Viking Ocean impressions

[Hanoj]

My DW and I concluded our second VO cruise on 6/6/19 in Barcelona on the Star, having embarked the Mediterranean Odyssey in Venice on 5/25/19. This was a fabulous cruise, as was our Viking Homelands one year earlier on the Sea. 

 

My my overall impression of VO is that they do important things very well, but some lesser things not so well. 

 

The important things are “no kids and no casino.” These are almost litmus for us. I’m surprised none of the luxury, all-inclusive lines offer these. If they did, we’d likely give them a try. 

 

Operationally (i.e., Viking HQ) communications are less than desirable and at times policies appear “ad hoc.”  For example, carpeting in the hallway outside the staterooms on deck 5 (even numbers at least) was replaced beginning shortly after 10 pm on one night of our Med Odyssey cruise just concluded on the Star. I lost about 2 hours of sleep due to this. Fortunately the DW slept through it all. I would have expected this to be dealt with in dry dock. I spoke with the Explorer’s Desk while this happened and with the General Manager the following morning and was not satisfied with the explanations, lack of advance notice, or the modest OBC we received from HQ. It was “bush league” on Viking’s part. 

 

My impression of the Star (in it’s 5th year) was that it is in serious need of updating, which was surprising given how new is this ship. We were in a PV1 cabin for which the carpets and living room furniture had permanent stains. I also noticed carpet stains and lack of adhesion in many public areas. Also, upholstered furniture showed considerable wear as did nearly all the armrests on the wood furniture in public areas. 

 

We we were on the Sea (one year newer) the year before and the sense of “wow” was salient and palpable. On the Star not at all. In fact, I will avoid any cruise on the Star until I learn it has been updated. 

 

We discovered eating vegan would be quite challenging, especially in the restaurants, though vegetarian is much more doable. 

 

We like the relaxed atmosphere on VO, though at times it seems some guests are too lax in their attire, though I have no interest in the formal nights on some of the luxury lines. 

 

We especially like tea in the Wintergarden. 

 

We look to VO as a convenient platform to deliver us to desirable destinations, though not for inaugural itineraries from what I’ve read on these boards. 

 

Our preferred stateroom category is PV1 for its location, size, and ability to get all our clothes hung or in drawers or on shelves. We were in 5096 on the Star and 6077 on the Sea. Our cabin on the Sea was quitter than on the Star, but we heard our neighbor’s tv in both cabins and also talking. Our first Viking cruise was aboard the Hlin on the Rhine. We had a Veranda Stateroom and heard nothing outside our room when the cabin door and veranda door were closed. This formed our expectations for stateroom quiet on ocean, but this has not been our experience. 

 

In summary, VO appears to offer the best compromise between what we desire in ocean cruising and the limitations we are willing to accept. 

 

 

[Pushka]

We lost much of our last night sleep onboard as they started offloading luggage during the last night and didn’t finish until midnight. We contacted Guest Services at the time who, to be blunt, were very ineffective and didn’t even know when it would stop.  I’ve since contacted Viking and other than a “sorry this affected you” there’s been crickets. Deaf ears. I can actually deal with casinos by not going into them. And travel during non holiday periods. While the ships are beautiful the customer services people and poor communications pre and during the cruise lost me. We have not been offered anything other than a sorry. There were many issues starting with much delayed embarkation and poor tender process. 

 

We all have our decision markers but sadly the beauty of the Viking ships doesn’t overcome the service issues we experienced. 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Pushka

[Captain_Morgan]

We were on the Star in year 2 and she was looking very 'tired' even then so I can just imagine what she looks like now given the wear and tear expected over that length of time.  Shocking to hear they were replacing carpet in the hallways after 10pm as we've always seen large maintenance jobs being done during the day, often times in ports where the majority of people are ashore (i.e. St Petersburg, Civitavecchia, Warnemunde, etc) but perhaps the powers that be thought that replacing carpet was a 'quiet' job?!?  Either way, its often times the response to issues that is how companies and their management are measured and it sounds like this was not handled as well as it should have been....

