First Viking ocean cruise-Review

[glenr]

We just returned from the Barcelona to Rome journey on Viking Sky. The only real issue was the change of departure port from Barcelona to Tarragona. I have a separate post where I covered that mess so won't delve deeper here. Having cruised Seabourn I was looking for a smaller ship and the Sky seemed to fit the bill. It is a lovely ship, well appointed and laid out. Our stateroom was very nice and I found the food venues all good to excellent. In some ways the service actually exceeded my prior experiences with Seabourn and that's a high bar. In fairness to Seabourn it has been some years since my last cruise with them. The Covid protocols were well organized. The embarkation went smoothly and the organization of the excursions went flawlessly. I really liked Viking Ocean. My only negative comment, and this is not on Viking, is that a lot of the passengers were old (and I'm 66) and less than sociable. I'm not sure if this is due to cross selling the river cruise folks or if it is even typical for their other cruises. Dress on board was rather casual which is fine, but there was the occasional baseball cap turned backwards and requests to wear shorts in the dining room. I was one of a few men who brought a sport jacket. We did meet some nice people of course but I was surprised to see how many kept to themselves. I would consider another cruise with Viking but may give Seabourn a try again. The latter seemed to have a somewhat more sophisticated crowd. I'm sorry if that sounds elitist, but there were people signing up for simple flat walking tours who couldn't even handle those. As I said earlier, I can't say enough about the staff on board. Truly excellent.

[duquephart]

I can still walk pretty good but some "simple flat walking tours" are what others might call forced marches.

[Mich3554]

1 hour ago, glenr said:

We just returned from the Barcelona to Rome journey on Viking Sky. The only real issue was the change of departure port from Barcelona to Tarragona. I have a separate post where I covered that mess so won't delve deeper here. Having cruised Seabourn I was looking for a smaller ship and the Sky seemed to fit the bill. It is a lovely ship, well appointed and laid out. Our stateroom was very nice and I found the food venues all good to excellent. In some ways the service actually exceeded my prior experiences with Seabourn and that's a high bar. In fairness to Seabourn it has been some years since my last cruise with them. The Covid protocols were well organized. The embarkation went smoothly and the organization of the excursions went flawlessly. I really liked Viking Ocean. My only negative comment, and this is not on Viking, is that a lot of the passengers were old (and I'm 66) and less than sociable. I'm not sure if this is due to cross selling the river cruise folks or if it is even typical for their other cruises. Dress on board was rather casual which is fine, but there was the occasional baseball cap turned backwards and requests to wear shorts in the dining room. I was one of a few men who brought a sport jacket. We did meet some nice people of course but I was surprised to see how many kept to themselves. I would consider another cruise with Viking but may give Seabourn a try again. The latter seemed to have a somewhat more sophisticated crowd. I'm sorry if that sounds elitist, but there were people signing up for simple flat walking tours who couldn't even handle those. As I said earlier, I can't say enough about the staff on board. Truly excellent.

In reality, keeping to one’s self might be a result of Covid rather than sociability.  I noticed this was true on our last few cruises, that many were trying to keep their own bubble within the ship.  We pretty much did it on our last river cruise, to try to minimize the likelihood of getting booted off.  
 

[Twitchly]

35 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

In reality, keeping to one’s self might be a result of Covid rather than sociability.  I noticed this was true on our last few cruises, that many were trying to keep their own bubble within the ship.  We pretty much did it on our last river cruise, to try to minimize the likelihood of getting booted off.  
 

That’s what I would have assumed, too. When we cruised on Viking pre-Covid, people seemed quite friendly and gregarious. 

[TayanaLorna]

3 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

In reality, keeping to one’s self might be a result of Covid rather than sociability.  I noticed this was true on our last few cruises, that many were trying to keep their own bubble within the ship.  We pretty much did it on our last river cruise, to try to minimize the likelihood of getting booted off.  
 

We completely kept to ourselves on our first 2021 cruise in July.   For the year+ prior to our November we had a very active Roll Call and learned who was following the same strict Covid protocols that we were doing beforehand.  We met and socialized with those people the most.  So yes, I would say it is Covid caused.

[glenr]

27 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

We completely kept to ourselves on our first 2021 cruise in July.   For the year+ prior to our November we had a very active Roll Call and learned who was following the same strict Covid protocols that we were doing beforehand.  We met and socialized with those people the most.  So yes, I would say it is Covid caused.

Given that most of the people on the cruise were on an 8 to 9 hour airplane flight, airport environment, and transfer buses it’s hard to believe that Covid on board would be such a concern after all that. You were surrounded by seven or 800 other passengers. There is no way to avoid contact if there was an infected person aboard. we had to do saliva PCR test every single morning. You would think that would alleviate some of the concern.

