Viking or Celebrity

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, zitsky said:

Viking is nice but you pay a premium.  X seems like a bargain.

Surprised to hear you say so. Our per person per day price when taking into account the included benefits of Viking that we paid for on Celebrity were not that different. 

[zitsky]

6 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Surprised to hear you say so. Our per person per day price when taking into account the included benefits of Viking that we paid for on Celebrity were not that different. 

 

How do you take into account the included benefits of Viking?

[Clay Clayton]

10 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

How do you take into account the included benefits of Viking?

We didn’t have to pay for wine at meals on Viking, alternative dining, or gratuities & pre-dinner cocktails (covered by the obc from our Travel Agent)  whereas we did  pay for these on X. That brought the price to within $20  per day for both of us. For that $20 we received WiFi, access to the spa, nicer bathroom, smaller ship and an excursion at each port. We didn’t include any of these in our cost analysis as we wouldn’t have paid for them but since they were included with Viking, we believe it was well worth the extra $20 per day. 

[zitsky]

I'm glad it worked out for you.  I have tried Viking River and Ocean, Norwegian and Celebrity.  Viking was always a bit more than the others.

[Heidi13]

21 hours ago, zitsky said:

Viking is nice but you pay a premium.  X seems like a bargain.

 

Although the base cruise fare is higher with Viking, everyone will have different experiences with the actual per day cost. When I compare 2 similar cruises with Viking and Princess, for a similar cabin category, the per diem costs were identical.

 

With Viking, we paid more money up front and earlier, but by the end of a vastly superior cruise on Viking we had paid almost the same per diem.

[zitsky]

I just priced a popular South America itinerary.  Balcony room, no perks.  Viking was twice the price of Celebrity.

[Denny01]

I’ve cruised 25+ times with Celebrity and 3 times with Viking. The reason I’d select a Viking cruise is because it would be making calls at smaller and different ports of call than the larger Cruise Lines.

 

I’ll disagree with the price difference referenced earlier inferring there is little difference is cost. The price differences weren’t for a N Euro cruise compare between Celebrity/Viking. A quick check showed the Celebrity veranda pricing was $2,600+ and Viking was $4,700+ and I wouldn’t add the Specialty Restaurant costs since that doesn’t make it an apples/apples comparison. Viking is definitively more pricy, but the different ports may make the difference. I do’t go on the more luxury Lines when the ports are similar because the extras aren’t worth it......for me. 

 

I loved Viking and am doing the Midnight Sun cruise in 2021 instead of the HAL Cruise which is similar and much cheaper. why? Because that itinerary would be more interesting on a smaller ship; I’m doing a Celebrity TA because I enjoy the ship experience more on Celebrity and want a bit larger ship for that itinerary especially with 6 days at sea. I can handle the art auctions by not attending, the photo ops by saying no thanks, and so on. Celebrity doesn’t make all those announcements so you have to make a point of going to them. And I find service on Celebrity to be the highest quality of any larger Cruise Line....Viking was better, but the difference was not that much. 

 

I won’t make a recommendation for another person because all of this is too subjective. But I’ll chime in on the N Euro Cruise which includes St Petersburg. I found Russia not to be worth it. I loved Tallin and Stockholm, but found St Petersburg to be one of my least interesting port of any I’ve been to (well maybe better than Nassau!). the Russians were quite standoffish and cold; the private 2-day tour was of almost exclusively Czarist sites as most are, a city of one of the major WWII battles where millions died and the site of the start of the Russian Revolution and never saw any of that; if I saw one more gold-guilted wall in a Czarist palace, I’d die. Taken to a tourist shop and the workers followed us so closely watching us as if we were thieves - probably because I look like one!! Oh well. Just didnt’ enjoy it. Many other itineraries to enjoy. 

 

I’d suggest many of the other Viking N Euro itineraries with ports that few other Cruise Lines take in. Ooops, just made a recommendation!!

 

Den

[zitsky]

My one trip to Moscow back in 2000 or so.  I had a guide who took all day to warm up to me.  She was professional just not friendly at first.  Loved Russia but this was a private tour, very different from what you get on a cruise line.

[Baron Barracuda]

Don't believe X standard balcony (or Concierge or Aqua) vs VO deluxe verandah is fair comparison.  Viking cabins much larger and have so many inclusions.   Better comparison is VO PV cabin vs X Sky (junior) Suite.  At that level VO can actually be cheaper.  We have also found that while VO rarely advertises sales the price when we call can be substantially cheaper than their website.  If you look around some bargain itineraries can be found.   We did 15 night NY - Miami in a PV3 for under $250/night including free airfare.  Past guest and TA percs can also be sizable.

[zitsky]

What are these cabin inclusions that you say make Viking cheaper?  I'm not easily convinced.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, zitsky said:

I just priced a popular South America itinerary.  Balcony room, no perks.  Viking was twice the price of Celebrity.

 

Our Viking cruise was also almost twice the cost of our 2015 Princess cruise. However, after all costs were considered the per diem was identical and the Viking DV cabin was about 50% bigger than the Princess cabin.

 

[OnTheJourney]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:25 AM, Roger88 said:

I would go for Celebrity. Its been in business way longer, they got a more reliable customer service and they have a modern history of good refund policy in the current situation. It was also my first cruise ever and it left me with only positive emotions. So yes, I would go with Celebrity 

 

I will have to say, based on my personal experience with Viking both during and following an unprecedented and crisis situation - that their level of refunding, compensation, going WAY 'above and beyond', and taking amazingly good care of the passengers - was the most impressive thing I've ever encountered in all my years of travel. This is not in any way to gainsay Celebrity, since I've been with them several times and really enjoy what they offer. I'm just basing my comments on a first-time cruise with Viking that wound up being under extraordinary circumstances. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[zitsky]

36 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

I will have to say, based on my personal experience with Viking both during and following an unprecedented and crisis situation - that their level of refunding, compensation, going WAY 'above and beyond', and taking amazingly good care of the passengers - was the most impressive thing I've ever encountered in all my years of travel. This is not in any way to gainsay Celebrity, since I've been with them several times and really enjoy what they offer. I'm just basing my comments on a first-time cruise with Viking that wound up being under extraordinary circumstances. 

 

On the other hand, when their ship got stuck in Norway without power, did they take good care of their pax?

[OnTheJourney]

This is exactly the experience I'm referring to. This whole subject has been (as you undoubtedly know) dealt with in great depth on other threads and so I hate to dredge up too much that has already been explored in detail. I have my own feelings about how things were handled BEFORE the crisis started and expressed them on a few (very long) threads, and have some reservations about how well informed the pax were as the situation unfolded - but as to the actions of the crew during things like the evacuation procedures, etc. and also reports from those who stayed on board, I'd say they handled things very well and did their best under extremely difficult and unprecedented conditions. And, all that came after - at least for those evacuated - was handled very well. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by OnTheJourney