 

Unfortunately, comparing the river and ocean vessels is like comparing apples and oranges.  The river boats are built in a small yard in Germany whereas the ocean ships are built by Fincantieri in Italy which has a number of large yards all around the country.  In a nutshell i think the easiest and most basic comparison would be like comparing a Mercedes and a Fiat...

 

We have heard from a number of friends and acquaintances with intimate knowledge of the situation and they've said that the Star is due for a dry dock later this year so hopefully they will address the majority of the issues; however, we're also told that common approach to these things is to just apply a new coat of 'lipstick and mascara' as opposed to doing any wholesale changes due mostly to the fact that changing fixtures and finishings is much cheaper and less time consuming than long term fixes.

[philw1776]

Taking Star from Bergen to Montreal next August.  Please have all common areas and my PV cabin totally refreshed.  Thank you!

[CCWineLover]

10 hours ago, Hanoj said:

My DW and I concluded our second VO cruise on 6/6/19 in Barcelona on the Star, having embarked the Mediterranean Odyssey in Venice on 5/25/19. This was a fabulous cruise, as was our Viking Homelands one year earlier on the Sea. 

 

My my overall impression of VO is that they do important things very well, but some lesser things not so well. 

 

The important things are “no kids and no casino.” These are almost litmus for us. I’m surprised none of the luxury, all-inclusive lines offer these. If they did, we’d likely give them a try. 

 

Operationally (i.e., Viking HQ) communications are less than desirable and at times policies appear “ad hoc.”  For example, carpeting in the hallway outside the staterooms on deck 5 (even numbers at least) was replaced beginning shortly after 10 pm on one night of our Med Odyssey cruise just concluded on the Star. I lost about 2 hours of sleep due to this. Fortunately the DW slept through it all. I would have expected this to be dealt with in dry dock. I spoke with the Explorer’s Desk while this happened and with the General Manager the following morning and was not satisfied with the explanations, lack of advance notice, or the modest OBC we received from HQ. It was “bush league” on Viking’s part. 

 

My impression of the Star (in it’s 5th year) was that it is in serious need of updating, which was surprising given how new is this ship. We were in a PV1 cabin for which the carpets and living room furniture had permanent stains. I also noticed carpet stains and lack of adhesion in many public areas. Also, upholstered furniture showed considerable wear as did nearly all the armrests on the wood furniture in public areas. 

 

We we were on the Sea (one year newer) the year before and the sense of “wow” was salient and palpable. On the Star not at all. In fact, I will avoid any cruise on the Star until I learn it has been updated. 

 

We discovered eating vegan would be quite challenging, especially in the restaurants, though vegetarian is much more doable. 

 

We like the relaxed atmosphere on VO, though at times it seems some guests are too lax in their attire, though I have no interest in the formal nights on some of the luxury lines. 

 

We especially like tea in the Wintergarden. 

 

We look to VO as a convenient platform to deliver us to desirable destinations, though not for inaugural itineraries from what I’ve read on these boards. 

 

Our preferred stateroom category is PV1 for its location, size, and ability to get all our clothes hung or in drawers or on shelves. We were in 5096 on the Star and 6077 on the Sea. Our cabin on the Sea was quitter than on the Star, but we heard our neighbor’s tv in both cabins and also talking. Our first Viking cruise was aboard the Hlin on the Rhine. We had a Veranda Stateroom and heard nothing outside our room when the cabin door and veranda door were closed. This formed our expectations for stateroom quiet on ocean, but this has not been our experience. 

 

In summary, VO appears to offer the best compromise between what we desire in ocean cruising and the limitations we are willing to accept. 

