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Oceania vs Viking Oceans

sitraveler

By sitraveler,
in Oceania Cruises

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StanandJim

StanandJim

Posted
Posted
If this Viking is the same as Viking River cruises, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. We've cruised Uniworld and loved it. Friends tell us Oceana would be on that level, which is why we're going to cruise Oceania in the near future. Viking has terrible customer service issues, among other things.

 

+1 our Travel Agent, who never says anything untoward about ANY Line told us that the best part of their Viking River trip was that it is now over.

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twinkletoes4445

twinkletoes4445

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+1 our Travel Agent, who never says anything untoward about ANY Line told us that the best part of their Viking River trip was that it is now over.

 

We knew nothing about river cruising until I happened to see a Viking commercial on TV and gave our TA a call. She didn't say much except for she did not think Viking would be a good match for us. Our TA's sound a lot alike. Ours never has a bad word to say about any other line ... but she directed me in another direction very quickly. :) I am so thankful...

 

Oceania will also be new for us. We're jumping ship ... from HAL.

Edited by twinkletoes4445
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Vineyard View Great Review Rare

Vineyard View

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We won't do HAL again until they change their smoking policy and if they ever go back to smaller ships.....which will probably not happen.

 

I am reading- with some surprise- the responses here to Viking Rivers - out of curiosity, who were all or you guided towards? And what were the advantages for you / not your TA who may not be upper tier with VR and therefore different compensation to them? Not saying that happened with your individual TA, but I have heard this elsewhere

Edited by Vineyard View
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twinkletoes4445

twinkletoes4445

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Yes, our TA steered us towards Uniworld and AMAwaterways. All she could say about Viking was the rooms were small. We have not taken a river cruise yet, but when we do it will be either Uniworld or AMA.

 

If you get A Wealth of Entertainment channel (AWE), they have a series called Dream Cruises. A couple of the AMA river cruises have been featured. There's also a show with Burt Wolf where he is on one of the AMA cruises. It looked wonderful.

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twinkletoes4445

twinkletoes4445

Posted
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We won't do HAL again until they change their smoking policy and if they ever go back to smaller ships.....which will probably not happen.

 

I am reading- with some surprise- the responses here to Viking Rivers - out of curiosity, who were all or you guided towards? And what were the advantages for you / not your TA who may not be upper tier with VR and therefore different compensation to them? Not saying that happened with your individual TA, but I have heard this elsewhere

 

I doubt HAL will change their smoking policy, but you never know. I hope so for those that wish to stay with HAL.

 

We love Uniworld, and we're staying with them, but if we were to choose another cruise line, it would be Tauck, Scenic or AMA. It depends on how all-inclusive you want your trips to be.

 

Visit the River Cruising boards and look for the Viking threads. There's always something going on. Their big issue seems to be customer service and how they handle (or don't) problems.

 

My husband told me yesterday that he woke up early and turned on the radio (he wears hearing bud things ... so as to not bother me). He said the radio guys (he didn't know what station) were talking about Viking and their issues.

 

When we were in Vienna, we hired a private guide and the guide told us that he hears lots of complaints about Viking.

 

Now ... there are plenty of people that love Viking and have no complaints. One big reason I'd never use them is you pay upfront when you book. And typically you book up to a year in advance. And don't let those 1/2 price numbers that Viking puts in their brochures fool you. If you were to pay brochure price, which you won't, you could be cruising on one of the higher-end river cruise lines.

 

This is where a good TA comes in handy. Ours knew we wouldn't we happy with a Viking cruise. And after reading all the complaints, I am so glad we didn't consider them. They've had a lot of flooding, or low waters and dock strikes in Europe. What separates these companies is how they handle these problems and Viking fell down a lot on these issues. But again, some people love Viking. I guess it's a good thing there are options.

 

It's similar to ocean cruising ... Carnival might be a right fit for some, but others may like RCCL ... and others O .... and so on. They key is to find what works for you. There are price differences in the river cruise market. You pay more and you get a higher quality product.

Edited by twinkletoes4445
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Gsel

Gsel

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Posted

I really doubt we will do another river cruise, didn't really enjoy the two we did except the Paris to Normandy itinerary and that was VERY special. DH did not like the very small cabins and the food was awful at best. The group we were traveling with at the time insisted on using a line I will not mention but it is a well known river line.

 

We found O to be the best we have been on and we are working on our 35th cruise, not all on HAL, but some going back to the Carnival Mardi Gras. From the Captain on down the crew was wonderful, the ship was clean and the food was excellent. Just hope they keep it that way. That is what we found on HAL when we first started cruising with them.

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

Posted
Posted

Since this thread has turned into a River Cruising discussion, let me welcome you all to come over to the River Cruising forum. There is a sticky called "New to RIVER CRUISING??? START HERE!!!" -- and of particular interest to this discussion would be the Cruise Critic article comparing each river cruise line to an ocean line (and a hotel chain):

http://pdf.cruisecritic.com/travel-guide/UltimateGuidetoRiverCruising.pdf?et_cid=1262487&et_rid=99616845

Cruise Critic considers AmaWaterways the closest river line to Oceania (and to Four Seasons hotels).

