Viking River Cruiser thinking about Viking Ocean??

Love river cruising with Viking! I like 2 wk cruises, since I've paid a lot for airfare (but I did get the free air for the Grand European July 2017 :) The ocean ships look beautiful, and I keep looking at Viking Homelands. I really like the itinerary, but there are few posts, and I looked at a Youtube video and the ship looked kind of empty, and not much fun and camaraderie as the river cruises I've been on. Any comments?

Cruzersky2 - I commented on your other post. If you enjoy ocean sailing, then do experience Viking. It is a great sister company to their Rivers mtjempeople, service, food, ships....all top drawer -'

We sailed Ho,elands and found it to be a fantastic experience. We also sailed Rivers and it was one we would repeat!

Totally agree with the minimum 2 weeks after long flights.

Go for it.

We have done several river cruises and thoroughly enjoyed each one.

We just returned from our first ocean cruise, the one lamentably cut short due to equipment problems. We were on the sea maybe 24 hours, so can't comment on the smoothness of the sailing or any other aspect related to docking, transportation to/from ports, etc. However I can tell you we were very impressed with the service, design of the spaces, the comfort of our cabin, quality and choice of food and dining, and overall value to investment ratio.

As others have said on other posts, the ship was essentially full and we never felt packed in nor did we spend much time in lines for food (well, maybe the gelato bar!). There are so many beautiful and comfortable spaces for sitting, talking, relaxing in the quiet, or joining a group for a more lively discussion. We traveled with a group of six friends and we each went out and met people on the ship who joined us at various times for a meal or coffee.

I did remark to my dh that on the first day on board that I kept thinking of the river ships as I walked to the main dining room- a much longer walk than the relatively few steps to the river dining room.

We were spoiled by the ocean cruise and have signed up for the next one, Homelands. Will we do a river cruise again? Yes, but I will say I loved the options on the ocean, the feel of ship, and the range of the cruises.

We had done 3 Viking river cruises and then booked the maiden voyage of the Viking Star from Istanbul to Venice. Did another river cruise and also cruised on the Viking Sea, Venice to Barcelona. We enjoy both.

If you enjoy meeting people on the river cruises, you can ask for shared dining tables on the ocean cruise and it gives you a chance to connect with your shipmates in a similar way. We did that and met a couple whom we ended up clicking with and partnering up on tours and evening shows.

Bcki

I love river cruising, and I love ocean cruising. I'd say the biggest differences between the two I've noticed are the following: On river cruises, there's much more scenery, which I love. It's also usually a lot easier to get into the ports of call (the cities/towns themselves) and walk around than it (usually) is on an ocean liner. However, I love the ocean cruises because while you don't have scenery along a river, you cruise mostly at night, with very little to see whether day or night, so you're not missing much. I love ocean cruises because you can visit many bigger cities, and obviously there are many more ports that an ocean-going vessel can reach than a river-going vessel. Ocean ships have more options for dining, and more entertainment and activities, especially at night. If you're looking to mingle and meet people, I think you'll find that Viking Ocean ships give plenty of opportunities to do so, as Becki already mentioned.

Just don't expect Viking Ocean ships to be completely like Viking River ships. Usually the port tells ocean ships where to dock, and the locations may not be very close to town. There are almost always taxis (and sometimes buses, shuttles, and what not) available to get you where you want to go, but obviously that involves more time and money than just walking off a river ship on, say, the Rhine.

You're the second person to comment on a video where the ship looked kind of empty. That surprises me, as we found the Star to certainly not be empty. Perhaps the person doing the video wanted to show the ship without people. I would, if I were doing the photography! Personally, I think many large cruise ships can be way, way too crowded with people, and I was very happy to find Viking is not in that category.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I've been perusing the 2017-2019 Oceans catalog. Different from the current website. It looks like Viking has reduced the number of Baltic and Northern Europe cruises, and increased the number of Caribbean cruises. This is a big disappointment to me! I live in FL and have been to the Caribbean enough! There are already a million cruise lines covering this destination. This is surprising to me since the name of the company is VIKING, and now they will hardly go to Scandinavia:( The only one that I'm interested in is Viking Homelands. Even the Med doesn't really appeal since I've been to many of the ports already. I'm kinda bummed...

Thanks everyone for your replies! I've been perusing the 2017-2019 Oceans catalog. Different from the current website. It looks like Viking has reduced the number of Baltic and Northern Europe cruises, and increased the number of Caribbean cruises. This is a big disappointment to me! I live in FL and have been to the Caribbean enough! There are already a million cruise lines covering this destination. This is surprising to me since the name of the company is VIKING, and now they will hardly go to Scandinavia:( The only one that I'm interested in is Viking Homelands. Even the Med doesn't really appeal since I've been to many of the ports already. I'm kinda bummed...

