Viking vs. Oceania - Which has the edge on Food?

Our first time on a Viking Ocean cruise soon. We have been on several Oceania cruises but are very curious and looking forward to experience what its "rival" can do!!!

 

Could some helpful Viking (Ocean not River) cruisers who have also been on Oceania give us their view how the cuisine is like on Viking vs. Oceania? We know food can be very subjective, but it is still nice to know what other people think.

 

*Which cruise line has "better" buffet selection?

And why?

 

*Which cruise line has the edge when it comes to the specialty restaurants?

 

*And what about their Room Service food service - which cruise line, in your view, gets your vote?

 

We realise putting this on the Viking Ocean thread may get responses somewhat different if we put that on the Oceania discussion thread, but still , it would be interesting to hear your views.

Tastes in food are so personal. However, after eating on board Viking, I have little interest in going to the local restaurants that we usually frequent. My big problem with the local restaurants is that everything is too peppery, burns my mouth and leaves an unpleasant after taste. Not so on Viking, where the ingredients and their flavors shine through.

Tastes in food are so personal. However, after eating on board Viking, I have little interest in going to the local restaurants that we usually frequent. My big problem with the local restaurants is that everything is too peppery, burns my mouth and leaves an unpleasant after taste. Not so on Viking, where the ingredients and their flavors shine through.

 

Thanks for your response. However, I just wondered if you have been on Oceania and have tried their cuisine, and if you have, how would you compare that with that of Viking's?

' local restaurants' is an extremely sweeping statement!! Surely not all local restaurants everywhere can seem to overseason their food?

After many Oceania cruises we have found more recently that the food quality has gone down and the preparations are, if anything, under seasoned.

We will board Viking Oceans next year and then will be able to compare.

I have been on both. Both offer excellent food. However I actually preferred the speciality restaurants on Viking. We did like Red Ginger on Oceania but were disappointed in Toscana.

There were some criticisms on Viking of the variety of salads on the buffet but I could always finds a fresh and tasty offering. I am from the UK so perhaps those from the US might disagree.

Both have very good food. Oceania has more variety in specialty restaurants but some are better than others and sometimes the same restaurant is great on one cruise and awful on another (Jacques a favorite of many was terrible in the South Pacific and very good in the Baltic but I am pretty sure that the staff is different even on the same ship in different parts of the world). Toscana was my favorite on all my Oceania cruises and I did not think Manfredis was as good. However, as said above it is all very subjective. Neither of our specialty meals on Viking were great but we are going again next summer and it will be different again (I do love their ocean ships). Try Mamsens and their coffee bar in the main lobby. The pool lunch menu was also very good. Oceania has better bread but you will be happy with the Viking food too. It is better than on Viking River cruises.

' local restaurants' is an extremely sweeping statement!! Surely not all local restaurants everywhere can seem to overseason their food?

 

You misunderstood. My comment was specifically about the local restaurants that I frequent.

My vote goes to Oceania on food, but not by a lot!

Having sailed multiple times on both Oceania and Viking, here are some thoughts:

 

1. Viking wins in the gelato category -- not even close. This is the best gelato at sea, I think, and better than most gelato on the European mainland. Outside of Italy and Lisbon, this is the best gelato I have had.

 

2. Oceania always has lobster available at the pool grill and at night at the Terrace Cafe (buffet.)

 

3. Viking World Cafe (buffet) has more variety of sushi than Oceania's Terrace Cafe. The quality also is better.

 

4. Viking is more adventurous in flavoring their food than Oceania which tends to border on bland at times.

 

5. The desserts at the World Cafe are generally better than at the Terrace Cafe. They are very small, also, and you can have several, as is the case (having several desserts) at the Terrace Cafe.

 

6. Viking generally uses less sugar in the desserts. Both my wife and I prefer this as we find most Oceania desserts too sweet.

 

7. In general, there is more diversity, from meal to meal, with Viking desserts at World Cafe than at Oceania's Terrace cafe.

 

8. Oceania Red Ginger is the best specialty restaurant for both lines, and generally the most consistent. Neither line is good at authentic Asian food, but Viking's Indian dishes are more flavorful than when Oceania serves an Indian dish (either at main dining room or buffet.)