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TERRIER1

TERRIER1

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Roothy, I was on the 7/25 canceled cruise and I need to tell you that you are incorrect on what Viking offered the passengers and how we were treated. Viking's first offer in written form was 1) Go home 2) Stay in Tallinn for 5 days while boat is repaired, then ride the boat directly to Bergen, arriving Friday evening in time for you to catch your flights home on Saturday. No ports, no sightseeing. I have the form, that is what it said. Many people decided it was very "iffy" to stay with the boat, what if it wasn't repaired in time? what if it broke down while we were at sea? etc. What was the point of staying with a boat to nowhere? We were given maybe two hours to decide. The next morning, before 6 am, another form appeared outside our door, now the option was, as you stated 1) Go home 2) Fly to Norway, stay in a hotel with meals and tours provided by Viking - BUT - Viking will not be able to accommodate all of the passengers due to the lack of hotel rooms. All passengers must be off the ship by 8/4 for the repair, so bottom line, we all entered the "Norway Lottery". They were able to accommodate approximately 50% of the passengers, leaving the rest to fly home from Tallinn. We were a group of six couples, some went to Norway and had a first class experience, some were evicted with a few hours notice during the middle of the night to go home, some made it to Norway days after the first group, but stayed in airport hotels, not close to the city and saw very little. How could the same 50% refund be appropriate for all of these groups? It is true, no one died, but you would have had to endure the long lines trying to get information, the constant misinformation, and the stress of not knowing what to do or how to get the real story, in other words, you had to be there. No one can sit at a computer and pretend to know what others went through. I hope your Viking cruise goes well, but just remember that was not the case for several hundred other passengers who invested several thousand dollars to get one-third of the trip that they purchased.

 

I too was on the 7/25 cancelled cruise. We have sailed many times with Oceania and once with Azamara. We have enjoyed all ours cruises and never took a river cruise. We chose Viking Oceans since the ship fit into a niche we like - small ships, casual open dining. The itinerary was a good fit for us with the Star heading to three Norwegian ports. Prior to embarkation I had a lot of communication problems with Viking.

 

Up until the malfunction, we were thoroughly enjoying the trip. Easy embarkation, fantastic crew and service, and food that in our opinion was better quality than Oceania. Oceania still excels with bread and dessert but the quality of the meat and fish on Viking was top notch and totally surprised me. Then the s**t hit the fan and this is what separates good from bad cruise lines.

 

We were part of the "Bergen 500". We had booked our own air and were to fly from Bergen via Stockholm to Paris after we disembarked. I knew that all air seats were taken for days so we chose to remain on the ship and sail direct to Bergen so we wouldn't miss our flights taking our chances that the ship would make port. I believe the only reason we got to go to Bergen is because we initially chose this option. There were Viking passengers who had extensions with Viking that were sent home. You only see a small portion of the horror stories since only a small percentage of people post on CC.

 

We did not have a "first class" experience. We were fortunate to be in a hotel within walking distance of town. Many others were in airport hotels. Our room was small, no air conditioning, broken window, no safe, four hangers in a 10" deep closet. We lived out of suitcases. Breakfast was served to all in the hotel cafeteria style and it was chaotic. Dinner was provided by Viking in the cafeteria at 7 pm. We were limited to two drinks and one entree. One night the entree was pork neck (not too bad if there any meat on the bone). They provided tours free of charge. They were fine but I had my own private tours lined up at the ports we had missed. Most of ship passengers were on this trip for the experience of sailing up the fjords not bus rides.

 

The on board experience is very good and they corrected many of the issues that the original cruises experienced (thank you original cruisers). Unfortunately Viking Oceans Customer Service is terrible and their corporate attitude is deplorable. I was refunded 50% of the cruise and I have a 50% of the cruise value voucher for a future cruise. I for one do not find it acceptable. We spent hours waiting on line at the Explores Desk to get clarification and verification of what was happening and to make and educated choice of what to do. There there were only 3 representatives from Viking. Why didn't they fly help in to cope with the crowds?

 

Roothy, you will love your Viking Ocean cruise until something happens and the home office has to step in. At that point, it's another whole ball game.

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Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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Posted

While we have not sailed on Viking Ocean cruises, we are in touch with the person in charge of entertainment (used to work for Regent). He has spent a lot of time in New York going to shows and seeking out the best talent possible for their ship(s). So, I suspect that the entertainment on Viking Ocean would be superior to Oceania. However, that would probably be the only thing that is better.

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TERRIER1

TERRIER1

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While we have not sailed on Viking Ocean cruises, we are in touch with the person in charge of entertainment (used to work for Regent). He has spent a lot of time in New York going to shows and seeking out the best talent possible for their ship(s). So, I suspect that the entertainment on Viking Ocean would be superior to Oceania. However, that would probably be the only thing that is better.

 

Entertainment was great. The young singers and dancers and fabulous talent and the high tech backdrop to the shows were marvelous. The dinner food (which is subjective) was better than Oceania. The steaks and fish fresh and tender. Breakfast was also on bar and their ice cream very good. No malteds or shakes.

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TERRIER1

TERRIER1

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Posted

For those of you who wish wish to sail Viking Oceans here is the response from Viking who terminated our cruise:

Thank you for your email message. We appreciate you taking the time to detail your experience and provide us with feedback on how the events unfolded on your recent Viking Homelands cruise. Your comments have been heard and documented appropriately.

While we are happy to review the out-of-pockets mentioned in your email message, we must politely decline your request for a full refund. When technical challenges prevented Viking Star from continuing past Tallinn, Viking did provide you with an alternate stay in Bergen. Though we regret to hear your hotel stay in Bergen was less-than-ideal, the compensation package including 50% refund and 50% Future Cruise Voucher is firm.

To clarify, the 50% Future Cruise Voucher that has been extended as part of the compensation package is valid toward any river or ocean cruise booked within 12 months. Additionally, the vouchers are combinable with all of our promotional offers – including our Up To Free Air promotion!

 

As others have said, when it's good it's very good and when it's bad it is awful.

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