 

 

 

Hanoj - Quite an excellent post and set of observations - that echo ours almost to the Tee!   We have done 3 Viking Ocean cruises in the last year, just having gotten off the Jupiter in May.    We are very much like yourselves in that we look at all the factors and have to decide how much each is worth to us.  No doubt Viking definitely has some weaknesses and some faults, as many of the CC posters so eloquently state each day.  However, no cruise line is perfect and it is interesting to go read CC posts on other comparable cruise lines.  After that you would think those lines are bad as well - perhaps it is just the fact that those who post tend to want to vent and are more particular in their expectations.

 

In any case, given the Viking has a specific niche that no other cruise line has, namely  “no kids and no casinos” , one then has to weigh how important that is relative to some of the areas they are perhaps lacking in.  For us it is a no-brainer since we will put up with quite a bit (and it has really not been an issue) in order to have a nice ship with no kids, a focus on ports, historians, and enrichment, and others like us who enjoy adventure and travel.  But each to his own.

 

Until another line comes along with those 2 key items for us, we will give Viking benefit of the doubt.  Like you, if another comparable line decided to offer a no kids and no casino, we would definitely highly consider them.

Of course there are other factors to consider as well, such as the Viking relaxed atmosphere, casual dining, etc.

In the meantime, we do pay attention to the issues that people have raised and as such, we will avoid itineraries and areas of the world where Viking has little experience (like Alaska and Asia), concentrate on the areas they do well (Europe), and try to choose newer ships (like the Jupiter).   Our captain did confirm that the Star will indeed go into dry dock in 2019 after 5 years of service, which he said was standard policy in the industry.

 

Thank you again for a very well written review/update.

[CCWineLover]

6 hours ago, Captain_Morgan said:

We have heard from a number of friends and acquaintances with intimate knowledge of the situation and they've said that the Star is due for a dry dock later this year so hopefully they will address the majority of the issues; however, we're also told that common approach to these things is to just apply a new coat of 'lipstick and mascara' as opposed to doing any wholesale changes due mostly to the fact that changing fixtures and finishings is much cheaper and less time consuming than long term fixes.

 

We heard explicitly from Viking last month (via our captain on the Jupiter) that the Star is going in for scheduled dry dock after 5 years service in 2019.   However, since no Viking ocean ships have ever gone into dry dock for this 5 year "update", I'm not understanding how the approach is to put lipstick on a pig, since it hasn't yet been done.   Are you referring to other cruise lines?  If so, do we know which cruise lines do this?  Might be worth it to avoid them....

If anyone on CC has worked with Cruise Ships, is this indeed the common approach?

 

Perhaps someone on the Star cruise that is first out after dry dock will be able to report to us how it went.

Looking at the Star Roll calls in order, it strikes me that there is a large gap from Nov 14, 2019 sailing (an 8 day cruise finishing Nov 22) to the next one on Dec 13, 2019 (another 8 day cruise).  So that is 3 weeks of no cruises.  Perhaps this is when the dry dock will occur, making the Dec 13 Rome to Athens cruise the first one out of dry dock.

[Hanoj]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Hanoj - Quite an excellent post and set of observations - that echo ours almost to the Tee!   We have done 3 Viking Ocean cruises in the last year, just having gotten off the Jupiter in May.    We are very much like yourselves in that we look at all the factors and have to decide how much each is worth to us.  No doubt Viking definitely has some weaknesses and some faults, as many of the CC posters so eloquently state each day.  However, no cruise line is perfect and it is interesting to go read CC posts on other comparable cruise lines.  After that you would think those lines are bad as well - perhaps it is just the fact that those who post tend to want to vent and are more particular in their expectations.

 

In any case, given the Viking has a specific niche that no other cruise line has, namely  “no kids and no casinos” , one then has to weigh how important that is relative to some of the areas they are perhaps lacking in.  For us it is a no-brainer since we will put up with quite a bit (and it has really not been an issue) in order to have a nice ship with no kids, a focus on ports, historians, and enrichment, and others like us who enjoy adventure and travel.  But each to his own.

 

Until another line comes along with those 2 key items for us, we will give Viking benefit of the doubt.  Like you, if another comparable line decided to offer a no kids and no casino, we would definitely highly consider them.

