, the Viking specialty restaurants don't measure up either. 

 

 

 

We are also going to give Oceania a try in the meantime. We are looking for our new cruise line. Done with X.

 

We did our 1st Viking Ocean cruise recently.  We also did our 1st Viking river cruise last summer.  Your thoughts on the cruises match mine perfectly.  Both  cruises were very good.  The ships and the service on the ships were excellent.  The problem is that considering the publicity that Viking puts out and our expectations we expected something really really special.  It was good but not as good as I expected.  Will I book on Viking again.  Well we have booked a Viking ocean cruise in Norway next winter to hopefully see aurora.  I am not sure about booking another Viking river cruise,  It is just that we will now go on one of their cruises with realistic expectations.

 

DON

[OnTheJourney]

5 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Rumors had it we'd leave out of Bayonne,

Tell you what.... if Viking started offering itineraries out of either Baltimore or Bayonne (preferably not transatlantic though which doesn't interest me much), I'd be apt to sail with Viking most of the time over RCL or Celebrity. We usually do both of the latter for the convenience of only having a 2+ hour drive and no flying. 

[island lady]

16 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Nice room. Sometime also try a Penthouse Jr. Suite. Great location on deck 8. Easy access to Mamson's and also the upper level of the Explorer's Lounge. 

 

Good to hear ^...thanks!   🙂  We are booked in 8018 for 30 days on Venus, then transferring to same cabin on Orion for 15.  Which will be our first Viking Ocean cruise.  

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

We are booked in 8018 for 30 days on Venus

I think that was our room on the Mars for the invitational cruise last year this time. 

[Mimiya11]

We were on back to back cruises in March.  A week on the Celebrity Apex (loved the space,  but seemed hectic) followed by two weeks on the Viking Star (loved the space but was a bit too quiet).   This was our first Viking cruise and after being on a ship with almost 3000 passengers followed by one that had about 900, we had a range of mixed emotions.    While we like to try various cruise lines, we do end up booking more on Celebrity than others    That is slowly changing.  

Having said that, if you are expecting a suite experience with a butler you will be disappointed in that regard.  Although, as others have said, not sure what real value a butler provides when we found our cabin steward on Viking to be fantastic.  

   

On Viking, sure they have one included excursion per port, not all are good and you still are going on a bus with potentially 40 people.  Our best excursion on our recent Viking cruise (and any cruise) are small groups that I booked privately.   

 

Didi Viking blow us away?   As others have said, our expectations were so high.  Not really   But....having said that we did like several things. 

 

- Our penthouse veranda was spacious and comfortable.  Balcony was always damp for some reason, so we rarely used our balcony.  Plus their selection of movie options in the cabin was incredible. 

- Lots of lovely spaces throughout the ship.   

- We loved eating outside, so ate most of our meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) at the buffet which was surprising to us in the end as we never have eaten dinner at the buffet on any ship. 

 But the buffet with its daily sushi bar, cold seafood bar, both prepared and freshly prepared items all that were on that evening's dining room menu, incredible bread, desserts and FREE gelato (lol) let us eat what we wanted, casually and outside!  Is the food fantastic?  It ranged from excellent to just ok.   They did an amazing job meeting my gluten free husband's dietary needs.  Celebrity still has a lot to learn in this regard.   

 

- Explorer's lounge music and drinks - our go to place for a pre dinner drink and post dinner entertainment.

 

Having said all this we are really looking forward to our Sky Suite on the Apex for a Transatlantic in the fall.     And then maybe try another smaller ship like Azamara just for variety 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[txcarm]

Our transatlantic on Celebrity Edge only had 1400 passengers.  

[SteelCity Cruiser]

13 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I think that was our room on the Mars for the invitational cruise last year this time. 

8018 was our room on our first ever ocean cruise - the welcome back Iceland cruise in 2021.  Great location near the stairs/elevators and a short stagger to the Explorer's Lounge.  You do feel a lot more boat movement on deck 8 though which was a little startling to us the first night of our cruise (and fortunately, only one night)

 

[island lady]

6 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

8018 was our room on our first ever ocean cruise - the welcome back Iceland cruise in 2021.  Great location near the stairs/elevators and a short stagger to the Explorer's Lounge.  You do feel a lot more boat movement on deck 8 though which was a little startling to us the first night of our cruise (and fortunately, only one night)

 

 

Happy to hear you liked your cabin location.  That is the cabin we will be in for 45 days (a S2S Venus and Orion).   We are circumnavigating Australia, and then NZ...will most likely get some "motion of the ocean".    Hopefully not to bad.  🤞

[SteelCity Cruiser]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Happy to hear you liked your cabin location.  That is the cabin we will be in for 45 days (a S2S Venus and Orion).   We are circumnavigating Australia, and then NZ...will most likely get some "motion of the ocean".    Hopefully not to bad.  🤞

We were on the Sydney to Auckland cruise in January/February and the Tasman Sea was very bumpy.  And then we also had the life-experience of cruising up the west coast of New Zealand behind the cyclone (we missed 2 ports due to the storm).  So, if you see the crew stacking the furniture and strapping it down on the Aquavit, be forewarned you're in for some rockin' and rollin'.

