Unfortunately, that's one and done for us.

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

Most people I chat with from Oz including @Mareblu rarely use Vegemite but know how to use it. They all talk about what a joy it is to watch bold Americans who slather it on their toast while on a cruise and gag from the experience.

I see Mareblu already replied while I was writing this.

Cheers Mareblu, how's the weather down under?

Getting cooler, Lyle.  We're mid-autumn ("fall") so the colours are beautiful, but coming towards the end of their show.  Canberra is a cool-climate city, but I love the cold;  I don't do summer heat very well.  Miss our skiing years, we hardly missed a weekend while our kids were growing up. Knee replacements (one for each of us) have forbidden any more skiing.  I just love the mountains, and I loved being in Vancouver and seeing the ski runs looming above the harbour.  How's your weather?  Butchart Gardens must be stunning right now, ablaze with spring blossoms.

[Mareblu]

4 hours ago, SJD117 said:

For an Aussie, isn't the presence or absence of Vegemite the true test of a dining experience?  😂  And isn't Vegemite very high in sodium?  🤪🤪🤪

I meant to add that Lyle is correct.  I'm not an avid Vegemite muncher.  Maybe once a year if I need a quick breakfast toast, but smeared extremely lightly😉

[Blackduck59]

44 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

Getting cooler, Lyle.  We're mid-autumn ("fall") so the colours are beautiful, but coming towards the end of their show.  Canberra is a cool-climate city, but I love the cold;  I don't do summer heat very well.  Miss our skiing years, we hardly missed a weekend while our kids were growing up. Knee replacements (one for each of us) have forbidden any more skiing.  I just love the mountains, and I loved being in Vancouver and seeing the ski runs looming above the harbour.  How's your weather?  Butchart Gardens must be stunning right now, ablaze with spring blossoms.

Thanks Mareblu, I'll drop a line over on the different thread.

[BigBee51]

I've been following this thread and find it very interesting and informative and I have also drifted off to other forums (Azamara to see the the comments referenced a couple of pages ago, Princess, Celebrity etc.).  There seems to be a consistent theme in all of them. The deterioration of service and inexperienced wait staff in particular. Whatever is happening with Viking is happening across other lines. It looks to be a bumpy ride for the immediate future in cruising and I will try to keep my expectations in check.

[Not a Georgia Peach]

We were on a Regent cruise in January (our first with Regent, previously only Viking).  The wait staff on our cruise were terrific as were all the other staff.  Maybe it is dependent on particular ships.

 

[bbtondo]

20 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

Good morning from Viking Orion,  The witness is ready to take the stand.

 

Yes, I wrote all those comments and I stand by them.  The ship is beautiful…..think I mentioned that here.  The specialty restaurants and the service there has been good.  Not so in the Restaurant and I have completed mid cruise comments and have been in contact with the restaurant manager.  As I said, I wanted so much to like it.  
 

I agree the singers are very good…..have enjoyed some of their shows.  The guitarist is great, as is the classical duo and the pianist.  Have enjoyed them very much.  
 

Our PV is very nice.  Love the bathroom.  Some of you may remember I was concerned after reading some comments about the firmness of the mattress.  When we boarded, we asked our cabin attendant for a topper and we have slept very well.  I wanted to come back and report that.

 

We all have different likes and dislikes with cruises.  For us, we will not return.  Love the ship for its beauty and decor, but otherwise, it is not a good fit for us.  Now….back to enjoying our last day or so.

I appreciate your point of view.  For me, I also will not return to Viking.  Beautiful ship, but not a good fit.

[slewis7]

I am currently on the Pacific Coast Orion sailing and we are just a couple of days into it, but this does not match my experience on my previous 4 Viking sailings.  This is in terms of service, food, and the ship feeling overly crowded at times.
 

Up to now, I had thought Viking could almost do no wrong.  I hope things get better but if this was my first Viking experience, it would be one and done.  

[KBs mum]

2 hours ago, slewis7 said:

I am currently on the Pacific Coast Orion sailing and we are just a couple of days into it, but this does not match my experience on my previous 4 Viking sailings.  This is in terms of service, food, and the ship feeling overly crowded at times.
 

Up to now, I had thought Viking could almost do no wrong.  I hope things get better but if this was my first Viking experience, it would be one and done.  

