Azamara v. Viking

Can anyone talk about the included excursions on a Viking Ocean cruise? I'm considering a New Zealand cruise and can find all types of exciting excursions on Azamara, but none at the Viking site. I do understand the difference in ship size, pricing, included beverages and included tipping on Azamara. Thanks for any insights.

To view the excursions for a cruise on Viking Oceans, go to the web page for the tour you are considering (Australia & New Zealand, for instance) and scroll down to the Day by Day section. Click "Read More" for any given port, and then scroll down again to see the list of possible excursions. One of the excursions will be labeled Included. Click on any of the excursions for a detailed description. Prices and the actual specific selection of excursions for a given sailing of an itinerary are not available until about 120 days before sailing, when they are listed on the My Viking Journey account for booked cruisers.

Can anyone talk about the included excursions on a Viking Ocean cruise? I'm considering a New Zealand cruise and can find all types of exciting excursions on Azamara, but none at the Viking site. I do understand the difference in ship size, pricing, included beverages and included tipping on Azamara. Thanks for any insights.

Outside of the Viking Sun World Cruise stopping there this winter, Viking is just begining to offer cruises in that part of the world with it new ships in 2018 -2019...

As others have said ,check the web site and upcoming sailing and the excursion. I would think they will add others as they go along.

On the one Viking Ocean cruise I was on, all the included excursions was just a city tour. You get on a bus with 30 - 40 people and you may stop somewhere in the city and a tour guide will talk about different spots in the city.

If you want to do more exciting excursion, you will have to pay something. On our cruise it was from an additional $49 pp up to $159 pp for an all day excursion. Those have less people.

[quote name=graceswan;55918567

If you want to do more exciting excursion' date=' you will have to pay something. On our cruise it was from an additional $49 pp up to $159 pp for an all day excursion. Those have less people.[/quote]

Were there a lot of optional excursions to choose from? Those prices seem very reasonable, unless it was a few unpopular things.....

On the one Viking Ocean cruise I was on, all the included excursions was just a city tour. You get on a bus with 30 - 40 people and you may stop somewhere in the city and a tour guide will talk about different spots in the city.

 

If you want to do more exciting excursion, you will have to pay something. On our cruise it was from an additional $49 pp up to $159 pp for an all day excursion. Those have less people.

That's what concerned me. On a river cruise a walking city tour is appropriate. On an ocean cruise,not so much. I did find the listing of the excursions, but no pricing until you reserve. I've cruised on Azamara and at least I can see what it would cost me in advance!

Why would you think walking tours are inappropriate on ocean cruises? Every cruise line offers them! Viking, as you have gathered, offers included tours which are usually a combo bus-walking tour. We've found out (much to our delight) that even on the included tours, Viking covers museum and/or attraction fees, some of which are kind of steep. We'd have paid over 30£ each for admission to the Docklands in Portsmouth UK but it was offered as part of our included tour.

As to pay-for tours, prices are comparable both in price to what you'd pay on Azamara though I do think Viking has the edge on account of the audio equipment that Viking provides. You'll never strain to hear what a guide says.

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Why would you think walking tours are inappropriate on ocean cruises? Every cruise line offers them! Viking, as you have gathered, offers included tours which are usually a combo bus-walking tour. We've found out (much to our delight) that even on the included tours, Viking covers museum and/or attraction fees, some of which are kind of steep. We'd have paid over 30£ each for admission to the Docklands in Portsmouth UK but it was offered as part of our included tour.

 

As to pay-for tours, prices are comparable both in price to what you'd pay on Azamara though I do think Viking has the edge on account of the audio equipment that Viking provides. You'll never strain to hear what a guide says.

 

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Thanks for the reminder that Viking often includes admission to an attraction as part of the included excursion. Inside visits to the Dominican Monastery in Dubrovnik, the Archaeological Museum in Olympia, a maritime museum in Kotor, the Gold and Silver of Zadar exhibit in Zadar, and the Archaeological Museum of Athens were all part of included excursions at no extra charge on our cruise.

