Viking Ocean impressions from a lifelong Celebrity cruiser

[spryder]

Wife and I just got off our first Viking Ocean cruise (Viking Star, 14 days, Ft Lauderdale roundtrip to partial Panama Canal transit).  Since we've really only ever done Celebrity cruises (and one Princess) I thought it might be helpful to other Celebrity cruisers if we shared our feelings on how Viking Ocean compared to our past experiences with Celebrity.

 

Passengers

 

Celebrity tends to average 50s to low 60s, but with a large number of people in their 30s-40s and even some 20-somethings.  Very few children but in our experience there have always been some.  Definitely a wider range of ages.

 

Viking's average age was closer to 60s-70s, with very, very few people younger than 50 (and no children, by policy).  We are mid 40s and we were always, with one exception, very obviously the youngest people in the room.  In general there seemed to be many more elderly and mobility-challenged passengers than Celebrity.  I should point out that this was never a problem for us - just an observation.  In fact we like cruising with the older crowd as it tends to be quieter and more low-key.

 

Food and Drink

 

Celebrity's main restaurant food has always been, for us, somewhere between "Fine" and "Pretty Good".  It rarely disappointed us but also very rarely wowed us, and most meals in the restaurant you were very aware that you were eating mass-produced entrees.

 

Viking's food was on an entirely different level, ranging between "Very Good" and "Excellent" at (almost) all times.  We frequently left the restaurant feeling wowed by what was on offer.  And even though the meals are still somewhat mass-produced they still looked and felt like they were individually prepared as they would be at any upscale restaurant on land.  

 

Strangely enough, breakfast at the main restaurant was just so-so.  Room service breakfast was also nothing great.  Garlic butter with pancakes?  Yech.

 

One food disappointment on Viking: they heavily advertise their brown cheese and waffle offerings at Mamsen's, and I was really looking forward to trying this while on board.  But sadly, even from day one, when I'd ask for their famous Norwegian brown cheese with my waffle all I got were confused stares.  Is Viking phasing this out or did we just hit a supply shortage?

 

Specialty restaurants: Manfreddi's we only went to once, early in the cruise, and we both came away somewhat underwhelmed.  The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as what we were getting in the main restaurant, so we ended up never going back.  Maybe we ordered poorly or they just didn't get up to speed those first few days, who knows.  Chef's Table - Mexico menu - was EXCEPTIONAL.  We thoroughly enjoyed the entire menu, wines and all.  Our second night at Chef's Table was "Lotus" and we were more so-so with that one.

 

World cafe: Decent buffet, usually at least one very good offering.  Pizza was pretty bland, but most offerings were solid.  Admittedly we didn't go there very often, as the main restaurant was just too good to pass up.  Even though they do make most of the main restaurant offerings available at the buffet, they rarely looked/tasted anywhere near as good as at the restaurant.

 

Mamsens: best desserts/cakes on the ship, best breakfast on the ship (waffles, pastries), and the best coffee I found on the ship (though still not all that great as far as coffee goes).  We spent a LOT of time there and in the seating area nearby for drinks in the explorers lounge.

 

Pool Grill:  No lie, the pool grill DOES have the best burgers we've ever had at sea.  Especially loved the "Ultimate Egg" burger and my wife loved her Mexican-inspired one.  The hot dog though... wow.  I've never had a hot dog that literally had zero flavor - none, whatsoever.  I guess it's fine if you load it up with lots of crazy toppings, but if you're a real hot dog lover, I think you'll be disappointed on Viking.

 

Afternoon tea:  pretty good offering but nothing exceptional, at least on the day that we went.  Earl Grey tea was weak on tea and tasted like rose water.  Not nearly enough clotted cream and jam provided for two scones.

 

We're not big drinkers so we can't say much about alcohol offerings.  We were comped to the silver spirits (all you can drink) package and so had a number of cocktails, which all seemed fine.  But we do love our coffees, and on this front, Viking was, surprisingly, quite a let-down.  Coffees were weak and somewhat sour-tasting.  One time I ordered a cappucino for my wife and we were handed literally just a cup of milk foam. It seemed like things did slightly improve after the first week, but we never once got a coffee anywhere near as good as the specialty coffees on Celebrity.  I never, ever, put sugar in my coffee, but I found that I had to put at least one packet of sugar in each Viking coffee just to make it palatable enough to drink.

