taiwan_girl

We recently got off in Rome (on a Viking cruise). I had looked ahead of time for transport into the city, but was not able to book anything. Maybe just pure luck, but we talked to the people inside the "terminal" and they immediately called someone to come and take us. They said that there are certain companies that are allowed inside the port gates and they called one of them. We had 8 people + luggage and they came in a mid Mercedes van. Didn't have to wait long at all. We were staying very close to Vatican City, and on a Friday morning, it only took between 60-90 minutes. Did not seem like traffic was very bad at all.

That is too bad. We were on Regatta and they had two Concept 2 machines, both in good shape. I assumed (I know what happens when you assume. LOL) that since this was their smallest ship, others would at least be equivalent.

I am pretty sure that all the Oceania ships have at least two Concept 2 rowing machines in their fitness centers.

Close to there is the statue of Hachiko, which was the dog that went to the train station everyday to wait for his master, even though the owner had passed away. Made into a US movie starting Richard Gere.

I will give my comparison of the two companies, as we have now done a cruise on each. Some background, the Oceania cruise was about 1.5 years ago, and the Viking cruise we just finished. Both cruises were the same party of 8: 4 "kids" (late teens to mid 20's, 2 middle age adults and 2 seniors. So, we had 4 cabins each time. Pre- Cruise: Oceania did a better job of treating our 4 cabins as a single booking. Viking seemed to treat it as 4 separate bookings. We had flights done by the cruise lines, and Oceania made sure that from the beginning, we were all on the same flights etc. With Viking, it was a bit more of a hassle. Eventually worked out, but took a bit more work. Same situation for dining at the specialty restaurants. Precruise, we could not reserve a table of 8 in either restaurant. Talked with our Viking agent and he tried but was unsuccessful and told us to check once we boarded. We did that, and was told that there were no reservations available at one of the restaurants for a party of eight or even 2x4 people. We eventually were able to get the private dining room at both restaurants so it worked out, but still a bit of a hassle. No issues with either cruise company regarding Flights and airport transfer to ship. Staff: Great on both ships. Both were high quality and once we found our "favorites" at the various locations, they remembered us and our preferences. Rooms: We were on the smaller Oceanic ship (Regatta) and in one of the lower level rooms, so it was a big difference in quality of the bathroom. Viking was much better. Seem to remember that the room size was about the same in both ships, and were big enough for our needs. Food: Thought that Oceania was better overall. Had pretty high expectations of Viking, and while it was not bad, advantage to Oceania. We thought that the hours of operation on Viking were pretty short at restaurants like the buffet, etc. Wished they would have been open longer. Excursions: We were on Oceania prior the "Simply More", and booked excursions on our own at every port so no experience with Oceania excursions. With Viking, took included and also paid for one, and did one on our own. Because the ports are so different, hard to make a comparison, but the ones were took on Viking were pretty good, so no complaints. Spa: Definitely Viking is much better. The Nordic spa was a lot fun. First time ever doing the hot-cold-hot etc Entertainment: Equal. For the size of the ship, I though that the quality was quite good on both, whether it was shows in the theater, the classic duos, pianist, lectures, etc.. Definitely met expectations. Overall, would give a slight advantage to Oceania, but would definitely be willing to travel on either one again, and hopefully will be able to soon. LOL

Just got off the Viking Venus, and yes, there is a table up on the sport deck. Never saw it being used, and I think it would be difficult to play if the ship was in motion.

We recently finished the Viking Venus Athens to Rome, and had a chance to speak with the captain. Our four kids were with us (late teens to mid 20's) and the captain commented that there were quite a few younger demographic on the cruise. I agreed, as it was more than I had anticipated. Did not see any really problems with the dress code, though I did notice that the staff at the main dining room did make one gentleman remove his baseball hat before entering. (Also, Viking did enforce the no drinking unless 21 or older. LOL. Even though in European waters the whole cruise. Not a big deal for my daughter as she really doesn't drink, but it was funny that they knew who she was when we first sat down and that she was underage.)

We have an upcoming Athens - Rome cruise starting in just a couple of days. (Yay!!!). It was supposed to stop in Crete on Christmas day, but received an email about a month ago that Crete was cancelled as most everything would be closed on Christmas. We were given a USD$200 ship credit.

Coming up on our first Viking cruise in a bit more than a month, but everything I have heard and read says that the Nordic spa is included. Only extra charges for massages, special treatments, etc. We are looking forward to trying the spa also.

There is that saying: people have time, energy, and money When you are young: You have time and energy, but no money Middle age: You have energy and money, but no time Older: You have time and money, but no energy. LOL

One area I would give a edge to Oceania vs. Viking is the way the two companies handle multi cabin bookings. With Oceania, they basically treated our four cabins as a single booking, starting with making sure we were all on the same flights and also with dinner reservations. With Viking, they initially had each cabin on a different itineraries and it took a while to sort that out. (We decided to use Viking for air reservations as they were much cheaper than we could find on our own.) Dinner reservations open tomorrow, so will get to see easy it is to get everybody together at one table at the same time. 🙂 Didnt take any Oceania excursions, but for Viking, had multiple electronic devices open to ensure we were all together on the excursions we wanted. All in all, these are relatively minor things, so not detracting from the cruise.

