B2B Viking River and Princess Ocean Cruises - A Comparison

We recently got back from a 2 week river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam on the Viking Baldur followed by a 28 day Scandinavia & Russia/Transatlantic cruise from Copenhagen to New York on the Royal Princess. While they are fresh in my senior mind, I wanted to try to compare the experiences. In the way of background, we are fairly frequent ocean cruisers, with over 25 cruises and about 300 days, mostly on Princess. Except for a brief 3 days on the Yangtze, this was our 1st river cruise.

Cost

We booked both cruises through online discount agencies and received about 10% discount on each. The Viking river cruise cost us about $290 per day per person. The Princess ocean cruise cost us about $120 per day per person. However, Viking provides unlimited complimentary wine and beer at lunch and dinner. When cruising, we usually have a couple of glasses of wine at lunch and at dinner. Four glasses of house wine on Princess come to about $30 per day. Additionally, Viking provides complimentary tours in each port. These are typically 3 to 4 hour walking tours with perhaps a short bus ride. This type of tour on Princess usually runs about $100 to $150. Adding $130 per day (drinks and tours) to the Princess cost brings it to about $250 per day, still about $40 per day less than the Viking River cruise. I did not include it in the calculation, but Viking provides free unlimited internet that actually worked. We are Elite on Princess, so we each got 500 free internet minutes. However, the internet was so slow during the daytime hours it was essentially unusable. It was usable before 7:00AM and sometimes during the evening.

Cabin

We had a window cabin on Viking which provides a small window near the ceiling that provides a view at river level. My wife is short and had to stand on the bed to see out. We had an inside cabin on Princess, so the cabins are roughly equivalent. We were delighted with both cabins. The Princess cabin was slightly larger, being one of the “sideways” cabins that runs parallel with the hall rather than perpendicular. The beds in both cabins were extremely comfortable – the beds on the Royal are much better than those we have had in the past on Princess. The on demand TV systems on both ships were roughly equal. The larger shower on the Royal compared to other Princess ships was much appreciated. I thought it was nit picking when others complained about the location of the toilet paper holder. They were not nit picking – it is really a pain in the ass (pun intended). I must admit I found myself reaching for the tissues because they were much easier to get to. We really liked the small things in the Viking cabin. The bathroom had an adjustable heated floor and the shower was large and had dual glass doors. The dual closet had doors and lights would come on when opened. Indirect subtle lighting was available in both the bathroom and the main room. The cabin stewards on both ships were friendly, fast and efficient.

Overall I would rate the cabins as equal.

Buffet

In this aspect there was a huge difference between Princess and Viking. Viking does have a small buffet on its terrace for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch was good but the breakfast and dinner were very limited. The Horizon Court/Bistro on Princess is huge, with a great variety of tasty food.

Big plus for Princess

Dining Room

We were disappointed with the service in the Royal Princess. We did anytime dining. The 1st night we made reservations and had to wait 15 minutes while they sat people who just walked up without reservations. Once we got seated we had to wait over 30 minutes to order. We finally got our drinks and ordered our food 45 minutes after our reservation time. Service was OK but impersonal. The next time we went to the dining room we arrived at 8:30. We have never had to wait at that time on any other Princess ship but we had to get a pager and wait. The food was OK, but not exceptional. Service did get better as the cruise went on but we ended up going to the buffet more frequently than the dining room. Dining on Viking is kind of like a combination of anytime and traditional on Princess. Everyone eats around 7:00PM but it is not fixed seating. You can sit where and with whom you want. Service was always fast, attentive, and personal. The food was excellent. Some of the meals we had were among the best we had had on land or sea. The chateaubriand was to die for. As mentioned earlier, beer and wine are complimentary with lunch and dinner. They never let my wine glass get empty.

Big plus for Viking

Entertainment

Entertainment on Princess was varied and extensive. Production shows, comics, game shows, etc. Two of the guest singers (one male and one female) were among the best we have heard at sea. Entertainment was minimal on Viking. There was a piano player in the lounge before and after dinner and they sometimes brought local talent on board for a show. They had trivia one night. We found that we really did not miss extensive entertainment. The river cruise was so port intensive that we were usually ready to just relax after dinner. It was certainly not the place for someone who parties late.

Big plus for Princess

Service

Other than the dining room service problems, service on both ships was excellent. Because it was a much smaller ship, it seemed more personal on Viking since we got to know much of the staff. We were impressed and delighted on Princess when a bar attendant approached us and just starred. After a few awkward moments he said, “Don’t you remember me”? He had remembered us from and Alaskan cruise we took two years ago.

Overall I would rate the service as equal.