 

One tip for sparkling water fans: don't ask for sparkling water.  Ask for a glass of ice and a bottle of club soda or Pellegrino.  Viking appears to make their own sparkling water in giant carafes, and if it is freshly made right before yours is poured, you're set.  But frequently - more often than not, in fact - when I asked for a sparkling water I'd get poured a flat glass of bubble-free seltzer water which tasted awful.  When you ask for club soda, on the other hand, they will open a fresh Canada Dry can or bottle and pour it directly into a glass.

 

Service

 

On the whole I think Viking's service was excellent, but they would frequently mess up little things that Celebrity always managed to get right.  We both had the "Silver Spirits" premium alcohol package, but for the first week we would almost never be offered the specialty wine menu at the restaurant unless we specifically asked to see it.  Water/drink preferences were never remembered for the first week, either, whereas on Celebrity and Princess our waiter would without fail always have our favorite beverage ready and waiting for us at the table.  

 

Room servicing was also a bit odd.  On every Celebrity Cruise we'd ever gone on, the room would be serviced around our schedule, which the attendants would quickly pick up and learn after the first 2-3 days.  Here it took over a week before the attendants realized we had 6pm dinner reservations EVERY SINGLE NIGHT,  and always turned in early for bed, but their set schedule didn't bring them around to our room until 7:30pm, so our nightly room cleaning would usually have to be skipped.  Not a big deal, but this has never been an issue on Celebrity, where it seemed they'd always change their schedule to meet yours.

 

I personally don't NEED these little touches but it seemed odd that Viking would drop the ball here when it's all relatively easy for Celebrity to do it right.  Wifey was more bothered by all this than I was.

 

Embarkation was a breeze, I think from start to finish we were on board and in our room within 10 minutes, tops.

 

Excursions

 

As far as I could tell, there's really zero difference between a Celebrity excursion and a Viking excursion.  They're handled the same way, in the same group sizes, and with the same wide variability of quality.  Some were very so-so.  Only one or two were really excellent.  I was hoping Viking would have better offerings with higher-end guides but that didn't seem to be the case. 

 

If I went with Viking again I'd likely look into booking my own excursions outside of the ship's offerings.

 

Live Entertainment

 

We didn't go to any of the production shows, but I thought several of the lecturers were top-notch, quite a bit more impressive than any I'd seen on Celebrity.  Bar singer/guitarist was a hoot, and the classical musicians always sounded great.

 

Stateroom

 

Hard to compare staterooms, as we upgraded to a penthouse balcony on Viking and we always just do a regular balcony room on Celebrity.  But the penthouse balcony was VERY, VERY nice.  Bathroom was exceptional, with heated floors, a shower big enough for two, a fog-free mirror and generally fittings and style that you would find in any luxury hotel.  The room was about 25-30% larger than normal, with plenty of drawers and storage for all of our clothes (on Celebrity we usually have to fight for drawer space and end up leaving many clothes in our suitcases).  Balcony was smaller than I hoped but still fine.  Chairs out there were VERY uncomfortable though - I couldn't sit in them more than 20 minutes before my back would start to ache.

 

Having seen videos of their regular veranda and deluxe veranda rooms, I have to say they look quite small and seem to have very limited storage, but I've not seen either in person.

 

Pools

 

I rarely use the pools on a cruise ship just because they tend to be so busy all the time, but I had the main pool to myself almost every single time I went (4-5 times) and was able to do quick laps for 30 minutes or more each time without interruption.  Never tried the smaller infinity pool at the back.  The main pool deck was covered all the time except for one day when they opened it wide up.  I will say, they need to open it more often, as you get a greenhouse effect inside that really turns up the heat quite a bit.  It was always just a little too warm in there for my tastes.  But when they opened the roof and got a nice breeze in it was absolutely lovely.

