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I review Viking Ocean Cruises and put the cruise line to the test to see what they offer, what they do different to other cruise lines - and to find out of Viking Ocean Cruise Lines are as good as their loyal fans say they are. I look at everything from the line, ships, facilities, cabins, service, and dining
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0:00
can viking ocean cruises ever be
0:03
as good as their fans would lead you to
0:05
believe before i came on viking
0:07
i was constantly told by people who love
0:10
viking
0:10
ocean that it is wonderful it's
0:13
magnificent
0:14
it's unique it's different it's the best
0:16
it does this better that better
0:17
so i boarded my very first ocean cruise
0:20
here on
0:21
viking venus with a little bit of
0:22
trepidation and some pretty high
0:24
standards
0:25
what i can tell you as you'll see during
0:27
the course of this it didn't entirely go
0:29
to plan i was blindsided by some things
0:31
i was surprised
0:32
by some things and some things were
0:34
basically pretty much as i expected but
0:36
the thing
0:37
that really stood out no one had really
0:39
warned me about
0:40
so stick with me to find out what those
0:42
things were
0:43
if you're new here i'm gary bembridge
0:45
welcome aboard welcome aboard
0:47
viking venus i'm here to make it fun
0:50
and easy to discover plan and enjoy
0:53
unforgettable
0:54
cruise vacations and is viking
0:57
cruises unforgettable or not one of the
1:00
things that i wrestled with both before
1:01
i came on
1:02
the cruise and during the cruise is
1:04
exactly who or what
1:06
is viking oceans viking cruises is in an
1:08
independent line it was created
1:10
and is still chaired by its founder a
1:13
man called
1:14
torsten hagen so viking ocean of course
1:16
came
1:17
from rivers they started in european
1:19
rivers and then expanded to rivers
1:20
around the world
1:21
and they're now also going to expedition
1:23
cruising the overall experience on
1:25
viking is it's pretty luxury but it's
1:27
not ultra luxury
1:28
so probably quite comfortably competes
1:30
with and fits with lines like say
1:32
oceania
1:33
azamara perhaps even windstar which is
1:35
pretty luxurious small ships
1:37
high level of service good quality
1:40
fixtures and fittings
1:41
however it was very clear that viking
1:44
has
1:44
a significant difference to those lines
1:48
so people who might like those lines
1:49
will like viking but they'll find
1:51
something
1:52
very different because the overall
1:53
experience of viking is quite different
1:55
though
1:55
to those particular lines because at its
1:58
heart it has a very different philosophy
2:00
and that's because it came from rivers
2:02
it started with rivers
2:03
not with ocean and the whole way that
2:05
they approach and do cruising
2:07
is pretty different here the things that
2:09
i found were
2:10
especially notable and different first
2:13
of all
2:13
it's much more all-inclusive as with
2:16
river cruising
2:17
so on board you'll find things like in
2:19
ports there's normally one included
2:21
excursion
2:22
within the fair things like wine and
2:24
beer
2:25
is available included within the fair at
2:27
lunch and dinner
2:28
wi-fi is included gratuities were
2:31
certainly included
2:32
all the dining options were also
2:34
included within the fair
2:36
also unlike other cruise lines even
2:38
those that they compete with
2:39
there was no what i guess you'd call
2:40
nickel and diming so there's no
2:42
real push for sales and selling on board
2:45
so a bit like when you go
2:46
on a river cruise where you find your
2:49
on-board expenditure is pretty low
2:51
there's no for example casino on board
2:54
there's no
2:55
promotions out in the hallways selling
2:59
inches of gold there's no art auctions
3:01
there's even no photography group
3:03
you know taking pictures and trying to
3:04
sell you photographs so there's no kind
3:06
of add-on sales in fact the only things
3:08
that you will spend
3:09
extra on will be if you go for a full
3:11
drinks package
3:12
because you want to have drinks you know
3:14
covered drinks at all the bars and
3:16
venues
3:17
through the whole cruise and if you go
3:18
for any of the additional