Included excursions are usually half a day. In many ports, Viking runs free shuttle bus service back to the ship from a designated spot. We used those to extend our time in several ports after the excursions ended.

I did appreciate the Quiet Vox audio systems. The range was good, which allowed me to lag behind taking photos, without missing what was said or getting lost.

Within the past 6 months I have cruised on the Azamara Quest and the Viking Sun. I have cruised Australia to New Zealand on the Celebrity Solstice. If you are cruising across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand I would not want to be on the Azamara Quest in rough seas. Did a trans Atlantic on the Viking Sun and she handled rough seas well. Something else to consider.

Within the past 6 months I have cruised on the Azamara Quest and the Viking Sun. I have cruised Australia to New Zealand on the Celebrity Solstice. If you are cruising across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand I would not want to be on the Azamara Quest in rough seas. Did a trans Atlantic on the Viking Sun and she handled rough seas well. Something else to consider.

In our experience, Celebrity S-class handled mildly rough seas less well than other ships we have been on – but maybe we were discounting the size of the waves because our vantage point was so far above them on that large[est of all we have sailed] ship. We have found that the venerable R-ships sail quite well.

My wife and I have been on 18 cruises and has never got seasick. She did however get sea sick on this recent Azamara cruise that sailed from San Diego to Miami through the Panama Canal. Our cabin was in the middle of the ship. The seas were a little rough but no where near the 30 foot waves we had in the Tasman Sea when we were on Solstice.

We have done one Viking river cruise and one Viking ocean cruise. At present we have a second of each booked.

We wanted something in between (other than our annual stay in Bermuda) that we could do without flying to lessen the cost, plus be less of a hassle. I did a search on cruises from NY, NJ and Baltimore (yes, it’s Carnival, but we do like the Pride).

I found an Azamara cruise on Azamara Journey with an unusual itinerary that intrigued us. It leaves from NYC (Manhattan) and sails to Charleston, SC (2 nights) then to Bermuda, where it docks in Hamilton for2 nights - something of a rarity these days. And a few sea days in between, which I like.

I called my TA - who has been insisting that we will love Azamara - and told her to book it. Now I’m researching Azamara like crazy. I keep telling myself NOT to make comparisons between Azamara and Viking Ocean - to just treat it as a completely different experience, but I can’t help it. [emoji16]

So far Azamara is coming up short - but I am keeping an open mind, or trying to anyway.

From what I have seen, Viking wins in the cabin area.

On Azamara we are booked in a Club Veranda and on Viking we had a Penthouse Veranda (upgrade from Deluxe Veranda). Our Viking room was huge - bigger than the the Club Continent Suite. The Deluxe Veranda that we originally booked is bigger than the Club Veranda on Azamara. All Viking cabins have really nice bathrooms with roomy glass enclosed showers. Azamara has a tiny shower with a curtain.

Viking has a slight edge in included perks.

You get beer, wine and soft drinks during meal times with Viking. Azamara includes some spirits (kind of an odd assortment) and it’s not limited to mealtime - as far as I can tell. Edge to Azamara on this one.

Both upgrade beverage packages seem to be similar, but Viking only has one and Azamara has a few at a lower cost. We will get the one that’s equal to Viking, so for us that’s a tie. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Azamara does include gratuities. Viking does not.

But Viking includes ALL alternative/specialty dining. Azamara has a charge unless you are in one of the higher priced rooms. Viking includes free WiFi - which I found to be excellent on our cruise.

Viking includes 1 shore excursion in each port. They are kind of an overview of the area and they leave time for you to explore on your own. Azamara does not.

The optional Viking excursion are reasonably priced IMO. We did mostly the optional ones on our West Indies Explorer cruise last month. Being that it was the Caribbean, I didn’t want to ride around a lot in a bus (some of those roads are bad), nor did I want to do a lot of walking in the heat.