 

Spa

 

Viking's Nordic Spa was a big hit.  Nice big heated pool and hot tub, snow room, steam room, sauna, cold water dip, and bucket drop.  Definitely way more impressive than the "Moroccan Room" or whatever it was we paid $50 to use once on Celebrity.  We used it twice and enjoyed it both times.

 

Didn't try any treatments.

 

Ship Layout 

 

Plenty of nice hangout spots on the ship that felt quiet/private enough.  Really liked the promenade deck on 2 that let you do full laps around the ship - deck 8/9 had something similar but was uncovered and do didn't work great in the rain.  Drainage seemed to be a persistent problem on the outside areas, frequently would have to jump over or walk through huge puddles.

 

The smaller ship also means almost nothing is ever really all that crowded (though admittedly our ship was only at about 60% capacity).  We rarely had to push our way through crowds of people, and never had any major wait for seating at the restaurants.  Smaller ship does mean a somewhat rougher journey though when the seas get high.  Even just 5-6 foot seas were making me a little uncomfortable one night (admittedly after quite a few drinks + an unpleasant room smell that was quickly fixed the next day).

 

TV and Wifi

 

Plenty of TV options (TV shows, movies, live TV with multiple news channels), and nice to have all port lectures and enrichment talks archived on the television to watch at your leisure.  Wife noticed that she'd start watching a TV series and then it would mysteriously disappear a few days later from the listings - maybe this is a country-specific licensing issue?  Not sure.  

 

Daily Viking TV announcements were good, if a bit short and formulaic.  Easy to get daily menus, activities, restaurant reservations, etc. directly via the TV.

Wifi was free and was almost entirely without any issues, apart from maybe 30-60 minutes one night when there was one brief outage.  Fast enough to watch youtube videos without any real problem.

 

Bang for your Buck

 

Similar rooms on Viking cost about 2 to 2.5 times as much as what's on offer at Celebrity, so its a valid question whether you're getting your money's worth paying that much more.  That answer will vary for everyone.  For us it's a pretty close call but, probably, yes, it is worth it for us.  Food is the biggest and most obvious improvement, but no kids and no casino, with a small ship feel, are also big pluses for us.  

 

Biggest hits for us:  Main restaurant was absolutely stellar for lunch and especially dinner, no kids, no upsell attempts, no crowded spots or long lines (admittedly, we were only at 60% capacity), loved having a real promenade deck for long walks, the all-included Nordic Spa area was a big hit, and the giant (for a cruise ship) bathroom with heated floors was divine.

 

Biggest misses:  Horrible coffee just about everywhere on the ship, breakfast at the restaurant (and via room service) was never more than what we'd expect to see at a 3* hotel (Mamsen's saved the day there), hot dogs flavorless for some reason, service seemed a bit off for the first week but I'll chalk that up to new crew + COVID.

 

 

[amyr]

As an Elite Plus on Celebrity who loves Viking as well, this is a pretty spot on review I think, though Covid protocols and new crew training are probably going to overshadow everyone's reviews on all lines for a while.  Our last cruise was on Silhouette in December of 2019, and we had the exact same problem with cabin service.  We had fixed early dining, and would return later in the evening and turn-down hadn't happened yet.  Same with the morning, often not done until noon.  It's probably more ship/crew specific than cruise line specific? 

 

I think you missed the good coffee - it's down on Deck 1 in the Lobby Bar, which is something often mentioned here.  They grind the beans and brew a fine cup down there.  I also enjoy the cappuccino/latte machines in the buffet in the evenings to make myself a decaf with dessert.  Are those machines still operational post-covid?

 

If you hadn't upgraded I think you'd have struggled with the storage in the standard veranda cabins.  The cabin size is fine, it's a true King-sized bed, and that bathroom is the best for its class at sea by far (I think it's the same as the Penthouse?), but considering how much they got right, they really wiffed on the storage.  They could have designed a desk with more drawers or maybe even shelves above, but I think they were going for clean, Scandinavian lines.  I know that some ships have gotten an additional rack of drawers in the closet, but not Star.  We have a cruise booked on the new Viking Expedition ship in December, and I'm anxious to see how they've reimagined the space in a basic cabin.  