3:20
optional excursions which will often be
3:22
relatively expensive because they
3:24
often include kind of access to very
3:26
special areas
3:27
or are restricted to small groups that
3:30
kind of thing
3:31
but pretty much the fair includes almost
3:33
everything so certainly when you look
3:35
at a viking cruise it looks pretty
3:37
expensive but really important when
3:38
you're comparing with those other lines
3:40
to look at what is included in the
3:42
overall experience
3:44
that certainly was a big difference that
3:46
whole approach coming from
3:47
river the other thing which really comes
3:50
from the river experience
3:52
is the big focus on the destination so
3:54
it's very much
3:55
around immersing you in the destination
3:58
so
3:59
when it comes to entertainment which
4:00
i'll talk about in more detail a little
4:01
bit later
4:02
unlike lines that have come from an
4:04
ocean experience
4:06
and are run by people who've come from
4:07
the ocean world there's not as much
4:09
focus
4:10
on entertainment certainly the more
4:11
glitzy shows the more production shows
4:13
the big emphasis on the kind of the
4:15
glitzy
4:16
entertainment it's a very different
4:17
approach as i'll talk about a little bit
4:19
later and that's really important
4:21
if you're considering coming on viking
4:22
that real switch there is one other
4:24
really key difference to the lines that
4:27
viking competes with and it's one
4:28
that i really like and that's around age
4:31
it's an
4:32
adult only line so you have to be over
4:34
the age of 18
4:35
to be able to cruise on viking ocean as
4:38
is with
4:39
viking river as well so that means it's
4:41
an adult-only environment something that
4:42
i
4:43
actually really enjoy so for me that is
4:45
definitely a big plus
4:47
there is one really big difference
4:49
though that was quite a surprise was
4:52
almost a joke
4:52
that we made that could influence
4:54
whether you like
4:56
or don't like going on a viking cruise
4:58
and that very simply
4:59
is that every single ship in the fleet
5:02
is a carbon copy it is exactly the same
5:06
so ultimately they will have i think by
5:08
next year at the time recording i think
5:09
is eight
5:10
of the classic cruise ships in service
5:12
they are all exactly the same the same
5:14
layout
5:15
pretty much the same decor and carbon
5:17
copies of each other
5:18
so unlike perhaps on other cruise lines
5:20
you know if you go in oceania for
5:22
example
5:22
as amara whichever cruise line you go
5:24
you'll often find that they have
5:26
different classes of ship
5:27
often related to the age of the ships
5:30
and service so you can actually go on a
5:32
cruise line
5:32
and you need to choose a ship that
5:34
really coordinates with what you like
5:36
you can go on celebrity
5:37
and they have a raft of different types
5:38
of ships so really important on
5:41
viking that's not the case every ship is
5:43
the same
5:44
it has the same layout cabins are the
5:46
same and the decor
5:47
is basically the same so there's a joke
5:50
that even the crew
5:51
who move between the ships will almost
5:52
do a spot the difference because the
5:54
differences
5:54
are fairly limited and minimal
5:58
so the good thing if you like that is
6:00
you don't have to worry about
6:01
having to choose a specific ship because
6:02
when you get on board it will be
6:04
familiar and the same
6:05
whereas if you go to other lines you
6:06
have to really careful about what class
6:08
of ship the ships themselves are
6:09
in the small ship category so if that
6:12
appeals to you which it does to me
6:13
that's a real plus so the ships hold 930
6:15
guests in 465
6:17
cabins and that's across nine decks
6:20
there's also a pretty limited
6:21
range of accommodation types which also
6:23
makes it a bit simpler and i thought
6:25
it's certainly simple
6:26
so there are three veranda grades so you
6:29
have a basic veranda
6:30
you have a veranda stateroom you have a
6:32
deluxe veranda state room
6:34
and you have a penthouse veranda
6:36
stateroom you then have a penthouse
6:39
junior suite there's not many of those
6:41
and then you have the ultimate suite
6:42
which is the explorer suite and it's
6:44
actually kind of three different grades