The ships have allways been at full capacity in the past, are different customer demographics causing the overcrowded feeling? In the past a lot of the passengers came via river cruises, a lot now seem to be via other more mainstream ocean cruise lines. Perhaps they are less evenly distributed throughout the ship? 

[travelbug11]

On 4/23/2022 at 6:09 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

The Viking ratings normally work a 6-months on, 2-months off schedule, so after 5 months, most of the crew will already have headed home on leave. Hopefully, the replacements are more experienced.

Great news, I’m sure everything will be up to par when I go to Alaska next month.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

4 hours ago, KBs mum said:

The ships have allways been at full capacity in the past, are different customer demographics causing the overcrowded feeling? In the past a lot of the passengers came via river cruises, a lot now seem to be via other more mainstream ocean cruise lines. Perhaps they are less evenly distributed throughout the ship? 

Interesting,  I was on the 17 April to 25 April Pacific Coast on Orion.  I think we had 770 passengers - ship did not seem crowded at all - lots of space everywhere I went.    Easy to get seats in all venues - no waiting for dining room....

[slewis7]

I believe some of our earlier Viking ocean cruises were equally booked but I do not remember seeing long lines at Guest Services and Restaurant Reservations like we did a few days ago.  Lines were short and more normal today.  The wet area is not requiring reservations this cruise and it can seem a bit crowded at times; we have to find less busy times to go there.  
 

Last night we went to The Restaurant at around 7pm and it was packed.  They wanted to seat us at a very tight table for 4 right by a traffic area for servers.  It was very noisy so we declined.  Fortunately we only had to wait about 10 minutes to get reseated at a quiet spot.  We ended up having a lovely meal; perhaps our best of the trip after a very disappointing dinner the night before at Manfredi’s (tough lamb chops and well overcooked but still tasty steaks).

[PRH]

So much depends on the particular ship and the crew.  We took almost back to back cruises on Jupiter and Sea (just got home) and the ships felt quite different.  Don’t know exactly what made the difference but Jupiter seemed to be a happier ship all around.  The Sea was fine but the difference was definitely there.  Sea crew seemed very tired and almost distracted.

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

@Blackduck59 - That's a shame your first Viking cruise was a disappointment. I wish it had been a better cruise for you & that you got to experience how wonderful Viking can be. 

 

@PRHThat's been my experience with all cruise lines. It seemed to me Viking had a better consistency with their overall shipboard experience. Sorry that wasn't the case between Jupiter & Sea.

 

Although I'm I confirmed Viking loyalist, there have been a few slight issues. Sometimes in The Restaurant  & Manfredi's hot food was served lukewarm. Once I can understand but this happened more often than it should on a Sky trans-Atlantic in 2019. On my Bermuda cruises this summer both times I dined at Manfredi's the main entrée was served cold. Of course bringing it to the attention of the server always brought apologies & a fix. On my first Viking cruise the drink servers regularly canvassed the upper-level of Explorers Lounge with promt service checking back with refills. Not so much on some of my others. 

 

I have a trans-Atlantic crossing booked aboard Neptune in December. Hopefully these service clutches will be rectified by then. With Viking rapidly expanding at the clip they're going, recruiting, training, & retention of experienced crew is important. Viking seriously needs to pay attention & get a handle on it.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Myrtle Ave. Mayhem

[KBs mum]

We noticed a decline between Sky's first season and Orion's food and service wise. Neither were as good as the river cruises. The only other line we'd consider is Hurtigruten, which may be a struggle because of reduced  mobility . We cruise for the destinations and to enjoy being on a ship at sea. The entertainment/formal nights/spa/swimming pool is of no interest to us. 

We've got a cruise on Venus booked, if the decline is continuing we'll be after a proportionate refund in cash. 

[SJD117]

1 hour ago, PRH said:

So much depends on the particular ship and the crew.  We took almost back to back cruises on Jupiter and Sea (just got home) and the ships felt quite different.  Don’t know exactly what made the difference but Jupiter seemed to be a happier ship all around.  The Sea was fine but the difference was definitely there.  Sea crew seemed very tired and almost distracted.