 

Thanks for the review!  

Edited December 28, 2021 by amyr

[Azulann]

As a former Celebrity cruiser, I really appreciate your Viking review.  My last Celebrity cruise was on Constellation , 15 days  around Iberia "Running of the Bulls", in a sunset veranda. Yes the  demographics on Celebrity is younger  even on long cruises, but still found lots of scooters on Celebrity which were driven by some  unaware drivers.

 

Took my first Viking cruise on the Viking Sea a TA from PR to Spain. Fell in love with the ship design ,the layout , relaxing  comfortable furniture throughout the ship. the Wintergarden is the most beautiful  room  on a ship IMO, it took my breath away  when I first saw it.  I have since been on the  Orion and Venus. Their DV cabins have a set of drawers in the closet and also the one in the hallway.  

 I agree on the chairs on the veranda balcony , they are not the most comfortable, but love the table height for easy breakfast as we enter a port in early morning. 

 

Food is very good to excellent as you said in Restaurant. I still miss the great chilled soup on Celebrity's Century class ships years ago.

As a coffee snob, I loved the  expresso made coffee a the Viking Bar. The  nice leather chairs near the bar are my favorite. And unlike El Baccio coffee place on celebrity , I could always find a table. 

I will continue to sail Viking for many of the same reason you stated, included no nickel dining you with up charges for speciality  restaurants . The premium beverage package was $49.00 a person per day when I lasted sailed the Constellation. Viking  Silver Spirit package  it is $19.99 per person day  in 2021. 

Hope you try a Viking cruise in Europe or the parts of the world  when it is not in the  middle a the pandemic. I am booked for 2023 for my next Viking cruise. Hopefully we will be back to more normal cruising. 

Again thank you for your detailed review .

Edited December 28, 2021 by Azulann

[spryder]

1 hour ago, amyr said:

I think you missed the good coffee - it's down on Deck 1 in the Lobby Bar, which is something often mentioned here.

 

Yep!  First place we went, thanks to commenters on here - and it was just terrible.  Same experience on attempt #2 and #3.  On attempt #4 I ordered two drinks and one (supposed to be a cappuccino) was just a cup of milk foam with zero coffee in it!  After that we gave up and ordered coffee at Mamsens, which was still not quite to our liking but was still much, much better than the Viking bar.

 

I suspect something was wrong with the coffee supply on board the ship.  It did seem to improve somewhat after the first week, but it was never close to any of the coffee we'd get on Celebrity.  Maybe they were working their way through old stores not used during the 2020 shutdown?  Maybe it was new staff and they were still learning the ropes?  I'm not sure.  All I know is that the coffee was absolutely below standards we'd expect from a line of this caliber.  It tasted almost sour, in a very strange way - with or without cream.

 

It was so bad that we actively Googled it to see if anyone else had similar complaints, and found absolutely none.  So I suspect it was an issue specific to this sailing, and am more than willing to give them another try on a future Viking sailing.

[PGI GUY]

We were on this same cruise that left on the day after Thanksgiving, and it was our fourth Viking Ocean cruise. I would say that this was the oldest and   least mobile group of passengers we have encountered on any Viking cruise. Probably due to the fact that it was round trip from Ft Lauderdale, Fl. I would agree we did encounter some problems with inexperienced crew members at times but they did seem to get better as the trip progressed. I think this will be a problem for the next several months.

[duquephart]

1 hour ago, amyr said:

As an Elite Plus on Celebrity who loves Viking as well, this is a pretty spot on review I think, though Covid protocols and new crew training are probably going to overshadow everyone's reviews on all lines for a while.  Our last cruise was on Silhouette in December of 2019, and we had the exact same problem with cabin service.  We had fixed early dining, and would return later in the evening and turn-down hadn't happened yet.  Same with the morning, often not done until noon.  It's probably more ship/crew specific than cruise line specific? 