6:46
based on where they are based on the
6:47
ship
6:47
i decided to splash out for my very
6:49
first viking cruise
6:50
and on viki venus i stayed in an
6:52
explorer suite also really important as
6:54
you probably noticed from that
6:56
is that every single cabin has a veranda
6:59
there are no ocean view there are no
7:01
insides they all are balcony cabins
7:03
that for me is something that really
7:04
appeals i like smaller ships and i also
7:07
like the fact that you always can have a
7:09
balcony at least again
7:11
as you start to compare fares with other
7:12
cruise lines it's really important
7:14
you're comparing balcony
7:15
with balcony cabin because all the ships
7:18
the same the kind of highlight
7:19
venues are also the same a couple of
7:22
things i just want to touch on very
7:23
briefly that i particularly liked
7:24
they have the signature atrium and
7:26
living room
7:27
which is pretty magnificent with a big
7:29
huge big staircase that's kind of
7:31
the symbol of all of the viking ships
7:34
the other amazing feature is the
7:36
explorer lounge which is up
7:38
on deck 7 8 it's across two levels and
7:41
it's a great place particularly we've
7:42
got sea days to go and hang out there
7:44
it does have a theater which is a pretty
7:46
good size
7:47
and pretty contemporary they have a late
7:50
night venue which is called tors harven
7:52
probably one of the most magnificent
7:53
venues of all is the winter garden which
7:55
is where they have afternoon tea and
7:56
some receptions it has two fantastic
7:58
swimming pools you have the one which
8:00
has a rooftop a retractable rooftop
8:03
and again a little bit of the symbol is
8:05
the infinity pool at the back of
8:07
the ship which is also really fantastic
8:09
to go out and swim in
8:10
in sea days it also of course has a
8:12
range of dining ranges and we'll come on
8:14
to that a little bit later because a
8:15
couple of really important things
8:16
to note when we get to that there was
8:18
however something that did
8:20
divide people when they came on board
8:22
although many people
8:23
came to love it and that is the decor it
8:26
is
8:27
unmistakably scandinavian those people
8:29
who are being a little bit harsh
8:30
kind of called it like going to an ikea
8:32
showroom they thought it was a bit bland
8:33
and they missed
8:34
some of the glitziness that they might
8:36
have come from other cruise lines the
8:38
richness
8:38
because this is quite a light airy
8:40
scandinavian look and feel
8:42
however as people spent more time on the
8:44
cruise people started noticing there is
8:46
a lot of depth to it in that you'll find
8:48
there's a huge amount of art
8:50
on board including for example the one
8:51
here behind me there's a lot of
8:53
scandinavian art particularly around the
8:55
ship and lots of
8:56
bits and pieces and attention to detail
8:58
and artwork which adds to the whole feel
9:01
certainly i like that contemporary feel
9:03
i like the lightness of the ship
9:04
but it really divided people but they
9:06
did come to appreciate because the
9:07
quality
9:08
i think of the furnishings did really
9:10
feel pretty
9:12
magnificent i guess as people would say
9:15
so certainly
9:16
if you're looking for a rich plush kind
9:18
of decor you're not going to find it on
9:20
viking it's much brighter and lighter
9:22
personally i really like that one of the
9:24
things that viking
9:25
says in their marketing materials is
9:27
they call cruising on a viking cruise
9:29
a thinking man's cruise and this is
9:32
really really important
9:33
if you're thinking about what do you
9:34
like to get when you're on board a ship
9:36
particularly going on a cruise like the
9:37
one i was on with lots of
9:39
sea days thinking van crews means they
9:41
have things
9:42
like a viking resident historian who'll
9:45
give a lot of talks
9:46
based on the region you're going around
9:47
they'll have guest speakers on so on my
9:49
cruise
9:50
we had a couple of guest speakers which
9:52
spoke about history
9:53
they spoke about various achievements
9:54
hiking and skiing through the north pole
9:57
for example
9:58
so there's a lot of focus and a lot of
10:00
lectures during the day
10:01
which are enrichment based also which i
10:05