We had done some "mass market" cruises, and wanting a smaller ship experience, took our first Oceania cruise last year. It was on the Regatta and we (three generation family) absolutely loved it (other than of course the showers LOL). We were in a deluxe window room and while somewhat small, never was a big problem for us. Anyways, there wasn't a whole lot we DIDN'T love. In fact, we tried to book another Oceania cruise over the coming Xmas holiday, but none were available in the geographic areas we were interested in, so we booked a Viking cruise (same 3-generation family: 4 late teens early 20's, 2 adults and 2 seniors). Hoping/assuming it will be at least equivalent to Oceania and from reading on the boards here, I don't think we will be disappointed.

Our cruise on Oceania was our first and I did not realize the dinner reservation system, so did not try to make specialty reservations until just before we left for the cruise. Needless to say, only times available (for our larger group of 8 ) was late. Talked with guest relations and they were able to accommodate us at a more reasonable time due to other guests cancellations. So, check with them when you are on board and something may have opened up earlier.

I think I would like this better than 1 excursion per day. We have a Dec cruise coming up with Viking and there are a couple of ports where we are skipping the offered excursions and are going to explore on our own. It may have been nice to have the credit to pick a certain excursion we wanted, even if the price was higher than we otherwise would pay.

In my limited experience, the higher end the cruise line, the more "all inclusive" they become. If a cruise line like Oceania went the way of the discount airlines, staying fairly high end, and the only thing you got for your cruise fare was a cabin, with everything else being extra, that would create a whole 'nother set of complaints. For me, I like knowing ahead of time that there will not be a whole lot of extras that will show up on my bill at the end of the cruise. Granted, our Oceania cruise was prior to "Simply More", and at that time, their "semi all-inclusive" seemed to be the sweet spot for us. We plan on taking another Oceania cruise, and I think it will still fit the sweet spot for us. As others have stated, there are options, based on price, amenities, itineraries, etc. (both on land and sea). While some may like Oceania, others may feel that their offerings include too much or maybe too little. It would be interesting to see what type of margin change Oceania expects with the switch to Simply More vs. O-Life.

That is good to hear. As I mentioned, in my first post in this thread, we really loved our first Oceania cruise, and our expectations are that Viking will be at least as good.

We (as a family) had been on a couple of "mass market" cruises in the past, but wanted a smaller shop, so last summer booked with Oceania on an Alaska cruise. Have to admit that I had never heard of them, but got an unsolicited brochure in the mail, expressed an interest after looking on line, and literally within minutes, got a phone call. (So, I guess this was one case where the hard copy brochures actually lead to a sale). For some background, the cruises we have been on typically are three generations - 4 kids (late teen to early 20's), two middle age adults, and two seniors. Went in with relatively low expectation, but to a person, we absolutely 100% loved the Oceania cruise on Regatta. So much of an upgrade from our previous cruises. Loved the food, loved the size of the ship, loved the coffee shop, loved the staff, loved the lack of crowds, etc. It helped that the weather was perfect the whole time. I guess there was one complaint. We were in the non-balcony window rooms, and the showers were quite small. I know the two seniors in the group had a few problems. We liked it so much, that we decided to try and find an Oceania cruise over this coming Xmas holiday. Unfortunately, we pretty late in starting our search, and their only availability was Caribbean, which we weren't really interested in. So, we ended up booking a Mediterranean cruise with Viking. Same 3 generation family, so it will be interesting to see how the two lines compare. We hope that it will be at least equivalent to our Oceania cruise and are keeping our fingers crossed.

One thing you could do is to buy a small "non foggable" travel mirror that comes with a suction cup and could be stuck to the shower wall if that would be of help.

Thanks so much to everyone for the detailed replies!! We are on the Dec 2023 Journey to Antiquities. 3-generation family cruise. Kind of last minute as we didn't book until mid August. Did air through Viking as much cheaper than anything we could find by ourselves. We really really liked the Oceania cruise we took and hope this one will be at least equal.

@SWFLAOK Thanks!!! This our first Viking cruise, and I wish they made it easier if a party has multiple cabins. For example they initially had us on four separate air itineraries, which is frustrating as they (Viking) knew we were a single family group. Had to pay the extra USD$100/person for Viking Air Plus in order to get the same flights. Not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but.............. Our only comparison is a cruise we did on Oceania and they treated the four cabins as one and we all had the same flights from the beginning. Sorry to go off topic here!! 😀

We have four cabins booked on an upcoming cruise with four separate booking numbers. I am coordinating all the travel/bookings, so any tips on the best way of maximizing the chances of getting all four bookings on the same excursion at the same time slot?