Are there others who were convinced by Viking to try their first ever cruise?

[Findingmywings]

Viking has convinced my husband to try an ocean cruise for the first time, Empires of the Mediterranean in March 2018! We took a Viking river cruise last year and loved it so much that we started reading the VO brochures and reading reviews. I have high hopes for an amazing journey!

[philw1776]

Viking has convinced my husband to try an ocean cruise for the first time, Empires of the Mediterranean in March 2018! We took a Viking river cruise last year and loved it so much that we started reading the VO brochures and reading reviews. I have high hopes for an amazing journey!

 

Viking Ocean is quite different than Viking River. However it "feels like" Viking in the most positive sense.

Paradoxically, the 900+ person ocean ship often feels less crowded than the 190 person river ship.

[lackcreativity]

Viking has convinced my husband to try an ocean cruise for the first time, Empires of the Mediterranean in March 2018! We took a Viking river cruise last year and loved it so much that we started reading the VO brochures and reading reviews. I have high hopes for an amazing journey!

 

Your story sounds just like ours, even to the choice of the Empires of the Mediterranean for your first cruise. It was indeed an amazing journey.

[broker1217]

I have never been on a cruise-although we travel frequently (typically 5-8 times per year) . DH has done cruises in the past--and was lukewarm on them.

However--we both have a Transatlantic on our bucket list and had looked at various lines and chose Viking Ocean. Primary considerations for us were a balcony cabin, good food, no casino, and a peaceful smaller ship.

We would probably never do a Caribbean cruise. We travel to the Caribbean a couple times a year and stay at smaller islands (Nevis, Anguilla) for 7-14 days. We avoid large cruise ports when we travel--crowded and full of bad shopping.

So for our travel style---they appealed to us more than a line like Celebrity and we didn't want a super upscale line either.

We book our own travel and for this trip handled the air, and pre and post cruise stays on our own--just a personal preference.

We found Viking while researching and had no recognition of print or TV marketing. I honestly knew nothing about them.

We are happy that wine, coffee, water are included in meals and that the spa can be enjoyed even without a treatment. Also like that there are no kids (although probably would not be any on transatlantic). The beverage package was extremely reasonable compared to other lines. Wifi is free. And obviously 900 passengers vs. 3000 was a huge draw. The design of the ship is very appealing and understated.

Although I have nothing to compare to, it seemed a good fit for us and overcame all the objections I had to cruises.