jondfk

Sailed both Ovation (Norway) and Odyssey (Alaska) last summer slightly different experiences. Ovation. Seemingly in response to our midnight sun sailing the morning coffee bar got set up well before the official opening of 6 something AM, the self serve machine was set up first about 4:45 am. Odyssey. I struggled for coffee daily with the coffee bar routinely set up 15 or 20 minutes after the posted time. Again a self serve machine appeared early, but wasn’t operable since it wasn’t filled with water. After a few days of this someone (not I) brought a water bottle from the room, filled the machine, and invited us to make a cup, this brought a stern response from staff, “not allowed”, this went on a couple days after which the self serve machine never made another appearance. I began phoning room service to have coffee delivered to the lounge, on the 4th day, after RS delivered coffee to about 15, they got a clue and started to get the coffee bar set up a bit earlier. I find myself comparing these experiences to our just completed Viking Oceans cruises on which full featured coffee machines produced very acceptable espresso drinks 24 hours, a far superior option.

Okay, having stepped off our first Viking Ocean yesterday, I'll offer my opinions versus our two Seabourn sailings last year (Ovation / Norway & Odyssey / Alaska, both 14 day). Pro's for Viking. Covered pool which, I agree could be too warm in warm wet climates but would have been most welcome in our two cool SB sailings. The distinct Wintergarden area use for afternoon tea was also a very nice plus versus anything SB has to offer. The ship operated on a tight schedule and all schedules were held. A perfect example was getting off the ship yesterday, we received a letter saying independent guests with tagged luggage could depart "at our leisure" from 8:00. We hit the gangway at 8:15 and were in our car headed out of the parking lot a 8:30. Similar letters from SB resulted in stupendous waits to exit the ship and waits for luggage ashore of 45 minute on both sailings. Huge victory for Viking here (and in general on anything operating on an announced schedule - they just never missed). We sailed in a Penthouse Veranda on Viking which more or less compares to the V4 we sailed on Ovation. There were things to like in both versus the other but nothing that would constitute a show stopper. Towels were of surprisingly poor quality and small size on both Viking and SB. Win's for Seabourn. On Ovation, we purchased and used the Retreat and found it fantastic. I know this is a provocative point for some who object to the separation of classes by additional fee, I'm simply commenting on the service delivered for said fee - it's fantastic - had we a choice of itinerary between and Ovation class ship, and Odyssey class ship or Viking we would choose Ovation / Encore 1000% of the time. The main restaurant, just no comparison. Viking DR seats 400 (ship capacity 900), SB ships seat ~500 Ship capacity slightly more or less. Waits for dining on Viking were epic, waits on SB nil or minimal. Additional point SB aggressively fill their "officers" tables which lessens the load. Likewise, food quality, which I freely admit is subjective is just better on SB. The best example is the everyday steak with was served piping hot, of good quality, prepared to order and on a warm plate on SB, exactly none of these things happen on Viking. On the other hand, the Viking buffet is fabulous (it has to be, it has to be the first choice for half the ship or bad things happen, like long lines). The food was very good (for a buffet) and the space to navigate was generous. SB basically don't have a horse in this race. The ship overall felt much more spacious on Viking with a 3 level atrium a seat was always available. Their Living Room bar compares quite favorably to SB Square with excellent service and tasty treats all day. All and all we judge both to be good, high end products. We paid basically the same per diem for all three sailings (when we included the modestly priced beverage package not included on Viking). We would sail either one again, serious foodies and those who prefer (as we) to avoid the buffet (even a good one) might well prefer SB. But I caution you restaurant access is not a given on SB. On our 14 day Alaska sailing the restaurant opened only 5 days for breakfast and 4 for lunch, on Ovation it operated all 3 meals on all days, this alone would have us shun SB on sailings sold as shorter segments (we're told that's the reason Odyssey operated as it did).

Not sure of the question, sample menus are posted on the website. Once onboard, if Vista is like other ships, menus are posted the day of. On our R class cruises, only the current day, perhaps there’s more forewarning on the newer ships.

It was offered and I ordered it a few nights ago on Star. It was exactly as you describe, a disappointment, I’d never order it again and would gladly see it replaced with just about anything else. We had a nice meal at Manfredi but the chicken parm was by far the low point of the meal.

