Viking Mars food and bed poor?

[kahuna21]

Aloha all, I just watched a recent, detailed review of Viking Mars on YouTube. The reviewers said that their bed was very hard and that the crew had no mattress topper, and no solution. The also found the food, overall, to be poor. Comments? We are taking our first Viking cruise in 2024 on Mars. We are used to Oceania, Seabourn, and Regent, but we thought Viking might be superior for Iceland. 

[Haworth]

We were on the first sailing of Viking Mars and many other Viking cruises, I would absolutely refute both those points. The one issue we had was a couple who fell asleep in the next cabin with their TV on, a quiet word it was resolved.

[CDNPolar]

We have now been on 6 Viking Ocean cruises.  

 

I disagree with anyone that is giving Viking a poor review based on food or the bed quality.  I have a lot of back issues and Viking beds have never caused any flare ups.  We find the beds, and the linens, to be wonderful.

 

I would like to know what these reviewers consider good food and exceptional food if they find Viking's food "poor".

 

We travel the globe and one of our passions is food.  I can say that not every meal that we have had on Viking is Michelin Star rated, but we continue to sail Viking because we find their food quality, variety, and creativity to be very high standards that surpass many of the on-land restaurants that we have tried in many cruise destinations.

 

You will find on CC may very loyal Viking customers that will most likely agree with my thoughts here fully.

 

Often, as a closing remark, in my opinion, those that post really poor reviews have something else that prompted them to tear something apart.  I would love to see this review - would you post the URL?

[duquephart]

"Viking" and "Michelin Star rated" should never appear in the same sentence. Food on Viking ships can be, and often is, quite good. Michelin Star is an entirely different level.

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

We have now been on 6 Viking Ocean cruises.  

 

I disagree with anyone that is giving Viking a poor review based on food or the bed quality.  I have a lot of back issues and Viking beds have never caused any flare ups.  We find the beds, and the linens, to be wonderful.

 

I would like to know what these reviewers consider good food and exceptional food if they find Viking's food "poor".

 

We travel the globe and one of our passions is food.  I can say that not every meal that we have had on Viking is Michelin Star rated, but we continue to sail Viking because we find their food quality, variety, and creativity to be very high standards that surpass many of the on-land restaurants that we have tried in many cruise destinations.

 

You will find on CC may very loyal Viking customers that will most likely agree with my thoughts here fully.

 

Often, as a closing remark, in my opinion, those that post really poor reviews have something else that prompted them to tear something apart.  I would love to see this review - would you post the URL?

Totally agree.  We were just on Mars,  

as for someone’s opinion, everyone has one.  For some the bed is too soft, some just right some too soft.  For some the food is good for some it’s not.

YOU have to try it yourself and make your own mind up.  Just remember most posts (look at FB) complain and one person even wondered why it was so hard to get cabins on Viking if 90% of the people disliked them.

make up your own mind.

[Peregrina651]

Food is highly subjective. Bed comfort is highly subjective.  What else did the reviewer have to say? What did other reviewers have to say? You can't judge anything on just one review and you have to keep in mind that no cruise-line can please all of the people all of the time.  Still, as noted in the last post, Viking ships fill up quickly.

[janetcbl]

We have been on the Mars and have two more cruises scheduled on the ship. I got a mattress topper for my bed and it was perfect. Food is a matter of opinion; I thought it excellent, especially in the Restaurant, but had to increase my daily workout of laps around the ship to keep my weight okay!- the salted caramel ice cream is “deadly”!

[Mich3554]

Only a single review?  Did you bother to look any further?

[kahuna21]

7 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

We have now been on 6 Viking Ocean cruises.  

 

I disagree with anyone that is giving Viking a poor review based on food or the bed quality.  I have a lot of back issues and Viking beds have never caused any flare ups.  We find the beds, and the linens, to be wonderful.

 

I would like to know what these reviewers consider good food and exceptional food if they find Viking's food "poor".

 

We travel the globe and one of our passions is food.  I can say that not every meal that we have had on Viking is Michelin Star rated, but we continue to sail Viking because we find their food quality, variety, and creativity to be very high standards that surpass many of the on-land restaurants that we have tried in many cruise destinations.

