King Sized Bed Ad

This no doubt falls into the category of piddly complaints, and I had totally gotten over the issue until I read the Press Report from London where Viking is still maintaining that they have King Sized beds. An American King is 76 inches wide. These beds are 66" wide. By my calculation that makes them 10" narrower than a King. Looked up on net what UK size is and found it is 72" which is 6" narrower. Maybe in Borneo they're King sized, but not here!

Why do they insist on misleading people?

 

Why do they insist on misleading people?

It the Viking way.

This is what happens on a sea day aboard Viking Star when the only website I can routinely access with two way text only communication is Cruise Critic. Weird, I know.

Seems Norwegians like narrower beds so 66" would be extra roomy for them. I first came across confirmation of narrow sizes on IKEA website but recommend the site below for its extensive discussion including specific mention of Norwegian standards.

So it turns out sleeping on these beds must be part of the cultural immersion we've read about for 2 years before the maiden voyage of Star.

https://www.flobeds.com/information/bed-sizes.htm

Leo - I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. And I'm in the king size (Norwegian narrow) bed so I better be careful to not fall out!!

Thanks for brightening my day on the Falling Star.

Sorry to let the facts get in the way of a good story but in the UK a King Size bed is 60" wide, and according to Wikipedia continental Europe King Size is 63". I accept the ship has been heavily marketed in the US but it is clearly a European ship and therefore I think with a a bed 66" wide then we should acknowledge that Viking has exceeding their promise on this issue.

Neil

Sorry to let the facts get in the way of a good story but in the UK a King Size bed is 60" wide, and according to Wikipedia continental Europe King Size is 63". I accept the ship has been heavily marketed in the US but it is clearly a European ship and therefore I think with a a bed 66" wide then we should acknowledge that Viking has exceeding their promise on this issue.

 

Neil

Australia is 72'' x 80'', New Zealand 65'' x 80''

Continental Europe 63'' x 79'', Ireland & UK 59'' x 79''

Sorry to let the facts get in the way of a good story but in the UK a King Size bed is 60" wide, and according to Wikipedia continental Europe King Size is 63". I accept the ship has been heavily marketed in the US but it is clearly a European ship and therefore I think with a a bed 66" wide then we should acknowledge that Viking has exceeding their promise on this issue.

 

Neil

From the reports I have seen, I would add, not only a European ship, but with Scandinavian touches throughout in design, food, spa, and ambience.

Hope it does not become a US version of what a European cruise line should be.

I saw the king bed split into its two parts in a cabin with that configuration. The beds seemed exceptionally narrow to my American eye.

Is it possible to make lemonade out of a bed?

I'm only guessing at demographics here, but my non-scientific guess is that 75% to 80% of paying passengers are North American (either USA or Canada). If a company heavily advertises and promotes a product in the USA but goes by some other nationality's standards, then they are misleading their customer base. That's like selling a heating pad to American customers (which I could really use about now - my back is killing me) and forgetting to mention it's 240 and won't work in the US. If they want to claim that their beds are King Size in GB, that's great. But when advertising in US, they should apply US standards.

I wouldn't want to say this for sure, but I've never heard Viking promoting "King Sized Beds" on their river cruises, but on our second night on board, the Hotel Manager told my husband that they had such great feedback on their longship cruise beds, they went to great expense to get exactly the same kind on Oceans. (Incidentally, I like the beds - they are just narrower than I had been led to believe. Some others find them too hard.)

Sorry my Web look up gave you the wrong number for GB bed size - feel sorry for you guys.

And also to those of you who think that saying ANYTHING negative means we are total grumpy and don't know how to have a good time, that's not the case either. I'm having a blast on this trip. But I thought I was doing you a service by pointing out some flaws that are going on so you can compensate for them. If all you want to hear is glowing reports, then read the travel reports of the Press Corps that's on board.

If the beds are as wonderful as the Viking river cruise beds then I will be a happy camper. I slept like a baby on our river cruise. An inch or two won't bother me nor am I going to measure it, LOL.

Beds are just as subjective as food. Some like hard beds. Some like soft. Some like spicy food, some don't.

We just got our 2017 catalog and read with joy about the king beds only to find this thread this morning--bummer. Can the beds be split into two twin beds upon request or would we be stuck with a queen+ bed for the whole voyage?

We just got our 2017 catalog and read with joy about the king beds only to find this thread this morning--bummer. Can the beds be split into two twin beds upon request or would we be stuck with a queen+ bed for the whole voyage?

Other cruise lines I know that put two twin sized beds together to form a "king sized" bed will do that for you. I didn't measure the width of the bed the last time I cruised (not on Viking, but on a similar line), but it was adequate for us. If, after trying the bed for a night or two, you're knocking elbows, I would just ask that the bed be split in two.

Yes - on the Viking Star the "King" sized bed can be split into two "twin" sized beds, but they are only 33" wide - kinda narrow if you're from North America. Twins in North America are 38" and sometimes 39" so they are considerably narrower on the Star but they can be split.

I found a way to somewhat compensate for this and that was by putting the luggage between the twin beds. At least it kept the covers from falling onto the floor and gave us a little warning if we rolled over a bit too far.

We had zero issues with the size of the bed and felt it had plenty of room. More comfortable than other 'king beds' on any other line and more room.

For us it worked out just fine. But we are all different in what works for our sleeping.

Since I prefer a Queen-sized (60"), I'm not complaining about the size of the bed. I just don't understand why they don't just advertise it as Queen in the US and King elsewhere.

We are out of town with no option but queen. We sleep on king at home. This is a true queen and is much more narrow than the bed on the ship.

The bed was 66" wide when made up as a King as ours was when we got there despite having requested twins - we measured it with a tape measure. After dinner they had remade into twins which measured 33". Up to you about comfort level - we found the beds comfortable as well. Just narrow and not "king" in the North American sense. I'm agreeing with Peregrina though in that they should just not be advertised as King in the US or Canada, because they are not.

We sleep on a Queen here in NZ and the bed in our room - 5036 - was definitely way larger than our one at home. Would have called it a King.