Of course there are other factors to consider as well, such as the Viking relaxed atmosphere, casual dining, etc.

In the meantime, we do pay attention to the issues that people have raised and as such, we will avoid itineraries and areas of the world where Viking has little experience (like Alaska and Asia), concentrate on the areas they do well (Europe), and try to choose newer ships (like the Jupiter).   Our captain did confirm that the Star will indeed go into dry dock in 2019 after 5 years of service, which he said was standard policy in the industry.

 

Thank you again for a very well written review/update.

 

Thank you @CCWineLover. Glad to hear the Star is scheduled for dry dock, though I’ve read ships of other lines go into dry dock more frequently (every two years for Seabourn) but this may be since the ships are older or that guest expectations for refurbishment are higher on luxury lines. If the other Viking ships are furnished similarly to the Star, I think they should go into dry dock sooner than 5 years (expect for the Sky since it was forced into it due to the March incident) in order to maintain continuity of quality across the line. We like Viking’s understated elegance of it’s decor, but getting too much use before replacement risks establishing the appearance of inferior quality. If my first VO experience had been on the nearly 5 years old Star, I would be more reluctant to choose Viking for future cruises.

 

I’m going to try to find out more about hearing noise from the adjacent cabin (sharing the wall with TV) or consider bringing a white noise device in the future. It’s possible our neighbors on the Star were unusually loud based on observations of them in the public places - perhaps one or both of them have the beginnings of hearing impairment. I wished I had rang their phone when they were out of their cabin to determine if I could hear it through the wall. I’m more sensitive than my wife, and this is not a deal breaker for us; I’ve stayed in 4 and 5 star hotels for which noise from other guests was more problematic. But we had an unexpectedly favorable experience with our Viking River cabin that contributed to an expectation for similar quality on the ocean ships.

 

One thing that had been important to us before or Mediterranean Odyssey cruise had been the included excursions. We now prefer the optional “On Your Own” excursions where a destination is not walkable from the ship (e.g., Florence) or just doing our own thing. Viking makes this very convenient by providing free shuttle service (where the port authority doesn’t), but we’ll walk directly from the ship, even 3-4 km, as long as safe and not through an industrial area for more exercise. 

 

The “no kids” policy is the most important factor for us in choosing Viking, and the “no casino” is a bonus. I like not having to carefully consider the timing for my cruise to reduce likelihood of kids on other lines. 

 

A very pleasant surprise on the Star was the quality of the soups; we had several of these for dinner in the World Cafe. These included pumpkin, sweet potato, and the best split pea soup I’ve ever had. 

Edited June 19, 2019 by Hanoj
Correct typo

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Looking at the Star Roll calls in order, it strikes me that there is a large gap from Nov 14, 2019 sailing (an 8 day cruise finishing Nov 22) to the next one on Dec 13, 2019 (another 8 day cruise).  So that is 3 weeks of no cruises. 

 

Or it could just be that no one has started roll calls for those weeks, so not really a reliable measure. Safer is checking on the website and trying to figure out what the Star's schedule is for that time--but that is time consuming.

[Captain_Morgan]

5 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

We heard explicitly from Viking last month (via our captain on the Jupiter) that the Star is going in for scheduled dry dock after 5 years service in 2019.   However, since no Viking ocean ships have ever gone into dry dock for this 5 year "update", I'm not understanding how the approach is to put lipstick on a pig, since it hasn't yet been done.   Are you referring to other cruise lines?  If so, do we know which cruise lines do this?  Might be worth it to avoid them....

If anyone on CC has worked with Cruise Ships, is this indeed the common approach?

 

Perhaps someone on the Star cruise that is first out after dry dock will be able to report to us how it went.

Looking at the Star Roll calls in order, it strikes me that there is a large gap from Nov 14, 2019 sailing (an 8 day cruise finishing Nov 22) to the next one on Dec 13, 2019 (another 8 day cruise).  So that is 3 weeks of no cruises.  Perhaps this is when the dry dock will occur, making the Dec 13 Rome to Athens cruise the first one out of dry dock.

