Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers

[DrKoob]

5 hours ago, Fred321 said:

Not crazy about Viking's overly grabby payment policy but I guess they wouldn't do it if they couldn't.

 

Everyone else has covered so much that you are all set but I did want to tell you two things about the deposit situation. It is REALLY early on your first Viking cruise. But on your second it will shorten up to about six months or the last day of the year previous to your cruise. They can do this because they have the MOST loyal cruisers in the industry. Their cruises book up early and space hardly ever opens up. 

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, Fred321 said:

Not sure if this is the place for it but I have some questions for Viking regulars. My wife and I have cruised extensively mostly on HAL (we have around 900 days with them) and mostly on long voyages (4 world cruises among others). 

After having to deal with getting ourselves home from Australia after the pandemic hit and our last world cruise was cancelled in Fremantle and now having HAL sell our favorite ships out from under us we have decided to give Viking a try. We recently made a deposit on the 2023-2024 world cruise on the Sky.

Just wondering how some of you with experience would compare the lines. I like the size of the Viking ships although we booked a larger room than we normally would need on HAL for storage. Not crazy about Viking's overly grabby payment policy but I guess they wouldn't do it if they couldn't.

Have heard some folks say that a full Viking ship seems crowded sometimes. One other thing that seems unusual to me is that I don't see a roll call started for this trip. I know on HAL they seem to start even before the trip is available so am I missing something or is this just another difference? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

Welcome to the Viking Board.

 

We departed L/A the same day you sailed from Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd half of Viking's Ultimate WC. I had heard from a few pax on the HAL cruise that we literally kicked off the ship in Freemantle and expected to make their own flight arrangement to get home. Also have a friend that had HAL Air and they booked his flights.

 

Compare this to the Viking experience. We departed Muscat for an unscheduled stop in Dubai, as the cruise was being cancelled and Dubai has some of the best flight connections in the region. Viking booked flights for every pax, regardless of whether they booked Viking Air or not. Since we were all due Business Class, they booked every available seat on flights departing Dubai. First night they got everyone back to Australia and a few to North America. Next night all the Europeans got flights, with another few heading back to North America. The 3rd night they got all pax out, except about 90 US & Canadian pax, before Emirates stut down their operation. They had considered taking the ship to the US Eastern Seaboard, but US CG did not recommend. Therefore, they chartered a flight to return all remaining pax to North America. We were all scheduled to fly to Newark on the charter, then had onward flights to our final destination. Unfortunately, a chap residing in a white house refused the 8 Canadians, so Viking kept us onboard until Gibraltar. We were treated like royalty and received a refund based on the cruise being cancelled in Dubai.

 

I haven't sailed with HAL, but did work for both P&O and Princess, before Carnivalisation. When purchased by Carnival, we saw the standards continuously erode. They reached our minimum expectations during our 2015 WC on Sea Princess. We will never again sail on a Carnival brand ship. Since Princess & HAL are basically the same compary (Holland America Group), I have no doubt that HAL will/have suffer a similar Carnivalisation.

 

We researched the Premium & Luxury brands extensively, selecting Viking. We have no regrets, having completed the 2020 WC and have booked the 22/23 WC (Neptune) and 2 shorter cruises.

[zelker]

I read the only smoking area on Orion is starboard on Deck 8.  Can someone explain specifically where it is so we can hopefully avoid it?  Also do we need to be concerned that the smoke smell might drift down to our Deck 5 PV (starboard by the forward elevators) and negatively impact the enjoyment of our veranda for 17 days?  Thx.

[Fred321]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Welcome to the Viking Board.

 

We departed L/A the same day you sailed from Ft Lauderdale on the 2nd half of Viking's Ultimate WC. I had heard from a few pax on the HAL cruise that we literally kicked off the ship in Freemantle and expected to make their own flight arrangement to get home. Also have a friend that had HAL Air and they booked his flights.

 

Compare this to the Viking experience. We departed Muscat for an unscheduled stop in Dubai, as the cruise was being cancelled and Dubai has some of the best flight connections in the region. Viking booked flights for every pax, regardless of whether they booked Viking Air or not. Since we were all due Business Class, they booked every available seat on flights departing Dubai. First night they got everyone back to Australia and a few to North America. Next night all the Europeans got flights, with another few heading back to North America. The 3rd night they got all pax out, except about 90 US & Canadian pax, before Emirates stut down their operation. They had considered taking the ship to the US Eastern Seaboard, but US CG did not recommend. Therefore, they chartered a flight to return all remaining pax to North America. We were all scheduled to fly to Newark on the charter, then had onward flights to our final destination. Unfortunately, a chap residing in a white house refused the 8 Canadians, so Viking kept us onboard until Gibraltar. We were treated like royalty and received a refund based on the cruise being cancelled in Dubai.

 

I haven't sailed with HAL, but did work for both P&O and Princess, before Carnivalisation. When purchased by Carnival, we saw the standards continuously erode. They reached our minimum expectations during our 2015 WC on Sea Princess. We will never again sail on a Carnival brand ship. Since Princess & HAL are basically the same compary (Holland America Group), I have no doubt that HAL will/have suffer a similar Carnivalisation.

 

We researched the Premium & Luxury brands extensively, selecting Viking. We have no regrets, having completed the 2020 WC and have booked the 22/23 WC (Neptune) and 2 shorter cruises.