Well, I think it will take a few more years before Viking gets enough ships built to be able to go all over the world like Oceania. I remember when we started with Oceania, they didn't go to Alaska, so we had to settle for a Princess cruise on one of their small ships. (I'm not sure if they have those anymore). I imagine in time Viking will offer a lot more options. In the mean time, though, I'm thinking they might be adding Caribbean cruises because they're a good destination for the winter months - for many of us, anyway! Certainly the Caribbean isn't as interesting or destination-rich as Europe or even South America, but at least it's a destination that can be offered year-round, and it's not nearly as expensive as some other destinations like Norway and the Baltic.

But I totally understand. We've done a good amount of cruising, too, and most of Viking's itineraries have some repeat stops for us, making them less attractive than some other cruises I can find. Then again, we're doing the Into the Midnight Sun cruise, with a repeat stop (for us) of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. I loved Lerwick and am really looking forward to that stop. I may have to change my policy of looking for the itineraries with no repeated stops. Besides, on a cruise, you can only do and see so much. The second time you're there, you can do something different. And while the Caribbean islands aren't as interesting to me as other places, I've found that with a little research, and often rental of a car, I can have a wonderful day in just about every Caribbean port we've been to. I disagree with people who say once you've seen one Caribbean island you've seen them all.

Roothy,

I have done numerous Med cruises and always find some town or excursion in the repeat port of call tha is new for me. After our 15 day cruise around Spain and Portugal with 9 ports of call, I realized I only saw two of the port cities!!!! All the time was spent on a day trips into the countryy side or a different town.

So don't write off the port of call as the same old, same old too quickly.;)

Roothy, you are right. I guess I was looking for longer cruises. I did a little more homework and found that combing two cruises may be the answer. I can combine Rome to Venice and then Venice to Athens; or Barcelona to Rome (northern loop), then Rome to Barcelona (southern loop). It costs the same or less than any of the 15 day cruises :) I prefer a longer trip, since I've paid the airfare, and one week is never enough! But who knows how Viking will change the itineraries. A couple I had my eye on are gone. Anyhow, it's not till summer 2018. Grand European this summer, so I'm "keeping calm and planning on" :)

Thanks everyone for your replies! I've been perusing the 2017-2019 Oceans catalog. Different from the current website. It looks like Viking has reduced the number of Baltic and Northern Europe cruises, and increased the number of Caribbean cruises. This is a big disappointment to me! I live in FL and have been to the Caribbean enough! There are already a million cruise lines covering this destination. This is surprising to me since the name of the company is VIKING, and now they will hardly go to Scandinavia:( The only one that I'm interested in is Viking Homelands. Even the Med doesn't really appeal since I've been to many of the ports already. I'm kinda bummed...

With the addition of new ships, I am thrilled to see that Viking is moving into the Asian and Australian markets.

cruzersky, I don't live in FL and I agree with you about the Caribbean--boring. However, since Viking took to the seas in 2015, they have concentrated on the Baltic and the Med and I think that now as they add ships, they are expanding their offerings because folks want to sail to new places before they return to places they have already been. However, I think that by the time we see all 6 ships launched that we will see Viking back in the Baltic and the Med with gusto.

With the addition of new ships, I am thrilled to see that Viking is moving into the Asian and Australian markets.

 

cruzersky, I don't live in FL and I agree with you about the Caribbean--boring. However, since Viking took to the seas in 2015, they have concentrated on the Baltic and the Med and I think that now as they add ships, they are expanding their offerings because folks want to sail to new places before they return to places they have already been. However, I think that by the time we see all 6 ships launched that we will see Viking back in the Baltic and the Med with gusto.

 

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I disagree about the itinerary in the Caribbean being boring. We are taking the South American/ Caribbean cruise in February 2018. We've never been to South American even though we've done the Caribbean every March. I for one am looking forward to this cruise

I disagree about the itinerary in the Caribbean being boring. We are taking the South American/ Caribbean cruise in February 2018. We've never been to South American even though we've done the Caribbean every March. I for one am looking forward to this cruise

Yes, but I would not consider that a "Caribbean" cruise so much as an "Amazon" cruise even though it does make a couple of stops in the Caribbean.

Hi Peregrina....the Amazon cruise (we are booked) is December. The February SA cruise is a separate cruise...and they both visit some of the islands

And that is actually really great....because there seems to be an expansion of North/South America itineraries in addition to 'Caribbean only' itineraries.....

Plus, while the Caribbean does have a lot of lines, I think that Viking provides a 'step up' so to speak over many of the offerings - so that is a differential for Caribbean only....

But I don't live in Florida!! So I have not been to the Caribbean as much as I would if I lived there..... I live on the West Coast and would be happy to see expansion here!! I am just glad to see all these Viking expansion itineraries.

I was in the same boat, wanted to do the Homelands since I got the first mailing about it. We have taken 4 Viking River cruises but I kept getting drawn back to the Homelands so after our Douro River cruise and the $1000 credit we received plus the $400 for $200 vouchers offered we took the plunge and are booked for the May 6 2017 Homelands. We are staying in Bergin before the cruise and booked our air on our own as this is an extended retirement trip to Europe but we are looking forward to it and have no expectations that it will be like our River cruises.

Just expecting a trip of a lifetime!