 

9. Dining quality can vary a bit on both lines. There is less variance on Viking in our experience.

 

10. Manfredi (Viking's Italian specialty restaurant) and Toscana (Oceania's specialty restaurant) don't always get it right, but are generally good, but rarely exceptional. We prefer the way Toscana serves the bread (choice of olive oil and balsamic vinegar) as it is sort of cool to try different combinations.

 

11. Special requests (a day ahead) seems to be accepted by Viking easier than Oceania. For example, very easy to ask for crab omelettes every day on Viking, but important to do so the day before you want the first one.

 

12. Staff for dining make both lines a special experience. I think the Viking staff are slightly more interactive and engaging, but this varies.

 

13. Oceania has 4 specialty restaurants on Marina and Riviera which on a 10-12 cruise really is a treat for providing variety for the dining experience. Viking's has Manfredi, which is good for one visit a cruise, and the Chef's table, which is good to experience (different wine with each course), but check the menu before going as the menus rotate and everyone is served the same courses. The Chef table is good for those that want to savor their food, and eat moderate portions.

 

14. Viking is probably better for those that are vegans or vegetarians -- generally their vegetable dishes are tastier.

 

15. Oceania sometimes overcook their fish in the main and specialty dining rooms. Sometimes at the Viking buffet the fish can get overcooked a bit sitting under the warming lights, but they tend to replace the fish often enough that you are likely to get pretty perfectly-cooked fish more times than not.

 

16. We sometimes are served a dish on Oceania, generally veal or lamb, that we find over-salted. This like the previous items, is a matter of personal taste -- we generally don't use any additional salt at home on our food, but use lots of various spices including garlic, red pepper, ginger, lemon grass, cumin, cardamon, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, etc.

 

17. Every once in a while the World Cafe has a special dish cooked on the back patio. This is nice.

 

18. We like how the Terrace Cafe has the server serve you the food (with the exception of soy sauce and wasabi.) In the World cafe, the guests serve themselves for most items and can drop serving utensils on the ground, handle the serving end, etc. and place them back, in theory, if they are so rude to do so.)

 

19. You can get the chocolate fondue put on top of your gelato at World Cafe. It hardens and creates a great topping.

 

20. If you like scallops, you can generally get them more often on Viking. Lobster is more readily available on Oceania. The sea bass at Red Ginger is exceptional!

 

21. Viking serves pork ribs at the buffet every few days, but they tend to be fatty and the sauce is too sugary.

 

22. Viking tends to serve short ribs more often than Oceania, and they are excellent!

 

23. Oceania's cheesecake is better than Viking.

 

24. Oceania's tea is far, far superior to Viking's. We may go to Viking's tea once a cruise just to relax and have some tea. We go to Oceania's tea as often as we think our health can take the shock of having such great pastries shortly before our dinner. The string quartet at Oceania's tea is one of the highlights, especially if they play a movement from a Haydn or Mozert quartet.

 

25. If you want berries for breakfast (blueberries, backberries, raspberries) it is a breeze to get it a Terrace Cafe in any quantity. One can also get berries on Viking at Mamsen, and mixed with other fruit at World Cafe.

 

26. Be sure to try the pecan pastry available in the morning at the Viking living room -- a small area of pastries next to the bar on the first floor.

 

27. The quality of food, the cuts of meat, the quality of fish, is excellent on both lines. Even when they try to get a ethnic cuisine right and don't, one cannot find fault with the quality of ingredients. So even though the Asian menu at Chef's table is not impressive (they use strange, small, European-like pancakes for the Peking duck), the ingredients are high quality. Even though the Lobster Pad Thai at Red Ginger can't compete with simple shrimp Pad Thai at Mom and Pop Thai restaurants on the West Coast of the U.S., the lobster is delicious. The watermelon at Red Ginger that goes with the duck salad, is exceptionally high quality watermelon!

 

28. Both dining rooms can sometimes be slow -- or sometimes not slow. Prepare to sometimes spend almost two hours for a meal in the dining room, as opposed to half an hour at the buffet.