 

 

[harbourside]

13 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

We were on the Sydney to Auckland cruise in January/February and the Tasman Sea was very bumpy.  And then we also had the life-experience of cruising up the west coast of New Zealand behind the cyclone (we missed 2 ports due to the storm).  So, if you see the crew stacking the furniture and strapping it down on the Aquavit, be forewarned you're in for some rockin' and rollin'.

 

 

We were on the Sydney to Auckland Cruise Feb 2023 and it was flat.  I was expecting the worst as the crossing is notorious for a bumpy ride and could not believe how calm it was.

 

 

 

[harbourside]

15 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Happy to hear you liked your cabin location.  That is the cabin we will be in for 45 days (a S2S Venus and Orion).   We are circumnavigating Australia, and then NZ...will most likely get some "motion of the ocean".    Hopefully not to bad.  🤞

Will be joining you on the Venus for the Circumnavigation of Australia.

 

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, harbourside said:

Will be joining you on the Venus for the Circumnavigation of Australia.

 

We are on this cruise too.

[island lady]

22 hours ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

We were on the Sydney to Auckland cruise in January/February and the Tasman Sea was very bumpy.  And then we also had the life-experience of cruising up the west coast of New Zealand behind the cyclone (we missed 2 ports due to the storm).  So, if you see the crew stacking the furniture and strapping it down on the Aquavit, be forewarned you're in for some rockin' and rollin'.

 

 

 

Thanks!  We have had a few bouncy ones in the southern Carib. The crew did the same on those wild days/nights as well.   I can just imagine the rough seas down under as well...and before this one, we are on one of the smaller ships with Royal Carb. on the world cruise around the horn of South America.  Yeah, in for some roller coaster rides I assume!  

 

Yikes!  😮  😉 

[island lady]

8 hours ago, harbourside said:

Will be joining you on the Venus for the Circumnavigation of Australia.

 

 

Welcome aboard! 🙂  Will be our first Viking Ocean cruise.  Looking forward to it!  

 

RCI cancelled our planned circumnavigation around Australia last year.  This after the understandable cancellation due to Covid the previous year, but last year they simply yanked the ship we were to be on (that we had rebooked), just to send it to New Orleans.  They had their shot, I rebooked with Viking. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by island lady

[island lady]

7 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

We are on this cruise too.

 

Welcome aboard to you as well.  🙂 

[SempreMare]

On 5/23/2023 at 9:05 AM, CCWineLover said:

Many (many!) years ago I did a ship fire fighting school in Bayonne.  Haven't been back.  🙂

 

Nothing as intense as that, but the guided tour I took of the NYFD Museum  by a retired NYC fire fighter was life changing.  I will never forget the stories he told.  

 

One random tip: 

When in a burning building, use the BACK of your hand to touch-test door knobs for heat.  

 

Because… If the door knob is flaming hot, you won’t burn your palm which you might need to use to hang on to a tool or a fire fighter if you need help.

[tocruiseguy]

On 5/18/2023 at 8:45 AM, Relaxinginthesun said:

My DW and I have sailed exclusively in Suites on Celebrity and RCCL for many cruises. While we enjoyed our last two cruises on Celebrity, which were both in Royal Suites we were disappointed with level of service in what they now call the Retreat area and the quality of the dining.  Therefore, we are considering trying a new line for our next cruise.  We sail in suites not so much for the extra space, while that is nice, but we like the all inclusive aspect of it.  I would just rather pay for everything up front and from my research so far it seems Viking is pretty much all inclusive. Also, we are used to having a dedicated butler  or a genie on RCCL who provides a high level of personalized service. So I am hoping to hear from others who have sailed on Celebrity and or RCCL,  if the Viking concept really is all inclusive and if not, what am I missing.  Second, is the level of service on-board comparable given there are no butlers.  Finally, I would appreciate anyone who has sailed on both lines providing their opinions on advantages and disadvantages of one line compared to the other.  