Well, we’ve now enjoyed 4 evenings on board Star enroute toward Hawaii. I’m beginning to form some opinion regarding the food versus Oceania and Seabourn. Viking stack up well overall for food quality, as noted elsewhere a bit bland / under seasoned but well within my acceptable range. The variety of choices on each given menu is fine but I’d have to say O typically offer more selections for each course with more dramatic flavoring options. Where I think Seabourn come out ahead is in their every day alternatives their steak was vastly superior in flavor and preparation. Overall, at this stage O remains my preference though it’s easy to imagine someone else ranking Viking at the top. The differences are not vast. Included wines have been acceptable though I prefer the O scheme which offer a choice from a small (fixed) menu, staff on Star have made it clear I can request a prior selection, but it’s on me to keep track, Seabourn was likewise. About the line up, this is a clear demerit for Viking, to be assured a seat a breakfast one must arrive 20 or more minutes prior to opening, arriving “on time” will have you redirected to WC. Nothing of the sort ever happens on SB or O. Likewise, at lunch and dinner, the line begins to form 30 minutes prior with choice tables gone well before official opening (seating typically starts 15 minutes prior to opening, also true on O, sometimes true on SB). The decision to limit capacity / guarantee disappointment baffles us. We’re told this cruise has skewed far older than usual, perhaps partly to blame. I counted 26 canes and 7 walkers in the line up for dinner one night, nothing wrong with that though perhaps Viking could use the demographics to decide how fully to staff the Restaurant. It’s quite unreasonable to redirect 10s of people with canes to a self service venue in 30 foot seas. Ill post again later in the voyage.

We brought a 12 pack of Root Beer on board, just taped a luggage tape on it, it was the first thing to arrive before other luggage. Why? DW doesn’t much care for Sprite and surprisingly root beer is caffeine free.

I’ll respond regarding ship motion which, while not the worst we’ve experienced, is considerable. We ventured up to Explorers before dinner and found it pleasantly empty, the bar staff had lined the bottle racks with plastic wrap to avoid bottle sliding out. The Restaurant was gently used last evening, I’d estimate 40% of tables were empty when we finished our meal, we heard many requests for chicken broth. We had bites of a full meal but the motion sort of sucks the joy out of dining, food however was good and portions large, perhaps trying to move the prepared food. We were told that room service was swamped. Motion this morning is clearly down though regular hard “bumps” occur which make walking challenging. Our coffee shelf started self extending solved by folding a sheet of paper to form a wedge to hold it in. Cruisemapper shows seas as high with wave heights of 5.8m or about 18 feet.

I tried as well. just to slow atm. jon

I know from reading this board that Viking sailors are passionate and so, no doubt, this my first report will disappoint many. Embarkation was, as I reported earlier a breeze, but then the key in that particular lock is simple, arrive just a bit later, let 75% of the ship vie to be “first” and breeze straight to your cabin. Works on Oceania, works on Seabourn and no surprise works on Viking. We attempted a pre dinner cocktail in Explorers the first night, waited 30 minutes with no service, we tried the Living Room again waiting in excess of 30 minutes after we ordered with no sign of our drinks, a complete fail. Dinner in the Restaurant was good, service was good though there was a raging debate over the question of which server owned our table, once resolved we received excellent service. First morning we arrived at the Restaurant about 10 minutes after opening only to be informed it would be a 30 plus minute wait for a table??? Unsurprisingly, with the entire ship redirected to WC every table was occupied when we arrived. It was suggested that we could take food into the pool area or terrace both of which were, let’s say, brisk. An epic fail we got us acquainted with the Restaurant manager. Improvements were promised for future meals, and the rest of day two ran without major glitches, stay tuned for further reports and again very sad to report such gaffes to the Viking loyalists. We are just stepping out for a try at breakfast again, very much hoping the promised adjustments will be in evidence. Food quality has been excellent, quantity has been satisfactory for us but might leave some wanting. More later, Jon

Well, all according to plan, we have an ~6 hour drive to the pier down the Central Valley. Arrived in the parking lot as planned about 1:30 and we’re onboard by 1:50 including a comfort break. Really haven’t done anything beyond unpacking (complete) and washing up. Off to explore momentarily. I’ll post along here too. cheers,

Thanks much. We booked specialties weeks ago but saw no provision for booking the Restaurant, it was quite shocking to see a post suggesting we could or should have done so. We will join the queue when we’re ready to dine, the process sounds very similar to what we experienced on O and Seabourn, which is perfectly fine for us. Jon

The Restaurant requires reservations? how / when / where do we do so? thanks, Jon