 

29. Viking includes wine and beer with lunch and dinner. We generally don't have alcohol except during vacations, and find that on Oceania we may order a few bottle of wines over the course of a cruise, so we have wine at least in the speciality restaurants, but we don't get the beverage package. We can get Perrier for free with meals on Oceania, which is also a dis-incentive for us to purchase a beverage package. On Viking, the inclusive nature of beverages with meals means we just automatically opt for a glass or two of wine with each meal -- or a glass of beer, particuarly at lunch. Viking is very liberal about letting you bring wine on board and I believe they don't charge a fee for you to have your own wine with your meal; Oceania is also liberal about bringing wine on board but does charge a corkgage fee.

 

30. One should probably not use food quality as a factor in choosing between these two lines, except for the following purpose: If one has sailed only Oceania, one should chose to try Viking for the different culinary experience, and if one has sailed only on Viking Ocean cruises, one should chose to experience Oceania Marina or Riviera. You may find you have a preference between the two lines, but if you are like us, you find both lines have their strengths and weaknesses and that one is very fortunate to have money to cruise now and then and experience some truly good food in the process.

Edited December 6, 2017 by garycd
Spelling correction and formatting

Having sailed multiple times on both Oceania and Viking, here are some thoughts:

 

26. Be sure to try the pecan pastry available in the morning at the Viking living room -- a small area of pastries next to the bar on the first floor.

 

 

Correction: Sorry, I mean the pistachio pastry. It is a bit sweet for the both of us, but still very good.

 

Note that Viking and Oceania both have sugar free selections, but we generally stay away from these as the ones we have tried are sweetened with some type of artificial sweetener, I believe.

Both have very good food.....

 

Oceania has better bread but you will be happy with the Viking food to.

 

tvmovielover: Agree with all points in your post. Yes, Oceania has better bread! And Oceania's mashed potatoes are better.

Thanks for your very detailed response. You certainly gave us a idea what to expect on Viking.

 

Having sailed multiple times on both Oceania and Viking, here are some thoughts:

 

1. Viking wins in the gelato category -- not even close. This is the best gelato at sea, I think, and better than most gelato on the European mainland. Outside of Italy and Lisbon, this is the best gelato I have had.

 

Looking forward to that. Actually some gelato on Oceania's Terrace Cafe was not too bad. But is it even better on Viking? That sounds like Gelato Heaven ! Wow!!!

 

2. Oceania always has lobster available at the pool grill and at night at the Terrace Cafe (buffet.)

 

Could not say that their lobsters tasted "sea fresh" though. Felt they were in the fridge or freezer for a while.

 

3. Viking World Cafe (buffet) has more variety of sushi than Oceania's Terrace Cafe. The quality also is better.

 

That's great. We love Sushi. Does Viking has Japanese seaweed salad dressed with in sesame oil and ginger dressing which was offered occasionally on Oceania?

 

 

4. Viking is more adventurous in flavoring their food than Oceania which tends to border on bland at times.

 

Surprised to (but pleased) to hear that - had thought it was the other way around. Anyway, will get to try that soon and find out!

 

 

 

5. The desserts at the World Cafe are generally better than at the Terrace Cafe. They are very small, also, and you can have several, as is the case (having several desserts) at the Terrace Cafe.

 

Also surprised to read that, as the desserts at the Terrace Cafe were often quite good.

 

 

8. Oceania Red Ginger is the best specialty restaurant for both lines, and generally the most consistent. Neither line is good at authentic Asian food, but Viking's Indian dishes are more flavorful than when Oceania serves an Indian dish (either at main dining room or buffet.)

 

Agree with you about Red Ginger. It is not "authentic" Asian cuisine but more "fusion" but what comes out were really good and imaginative.

 

We have to say in the Terrace Cafe, their Asian offerings tasted pretty disappointing ( perhaps lacked ginger and garlic?) but on our last cruise on the Riviera, the Indian curry night was very good - and we thought it was partly due to one of the chefs there who was Indian.

 

11. Special requests (a day ahead) seems to be accepted by Viking easier than Oceania. For example, very easy to ask for crab omelettes every day on Viking, but important to do so the day before you want the first one.

 

Never knew one could make special requests. Your crab omelette sounds "yummy". You have great tastes!!!

 

 

15. Oceania sometimes overcook their fish in the main and specialty dining rooms. Sometimes at the Viking buffet the fish can get overcooked a bit sitting under the warming lights, but they tend to replace the fish often enough that you are likely to get pretty perfectly-cooked fish more times than not.