I've been on both ships, most recently on the Sea for the transatlantic we completed earlier this month. The staff on the Sea didn't seem distracted or tired to me, nor did that cruise compare unfavorably to the Jupiter cruise as far as I recall. But, I didn't have the back-to-back experience you did, and our cruise on the Jupiter was more than two years ago (February/March 2020). So perhaps there's a difference right now.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, PRH said:

So much depends on the particular ship and the crew.  We took almost back to back cruises on Jupiter and Sea (just got home) and the ships felt quite different.  Don’t know exactly what made the difference but Jupiter seemed to be a happier ship all around.  The Sea was fine but the difference was definitely there.  Sea crew seemed very tired and almost distracted.

 

This can be experienced on every ship, not just cruise ships. The ship is simply an asset for moving people or cargo, what makes the cruise, is the crew and most importantly, how they are led.

 

In normal times, you could tell a happy ship by the management style of the Master and Senior Officers. Post COVID, with the number of new crew, this may not always be the case, as it takes time for quality managers to either train the crew and/or identify those that aren't trainable to the required standard.

 

As I noted in a previous post, the number of crew that didn't return after COVID, is compounded by the 2 additional ships already being crewed this year. Therefore, even the available crews from last year are thinned out to fill 2 additional ships, as the new ships can't have all new hires. This year will also see even further thinning of crews as Polaris, Neptune and then Saturn are also crewed.

[Blackduck59]

@Myrtle Ave. Mayhem Thanks for the shout out. I have been following all of the Pacific Coastal cruises since ours. The 3rd is underway now, they have missed Santa Barbara as well where other ships from other lines have managed it.

I think the common observation has been the lack of service that is expected at the price paid.

@Heidi13has made a very welcome observation of what may be at issue with the crew.

There have also been reports from others on the same cruises that have enjoyed their experience and have booked cruises with Viking going forward. 

While many have said the long list of things "included in the fare" had great value for them, they did not have as much value for us.

I think perhaps we just stumbled in to the perfect storm of bad weather, untrained crew, mediocre food and lack of imagination by the cruse director in scheduling entertainment especially on unexpected sea days.

Edited April 29, 2022 by Blackduck59
typos

[cabogal]

We are on the Orion now. This is our first and last cruise with Viking Ocean. We are underwhelmed and bored! We missed Santa Barbara due to rough seas so we had another boring sea day. There isn't much to do during the day. The music starts at 5:30 and we didn't get a real musical show until the 4th night. The service in the Restaurant is slow - waited 10 minutes one night to get water and wine. The food is good, but not outstanding. The food in World Cafe is similar to other cruiselines with the exception of the shusi and seafood. Reservations for Chef's Table and Manfredi's are hard to come by. We had to settle for 8:30 reservations, even after checking for cancellations daily. We normally eat at 6:00. The ports of San Diego and Santa Barbara were switched, for an unknown reason so we missed our Ronald Reagan Library excursion. We didn't take the San Diego included excursion because people told us it wasn' t good and the tour guides weren't very knowledgeable. We found out today that our 2:00 pm inlcuded excursion in Victoria changed to 4:30 and we have to cancel that because we have massages booked at that time. Today we found out that we have to be out of our room on disembarkation day at 7:00 am and off the ship by 8:45am. That's very early - is that the norm? We have decided Viking is not for us. We don't feel that we got what we paid for.

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, cabogal said:

We are on the Orion now. This is our first and last cruise with Viking Ocean. We are underwhelmed and bored! We missed Santa Barbara due to rough seas so we had another boring sea day. There isn't much to do during the day. The music starts at 5:30 and we didn't get a real musical show until the 4th night. The service in the Restaurant is slow - waited 10 minutes one night to get water and wine. The food is good, but not outstanding. The food in World Cafe is similar to other cruiselines with the exception of the shusi and seafood. Reservations for Chef's Table and Manfredi's are hard to come by. We had to settle for 8:30 reservations, even after checking for cancellations daily. We normally eat at 6:00. The ports of San Diego and Santa Barbara were switched, for an unknown reason so we missed our Ronald Reagan Library excursion. We didn't take the San Diego included excursion because people told us it wasn' t good and the tour guides weren't very knowledgeable. We found out today that our 2:00 pm inlcuded excursion in Victoria changed to 4:30 and we have to cancel that because we have massages booked at that time. Today we found out that we have to be out of our room on disembarkation day at 7:00 am and off the ship by 8:45am. That's very early - is that the norm? We have decided Viking is not for us. We don't feel that we got what we paid for.