We did 3 included tours - a very nice walking tour in St Croix, a bus ride with a stop at a scenic estate (lovely) in St Kitts and a bus ride with several short stops in St Martin. I did suggest to Viking that they make the stops longer on the bus tours when I filled out our evaluation forms. We are picture takers - we take a ton! That’s hard to do on a moving bus - especially if you have chosen the wrong side of the bus [emoji20]

The optional tours with one exception were fabulous. Very much worth the extra cost.

We did the St Kitts Railway Sugar Cane tour and not only was it great fun, we saw and learned a lot. We also did the included tour in St Kitts. It was a tiring, but very enjoyable day.

We did boat trips in St Lucia, Antigua, Guadeloupe and St Thomas. Do you sense a trend? [emoji12]. We love being on the water. I’m a beach person, my husband is not, so boats are a good compromise.

The Guadeloupe one was the least satisfactory of all our excursions on this trip. And I stated that on our evaluation form.

We got stopped at the port gate for a safety inspection which kind of set the tempo for the whole day. Not Viking’s fault. Not the tour operator’s fault. The French officials were stopping all the buses that day.

The bus was the least comfortable of all of the tours we did. Think cheap seats on a bargain airline! The guide didn’t have a very good command of the English language. He had a strong accent and kept lapsing into French. Plus he didn’t use the QuietVox (which we were told to bring) so he was hard to hear as well.

I felt bad commenting on this, because he seemed like a lovely man with a quirky sense of humor.

The tour was a land tour with a stop at a beautiful waterfall, and a glass bottom boat ride to the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Nature Reserve. This part was very nice, beautiful scenery along the coast and a nice ride. We didn’t snorkel, but those who did said it was very nice. So the ending made up for the beginning and it was an okay day.

Having a large contingent of crew greet us with music, dancing and champagne as we returned was a really nice ending.

The St Lucia boat trip was the best of the 3! It was the most expensive, and longest (nearly all day). We had a good size Catamaran that picked us up right at the dock - no buses!

The crew were great! The music was lively. The boat was very nice with lots of room to spread out. We had a nice relaxing ride up the coast to see the Pitons. They served various fruit concoctions that were very tasty. Rum for later [emoji41]

After viewing the Pitons and cruising through Marigot Bay, we docked in a small village and boarded vans to take us to the Morne Cabriele (spelling?) estate. We had a nice tour, sampled fresh off the tree coconut 🥥 (tasty!) and watched them make cocoa from the beans, then we had a lovely Creole lunch in their open air restaurant. After that we returned to the boat and had great fun drinking rum drinks and dancing with the crew.

I know this is long but I don’t think it’s helpful to just say the excursions were great! I don’t know about anyone else, but I like details! [emoji12]

To be continued because I have some things to do Stay tuned!

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I'm baaack!

The Antiqua boat trip was also great! We actually did the included tour first as part of this tour. We went to Nelson's Dockyard, first - which was great. Very scenic, lots of history. Could have used more time there. After that we went to a scenic overlook - which was very crowded. Again, not Viking's fault - we were in Antigua with the Royal Princess and SeaDream II - lots of people! Scenic overlook was awesome - just gorgeous. Guess that's why everyone was there. We went to a second overlook and they had a presentation on the history of Antigua. A little cheesy, but informative and short!

After that they took us to board a sailing catamaran that took us out to a reef where people went snorkeling. Again - we don't snorkel. We just like the boat ride. I'd have gone for a swim, but they said the current was strong. They served up a fantastic barbeque lunch - chicken and fish and sides. Tasty rum drinks when everyone came back to the boat.

And then we had a lovely sail back to port. We docked singing along to Sweet Caroline and a bunch of people on the dock stopped and sang with us! Great day all around!

Last boat trip was on St Thomas. We did a sailing catamaran out to St John. This time we took one of the infamous St Thomas multi-person open taxis - always an adventure. The boat was great. The crew was friendly and fun. They toured around a bit and pointed out different islands and sights, then we anchored off Honeymoon Beach. You could swim ashore or go on the Zodiac. We took the zodiac. Do bring water shoes if you are going here - there were rocks in the water. Not sure if this was normal or the results of the hurricane. We had about an hour or so in the water, then we headed back to the boat for cheese, fruit, champagne and the ubiquitous rum drinks! Another great day!