 

The best fish we had were not on Ocenia, but on Holland America, especially in their buffet restaurant. The chef on HAL told us that they try as much as possible to buy fish from the port they visited, so they tasted "sea fresh".

 

On Oceania, their fish tasted as if they have been too long in the fridge or freezer (their stock coming all the way from Miami?) . Even their meat sometimes tasted being in the fridge/freezer for a while. They are not by any means "bad", just could not compare to being "sea fresh".

 

We read somewhere that Viking try to source some of their foods from the ports they visit. Is that true?

 

 

20. If you like scallops, you can generally get them more often on Viking. Lobster is more readily available on Oceania. The sea bass at Red Ginger is exceptional!

 

We love scallops.

 

Agree with you the sea bass at Red Ginger is exceptional....that is one dish "To Die For" (well, not literally!!!!).:)

 

21. Viking serves pork ribs at the buffet every few days, but they tend to be fatty and the sauce is too sugary.

 

That is one item for us to AVOID!!!!

 

24. Oceania's tea is far, far superior to Viking's. We may go to Viking's tea once a cruise just to relax and have some tea. We go to Oceania's tea as often as we think our health can take the shock of having such great pastries shortly before our dinner. The string quartet at Oceania's tea is one of the highlights, especially if they play a movement from a Haydn or Mozert quartet.

 

Oh no! What a shame. Maybe that is something which Viking needs to improve on. In addition to their bringing their cakes and pastries to the table, they could have a help yourself buffet at the Winter Garden? Is the quality of cakes and pastries on Viking not as good as Oceania?

 

And maybe have a Quartet playing some light classical music as in Oceania, would you not agree?

 

 

 

 

26. Be sure to try the pecan pastry available in the morning at the Viking living room -- a small area of pastries next to the bar on the first floor.

 

Thanks for the tip! Pecan pastry, here we come!

 

 

30. One should probably not use food quality as a factor in choosing between these two lines, except for the following purpose: If one has sailed only Oceania, one should chose to try Viking for the different culinary experience, and if one has sailed only on Viking Ocean cruises, one should chose to experience Oceania Marina or Riviera. You may find you have a preference between the two lines, but if you are like us, you find both lines have their strengths and weaknesses and that one is very fortunate to have money to cruise now and then and experience some truly good food in the process.

 

That is true.

 

We thought we'd try Viking for something different.

 

Eventhough the food on Oceania is generally good, one's palate could get a bit "jaded" after eating similar offerings on several cruises with the same cruise line.

 

Besides, we would like to sample the differences in decor of the ships.

 

What we are also keen to find out is whether the Viking senior officers are more friendly than Oceania's. We think it has been commented so often in the Oceania discussion board on Cruisecritic.com about how "cold" most of the captains and other senior offices are towards passengers (but Azamara senior officers do the opposite, they are so warm and friendly). We just hope that we will find Viking's officers to be a bit friendlier than Oceania's - we do not intend to have deep conversations with them, etc., just a friendly "good morning" or tip of the head

would be nice.

 

It is also good to give business to both cruise lines . Encouraging a bit of competition between the two companies could only be good for the customer(s)!

Edited December 9, 2017 by Gnoelj

I have Viking, HAL (New England) and Oceania booked over the next 18 months, all first times with each line. Can’t wait to try them all!

 

 

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Have been on 4 Oceania Cruises and just finished our first Viking cruise. I would have to say that food quality, selection and specialty restaurants are overall better on Oceania. That is not to say Viking is terrible, I just thing overall Oceania is better. The buffet on Oceania is much better than Viking. I will say that the sushi on the Viking buffet is very good, better than Oceania.

It seems to me there are three important food areas that need to be balanced in comparing cruise lines: MDR, specialty restaurants, and the buffet. When I see a review that mentions that they ate every dinner in the buffet -- I stop reading, since it is evident that their taste and mine are too different. We do tend to eat lunch in the buffet, but that experience is often quite different from dinner in the buffet. My main point of comparison on cruise ship food is: how good is the food, included wine and service in the no-fee sit-down venues? Everything else is secondary. So: how do Oceania and Viking compare on that basis?