 

I think you missed the good coffee - it's down on Deck 1 in the Lobby Bar, which is something often mentioned here.  They grind the beans and brew a fine cup down there.  I also enjoy the cappuccino/latte machines in the buffet in the evenings to make myself a decaf with dessert.  Are those machines still operational post-covid?

 

If you hadn't upgraded I think you'd have struggled with the storage in the standard veranda cabins.  The cabin size is fine, it's a true King-sized bed, and that bathroom is the best for its class at sea by far (I think it's the same as the Penthouse?), but considering how much they got right, they really wiffed on the storage.  They could have designed a desk with more drawers or maybe even shelves above, but I think they were going for clean, Scandinavian lines.  I know that some ships have gotten an additional rack of drawers in the closet, but not Star.  We have a cruise booked on the new Viking Expedition ship in December, and I'm anxious to see how they've reimagined the space in a basic cabin.  

 

Thanks for the review!  

 

I'm wondering what your definition of "a true King-sized bed" is. There is no set definition and size varies wildly from place to place. In the US a king size bed is 10 inches wider than those on a Viking ship.

[minka34]

25 minutes ago, spryder said:

Maybe they were working their way through old stores not used during the 2020 shutdown?  Maybe it was new staff and they were still learning the ropes?  I'm not sure.  All I know is that the coffee was absolutely below standards we'd expect from a line of this caliber.  It tasted almost sour, in a very strange way - with or without cream.

 

I love cruising Viking so much that I forgot how horrible the coffee was until I heard your description... sour.  That is it.  I so wish that they would change their coffee!  

[amyr]

23 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

I'm wondering what your definition of "a true King-sized bed" is. There is no set definition and size varies wildly from place to place. In the US a king size bed is 10 inches wider than those on a Viking ship.

Mostly just larger than the Queen with the rounded bottom corners they have on Celebrity.  It's smaller than our home King, which is a monster Select Comfort split King thing.  I think it's more like a hotel King.  

[jacquesmm]

It looks like the OP had a bad coffee experience. My wife and I were always happy with the specialty coffees served on Viking, at the small bar at the bottom of the main stair case. We agree that the coffee served at breakfast is not special.

 

Another point is the value for the $: I compared our last cruise on the Celebrity Edge with one on Viking. Comparing a PV cabin on Viking with the smallest suite on Celebrity, with everything taken in account: spas, specialty dining, drink package etc., Celebrity was about 35% more expensive. 

Service quality  is about the same. My wife likes the Retreat on Celebrity, I don't care.

I feel more comfortable on a small ship but above all, for us, good dining is a priority, For food, Viking is a clear winner.

 

BTW, we went several times to Manfredi and it was always great.

Maybe this was new crew or a problem with restarting cruises after Covid.

 

 

[Opinica]

Back this month from an 17 night trip on the Viking Orion.  Our first cruise ever and we loved it.

 

As regards Mamsen's and the brown cheese.

 

They say that it's cheese and I take them at their word.

 

Without a doubt, it is brown.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, minka34 said:

I love cruising Viking so much that I forgot how horrible the coffee was until I heard your description... sour.  That is it.  I so wish that they would change their coffee!  

We love Viking . . .   except the coffee!   We are coffee-aholics.  Sort of glad to hear others don't like it either - but I do think it is a personal thing.  We are used to very rich, dark, strong tasting, flavorful coffee on the West Coast - where one good cup will last the day and you savor it!   At least Viking in consistent - all the various coffee places all had the same (to us) bad tasting coffee.  Too weak and a strange taste.

 

However - the Nespresso makers in the room are wonderful.  Pop those pods in and have a great cup - we would go through about 6 to 8 a day (and our steward wonderfully kept us fully supplied every night.).   Another trick we'd do is make a nespresso drink in the room in a paper takeaway cup and take it to World Cafe and fill the rest with their coffee.  It made it palatable!  Thank goodness for those room coffee/nespresso makers!!