Last, but certainly not least was the Photography Tour we did in Barbados. We have done several of this type tour in various ports, with various cruise lines and they are always great - even if you don't take photos or only take selfies with a phone. ;pThe photographer, Ronnie Carrington, a leading Barbados photographer and producer. He was an excellent guide and gave us fantastic tips. We were a small group on a van. He took us to off the beaten path places (one of the characteristics of photo tours). He had the driver stop frequently for photo ops along the way, and we ended up at the very charming Atlantis Hotel for ... you got it! A rum drink :)

We really enjoyed everyone of the tours - even the Guadeloupe one! And I hope whatever tours we take through Azamara are just as good.

I will make one note: We have never been to Charleston, SC before and were looking forward to doing some excursions, but there are none listed for that port. This cruise is attached to Perry Golf, but is not exclusively for golfers. Maybe they think everyone will golf. IDK - so we are planning our own, independent of Azamara, but it's a year away, so maybe they will add some.

They do have excursions listed for Bermuda, but we've been to Bermuda so often we know it like our own neighborhood. We do not need excursions for Bermuda :cool: Oh well

I hope all this blithering and blathering helps you out - and anyone else wondering about Viking excursions in the Caribbean. For Australia and New Zealand, you might want to read the Viking Sun World Cruise threads because they did go there.

As I said, our Azamara cruise is a year away, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure we will have a wonderful time, but I'm not sure it's going to take over first place, which is held by Viking - at least for now!

Yikes! Just checking on their internet packages! On Viking - it's included 24/7 for the whole cruise. Last time we sailed Carnival, I got the mid level package for $60 for the cruise. Unlimited, good for uploading pics, email, Facebook etc. The packages on Azamara are 60 minutes for $19.95, 24 hours for $29.95 and $19.95 per day for the whole cruise. That's just shy of $220! Unbelievable! Wow - Viking wins this one hands down by a mile!

Azamara has discounts on the internet packages for anyone with loyalty status on Celebrity as well as Azamara [because the two plans are joined]. I see that your cruising history doesn't include X – but something to consider for the future, as loyalty points add up quickly with Azamara cruises [5 points per night for veranda cabins vs. 3 ppn on X]

Azamara has discounts on the internet packages for anyone with loyalty status on Celebrity as well as Azamara [because the two plans are joined]. I see that your cruising history doesn't include X – but something to consider for the future, as loyalty points add up quickly with Azamara cruises [5 points per night for veranda cabins vs. 3 ppn on X]

I think we’ll be doing most of our cruising on Viking, with rare exceptions. I’m really not into the whole loyalty points thing. It’s certainly not why I would choose one line over another. While I do like their product, I don’t feel loyal to Viking. We picked the Azamara cruise because it fit what we wanted for that time slot - namely something on a small ship out of a local port - and the out of the ordinary itinerary intrigued us. We’ve never been to Charleston, and docking on Front St Hamilton is a rare treat.

I’m keeping my eye out for a Regent cruise that works. I’d like to try them as well. Celebrity isn’t really on our radar. We really do like the small ship experience with less than 1000 passengers. And we’ll see how the Azamara cruise goes.

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Within the past 6 months I have cruised on the Azamara Quest and the Viking Sun. I have cruised Australia to New Zealand on the Celebrity Solstice. If you are cruising across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand I would not want to be on the Azamara Quest in rough seas. Did a trans Atlantic on the Viking Sun and she handled rough seas well. Something else to consider.

We will be on Viking cruising across the Tasman Sea...so it can be a rough go? We will be there early January. Honestly, we do get seasick. Will we be encountering more of this going down the coast of New Zealand? I wondered about Viking handling rough waves due to it's smaller size, when we booked it.