 

To use the adage of putting lipstick on a pig is one thing, but to forget to mention despite the makeup its still a pig is another 🤣

 

Joking aside, our experience with other lines (Princess, HAL, Seabourn) has been that the vast majority of ships which go in for a dry dock, whether it be on a 5 yearly schedule or sooner, often times come out with new 'hair and makeup' as it were which of course is what we see.  That's not to say its the only thing being done, but its a lot easier and cheaper to make cosmetic changes while the ship is out of service than it is to make wholesale technical changes.  Add to the fact that this is going to be the first dry dock for Viking so they will no doubt be flying blind a little as if recent experiences have shown anything, they don't seem to have much ability to organize itineraries, nevermind large scale ship overhauls so i'd think they'll need every minute of those mystery 3 weeks you refer to as being possible dry dock days...

[molymoo]

We are frequent Viking  cruisers and will be on the Star in December of 2019 ... will be anxious to see if she is looking refreshed.  I am curious about all of the complaints about noise from neighboring cabins  (e.g. televisions).  We have been on four ocean cruises and have NEVER heard the television or talking coming from any of the neighboring cabins.  The only issue we ran into was the “slammers” ... a couple next door who apparently thought that the only way to close the doors ( cabin, bathroom, closet and balcony was to give them a good slam!  We aren’t easily irritated so it was mostly funny but I was startled and spilled my morning coffee one time!

[Pushka]

On 6/19/2019 at 5:34 PM, molymoo said:

We are frequent Viking  cruisers and will be on the Star in December of 2019 ... will be anxious to see if she is looking refreshed.  I am curious about all of the complaints about noise from neighboring cabins  (e.g. televisions).  We have been on four ocean cruises and have NEVER heard the television or talking coming from any of the neighboring cabins.  The only issue we ran into was the “slammers” ... a couple next door who apparently thought that the only way to close the doors ( cabin, bathroom, closet and balcony was to give them a good slam!  We aren’t easily irritated so it was mostly funny but I was startled and spilled my morning coffee one time!

 

Sometimes a good shove is needed to close the doors. We were doing things the quiet way last month on Orion then during the night I was aware of light coming and going. Presuming we’d left the light on in the bathroom I got up to close that door, only to find it was the actual cabin door left open. We became somewhat slammers after that!

[molymoo]

8 hours ago, Pushka said:

 

Sometimes a good shove is needed to close the doors. We were doing things the quiet way last month on Orion then during the night I was aware of light coming and going. Presuming we’d left the light on in the bathroom I got up to close that door, only to find it was the actual cabin door left open. We became somewhat slammers after that!

The cabin doors don’t always catch ... we noticed that on both the Star and Sky ... but it is not necessary to slam it.  A little extra push or pull will do the trick!  It is easy to hear it catch ... if you’re not slamming!

Edited June 20, 2019 by molymoo

[Vineyard View]

We heard the TV one afternoon in our neighbors cabin - it was very noticeable through our wall. Later that day, our neighbors asked us if they had disturbed us. They thought we were out of our cabin and were watching an action packed movie and had turned up the volume quite high. It was afterwards that they worried it may have been too loud. The rest of the time we could hear it sometimes, but not at a disturbing level. We aren’t TV watchers while on vacation, but if someone is and they aren’t blaring it, particularly at late hours we aren’t going to mind. So yes, the TV can be heard through the walls on the ship - just as they can be heard in hotels. I think sometimes people are not aware. Maybe nicely approaching your cabin neighbor would be okay if it was a pattern?

[Cyber Kat]

On 6/19/2019 at 12:55 PM, CCWineLover said:

However, no cruise line is perfect and it is interesting to go read CC posts on other comparable cruise lines.  After that you would think those lines are bad as well - perhaps it is just the fact that those who post tend to want to vent and are more particular in their expectations.