 

You will find on CC may very loyal Viking customers that will most likely agree with my thoughts here fully.

 

Often, as a closing remark, in my opinion, those that post really poor reviews have something else that prompted them to tear something apart.  I would love to see this review - would you post the URL?

Thank you all for the reassuring comments! Here is the YouTube link.  Please comment on the review in this link, thanks. 

 

[duquephart]

42 minutes ago, kahuna21 said:

Thank you all for the reassuring comments! Here is the YouTube link.  Please comment on the review in this link, thanks. 

 

 

Clickbait that could have been done in one third the time.

[CCWineLover]

30 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Clickbait that could have been done in one third the time.

Exactly what I was thinking.  Me thinks they had an agenda.

[Kentishincanada]

I agree the beds on Viking are hard but after our first cruise we ordered a topper and then found the bed and linens very comfortable.  Our only disappointment with food was Manfredis which we had enjoyed on our first couple of cruises but we felt had deteriorated on our cruise last year, both the menu and the standard of cooking.  However, Chefs Table more than made up and we ate three amazing meals there.  I love the selection of fresh fruit always available for breakfast and the ice cream bar is amazing.  Hopefully by our next cruise the pistachio buns will be back to have early morning with the excellent living room coffee.

 

It would be difficult to find ships with such a relaxing design - particularly love the spa pool and the walking track.

[Azulann]

Never go to YouTube for any review or self promoters . 

Edited November 25, 2023 by Azulann

[CDR2001]

Regarding Viking Ocean food…it certainly is subjective. Hubby is a meat and potatoes guy, and his complaint about Viking dining is it’s TOO upscale! ….Though he does love the omelets at breakfast and the desserts!   LOL! 

[Zippeedee]

Just now, Azulann said:

Never go to YouTube for any review or self promoters . 

There are lots of reliable cruise YouTube channels. Everyone needs “clickbait” titles to be seen. I like Emma Cruises, La Lido Loca and Tips For Travelers. Just find someone who has similar tastes.

[Peregrina651]

I can't believe that I watched the whole thing! But if I was going to criticize, I figured the least I could do was to watch it. I'm not a huge fan of vanity videos and I don't spend my days tracking them down and watching them. I think maybe I have sat through two or three of these things and only because they were a topic of discussion here.

 

My take away is as follows:

 

• in spite of not liking the food and the beds, they gave an over-all rating of 5-stars

• in spite of not liking the food and the beds, they have booked another Viking cruise.

• in spite of not liking the food and the beds, they spoke highly of Viking and urged others to give them a try

• I feel that they didn't do their homework in some areas such that their expectations were not based in reality  -- like not knowing in advance that their spa service actually already included a tip (something they could have highlighted had they known)

•  they kept referring to Viking as a luxury cruise line; Viking has never made that claim.

•  this was a long cruise for them -- 15 days

• they never mentioned the demographic of the ship -- and they are much younger than the demographic that Viking markets to

• as for the food, they called it as they saw it. Some of it was based on their unfounded expectations but some of it was actually problems encountered (such as running out of room service menu items toward the end of the cruise).

• I don't need to know that they cruise because they can't have kids; I do need to know how many cruises they have done and on what cruise lines they have already sailed. Not sure I need to know how much they spent on the vacation either.

• they only spoke about the cruise itself; nothing about their pre-cruise experience, did not mention if they used Viking Air or did a cruise extension.

 

To be honest, once they got past their superfluous intro, I thought they did a good job of narrating and editing their piece -- not great, just good. I thought they were fairly balanced in their comments and their criticisms and I did not feel as though they had some sort of axe to grind. I actually found it to be an enthusiastic endorsement of Viking, especially considering that their major criticisms were about two very important areas of any travel experience -- beds and food.

 

[duquephart]

I quit as soon as they got to fertility issues.

[bison2013]

Interesting that they did not have any pics of the food... out of character based on how much other footage they collected....  Made us laugh anyway at what niggles some folks enough to dress up for the video to over 'share'

[GerryL13]

5 hours ago, CDR2001 said:

Regarding Viking Ocean food…it certainly is subjective. Hubby is a meat and potatoes guy, and his complaint about Viking dining is it’s TOO upscale! ….Though he does love the omelets at breakfast and the desserts!   LOL! 