[duquephart]

1 hour ago, amyr said:

Mostly just larger than the Queen with the rounded bottom corners they have on Celebrity.  It's smaller than our home King, which is a monster Select Comfort split King thing.  I think it's more like a hotel King.  

 

The point is that there is no such thing as "a true King-sized bed".

[minka34]

21 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

However - the Nespresso makers in the room are wonderful.  Pop those pods in and have a great cup - we would go through about 6 to 8 a day (and our steward wonderfully kept us fully supplied every night.). 

Yes, CCWineLover,  I try to get my fill of coffee BEFORE I leave the stateroom!  We always ask for extra pods too, and never have had any trouble getting enough of them. 

[KBs mum]

1 hour ago, amyr said:

Mostly just larger than the Queen with the rounded bottom corners they have on Celebrity.  It's smaller than our home King, which is a monster Select Comfort split King thing.  I think it's more like a hotel

They're EU standard sized. In the EU/UK there are standard sizes for single, double etc

[KBs mum]

Remember Viking is not a US line. To this Brit the Earl Grey usually tastes as it should. Also coffee specifications are different in the US and Europe. The only things on Viking that are US spec are the band, cooked breakfasts and the burgers. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by KBs mum

[lackcreativity]

Spryder,

I am happy to hear how much you enjoyed your first Viking cruise (coffee and hot dog aside!). I had wondered if first time Viking cruisers during the Time of Covid might perceive that Viking did not live up to expectations, given all the challenges of the long shut down. Sounds like they have worked hard to maintain standards, and the kinks will be worked out in due time.

We have missed out on three cruises during the last two years, and  have a Viking cruise in April 2022. At this point, even then I expect things will still not be the same as our prior cruises. But I do expect that we will very glad to be back on board!

[ptcflyer]

We just did celebrity Reflection in a sky suite before boarding the Viking Sea transatlantic on Nov. 29.    We were disappointed in Viking compared to Celebrity suite experience with Lumine restaurant.    The suites on Celebrity at similar cost is real solid competition to Viking.   There were real misses with our Viking trip...including poor internet, mixed up and down  service in Restaurant, and a severe food poisoning incident.  I believe COVID is impacting Viking staffing... So we are reserving further judgement.    But I have to say celebrity really has their game going with the Suites. 

[Cienfuegos]

This is an excellent thread.  As a multi-year Celebrity and Viking cruise patron, I agree with many of the comments Spryder has offered. 

 

Two additional points. The first is that Viking's policy of including most charges eliminates the "nickel and dime" charges I perceived on Celebrity. Dinner in specialty restaurants, drinks at dinner, etc. Their a la carte model works well for many guests, but I found it annoying. 

 

The second is I found the hot glass blowing workshops offered most evenings on Solistice to be a wonderful lesson. The Corning Museum of Glass sponsored artists who worked a hot furnace to produce art work each evening. Depending on what was being created, the work shops might run 90 minutes to two hours. At the end of the cruise, the art work was auctioned for charity.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, ptcflyer said:

We just did celebrity Reflection in a sky suite before boarding the Viking Sea transatlantic on Nov. 29.    We were disappointed in Viking compared to Celebrity suite experience with Lumine restaurant.    The suites on Celebrity at similar cost is real solid competition to Viking.   There were real misses with our Viking trip...including poor internet, mixed up and down  service in Restaurant, and a severe food poisoning incident.  I believe COVID is impacting Viking staffing... So we are reserving further judgement.    But I have to say celebrity really has their game going with the Suites. 

 

Affirmative, many of the regular Viking crew are still contracted to other jobs and are expected to return over the next 6 months. Unfortunately, some of the excellent crew have taken the break as an opportunity to move ashore permanently.

[FetaCheese]

Hello, Also longtime X pax, from 1993, Horizon, Zenith era.  Probably 10 or so over the years   Was so very elegant and food was deluxe.  I particularly remember the 13 piece silverware setting every night.  So classy! And the soups...best ever.  Yes, things have changed substantially since then, but continued on with them, and Royal, because of the Cap Club benefits. Noticed the gradual changes over the years, so decided to try O in 2016.  And so glad I did! Cruised 4 times with O. They were a cut above X, but sadly, each year they cut costs, and we noticed.  Still an excellent product.  Also did HAL 3 times in 2018-2019.  Very nice also.