Most of the cruises we have taken to date have been on Celebrity, recently did a longer Viking Cruise, our first one.  Firstly the entertainment on Celebrity is significantly better and sea days on Viking were devoid of activities, unless you want to learn to play bridge or other rather sedate activities.  The age demographic, at least on the Viking cruise we took, I would guess was 75 plus and Viking really caters to that age group.  Almost all the music played was from the 1970's and older, not sure why Viking doesn't realize there have been 4 decades of music since 1979....

 

The staff on Viking were excellent and the food was generally very good, although repetitive at times and strangely the hours were somewhat limited in the World Cafe.  Viking did a good job of providing "local" cuisine in the World Cafe.  We find the staff on Celebrity equally good (and we are usually in a regular state room). but there seems to more Viking staff around so I am guessing Viking has a better staff to passenger ratio.  If you like to sleep in, forget about breakfast due to the world cafe hours, and there was really nowhere to grab a snack late afternoon when we returned from excursions.   Ship was very nice/clean and our stateroom was good.  Gym was good, as it wasn't busy, not really any gym classes though.  Spa was good, much of it included.  A few of the bar staff were excellent, went above and beyond, although at times in The Restaurant and Manfredi's we found almost too many staff were servicing our table which resulted in confusion. 

 

Viking's included excursions are basically, pile into a bus, drive around for an hour, get out, take a picture, get back in, rinse and repeat.  The included excursions seemed to be catered towards people who don't really want to move a lot (not us).  Some of the paid excursions weren't much better.  Our best days were either self guided stuff or private tours we arranged ourselves. 

 

Bottom line for us, even though the ship and staff were very good, we find Viking too sedate and even though there are some great Viking itineraries the excursions provided and sold do not live up to the potential of some of the ports, at least on the cruise we were on.  Based on the additional daily cost on Viking we don't think it's worth it, but that is subjective and our opinion.  

[LindaS272]

4 hours ago, tocruiseguy said:

If you like to sleep in, forget about breakfast due to the world cafe hours, and there was really nowhere to grab a snack late afternoon when we returned from excursions.   Ship was very nice/clean and our stateroom was good.

Many, many postings here about folks who order up a room service breakfast; I believe Mamsen’s is serving waffles until about 10:30-11:00 a.m.; afternoons have tea in the Winter Garden from 4-5 pm; & room service cheese/fruit plate in late afternoon after excursions.

[wine-wine-wine]

45 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Many, many postings here about folks who order up a room service breakfast; I believe Mamsen’s is serving waffles until about 10:30-11:00 a.m.; afternoons have tea in the Winter Garden from 4-5 pm; & room service cheese/fruit plate in late afternoon after excursions.

Plus sandwiches in the living room bar. 

[CCWineLover]

6 hours ago, tocruiseguy said:

Most of the cruises we have taken to date have been on Celebrity, recently did a longer Viking Cruise, our first one.  Firstly the entertainment on Celebrity is significantly better and sea days on Viking were devoid of activities, unless you want to learn to play bridge or other rather sedate activities.  The age demographic, at least on the Viking cruise we took, I would guess was 75 plus and Viking really caters to that age group.  Almost all the music played was from the 1970's and older, not sure why Viking doesn't realize there have been 4 decades of music since 1979....

 

The staff on Viking were excellent and the food was generally very good, although repetitive at times and strangely the hours were somewhat limited in the World Cafe.  Viking did a good job of providing "local" cuisine in the World Cafe.  We find the staff on Celebrity equally good (and we are usually in a regular state room). but there seems to more Viking staff around so I am guessing Viking has a better staff to passenger ratio.  If you like to sleep in, forget about breakfast due to the world cafe hours, and there was really nowhere to grab a snack late afternoon when we returned from excursions.   Ship was very nice/clean and our stateroom was good.  Gym was good, as it wasn't busy, not really any gym classes though.  Spa was good, much of it included.  A few of the bar staff were excellent, went above and beyond, although at times in The Restaurant and Manfredi's we found almost too many staff were servicing our table which resulted in confusion. 

 

Viking's included excursions are basically, pile into a bus, drive around for an hour, get out, take a picture, get back in, rinse and repeat.  The included excursions seemed to be catered towards people who don't really want to move a lot (not us).  Some of the paid excursions weren't much better.  Our best days were either self guided stuff or private tours we arranged ourselves. 

 

Bottom line for us, even though the ship and staff were very good, we find Viking too sedate and even though there are some great Viking itineraries the excursions provided and sold do not live up to the potential of some of the ports, at least on the cruise we were on.  Based on the additional daily cost on Viking we don't think it's worth it, but that is subjective and our opinion.  

So are you voting with your wallet and words and just doing Celebrity from now on?   And leaving Viking?