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I booked to cruise in an Explorer Suite on Viking Ocean Cruises to see what it looked like and was like going on a Viking cruise vacation in one of the best suites on a Viking Ocean cruise ship. I show you around the suite and all the features and perks and talk about if I would book it again - and things for you to consider if you thinking of booking this type of suite on Viking Ocean Cruises
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0:00
is it completely and utterly crazy to
0:03
spend between $11,000 and
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$1,500 a night for an Explorer Suite
0:09
onboard a viking ocean cruise ship if
0:12
you're new here welcome aboard I'm Gary
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benbridge and my goal is to help you
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make it fun and easy to discover plan
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and have Unforgettable Cruise vacations
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now to have an unforgettable vacation in
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a cruise Suite there are seven things
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that every Suite has to tick in my book
0:29
to make it a great site so I'm going to
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take a look at how this explor Suite on
0:33
Viking Venus hits those seven must haves
0:37
there's a couple of disappointments to
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come and some highlights so stick around
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every Cruise Suite needs a good seating
0:44
area on an Explorer Suite you have
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actually a combined open area which has
0:48
a seating area and a dining area more on
0:50
that later the seating area is pretty
0:51
good it's a good siiz area you have a
0:53
sofa you've got a couple of occasional
0:55
chairs a really big coffee table which
0:58
has various magazines books and that
1:00
kind of stuff on big interactive
1:02
television there which is pretty much
1:04
like most cruise ships you're able to
1:05
look at things like your onboard account
1:07
excursions talks that have happened in
1:10
the theater you can actually watch live
1:11
events that are on in the theater there
1:13
the map of where you're sailing to and
1:15
so on the choice of movies was okay uh I
1:19
tend to bring my own anyway I download
1:21
the most current ones off Netflix it was
1:23
an okay range of movies not particularly
1:25
incredible the second key area in the
1:27
suite is a dining area of some kind now
1:29
here on the SP speed it's a pretty big
1:31
area there's this big table here which
1:33
has a rather nice modled kind of glass
1:35
effect here and seating for four people
1:38
to be honest with you I used it once and
1:40
that's all I ordered some room service
1:41
breakfast cuz I felt I kind of had to
1:43
use this table so it does take up a lot
1:45
of space it looks pretty good but of
1:47
course the question is do you really
1:48
need a dining table but certainly it's
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always a key part of a sweet the ability
1:52
to dine and this is a pretty good one
1:54
you also have a table here which has a
1:56
mini bar it has where you have things
1:58
like your Vox system system a coffee
2:00
machine which is actually great really
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nice coffee as well and those are one
2:04
the little touches you have the mini bar
2:06
which is also in here is pretty good and
2:08
there you have drinks both alcoholic and
2:11
soft drinks to your choice replenish
2:13
daily the mini bar also had some rather
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nice snacks a couple of tobleron and
2:16
these rather nice snacks which I got a
2:18
bit addicted to the great thing is
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they're refreshed every day and it's uh
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there's no charge for that it's
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including the fair one other big
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difference to other Cruise Lines is when
2:27
it comes to the plugs so normally when I
2:30
recommend people going on a cruise ship
2:31
I say take lots of two pin us style
2:34
plugs however on the Viking ships it's
2:37
slightly different you need much more of
2:39
the European round plug adapters lots of
2:44
USB charge points as well here and
2:46
you'll see later in the bedroom as well
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there is though one disappointment in
2:51
this Lounge dining area and that's
2:54
behind the curtains because if you open
2:57
the curtains there's an amazing balcony
2:59
which overlooks the bow of the
3:03
ship however you can't get out there
3:07
it's a fake balcony you can't get out
3:09
however it's not a total disaster
3:10
because behind this curtain is a
3:13
protected balcony which has some amazing
3:15
lounges and stuff it really is very very
3:17
nice so even though it's actually a
3:19
really windy day uh it's completely
3:21
protected and you can sit out here even
3:24
in sunny weather in rainy weather in
3:26
windy weather and it's a great really
3:28
space to relax so that's that's a big
3:30
tick as well but pity about those other
3:33
balconies cuz they do look really
3:34
inviting the third area that sweet
3:36
should have is normally some kind of
3:38
walk-in dressing area type of thing now
3:41
this is a pretty good one you've got
3:43
hanging space down here although not
3:45
huge amount of hanging space it was just
3:46
me on this particular trip and I took it
3:48
all up myself then you have loads and
3:50
loads of drawers you have a really big
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safe here really good size safe where
3:54
you can fit huge laptops or big je boxes
3:57
