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Here's What It's REALLY Like On A Viking Ocean Cruise These Days
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Jul 19, 2024
When I told friends, family, and followers online that I was headed off on a Viking Ocean cruise to Alaska, I was struck by how much misunderstanding and myths they all had about what it's really like to go on a Viking Ocean cruise. Because it had been a while since I'd last been on a Viking Ocean cruise, I also had many questions on what it was like these days and how and what had changed or was different. This is what I discovered it is like going on a Viking Ocean Cruise today. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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When I told friends, family and followers online that I was headed off on a Viking ocean cruise to Alaska
0:05
I was struck by just how much misunderstanding and myths they all had about what it's really like to go on a Viking ocean cruise
0:13
Because it had been a while since I'd last been on a Viking ocean cruise, I also had many questions on what it was really like these days and how and what had changed or was different
0:23
Welcome aboard. I'm Gary Bembridge and this is what I discovered. It's like going on a Viking Ocean cruise today
0:30
Viking Ocean is still an adult-only line. You must be 18 or older to cruise. This is one of the
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reasons I chose this cruise because I wanted to go to Alaska on a cruise line that had no kids
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having been there before on lines packed with families, kind of taking over. I wanted an adult-only
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experience, and that's what I got. I found, though, that it still attracts cruises on the
0:50
older side. I'm 65, and like on past trips, I actually felt like I was one of the youngest
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people on board. It also really hit me that it is almost impossible to
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tell what ship you're on. I've cruised on Viking Venus, Viking Sky and now on Viking Orion
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and couldn't tell the difference between the ships because all Viking ocean ships have the same
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layout and decor with a few subtle differences on some like Viking Orion that I'll touch on later
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Even their newest ships like Vela and Vesta coming into service are slightly longer
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they still have exactly the same layout. All have the same Scandinavian
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Nordic decor with lots of light wood and subtle colour palette. The existing fleets have 930 passengers, the new longer ones have 998
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All cabins have balconies. They have six cabin grades, veranda, deluxe veranda, penthouse veranda, penthouse juniors suites
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explorer suites and one owner's suite. All ships have the same venues
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This includes a dramatic atrium with a huge signature two-deck staircase, with a living
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room seating area and library, Viking bar and guest services where you can also do shore
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and restaurant bookings. They're all on deck one. Also on deck one is the rather nice live Nordic spa and the gym, which has a thermal spa area
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use of which is included in the fair. On deck two, they have the Star Theatre, where they do the shows, the enrichment and port talks
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They also have Torchavan, nightclub and evening music venue. On this deck, the ships also have a Viking History Museum, which do have slightly different
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artifacts from what I could tell, but basically it's the same thing
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The other key public areas are up on deck. 7, with an attractive pool area, with an retractable roof, the Winter Garden Lounge, where
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they host things like afternoon tea. On the other side of that are seating areas which they call Linai
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At the front of deck 7 is the lower level of the explorer lounge and bar, and at the rear
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is an infinity pool on the Aquavit Terrace. Up on deck 9 is a sports deck with crazy golf, various deck games and table tennis
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In terms of restaurants, they're also the same on all the ships, but I will talk about
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them later as there are some important things to know about dining that happens on a Viking ocean
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cruise. The caverns are also the same across all the ships with a strong Nordic style and
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really nice bathrooms. The ships also have guest laundry rooms and artwork by Scandinavian
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artists, photographers and sculptors. The only difference to other ships I've been on that I came
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across on Viking Orion was a planetarium as part of the explorer lounge, although it was not
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functioning when I was on. There are a few key differences to many ocean cruise lines that are worth
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knowing about. First of all, there is basically no upsell on board. They don't have a photographer
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they do a couple of kind of things like wine tastings where there's a small charge. They have a
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spa, but they don't really push it that hard. Shopping overall is pretty low key. They have a
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merchandise and clothing store, a jewelry store and a kind of a perfume's bags and ornament
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store They don do shopping tables with promotions nor do they have on board port shopping promoters pushing land stores Secondly there is no casino Now I will talk later about why they have no casino because this ties into the onboard
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experience and program, and I think some of the downsides that I see of Viking Ocean
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cruising these days are in that section. But before that, I want to talk about another big positive thing that I've found common
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across all ships, dining. On all trips I've been on, and on this one, I've found the first
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food on Viking is great. And for small ships, there are many options. In fact, I count about seven of them
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The main dining room is called the restaurant. It's open most days for breakfast and on sea days for
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lunch and dinner every evening. The food is really good and the menus are large. It's open-seated
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dining and I really like it because you can get any table size you want. So even for me going solo on
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this trip, I had no issue having a table to myself. They don't ask or offer people to share
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and so people that like to share, I found were arranging it themselves and they were kind of arriving to dinner together
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For dinner, the menu had an always available section with classics like New York strip steak, Norwegian salmon, roast chicken and creme brule
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Then they had a destination menu linked to the location. For example, on my first night it was Alaskan salmon pokey, I think I said you pronounce it, Alaskan snow crab bake, and then a daily al-a-cart section on the menu and finally a vegetarian section