It seems to me there are three important food areas that need to be balanced in comparing cruise lines: MDR, specialty restaurants, and the buffet. When I see a review that mentions that they ate every dinner in the buffet -- I stop reading, since it is evident that their taste and mine are too different. We do tend to eat lunch in the buffet, but that experience is often quite different from dinner in the buffet. My main point of comparison on cruise ship food is: how good is the food, included wine and service in the no-fee sit-down venues? Everything else is secondary. So: how do Oceania and Viking compare on that basis?

We've not done Viking, so we can't compare. Jan.13 2018 will be our first trip on Oceania(the Riviera) We're both in the food industry(catering & food services)We've done cruises on Cunard/Princess/Celebrity. By far, the best food was in the Queens Grill on the QM2. Celebrity's Eclipse had very good food up till this past Jan. when the quality was quite poor at times. We blame the chef in that case. I always do extensive reviews on each ship we cruise on, especially the food. After our trip on Oceania, we'll post as to whether the hype about their food is as justified as some claim.

Thanks for your very detailed response. You certainly gave us a idea what to expect on Viking.

Very welcome!

 

Could not say that their lobsters tasted "sea fresh" though. Felt they were in the fridge or freezer for a while.

We found that tastiness and freshness of lobster did vary based on cruise, but agree that the lobster on Oceania didn't taste like fresh caught lobster or lobsters from a tank.

 

That's great. We love Sushi. Does Viking has Japanese seaweed salad dressed with in sesame oil and ginger dressing which was offered occasionally on Oceania?

Yes, Viking has wakame seaweed every evening at the buffet, as well as several sauces to go with the sushi and crab legs -- as well as the standard ginger and soy sauce.

 

 

Also surprised to read that, as the desserts at the Terrace Cafe were often quite good.

For us, the only drawback to many of Oceania's desserts were a bit too sweet for us. We are not used to sugar -- at home we eat fruits but rarely have ice cream, pie, cake, etc. and then usually home made were we use minimal sugar.

 

 

Agree with you about Red Ginger. It is not "authentic" Asian cuisine but more "fusion" but what comes out were really good and imaginative.

Yes, agree that Red Ginger is really good and imaginative.

 

The best fish we had were not on Oceania, but on Holland America, especially in their buffet restaurant. The chef on HAL told us that they try as much as possible to buy fish from the port they visited, so they tasted "sea fresh".

Yes, I think its great when fish are caught off a ship and then served the next meal. We had this treat on the Princess Italia in the late sixties and early 1970s when the crew caught fish almost for the fun of it, and that was then served to guests.

 

 

We read somewhere that Viking try to source some of their foods from the ports they visit. Is that true?

I think Viking does some shopping in ports, but not sure. I know sometimes we had some very fresh tasting fish.

 

 

Oh no! What a shame. Maybe that is something which Viking needs to improve on. In addition to their bringing their cakes and pastries to the table, they could have a help yourself buffet at the Winter Garden? Is the quality of cakes and pastries on Viking not as good as Oceania?

I would say the Viking has a small selection and nothing that caught our attention -- what was served was good but not as memorable as Oceania. Your suggestion about them adding a buffet for pastries like Oceania does for tea, would be a good one, since Viking does serve good desserts in the main dining room and at the buffet.

 

And maybe have a Quartet playing some light classical music as in Oceania, would you not agree?

Viking did have a trio (this last time it was flute, violin and cello) and they played light music. But I have been impressed with the level of the Oceania string quartets which are concert hall level musicians. I would have liked Oceania to have had a concert one evening with just the string quartet playing complete Mozart, Haydn, Schubert or Beethoven string quartets -- or even something from the 20th century!

 

Thanks for the tip! Pecan pastry, here we come!

Meant to type pistachio instead of pecan. My error. They are very good but also sweeter than our preference. That didn't stop either one of us from having them more than once.

 

What we are also keen to find out is whether the Viking senior officers are more friendly than Oceania's. We think it has been commented so often in the Oceania discussion board on Cruisecritic.com about how "cold" most of the captains and other senior offices are towards passengers (but Azamara senior officers do the opposite, they are so warm and friendly). We just hope that we will find Viking's officers to be a bit friendlier than Oceania's - we do not intend to have deep conversations with them, etc., just a friendly "good morning" or tip of the head would be nice.