 

So, all these Viking brochures started arriving, and saw some YouTube videos about V.  Decided to try V, this month, just back from Greek Odyssey on Venus.  Didn't know what I was missing, late to the party!  Was even "gladder" than on O !!  Experience was very, very fine.  Cabin, food, service, tours, all way above X, O, HAL.  You pay more, but such a great value.  So many inclusions.  Very impressed with V.  Can't say anything negative.

 

The ship was at about 40% occupancy. Asked Explorers lounge bartender, about crew #s.  Nearly a full compliment of crew.  They couldn't do enough to please us!  Yes, COVID-19 protocols, but as close to 2019 normal as could be.

 

I won't elaborate on OP's points, but our experience was truly terrific in all respects.  MDR always excellent.  Manfredi's 3 nights, all excellent meals, far better than X Tuscan, and on par with O.  Had the Bistecca Fiorentina 2 nights. Best steak ever, cooked exactly to my liking.  

 

Got in to Pireaus port late and missed flight.  Had V air, and V knew we wouldn't make the 8:30 am flight, and CD announced it at 9 pm on last nite.  V rebooked us, and probably 75 - 100 other pax, for next day, let us stay on ship, same cabin overnight.  An extra day in Athens, with free shuttle to Hadrian's gate.  Such great customer service.

 

Can't wait to go on our new cruise line! 

[sleepybobo]

20 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Affirmative, many of the regular Viking crew are still contracted to other jobs and are expected to return over the next 6 months. Unfortunately, some of the excellent crew have taken the break as an opportunity to move ashore permanently.

I’m on the Sea now. The decline in dinning staff service is noticeable. We waited for over half an hour at the Pool Grill for our order yesterday, while the crew was busy moving heavy lounge chairs inches behind us. We twice wanted to leave. But the waiter assured us our order was coming. When we finally got our order, the cheesesteak sandwich was cold. We weren’t the only people complaining about slow services. Overall, the Viking crew members are still delightful. 

[OnTheJourney]

On 12/28/2021 at 11:58 AM, spryder said:

Viking's Nordic Spa was a big hit.

This is something I really wanted to try and never got to being that I unfortunately chose the day that we ran into the big storm of 3/23/19. Lucky to get away with our lives from that trip so guess missing the spa is no real big deal. Hopefully next time. 

[slewis7]

We too were longtime Celebrity cruisers who have now taken 3 Viking Ocean cruises.  
 

Other things I have not seen mentioned that we much prefer on Viking:

 

We do not miss the constant up-selling that you get on Celebrity and the mass market lines: pushy photographers, junky jewelry and T-shirt sales, extra cost restaurants, etc.

 

Also, we are not gamblers and do not miss the casinos.

 

Finally, all adult passengers!

[jonthomas]

We gave up on Celeb because of the food. I called it inedible in the Main dining room. Of course I was brutally attacked for the comment. No amount of meetings with the Chef produced better results.

 

To us it was inedible, every single night. We resorted to eating dinner in the buffet, where something fresh could be made. Even there I had to tell the staff not to use the same tongs for the raw chick breast and then use them again to serve my  done portion. 

 

The kids on board, well thats another whole topic.

 

Our decision is to cruise less, but get quality and yes pay for it.

 

Once we cruised Viking , we could not go back to Celebrity. But once we cruised Oceania, we will do our best to use up the FCC that we have with Viking and then sail only on O...

 

Yes we are picky eaters. 

[spryder]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Once we cruised Viking , we could not go back to Celebrity. But once we cruised Oceania, we will do our best to use up the FCC that we have with Viking and then sail only on O...

 

 

We have our first Oceania cruise booked for early 2023... would love to know how you would compare Viking and Oceania.  We've heard different stories from different folks, some prefer Viking over O, and others are the other way round.