 He probably wouldn't enjoy Oceania. I recently came off a 16-night cruise on the Vista, and while I enjoyed everything, I did find the menus to be a bit pretentious. Late each afternoon, I would turn on the tv and review the menu for the restaurant where we would be dining to see what I might order. I almost always had to Google words describing ingredients or cooking technique to figure out what it was. And I speak French!!!

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, duquephart said:

I quit as soon as they got to fertility issues.

 

I fast-forwarded through it and I thought that it was entirely out of place. I felt it was asking the audience to go easy on them because they had already suffered enough. Still, if i was going to comment on what they had to say in their review, I had to watch the whole thing.

 

4 hours ago, bison2013 said:

Interesting that they did not have any pics of the food... out of character based on how much other footage they collected....  Made us laugh anyway at what niggles some folks enough to dress up for the video to over 'share'

 

My guess is that showing all the delicious looking the food would not necessarily convey the point they were trying to make.

 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I fast-forwarded through it and I thought that it was entirely out of place. I felt it was asking the audience to go easy on them because they had already suffered enough. Still, if i was going to comment on what they had to say in their review, I had to watch the whole thing.

 

 

My guess is that showing all the delicious looking the food would not necessarily convey the point they were trying to make.

 

As I said, it appeared to me they had a planned agenda.

[DrKoob]

8 hours ago, Azulann said:

Never go to YouTube for any review or self promoters . 

WOW! Talk about a blanket statement. There are some excellent YouTube cruise reviewers who supply excellent information. Tips for Travelers comes to mind or Don's Family Vacations. Both do an excellent job. 

[DrKoob]

We did three weeks on Sky last year, and I found the mattress to be VERY hard. We got a topper, and we still found it hard. I wrote about it in my review and on my blog, and everyone who agreed with me was a Tempurpedic owner. When you regularly sleep on foam, going to a hard mattress can be quite a change. I think that others must have agreed with the OP since the ship was out of mattress toppers. That says something right there. 

 

As to the food, we thought that every bit of food we ate on Deck 7 (World Cafe, Pool Grille and Mamsens) was excellent. The best buffet we have ever had on a ship. But down on decks 1 & 2, we were totally disappointed. In The Restaurant, the service and the noise were less than the food. I am sure the food was fine, but the service was strange (waiters kept changing during the two dinners we ate there. We had at least three different servers during both dinners we ate there). And it was so loud. I am sure it is the low ceilings (compared to other MDRs on other ships). We were at a table for four and could not hear the people across the table from us. 

 

As for the two specialty restaurants, we found Manfredis a poor excuse for an Italian restaurant. My wife (and at least six other people we sailed with) got food poisoning from some bad swordfish. And I am sure that The Chef's Table can be very good, but on the only night we could get reservations there was nothing on the menu that interested me and two courses my bride couldn't eat because of allergies. 

 

So, different people have different experiences. Even YouTubers. 

[Pushka]

We were on Mars for 21 days in May. The buffet was good in fact superior to the MDR. Sushi buffet was excellent as were the steaks and roast and the usual accompaniments.. We had a meal of lamb chops in the MDR and they were inedible. And the others ordering them nearby sent them back. I also tried the chops in the buffet that night and they were the same. 
 

The beds were very comfortable. 

[KBs mum]

The beds do veer towards firm, but not unreasonably so, and are reasonably comfortable. Bad backs might require a pillow between the knees to line hips and shoulders up. 

In general the chairs etc on board are comfortable, and room layouts sensible. Look out for sliding bathroom doors in heavy seas though, don't leave fingers in the way! 

The design of the ships and decor is excellent, and housekeeping is of a good hotel standard. 

We thought the standard of food had definately deteriorated. It wasn't actually bad, just very underwhelming. One thing we encountered, eggs benedict in the world cafe used to be made to order, instead they were set out under the heat lamps, the hollandaise was forming a skin and the crumpet/muffin thing was rubbery and difficult to cut.