 

I think this is one of THE most significant things I’ve read on CC yet and something far too many forget. I never expect perfection no matter how much money I’m spending because I know perfection is nigh unto impossible to achieve.

 

We have loved all of our cruises on Viking. In fact I haven’t had a bad cruise on any line, including Carnival 😜. We have had some that have come closer to the definition of perfection than others, but they all fall short in one way or another. 

 

We tend to focus on the positive, and when we encounter negative, we let it go. If it’s something that needs taking care of, we find the person responsible and bring it up. And then we let it go. 

 

We recently took an Azamara cruise. We booked it for several reasons. Viking wasn’t doing a similar itinerary and the itinerary was intriguing. We wanted a cruise for spring 2019 that didn’t require major effort and flights. The Azamara cruise left from a port close to home. I read the Azamara boards here to get an idea of what to expect. The Azamara fans are ferociously protective of their preferred line and all heap praise on the crew and officers. They brag about how friendly everyone is. And how the officers mingle and chat. 

 

We didn’t book the cruise for this aspect, and quite frankly, I’d rather have them doing their jobs instead of socializing. We did not experience this as first time Azamara cruisers. We were mostly ignored and the only conversation I had with any of them was the CD.  We shared an elevator and I think he gave me his cold 😂

 

We often found ourselves waiting for waitstaff who were off chatting with repeat passengers. But despite this “neglect” - said, I assure you with a tongue in cheek  - we generally shrugged our shoulders, laughed and said, “It’s not Viking!” 

 

I felt that had I not read the Azamara boards, and had that reading build up somewhat over the top expectations, I might not have noticed. We had a thoroughly enjoyable cruise. We loved the ship - though even with fewer passengers than a Viking ocean ship - it often felt crowded and a bit claustrophobic. Our cabin was tiny, but larger than I expected and our steward’s assistant was fantastic. We never saw the steward himself after the first day. 

 

So I take everything I read here on CC with a large boulder of salt. I meet everything with high hopes and low expectations, and generally enjoy myself no matter what I do. I guess I’m a cockeyed optimist. 

 

I am a Viking fan, but not one with rose colored glasses - just one who chooses not to let their shortcomings (and I have some issues with some aspects of dealing with them) cloud what usually turns out to be a wonderful experience. 

[lackcreativity]

19 minutes ago, Cyber Kat said:

 

I think this is one of THE most significant things I’ve read on CC yet and something far too many forget. I never expect perfection no matter how much money I’m spending because I know perfection is nigh unto impossible to achieve.

 

We have loved all of our cruises on Viking. In fact I haven’t had a bad cruise on any line, including Carnival 😜. We have had some that have come closer to the definition of perfection than others, but they all fall short in one way or another. 

 

We tend to focus on the positive, and when we encounter negative, we let it go. If it’s something that needs taking care of, we find the person responsible and bring it up. And then we let it go. 

     ................

So I take everything I read here on CC with a large boulder of salt. I meet everything with high hopes and low expectations, and generally enjoy myself no matter what I do. I guess I’m a cockeyed optimist. 

 

I am a Viking fan, but not one with rose colored glasses - just one who chooses not to let their shortcomings (and I have some issues with some aspects of dealing with them) cloud what usually turns out to be a wonderful experience. 

Cyber Kat,

You have put my thoughts into words with near perfection, and "practically perfect" is the highest standard I ever expect as well. Viking has met that standard on all of our cruises.

 

I have also browsed the Azamara website and the boards here because of a desire to see several islands of the western Mediterranean that Viking does not yet visit ( especially Malta). So far, we have not branched out, but I appreciate your comments on your cruise with them. Would you cruise with Azamara again?

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Cyber Kat said:

So I take everything I read here on CC with a large boulder of salt. I meet everything with high hopes and low expectations, and generally enjoy myself no matter what I do. I guess I’m a cockeyed optimist. 

 

I am a Viking fan, but not one with rose colored glasses - just one who chooses not to let their shortcomings (and I have some issues with some aspects of dealing with them) cloud what usually turns out to be a wonderful experience. 