You are correct on the arrangements for getting home the Amsterdam in 2020 from Fremantle. We didn't use HAL for flights to get to Fort Lauderdale since we live near Tampa and, as a result, we were on our own when everything went sideways. The onboard crew did what they could and the home office finally decided that maybe they should try to help everyone on board but it was only after a few days and we were on our own to get home. A nightmare. I was impressed by what I saw Viking do for their passengers and that was another reason we decided to try them.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, zelker said:

I read the only smoking area on Orion is starboard on Deck 8.  Can someone explain specifically where it is so we can hopefully avoid it?  Also do we need to be concerned that the smoke smell might drift down to our Deck 5 PV (starboard by the forward elevators) and negatively impact the enjoyment of our veranda for 17 days?  Thx.

 

The pollution area is Stbd side on Dk 8, just outside the stbd door of the aft stairs. Basically it is just aft of the main pool covers.

 

I walked Dk 8/9 every morning and by staying outboard wasn't bothered by the pollution. At sea, with wind and ship speed, I highly doubt you would smell the smoke down on Dk 5.

[MarkTapley]

2 hours ago, zelker said:

I read the only smoking area on Orion is starboard on Deck 8.  Can someone explain specifically where it is so we can hopefully avoid it?  Also do we need to be concerned that the smoke smell might drift down to our Deck 5 PV (starboard by the forward elevators) and negatively impact the enjoyment of our veranda for 17 days?  Thx.

Smoking area is Deck 8, starboard, as you have read;  just forward of the rear elevators.  Outdoors, but under the Deck 9 overhang.  If you’re near the forward elevators you shouldn’t have any issues with smoke smell.  When we have walked by the smoking area, we have never been bothered by the smell.

[zelker]

Are there music channels available through the TV's On-Demand system?

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, zelker said:

Are there music channels available through the TV's On-Demand system?

Yes

[TiiiSailor]

On 9/11/2021 at 4:09 PM, zelker said:

 Seriously, no heating pads allowed??????  THAT could be a deal-breaker for me, especially if the beds are as hard as some have reported.  😞 

 

Edited to say that it appears that HAL and Celebrity have these exact same forbidden item lists and I have never had my heating pad questioned so guess I won't worry about it.

I've always seen heating pads on the "not allowed" list for all cruise lines.  

[Jazmyn49]

My heating pad did not make it through but it was returned at the end of the cruise.

[zelker]

Since Viking provides shower gel, do they also provide a shower poof/scrubby or do I need to bring my own?

[Tom.in.nc]

21 minutes ago, zelker said:

Since Viking provides shower gel, do they also provide a shower poof/scrubby or do I need to bring my own?

Wash cloths but no scrubbies in PV nor PS.  ES might be more luxurious 🤷🏼‍♂️

Edited October 8, 2021 by Tom.in.nc

[zelker]

Another newbie question - does the TV in the Penthouse Veranda pivot so you can point it towards the sitting area or is it fixed just to face the head of the bed?

[JM0115]

Just now, zelker said:

Another newbie question - does the TV in the Penthouse Veranda pivot so you can point it towards the sitting area or is it fixed just to face the head of the bed?

No, it is fixed to the wall at the head of the bed.

[zelker]

6 minutes ago, JM0115 said:

No, it is fixed to the wall at the head of the bed.

Then can you watch TV from the couch or it is too far of an angle?

[JM0115]

2 minutes ago, zelker said:

Then can you watch TV from the couch or it is too far of an angle?

You can watch from the couch although it would be better if it could tilt.  See the pictures below. The first picture is taken from the corner of the room so it is closer to the TV from the couch than it looks.

[FlyerTalker]

31 minutes ago, zelker said:

Then can you watch TV from the couch or it is too far of an angle?

 

Given that most modern TVs have excellent viewing at angles of up to 70 degrees off-center, you should be fine.  Unless you are looking for absolute picture resolution.

 

Try it with your home TV....you will probably be amazed at what you discover.

[Traveling Light]

Is it possible to play content from a phone/computer on the TV via casting, an HDMI cable, or some other method? Thanks.

[Squawkman]

24 minutes ago, Traveling Light said:

Is it possible to play content from a phone/computer on the TV via casting, an HDMI cable, or some other method? Thanks.

HDMI ports are not accessible. Don’t know about methods.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, Traveling Light said:

Is it possible to play content from a phone/computer on the TV via casting, an HDMI cable, or some other method? Thanks.

 

As Squakman mantioned, the HDMI ports aren't accessible and on the Viking Sun I couldn't connect to the TV with Bluetooth.

[DrKoob]

On 9/26/2021 at 5:08 PM, MarkTapley said:

Smoking area is Deck 8, starboard, as you have read;  just forward of the rear elevators.  Outdoors, but under the Deck 9 overhang.  If you’re near the forward elevators you shouldn’t have any issues with smoke smell.  When we have walked by the smoking area, we have never been bothered by the smell.

This is interesting to me because Viking is currently advertising themselves as a NON-SMOKING cruise line. 

 

[BigBee51]

From the FAQ on Viking web site

Is the ship nonsmoking?

Viking vessels are generally nonsmoking. In order to accommodate guests who choose to smoke, there is a designated outdoor smoking area. All other areas of the ship, including your stateroom and veranda, are designated nonsmoking areas. Smoking restrictions also apply to e-cigarettes.

[FlyerTalker]

35 minutes ago, BigBee51 said:

Viking vessels are generally nonsmoking. 

 

Like being slightly pregnant?

[BigBee51]

precisely

[copper004]

Are short and/or t-shirts frowned upon in the evening on the ship? I understand not in the dining venues, but what about after dinner???