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I Test Out If Viking Cruises Lives Up To All The Hype
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Jan 29, 2025
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 ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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
#TV & Video