On board experience

We have always liked the elegant but relaxed atmosphere on Princess. However, after spending two weeks on Viking where they did not try to sell you anything, it was jarring to board the Royal Princess where everywhere you turned they were trying to sell you a coffee card, a wine package, a spa treatment, pictures, even a bottle of water (free on Viking). It seemed to be more pronounced on the Royal as compared with other Princess ships we have been on. One day at lunch we were approached by two different people within 30 seconds trying to get us to sign up for the wine tasting. The Piazza on the Royal Princess is huge and gorgeous. Unfortunately to us, it is also used as an entertainment and dancing venue. There is no Explorer’s Lounge and the Wheelhouse does not have a dance floor. Bands and singers are frequently performing (loudly) in the Piazza, making it impossible to relax or hold a conversation. We had lunch one day in Alfredo’s Pizza on Deck 6 just off the Piazza. The food was excellent. However, the loud noise from a contest going on in the Piazza made it impossible to talk. The Royal Princess is a very large ship. The design does not lend itself to feeling that you are on the sea. Other than a few small areas, there is no Promenade Deck. There is no area to get a forward view except for the extra cost Sanctuary. The only places to see the wake are from the rear of decks 16 and above. It seems they are trying to influence you inside where you are more likely to spend money. There was really no such thing as a sea day on the river cruise. Even when just cruising, you are watching beautiful scenery go by on both sides of the ship. There is a wonderful terrace on the front of the ship where you can sit outside or sheltered behind glass doors. It provides great viewing and is also the location of the buffet. The entire upper deck on Viking is an open viewing deck.

Big plus for Viking

Conclusion

We had a wonderful time on both cruises and we still love Princess. However, we ended up enjoying the experience on Viking Baldur considerably more than on the Royal Princess. In our opinion, it was worth the $40 per day per person additional cost. We cruise as much for the itinerary as the cruise experience and river cruising itineraries are limited, especially now with what is happening in Russia. We will be cruising Princess again – we have already booked a cruise on the Island Princess for next year. I don’t think we will sail again on the Royal or the Regal. We definitely plan on doing another Viking cruise.

Sorry but IMO you just can't compare river and ocean cruises. It is totally different. It is like comparing British Isles land tour vs cruise around them.

I really enjoyed your post. What better time to compare (which people are always asking you to do) than right after back to back cruises. We did the Viking Budapest to Amsterdam on the Sky August 28 and our last ocean cruise was a trans-Atlantic on the Celebrity Eclipse last Nov. We usually cruise on Celebrity.

I think I would agree with all of your comparisons.

This was a thoughtful and original comparison.... Very interesting, thank you for taking the time!

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Enjoyed your post . . .

We have taken a couple river cruises where we were recognized by staff . . . they reintroduced themselves.

Thank you for your post. We have taken several ocean cruises but just booked our first river cruise, so it's very helpful to have a realistic idea of how they compare.

outstanding and very useful COMPARISON, thanks again for taking time to share...

My wife and I along with 2 other couples are frequent Princess cruisers and are taking our 1st river cruise with AMA next October from Basel to Amsterdam.

I appreciate you taking the time to compare the two cruises and just hoping that AMA will be as good as your Viking river cruise.

As another Princess and Viking cruiser, I really enjoyed your review. While I agree with the poster a priori that ocean and river cruises are two completely different products, I still think a comparison like this is very helpful for someone who may have done one type and is thinking of trying the other.

A few comments. River cruises, even taking into account their all inclusive model, are always more expensive than ocean cruises. They are such a small operation in comparison, even Viking, that they can't benefit from the same economies of scale. You just have to accept that river cruising is dearer. The wifi is so good simply because you are so close to the land all the way, whereas out at sea the wifi is always hit and miss. The dining experience I personally prefer on Princess. I don't like having to eat at the same time every night and found that meals sometimes dragged. The Captain's night dinner was interminable. We are happy to sharea table with other people, but couples who goes hoping for a table for two are going to be disappointed, unless they want to eat at the very restricted buffet. Incidentally, we've never had any problems with Anytime Dining on Princess, but I know a lot of people seem to. Maybe we've just been lucky. I haven't been on the Royal and don't really want to. One thing you didn't mention was the decor. I know this is very subjective, but I really love the stylish understated Scandinavian decor on Viking.

Like you, we'll keep cruising with both companies. Have a cruise on Caribbean Princess booked for next year and are looking at Rhine cruises on Viking.

My wife and I along with 2 other couples are frequent Princess cruisers and are taking our 1st river cruise with AMA next October from Basel to Amsterdam.

I appreciate you taking the time to compare the two cruises and just hoping that AMA will be as good as your Viking river cruise.

I think you're going to love it. That's a wonderful itinerary and AMA is a top notch cruise line.

Thanks for the cruise review and comparison. We sailed in the opposite direction Sept. 13 - 27 starting out on the Viking Bragi and then switched in Nuremberg to the Viking Alsvin. The switch aside, it was a great cruise. Fabulous food on both ships; with slightly better restaurant service on the Bragi. The Program Director, and her assistant, switched ships with us passengers.

In my opinion, there is no real comparison between ocean cruising and river cruising. The former focuses upon the onboard ship experiences, while the latter focuses upon the shore excursions. For European river cruising, it was church/ruins-eat-drink-sleep-church/ruins-eat-drink-sleep. That became a little repetitive 10 days into our 2-week cruise, so I took some self-enforced "sea days." I guess in river cruising terms, it'd be more accurate to call them "river days" since I stayed on the long ship both when it was docked and when it was cruising during shore excursions.

George