or whatever you Happ to bring with you
3:58
uh but as I said loads and loads of
4:00
space you also then have here a rather
4:02
nice little Dressing Table area so as
4:04
you can see it's a pretty nice Dressing
4:06
Table area really big drawer there uh
4:09
magnifying mirror for your makeup or
4:11
whatever you need to do so that's pretty
4:13
good that then leads into the bedroom
4:16
the bedroom is great it's a really big
4:18
size you've got F of a big king bed
4:21
which of course is two single beds that
4:22
you can split and have it as a twin room
4:25
and again you got a really big
4:27
Television over there as well
4:30
there is one slight downside though to
4:33
this room which is it looks out onto a
4:36
fantastic balcony over there however you
4:38
cannot get out on the balcony so the
4:40
same as in the dining Lounge area that
4:44
is a kind of a fake balcony it's rather
4:46
tempting you get a great view out over
4:48
the bow of the ship but you can't go out
4:50
there so that's a bit disappointing so
4:52
the next key feature of a suite is the
4:53
bathroom and bathrooms on Suites should
4:55
be a bit of a wow factor and this
4:59
certainly does not disappoint let's go
5:02
take a look at the bathroom and see why
5:04
it's something special so probably a
5:06
little bit echoey in here but the bathro
5:07
is a really really great size and it's
5:09
divided into two areas so you have the
5:11
twin basins here with big mirror behind
5:14
me as you can actually you can see over
5:16
there the toilet of course uh heated
5:18
Tower rails heated floor but what's
5:20
really fantastic is you then head into a
5:22
wet room and in the wetroom you have a
5:25
shower which is great with a little
5:28
space to sit down if you want a shower
5:29
when you see down there's a great
5:30
looking bath there of course many people
5:32
don't like baths me I do at least at
5:34
once during a cruise like to soak in
5:36
some bubbles so perhaps something I did
5:38
on this particular Cruise so just to
5:40
give you a sense of just how big this
5:42
room is this is me I mean complete
5:45
stretch out so it's a massive big room
5:46
so definitely the bathroom does
5:48
definitely have a really big wow factor
5:51
it's a big tick for that one the other
5:53
thing I also liked is the toiletries
5:55
which are brand named toiletries which
5:57
you normally find a sweet it's not a
5:58
brand I know if it's it's called free
6:00
what I really liked about it is the
6:02
writing is huge on it body wash shampoo
6:04
conditioner that kind of stuff problem I
6:06
only have with brand toiletries is it's
6:09
all very sophisticated and Tiny I can't
6:10
really see what it is but of course when
6:12
one gets to an age it's really good to
6:13
have those big bold lettering for the
6:16
products there is one slightly strange
6:19
thing in the bathroom and this is this
6:20
magnifying mirror here I'm
6:23
6'2 and it's just I can just see in it
6:27
when I was shaving for example so
6:29
certainly if you're any shorter than 6
6:30
or two this is no good to you there is
6:32
one however in the dressing area that
6:34
you could use and actually move in here
6:36
but slightly strange that was put so
6:37
high up now the other area when it comes
6:39
to Suites is Perks and bonuses and all
6:41
that kind of stuff now on many Cruise
6:43
Lines when you're traveling in a suite
6:44
you'll have things like you'll have a
6:45
butler which Viking don't have you might
6:48
have a very special restaurant for sweet
6:51
guests Viking don't have that but you do
6:54
have the various uh included specialty
6:56
restaurants which you can dine at pretty
6:58
much as much as you like if you pre-plan
7:01
but they don't have many of those other
7:03
features that you do have for sweet any
7:05
guest so the real thing it's about the
7:07
cabin itself it's about the suite itself
7:09
and it's not just about all the perks
7:11
and bonuses that go with it you do get
7:13
quicker access and earlier access to
7:14
things like ability to book excursions
7:16
to book those specialed restaurants but
7:18
it's very much about the cabin or should
7:21
I say the suite are there any things
7:22
that I would change about the suite well
7:24
actually there was very little that I
7:25
would change about the suet the only one
7:27
thing that I think would be fantastic is
7:29
in the bedroom is they had full blackout
7:31
blinds they have very beautiful curtains
7:33
but they're not Total Blackout so
7:34
particularly if you're doing something
7:35
like traveling right up to the north to
7:37
the nor wi and Fs you know bringing ey
7:39
Shades would be a good idea but other
7:41
than that I was very comfortable with
7:43
the suite and I enjoyed all the bits and
7:44
pieces that it had was it worth the
7:47
money to stay in the suite it was a
7:48
magnificent Suite it was extremely
7:50
comfortable and I was actually on a
7:52
cruise which had mostly C days it was
7:54
one of the return to Cruiser so only had
7:56
two ports in 7 days so having the suite
7:58
to retire to to Retreat to was actually
8:00
pretty fantastic cuz we were setting
8:02
where there wasn't incredible weather
8:03
all the time so from that perspective as
8:05
an experience it was definitely worth it
8:08
of course the big question is will I do
8:10
it again will I book an Explorer Suite
8:12
again I'm not sure that I will be
8:14
reading the piggy bank again because
8:16
looking at some of the other cabins they
8:17
are absolutely magnificent too but it
8:20
was a fantastic experience so certainly
8:22
I was doing it as a special occasion if
8:24
you got a special occasion and you have
8:26
a big piggy bank to raid definitely give
8:28
an explor s a try I really really
8:30
enjoyed my experience here if you want
8:32
to find more about Viking why don't you
8:34
watch this playlist that I put together
8:36
here including one of the most important
8:38
things that Viking does different to
8:40
other cruise lines so click on that and
8:42
I'll see you over there
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