really like as well is they have poor
10:07
talks for all of the ports no matter how
10:09
well known the ports are
10:10
and a dedicated person will deliver a
10:12
very detailed pool talk so it's not an
10:14
excuse
10:15
to sell excursions also during a normal
10:17
cruise they'll also run things like ted
10:19
talks
10:20
or they will have live hd concerts which
10:23
were recorded live
10:24
from the met in new york so pretty
10:27
kind of i guess you would say highbrow
10:29
so certainly the entertainment
10:30
is for a thinking man as it were so
10:34
if you're looking for more song and
10:36
dance and kick your legs up
10:37
kind of entertainment you're less likely
10:39
to find that on a viking cruise
10:41
they do have you know the usual deck
10:43
games and those kinds of competitions as
10:45
well
10:46
but it is much lower key the one area
10:48
that probably
10:49
was not as compelling as it could be
10:52
certainly for me
10:53
were the shows in the theater they have
10:54
a resident group of four singers two
10:56
male two female
10:57
and a small band that supports them they
10:59
do a number of review shows
11:00
they were clearly very accomplished
11:02
singers but for me
11:04
they were not really my bag to be honest
11:06
certainly the audience really liked them
11:07
so i perhaps was in the minority
11:09
but i found it a little bit predictable
11:11
in terms of traditional cruising fare
11:13
and when so many other
11:14
things on the cruise are kind of
11:15
different i was surprised they didn't
11:16
have a slightly different take on
11:18
entertainment so if you're looking for a
11:19
more glitzy big production show you will
11:21
not find it
11:22
here on a viking cruise but there again
11:25
certainly on the smaller ships as anyone
11:27
who's been on the small ships will know
11:28
that is the kind of format of
11:29
entertainment that you're going to have
11:31
so probably was not that surprised on
11:33
the entertainment front i was however
11:35
surprised
11:36
by probably the most memorable thing
11:39
from the crews of all certainly and
11:40
everybody i spoke to was not something
11:42
that i expected because i don't think
11:43
it's something that viking pushed
11:45
particularly hard and that is around the
11:47
area of
11:49
food pretty much universally everybody i
11:51
spoke to raved about the food
11:53
and what i realized certainly as i
11:54
started posting pictures and discussing
11:56
on social media about food
11:58
is i had a torrent of people sending me
12:00
pictures of the food they'd eaten on
12:01
other viking cruises so perhaps i should
12:03
have known
12:04
much more that food was really important
12:06
let me talk about your options as i said
12:08
they're all included within the fair
12:10
so you have the restaurant which is the
12:11
main dining room open for all your usual
12:14
meals
12:15
you have then two specialty dining
12:17
restaurants and you can
12:19
go to those pretty much as often as you
12:21
like although normally around
12:22
twice in a cruise particularly when the
12:24
cruise is full and all you have to do is
12:25
book you don't pay for those
12:26
so you have manfredi's which is actually
12:29
named after one of the original founders
12:30
of
12:31
silversea a good friend of the owner and
12:33
that's the italian restaurant
12:34
famous for its ribeye steak everyone
12:37
said you have to try
12:38
it but it's great italian food the other
12:40
one which i actually
12:41
preferred was called the chef's table
12:43
and they have a series of
12:44
themed set dinners or menus there
12:47
so when i was on they had asian panorama
12:50
which is an asian fusion
12:51
they had a british menu with things like
12:53
scotch eggs
12:54
and brisket and yorkshire puddings and
12:57
then they had a californian menu as well
12:59
i really liked the chef's table it was
13:01
pretty pretty impressive
13:03
you also then of course have the world
13:04
cafe which is the buffet
13:06
which has a much smaller range than you
13:08
would perhaps expect at many of the
13:09
buffets
13:10
but really high quality and certainly a
13:12
good amount of choice sushi every night
13:14
up there which was a for me a big
13:15
plus at the pool side you have basically
13:18
a pool
13:19