I am probably as guilty as ignoring the senior officers as they are of ignoring me. I always nod my head to the staff cleaning the stairways or the staff greeting you as you come into the Main Dining room or the buffet, but i guess I should really pay more attention to the officers. I will make a point of seeing how friendly the senior officers are on my next Oceania cruise (2018) or Viking (2019.) :)

 

It is also good to give business to both cruise lines . Encouraging a bit of competition between the two companies could only be good for the customer(s)!

Agree! I appreciate your thoughtful responses to my post, also. :)

It seems to me there are three important food areas that need to be balanced in comparing cruise lines: MDR, specialty restaurants, and the buffet. When I see a review that mentions that they ate every dinner in the buffet -- I stop reading, since it is evident that their taste and mine are too different. We do tend to eat lunch in the buffet, but that experience is often quite different from dinner in the buffet. My main point of comparison on cruise ship food is: how good is the food, included wine and service in the no-fee sit-down venues? Everything else is secondary. So: how do Oceania and Viking compare on that basis?

 

Jazzbeau, I certainly can relate to where you are coming from. On our very first Oceania Cruise, a 14 day cruise, we ate exclusively at the MDR and specialty restaurants until, I think, the second to last day, when we tried the buffet, which turned out to be much better than I anticipated. Due to the variety at the buffet, my wife's fondness for the buffet experience, and the shorter time required, we now eat more often at the buffet than other venues for both Oceania and Viking. For our first Viking Cruise, we didn't every get around to the Main Dining Room and on our last Viking Cruise we only went a few times to the MDR. Viking serves close to the same menu at the MDR and buffet, but there are some preparation differences and sometimes different choices. For example, we got soft-shell crab as an appetizer at the MDR which was not offered at the buffet. Unfortunately, the server first brought out my wife's crab giving me another appetizer, and then, when finally my soft-shell crab was brought out it was cold -- so even though one gets better food, in general at the main dining room, there can be such glitches.

 

Some of what I posted applied equally to the MDR as well as the buffets-- the seasoning, the sugar level in the desserts. I think Oceania's MDR presentation is superior to Viking's, but Viking is better for us when it comes to seasoning and overall taste. As mentioned in my previous post, service times at the MDR for both lines seem to vary from quite responsive to slow.

 

Of course, no viewpoint is as relevant as your own, so encourage you to try both lines, if you haven't already -- and if you have interested in your thoughts.

Of course, no viewpoint is as relevant as your own, so encourage you to try both lines, if you haven't already -- and if you have interested in your thoughts.

 

We have been "cruising around" over the last 6 years (14 cruises on 7 different cruise lines). Oceania was our first, back in 2011 on Insignia -- so memory is now somewhat dim, and Oceania has surely changed over these years. Crystal is tops for food [and their prices are sometimes quite comparable to near-luxury lines -- we had an oceanview that was fine, and I recently priced a 2018 Med cruise where nicely located verandas were under $500 pp/pn]. Azamara has very good food and is tops for onboard atmosphere: the visibility of officers really makes a difference in the experience in ways that have to be experienced to be understood; also the itineraries are varied and adventuresome [we don't mind the small R-ships, but we do prefer to upgrade to a "Club Continent Suite" to get a normal amount of room, and that often puts the price too high for perceived value]. AmaWaterways has been great for river cruises in Europe, and next year we are doing their Discover Africa safari cruise. Celebrity Suite Class in the Mediterranean last year was DW's favorite cruise after Galapagos -- the food in Luminae is equal to or better than all except Crystal, and the pampering in a suite is just wonderful [we aren't high maintenance except on food, so it was just one nice surprise after another]. Princess [inside, aft balcony, and mini-suite but not Club Class dining] food was good on our second cruise but less so on our first [same ship a few months before] and on our third this year. NCL [inside on Dawn, aft corner suite on POA] is the bottom [even their specialty restaurants don't measure up]. I have ruled out Silversea [too formal] and Seabourn [cutbacks]. So to expand our pool that leaves Viking [booked British Isles Explorer next summer] and a return to Oceania -- hence my interest in this thread.

You misunderstood. My comment was specifically about the local restaurants that I frequent.

Local to who though? Near where you live?

You misunderstood. My comment was specifically about the local restaurants that I frequent.

Local to who though? Near where you live? Where in the world is that? Taste is incredibly subjective.