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Azamara Vs Viking


Boycey
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Since we stopped cruising with the kids on the mainstream lines, we've moved over to the delights at the deeper end of the pool, mostly Az.

 

This year however our intended AZ booking for the fall disappeared, or at any rate the ship went from lots of availability to none in the space of 2 days, so we were forced to look elsewhere.

 

We've booked a Viking ocean cruise in October, and in truth it looks wonderful, but in brochures and adds they always do, so I'm looking for first hand experience.

 

On this board there's obviously lots of Az fans, but any that have done a Viking cruise too? I'm interested in the service comparisons as actually, despite the higher prices, Viking have more passengers.

 

Can anyone comment on Az vs Viking Ocean?

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Hi Boycey,

I try not to weigh in on the comparison queries since I'm obviously biased (and payed to be ;)!)

But if you go to the Search Forum box and input Azamara vs. Viking you should see a couple past threads on the subject, one dating back to June 2015.

And I'm sure others will respond to your query soon.

 

We look forward to welcoming you back aboard the Azamara Journey or Quest soon.

 

P.s. Which were the voyages this fall you were looking at? I could doubt check to see what happened to the availability.

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I probably contributed to the threads Bonnie is referring to.

We have been on one Viking cruise and have another booked over New Year. We also have a back to back Azamara booked for June 2018.

The Viking ships are beautiful. They seem to have been really well designed with lovely open spaces. They are light and airy and beautifully furnished. The balcony cabin was lovely, my only criticism would be lack of drawer space. The bathroom has a lovely shower with glass doors, it is spacious, and has underfloor heating. Food was excellent in all venues with a good variety. We liked the entertainment, especially since we have seen the Azamara shows several times. However it was a little quirky. On our summer cruise the nightclub Torshaven was busy each night, but friends on a January cruise said that they did not have the same range of cabaret shows. We loved the included spa facilities. (have never felt the need to pay for the spa on Azamara. Staff were friendly and efficient. Although there are more passengers we never felt crowded, indeed sometimes one wondered where everyone else was !

However on our cruise I would say that the mix of passengers was different. There were many who were first time ocean cruisers. Many had been on Viking river cruises. The ports of call seemed to be new to most people. Three of them were new to us (Koper, Kotor, Zadar). We found the included excursions useful and often stayed on in the locations returning to the ship on the included shuttle bus.

I would happily cruise on either line. Azamara may be friendlier but perhaps that is because it is more familiar to us.

My other favourite is Star Clippers. We have cruised on Oceania, but would not rush to return unless the price and itinerary were spectacular .

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Thank you BB and Mrs Miggins. Very helpful.

 

I will search out the previous threads.

 

The fall cruise on AZ was strange, in that it now seems to show availability at least on the agent's site, but we've already booked Viking, so we'll see. For sure last week the AZ med cruise went from available and we had a quote we were happy with, to two days later being full with zero availability. We had called the agent to book, only to be disappointed.

 

Anyway, that prompted us to book Viking for the fall but by a happy quirk we also noticed a good deal for next early summer on AZ (Italian islands), and booked that too, this time directly as we were getting frustrated with the agent.

 

So two positives (I hope) out of one negative.

 

Thanks again

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I am sure you will enjoy Viking Boycey,

 

As Mrs Miggins says the ships are very beautiful and as far as the bathrooms are concerned there is no comparison if you are sailing in a balcony cabin, Viking wins. I am currently on Quest in a Club Continent Suite and although there is room to breathe in this bathroom Viking's is still superior.

 

We found the crew on Viking charming and helpful ( they have obviously been trained very similarly to Azamara's wonderful crew). The food was lovely but the only area we found lacking was the entertainment.

 

If the itinerary was right I would sail Viking again without a thought although Azamara still has the edge overall for me. It may not remain this way forever though if Azamara do not add to their fleet. Sadly Quest and Journey are not getting any younger

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We have cruised 6 times with Az (Med. Adriatic and Asia) but decided to try our first trip to the Caribbean with Viking (Star) in January '17 as the price was good and we liked the itinerary. In our opinion. Viking offers a very good product.....however, it didn't suit us as well as Az. We felt that although there was a spread of ages, it was aimed at a slightly older age range than Az. This was evident to me in the entertainment- which featured quite a lot of music from decades I couldn't remember ( I was born in the early 1960s). We did enjoy Torshavn very much (live music/ nightclub atmosphere - preferable to Az DJ in the Living Room). It also catered well for those preferring organised sightseeing, predominantly coach tours on our cruise, rather than independent excursions (we didn't have to rely on the included trips - and didn't always - but we had paid for them, albeit indirectly). The ship was very impressive - all shiny and sparkling - but not as cosy or comfortable as we find Quest and Journey. We did not have a drink package but were a little disappointed to find that the included wine with meals did not change from day to day as it does on Az; it had not occurred to us that it would be the same red or white every day (except that it was different in the special restaurants, but the same every day there too - apart from the pairing menu).

 

We are very much looking forward to returning to Azamara later this month. Would we cruise with Viking again? Undoubtedly, but not for another ten years or so.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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  • 11 months later...

If you search on my posts you will find my comparison I wrote in January as we tried Viking Ocean over the holidays and found it a formidable competitor to AZ and definitely would sail Viking again. Some categories AZ got the edge, some Viking did, but overall there’s a lot to like on both lines. Viking was a clear winner for overall value and lower pp per day cost for comparable category (balcony stateroom) but I’ve noticed Viking’s prices are on the rise and some people have recently posted about certain cruises where AZ was less expensive.

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I think you will find somewhat comparable.....Obviously the ships are newer. on Viking...Unless you are in a suite in Az the showers are HORRIBLY small....The drink situation is almost the same...unless you get a package, your drink selection is small. And while you have limited free excursions on Viking, unless you have not been to that port, you will probably be booking the optional shore excursions, and or paying for them on Az We still look at both, and compare the prices......

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