grill which has the usual things
13:21
hamburgers and stuff
13:22
now i'm not a big hamburger fan the
13:24
viking burger was pretty impressive
13:26
they have a vegetarian burger they have
13:28
a seared tuna there
13:30
one of the things that's a little bit
13:30
more quirky which is up in the explorer
13:33
lounge
13:33
is mamson's now this is named after the
13:36
family's
13:37
kind of grandmother the the matriarch
13:39
and it uses some of her recipes
13:41
a lot of people go there for breakfast
13:43
and they have the famous waffles
13:44
with cheese which wasn't particularly to
13:46
my liking but the waffles
13:48
were great there's also actually some
13:50
private dining rooms as well
13:52
and then of course you have in-room
13:53
dining food
13:55
was the biggest surprise i think of all
13:57
it was a thing i not expected
13:59
so that's the differences that's the
14:00
likes what are the things that perhaps
14:02
were
14:03
not as quite expected or perhaps were
14:05
things that left me feeling
14:07
a little bit more in terms of questions
14:08
without a shadow without viking is a
14:10
relatively
14:11
premium experience cost wise so as you
14:14
look at the cost
14:15
it can be fairly pricey but again you
14:17
need to
14:18
add in all those extras but it is
14:19
definitely a premium luxurious
14:21
experience not quite ultra luxury in
14:23
terms of pricing now if you're traveling
14:25
as a solo traveler which i was on this
14:27
it does become pretty expensive because
14:29
they are not known
14:30
for doing solo fares as such although
14:33
they do have some promotions at various
14:35
points in time but it is a pretty
14:37
expensive option as a solo traveler
14:39
although on this cruise
14:40
like me there was quite a few solo
14:41
travelers who were there to kind of soak
14:43
up
14:43
that cost and again as i said a lot of
14:45
it if you're a person who really likes
14:47
gambling
14:48
there's no casino which i do like have a
14:50
little bit of a flutter
14:51
but i didn't particularly miss it on
14:53
this but that's really important if you
14:55
like a casino a bit of a flutter and
14:56
certainly if you like shows which are
14:58
much more glitzy
14:59
you will be disappointed on viking it's
15:01
not the reason you'd come on a viking
15:03
cruise
15:03
fans had led me to believe that viking
15:05
was very different
15:07
it was very unique it was one of the
15:09
best cruise lines that are out there
15:12
how did i feel coming away from this
15:14
well certainly i did feel that this was
15:16
a very good experience
15:17
the quality of the food the quality of
15:19
the accommodation this the richness of
15:21
everything was
15:21
pretty impressive one of the things that
15:23
i will remember though
15:25
and take away in addition to the food
15:27
was service
15:29
the crew were pretty phenomenal on here
15:31
they were able to remember people's
15:33
names
15:33
and preferences and i guess that's
15:35
advantage of being on a small ship
15:37
were the people who are big fans of
15:39
viking
15:40
right i think they were pretty much
15:43
right to say this is a pretty remarkable
15:45
cruise line
15:46
and i feel like i'm gushing a little bit
15:48
about it but i certainly enjoyed my
15:49
experience a lot
15:50
and i guess the proof is in what am i
15:52
going to do is this my
15:54
only viking cruise no i have booked
15:57
another viking cruise
15:58
it won't be in as glitzy a cabin as this
16:00
because that is a pretty hefty
16:02
price to pay it's going to be more in a
16:04
veranda cabin for my next cruise
16:06
fans have said to me get on viking i
16:08
came on viking i've liked what i've seen
16:10
i know what they do well i know what
16:12
they do less well and certainly it's a
16:14
cruise line that i'm prepared to explore
16:16
with around the world much more now if
16:18
you want to find out a little bit more
16:19
about viking i suggest you watch this
16:22
little playlist i put together
16:24
with a couple of things about what make
16:26
viking
16:27
different certainly on the rivers as
16:29
well as on the ocean so i'll see you
16:30
across there
16:31
click now enjoy
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#Specialty Travel
#Tourist Destinations
#Adventure Travel