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Then there's a World Cafe, the buffet restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner
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While not massive in terms of choice, there is a decent range of stations, it's a nice space
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and the food, again, there was really good. There's a pool grill, mostly for lunch
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They have things like their signature Viking burger, hot dogs, that kind of informal dining stuff
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Some evenings, they have events that use the pool grill. For example, we had a barbecue one evening with dancing under the stars, although because it was cold in Alaska
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it was actually with the roof over. so there was no stars. They also had a surf and turf there one night. One evening I didn't actually
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go to that because I went to the main restaurant that night. All ships have the Mamsans Norwegian
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Deli, which is a signature venue. It's not particularly big and is located as you enter the Explorer
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lounge. It's open for breakfast lunch and it has kind of snacks late afternoon. It's in here that
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they serve their signature Viking waffles based on a recipe from the Viking creator's wife's grandmother
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and it uses traditional Brunost, again how you pronounce it correctly, Norwegian cheese
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that takes a bit of getting used to, but I've actually come to really like it
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They then have two special energy restaurants. One is called Manfredes, which is an Italian restaurant
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It's named after Manfredi Le Fever de Video, who used to own Silversy, as he is a great friend
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of Vikings founder, Torsten Hagen. It has an expansive menu of Italian classics of really high
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quality. The menu is the same every night, so if you go there more than once, you have the same
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menu. Then there's the chef's table with different themed menus around different culinary
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styles that rotate across the cruise. I went there twice and actually just happened to have
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two different Asian-influenced menus both time. Really good food. Viking do an incredible afternoon
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tea every day from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the winter garden. They have different sandwiches and
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cakes every day, and then along with the choice of scones. It's done really well. It's done really well
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and as a big fan of afternoon tea, it rates really highly for me. I end up going there pretty often
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There is also a 24-hour room service and the Viking bar on deck one has snacks relevant to the time of day
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So if you're going on a Viking Ocean cruise, one of the things I definitely found is that you can expect good food
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Something else on Viking Ocean Cruise I found is a relaxed dress code and overall people don't get really dressed up
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Viking ask that gents for example wear collared shirts and slacks ladies kind of equivalent, smart
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dress for dinner, but one could actually really, I discovered get away with jeans if you wanted to
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I saw people going to dinner in jeans no problem One big thing that I saw was service levels is high It friendly attentive and personalised As with 930 passengers and over 400 crew they did get to know me and my likes which is a nice surprise For example the Viking bar crew
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remember I would always have a decaf coffee with skim milk, in the restaurant that I like to have
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alcohol free, beer with my meal. The senior crew were visible and engaging with us passengers
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and there were constant surveys. For example, there was one checking on an embarkation
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there was a mid-cruce one, there was one for every excursion, there was an end of cruise survey
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I felt a real sense of the crew being really eager to please, and that was a great surprise
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Now, before I dive into the onboard experience these days in more depth, I want to take a slight step back
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to look at the costs and challenges around booking a Viking Ocean cruise, because it's different to many lines
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and something that I think will put some people off. A Viking Ocean cruise is a rather expensive option. They operate in the small ship luxury
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space alongside lines like Oceania, Windstar and Azamara. So between the premium lines with bigger ships
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like Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Cunard and the ultra-luxury lines like Silver Sea, Seaborn
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crystal and regent. That's where they operate. So here's what my cruise cost me. I booked a 10-night
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Alaska voyage with a cruise-only fare, so that's without flights, in a penthouse veranda cabin. That's a
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middle range of all the cabins. It costs me 10,700 pounds. That's 13,500 US dollars. That's 1,335,000. That's
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$50 a night. That's the price for two people, but as a solo person I had to pay exactly the same
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They really do solo travel deals. So let's look at what that fair includes, though, to see whether
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that actually mitigates some of the extra costs that I would have if I went on those other lines
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like a American celebrity and so on. It included all my dining, including specialty dining
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beers, wine and soft drinks at lunch and dinner. Drinks outside of that, I paid for ad hoc
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though I could have bought a drinks package, which would have been $25 per person per night for unlimited
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drinks, specialities and coffees were included, as were gratuities, and one excursion per port
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more on excursions later. It also included Wi-Fi, but I found that frustrating and limiting
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because they block streaming and they don't offer an upgrade option. The Wi-Fi was not great
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because of that, added to by generally poor coverage in Alaska, even though they have Starlink
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My VPN wouldn't work on the Wi-Fi to try and download shows off my local Netflix and BBC either
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and even video calls home were often not that great. Depending on where you are, the Viking booking
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process may not appeal, and it seems to differ by country. Now, I booked my cruise in the UK
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where they appear to work more direct than via travel agents. For example, my usual travel agent
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couldn't book Viking for me, although I believe some can. But payment terms were not that