Thank you, Cyber Kat.  Well stated - we are definitely in agreement!   Hope that we get the chance to cruise with you someday - on some cruise line.

I have had 3 fantastic Viking Ocean cruise, but they had had some minor issues at some point - and I also am not a rose-colored glasses person - I try like you do to approach all our traveling with an open mind and low expectations and "go with the flow".  I have found that leads to low-stress and often quite some interesting experiences!  And like you, if something does go wrong I try to get it addressed and not let it fester.  And if somehow it doesn't or cannot be addressed, I learn to let go and move on (such as perhaps trying new or different trips or cruise lines)  - life is too short to brood and fume!

[TrulyBlonde]

47 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

Cyber Kat,

You have put my thoughts into words with near perfection, and "practically perfect" is the highest standard I ever expect as well. Viking has met that standard on all of our cruises.

 

I have also browsed the Azamara website and the boards here because of a desire to see several islands of the western Mediterranean that Viking does not yet visit ( especially Malta). So far, we have not branched out, but I appreciate your comments on your cruise with them. Would you cruise with Azamara again?

I have taken 3 cruises with AZ. They have some interesting itineraries.

First cruise we enjoyed very much. 2nd cruise had some cabin issues that were not resolved until the last few days of cruise. It was to Islands of Italy. We enjoyed the itinerary very much but due to the substandard cabin, we did not think we would return to AZ.

However, for us, timing and itinerary are of most importance. They had a very good cruise to Dalmatian coast via Venice. The itinerary was fabulous and we really had a nice time.  Food was decent, cabin very nice this time, and AZ is not my favorite, but they did a good job and met our expectations this time.

 

You may want to give them a try.

 

 

[Cyber Kat]

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

Cyber Kat,

You have put my thoughts into words with near perfection, and "practically perfect" is the highest standard I ever expect as well. Viking has met that standard on all of our cruises.

 

I have also browsed the Azamara website and the boards here because of a desire to see several islands of the western Mediterranean that Viking does not yet visit ( especially Malta). So far, we have not branched out, but I appreciate your comments on your cruise with them. Would you cruise with Azamara again?

Yes - absolutely!  I just wouldn't expect the kind of over the top standard those on the Azamara board set 😄  Expect what you would expect on any cruise, and you'll be fine.  The ship was lovely - as I said.  Some public areas tend to get crowded because it is an older ship and not layed out as well as the Viking ships.  It had lovely old world feel with some modern touches thrown in.  One warning - the bathrooms are really tiny - especially when compared to the ones on Viking.  The shower felt like a phone booth.  You couldn't turn around.

My advice? When you are eating in the MDR - ask to sit with some veteran cruisers 😄

[TrulyBlonde]

4 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

Yes - absolutely!  I just wouldn't expect the kind of over the top standard those on the Azamara board set 😄  Expect what you would expect on any cruise, and you'll be fine.  The ship was lovely - as I said.  Some public areas tend to get crowded because it is an older ship and not layed out as well as the Viking ships.  It had lovely old world feel with some modern touches thrown in.  One warning - the bathrooms are really tiny - especially when compared to the ones on Viking.  The shower felt like a phone booth.  You couldn't turn around.

My advice? When you are eating in the MDR - ask to sit with some veteran cruisers 😄

Some advice for those considering AZ or Oceania. The R ships are smaller and more intimate, therefore if planning a cruise on either, they will seem much more crowded in inclement weather. I personally prefer the larger O ships, such as the Riviera. When the weather is cold or rainy, the outdoor decks on the R ships (which I love) are useless and it gets to be a bit too cozy inside for me. Just an FYI

 

As for any cruise, I do not need hand holding by any of the staff and turn down offers to be seated with the Captain and Officers. AZ board does seem to make a huge issue of the friendliness of Officers and staff and quite frankly after 3 cruises with them, I never met any of them either. I like it that way.