I can't offer you my first hand experience, our first Viking cruise doesn't start until Wednesday. However, looking for similar inputs took me to the Preisman' who post extensively including menus. https://www.thepreismans.com/venus_menus.htm Hope this helps. I plan to do a little Viking vs Oceania vs Seabourn comparison towards the end of our sailing. We've sailed O and SB twice each within the past year. Jon

This thread brings to mind my oat response to friends who inquire about meals on board ship. I always reply, it’s probably not the best 7/10/15 meals I’ve ever had, but are undoubtedly the best 7/10/15 CONSECUTIVE meals I’ve ever had. Our 3 sailings on O have provided some mealtime disappointments (notably Toscana which has never failed to fall short of their promise) still, en masse, meals taken onboard were some of the most enjoyable ever. Some tough meat, sure, some portions which left me wanting, of course (usually solved with a nice dessert) but I wouldn’t have given up a single meal.

We’ve sailed O for 29 days, all on Regatta which is the same class of ship. We typically head toward the GDR about 30 minutes after opening, never a problem with a two top. Actually we had more trouble in TC on the few occasions we elected that option. The only challenges we ever observed in the GDR was around the turnover point about 90 minutes after opening, at that time we saw short waits to be seated.

Thanks Feta really appreciated this thread. We sail Star on February 14, our first with Viking, very much enjoyed your commentary and experience.

We've sailed O thrice, all on Regatta, all in PH3 cabins. On one sailing, shortly after Regatta restarted, we had a very disappointing meal in Toscana. Therefore, when our second reservation came around, we couldn't stomach the thought of a repeat and so when to the GDR. When we checked in, the host said "I see you have a booking at Toscana in an hour, shall I cancel that for you?" to which we replied, yes, thanks. Presumably this freed a space for someone else. Yes, we should have cancelled in advance but one purpose in asking for room number clearly is to confirm your choice for a particular day.

Perhaps slightly off topic but in my experience the most surprising / special part of the GDR menu happens at lunch and is over looked by many. The "Taste the World" offering (lower right of the printed menu) features a sampler of dishes from a particular region which changes daily. The Taste the World - Greece and Taste the World - Lebanon menus were amongst my favorites on our previous 'O' sailings and were special indeed. Typing this has me salivating for our April sailing, though, not many sea days so limited opportunities, a pity.

That would also be great if you happen across such a thing!

If you happen to see the German buffet a few photos would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Thanks for doing this. We sail the February sailing, our first with Viking. Appreciate the “real” feedback. Can I ask you to comment on the temperature in the pool area during the cool days sailing out? I know the roof will be closed, but how well controlled is the temperature?

I thought I was the only one. Seabourn cruise, used the O bag. Viking cruise use the Seabourn bag. Etc. more than once I’ve had someone grab my bag by “mistake”, just doesn’t happen if your back is different from all of the others on the bus.

Thanks very much for the very through write up, for the most part matches our 3 experiences with O. Regarding butlers the best I can say is, they are people, and as such variable. Our first was nice enough and best described as competent, but nothing special or surprising was offered. Our second was superb anticipating wants and wishes he went above and beyond meeting our modest requests. I think the butler letter is a superb idea and I’ll give it a try for our next sailing in April. Your tipping strategy broadly matches my own. I always tip bartenders early and have broadly received exceptional service as a result. Spirits which are not initially available are “found” and refills just arrive more reliably.

Not exactly the situation you describe, but similar, we've been in 8046 twice, check the deck plan, directly below the lavs outside Terrace Cafe. We heard precisely nothing from above. Grant you, Terrace closes earlier than Horizons and noise probably drops along with the closing, however, we used the room extensively at all times of day and never heard a sound from the lavs.

So, a coda, regarding this voyage. A couple weeks following our sailing our SB booking rep contacted us to ask how the voyage had gone, we expressed our disappointment at the limited operation of the restaurant. She challenged me to list dates it was closed, instead I gave her the much shorter listed of opening days. She expressed her understanding that the Restaurant should have been open for all breakfasts and the vast majority of lunches (which is what we experienced on Ovation in June) she quoted from internal correspondence which simply didn’t match our experience. We were directed towards guest relationships via email. Two weeks passed before a response arrived which included a statement confirming our experience did not meet SB expectations, though no explanation for why was offered. We were offered a total of $1500 towards a future voyage though the time offered was short, sailing within 12 months. While we appreciate the gesture we are unlikely to take advantage, there are simply too many other options to risk another disappointment so soon. We may, itinerary and price considered, sail SB again in the future but will likely try SS in addition to our upcoming Viking Oceans voyage before looking this direction again. Jon