I could have written this from the week before!  We are also from AZ and this was our first and last Viking cruise, also!  There were many, many people we talked to from across the country who felt the same way!  Even repeat Viking cruisers.  I hope you submitted the mid cruise comment card and will give them feedback.  They need to hear it.
Prepare for the disparaging comments to begin, but you are not alone.

Are you still going to Astoria tomorrow?  because we missed that one, too.

It is truly too bad that they lost so many first time cruisers!  The ship itself was nice! 

Edited May 1, 2022 by takemewithyou

[Azulann]

Was there a historian on board and other lectures during the day on sea days? Sorry you missed couple of ports of call. It sounds like the Pacific  Coast itinerary  is a mess.  Did the weather have anything to so with missed  ports? 

As others have said be sure to let Viking know with your cruise comments cards.

Glad you posted your experience  on this forum.  

 

 

[Blackduck59]

@cabogal I feel your pain. We were on the first Pacific Coastal and I started this thread so people could add there thoughts good and bad about their Viking experience no mater what itinerary they sailed on. There have been some people on our voyage as well as subsequent ones that enjoyed their experience and will sail again, I welcome their points of view. There have been more people who don't believe the experience delivered, matched what we were expecting for the price charged.

How long are you scheduled in Victoria? Forget the included tour, take a taxi; ask them to take the Dallas Road route to Government Street and drop you off in front of the Empress Hotel. From there you can walk north on Government street and visit some lovely shops. If you like chocolate check out Rogers Chocolates, the shop itself is quite nice and the chocolates are very nice, they are made here in Victoria but no longer made at the shop. To get back to the ship you could use the water taxi to Fisherman's Wharf which is a 1 km walk from the cruise ship port. Enjoy the rest of your cruise as best you can and may your future voyages have fair winds and following seas.

[cabogal]

5 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

I could have written this from the week before!  We are also from AZ and this was our first and last Viking cruise, also!  There were many, many people we talked to from across the country who felt the same way!  Even repeat Viking cruisers.  I hope you submitted the mid cruise comment card and will give them feedback.  They need to hear it.
Prepare for the disparaging comments to begin, but you are not alone.

Are you still going to Astoria tomorrow?  because we missed that one, too.

It is truly too bad that they lost so many first time cruisers!  The ship itself was nice! 

Yes, I submitted the comment card and I hope some good will come of it. We are scheduled for Astoria tomorrow. The seas have been a bit rough and it's windy and chilly.

[cabogal]

4 hours ago, Azulann said:

Was there a historian on board and other lectures during the day on sea days? Sorry you missed couple of ports of call. It sounds like the Pacific  Coast itinerary  is a mess.  Did the weather have anything to so with missed  ports? 

As others have said be sure to let Viking know with your cruise comments cards.

Glad you posted your experience  on this forum.  

 

 

 

[cabogal]

Just now, cabogal said:

 

Yes there was a historian and other lecturers. We went to two that appealed to us. Yes, the weather was the reason we didn't stop in Santa Barbara.

[cabogal]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

@cabogal I feel your pain. We were on the first Pacific Coastal and I started this thread so people could add there thoughts good and bad about their Viking experience no mater what itinerary they sailed on. There have been some people on our voyage as well as subsequent ones that enjoyed their experience and will sail again, I welcome their points of view. There have been more people who don't believe the experience delivered, matched what we were expecting for the price charged.

How long are you scheduled in Victoria? Forget the included tour, take a taxi; ask them to take the Dallas Road route to Government Street and drop you off in front of the Empress Hotel. From there you can walk north on Government street and visit some lovely shops. If you like chocolate check out Rogers Chocolates, the shop itself is quite nice and the chocolates are very nice, they are made here in Victoria but no longer made at the shop. To get back to the ship you could use the water taxi to Fisherman's Wharf which is a 1 km walk from the cruise ship port. Enjoy the rest of your cruise as best you can and may your future voyages have fair winds and following seas.

We will be in Victoria from 8:00 to 4:30. Viking is providing a shuttle bus to take us to the city. We will do that instead of doing the included excursion. We have been to Victoria and we enjoyed our time there. It's a charming city. Unfortunately, the weather looks like rain.