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onerous as I paid a deposit of 25% when I booked, and the final payment was due 10 weeks before
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So not that different to any other line. However, I discovered that USA travelers, especially it seems for first time travelers, when book they have to pay 100% of the fare upfront
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So for example, to test that out, I did a dummy booking for a cruise two years away using a VPN placing me in the United States
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It did require payment in full, although they would hold the money for that long
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Cancellation only kicked in 120 days or 180 days for World of Grand Voyages
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If you're a repeat traveller, it seems to get less onerous terms, but it's still paying way up front
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Let me talk about what you should expect from the onboard program on a Viking Ocean Cruise
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because I don't think it will appeal to some, because it is rather sedate and serious in nature, I find
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Torstenhagen, the founder of Viking, describes it as the thinking person's cruise, not a drinking person's cruise
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Like other small ships, the daily program is fairly light, and I felt it would also do with some more light
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hearted aspects and a little bit more fun. In summary each day on my trip there were several
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enrichment talks by the four guest speakers including a resident historian that on every cruise There was a port talk with an overview of the port history and all the tours done by the cruise director and excursions manager
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There was one daily trivia competition, a show in the main theatre, which was either done by a group of four singers
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or was done by the cruise and assistant cruise director with no guest entertainers to supplement them at all
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There was then live music in various times in the atrium, the explorers bar and tour shavan
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either by the classical duo, the resident pianist, or the resident guitarist or the Viking band who also played for the shows
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And then there was afternoon tea. On some days there were some craft and art classes and a cooking demonstration
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Now I do want to talk about the shows and music generally. Personally, I found it rather dated in format with music also too old
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Now, as I mentioned, I'm 65 years old, so I'm no youngster. But the music felt targeted at my parents' generation
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For example, they had a Fred Astaire-themed show, a Top of the Pops, but had had 60s and 70s music
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They had a musicals one, but it was mostly old. films that I would really watch. The four young singers in the band are really talented
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but I feel they should be given and could be given more challenging, contemporary and thoughtful
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shows. Saying that, the shows were always packed and many I spoke to enjoy them, so maybe that's
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just me. I mentioned the fair includes one included excursion per port. However, this is not as
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good as it sounds. I found them mostly basic and unsatisfying compared to what was really
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available to see in the ports. They were one of four different types
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A walking tour of the local town or vicinity, like for example, in Ketchikan, they offered
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a walk around a local totem park. Secondly, it was a panoramic drive, like in Skagway, it went up the White Pass
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Thirdly, a dedicated hop-on hop of bus service with entry to some local attractions
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So, for example, in Valdez, it went to three museums, the Valdez Museum, the Maxine and
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Jesse Whitney Museum and the Old Town Museum. And then the fourth type was entry to a local attraction, which was near the ship, like in
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Seawood. We got tickets to the Alaska Sea Life Centre at an icy
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straight point we got tickets for the cable car. I felt none of these really got me and gave me a
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chance to see the best and must-see sites. And so I actually ended up spending a lot of money
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doing the book on extra added-on excursions. So I'm not really sure if the added excursion is a great
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thing. The other thing that I found interesting with the excursions and it may link to the fact
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that they see themselves as a thinking person cruise line. I felt they missed some of the fun
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excursions in a port. For example, one of the really fun things to do in Ketja
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is the great Alaska Lumberjack show. It's kind of a bit silly, it's a bit cheesy
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but that was not even offered as an option. I ended up booking tickets for myself
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Maybe they just thought it was just a bit too silly, not thinking man enough. Also, when it comes to excursions
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booking opens based on your cabin grade, so the higher grade, the earlier they open for you
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I discovered that the hardware on past Viking cruises that I needed to get in really fast
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as Viking regulars know this. They jump in as soon as they start opens, and they get the best times for the included excursions, and then they book the added cost excursions
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and they often can sell out. So on my Alaska cruise, even though I had a mid-range cabin
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one of the excursions that I wanted, the White Pass luxury carriage was sold out by the time I slot opened
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I did manage, though, to book the regular carriage, and I was lucky because I got the last remaining
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space on the Juno dog sledding excursion on the Men Hall Glacier
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That also, by the way, affects dining because booking for the specialities restaurants
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opens based on your grade. Personally, I came away from Viking Ocean Cruises conflicted. I love the ships
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the food, the service, the itineries and the focus on enrichment, but I miss some energy and fun
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mostly in the evenings. It does feel to me a little bit on the sedate and serious side
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but I know that I will return for the right itinerary because they do have some incredible
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itineries all around the world. If Viking doesn't sound the right small ship luxury experience for
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you based on this. Why did you join me over in this video where I explore Oceania, one of their
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close competitors, to see if that one is right for you. See you over there
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