[lackcreativity]

On our first post Covid cruise in April, I must admit there was a somewhat different vibe from our previous cruises. One member of the couple we befriended from Australia seemed to hit the nail on the head when she asked at dinner one night, "Why do people seem so grouchy?" She noted that a lot of people just weren't smiling very much. I can't say she was wrong in her observation. 

 

We personally were delighted with our trip, but I will acknowledge that it was a lot more stressful than previous trips. So many more things to do to prepare than normal and so many more things that could go wrong, but that did not keep us from having a good time. However, I was aware of those issues. There was even an undercurrent of some who were unhappy with the level of precautions that were required, and some were unhappy with the ignoring of rules by others.

 

Being away from cruising, that so many of us love, may have left some people with unreasonable expectations upon their return. In the broader aspect, how many of us have seen behavior out in public lately very much out of proportion to the problem at hand? It is as if the two years of pandemic restrictions have left such frustration that some have forgotten how to behave. 

 

Sorry, rant over!

Glenr, this was not a very gracious welcome to your post about your first Viking cruise. It just seemed that you were touching on something that has been on my mind since our return. 

Please give us another chance. Hopefully we will find our way back to happier times!

Edited June 14, 2022 by lackcreativity

[Azulann]

Thank you for posting your review of your first Viking Cruise.

Good to know the service and food met your expectation, coming from Seabourn.

Sorry  the vibe from passengers were not more jolly. 

I wonder if  not having "meet and greets"  sponsored by CC and Viking , and lack of roll call posting  contribute to the more distancing of passengers on  a cruise. 

I always looked forward to meeting the roll call folks in person  once on board. Having a meet and greet always had a great turnout and a early way to meet intern  passengers in a relaxing venue. 

I do hope CC  will "unpause" their Meet and Greet sign up  sometime this year. 

Hope you try Viking again  in the near future.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Azulann

[rizello]

Glenr, I appreciate your review.  We had our first Viking ocean cruise last August when we were in a bubble.  I do admit I was nervous about mingling a lot to minimize getting caught and having to quarantine overseas for several weeks.

 

I'm going on a river cruise next month and with the relaxation of the testing rules, I am looking forward to the opportunity to mingle.

[Ontario/AZ]

21 hours ago, glenr said:

We just returned from the Barcelona to Rome journey on Viking Sky. The only real issue was the change of departure port from Barcelona to Tarragona. I have a separate post where I covered that mess so won't delve deeper here. Having cruised Seabourn I was looking for a smaller ship and the Sky seemed to fit the bill. It is a lovely ship, well appointed and laid out. Our stateroom was very nice and I found the food venues all good to excellent. In some ways the service actually exceeded my prior experiences with Seabourn and that's a high bar. In fairness to Seabourn it has been some years since my last cruise with them. The Covid protocols were well organized. The embarkation went smoothly and the organization of the excursions went flawlessly. I really liked Viking Ocean. My only negative comment, and this is not on Viking, is that a lot of the passengers were old (and I'm 66) and less than sociable. I'm not sure if this is due to cross selling the river cruise folks or if it is even typical for their other cruises. Dress on board was rather casual which is fine, but there was the occasional baseball cap turned backwards and requests to wear shorts in the dining room. I was one of a few men who brought a sport jacket. We did meet some nice people of course but I was surprised to see how many kept to themselves. I would consider another cruise with Viking but may give Seabourn a try again. The latter seemed to have a somewhat more sophisticated crowd. I'm sorry if that sounds elitist, but there were people signing up for simple flat walking tours who couldn't even handle those. As I said earlier, I can't say enough about the staff on board. Truly excellent.

We have taken many Viking Ocean cruises before COVID.  I agree that many folks do not seem that friendly.  Many were seniors and my husband and I are 72 and 73 but we are still friendly and chat, etc.  I guess it is each to their own.  

[lackcreativity]

1 hour ago, Ontario/AZ said:

We have taken many Viking Ocean cruises before COVID.  I agree that many folks do not seem that friendly.  Many were seniors and my husband and I are 72 and 73 but we are still friendly and chat, etc.  I guess it is each to their own.  

Just curious, are you saying that even during your cruises before Covid you found that many people were not that friendly? That surprises me. On our previous cruises I found people generally very friendly and easy to strike up a conversation with at a nearby table or on an excursion.

We might often be the first ones to start a conversation, or even offer seats at our table to someone wandering through a somewhat crowded World Cafe. We have made a few travel buddies that way. I look forward to people warming up as time goes by and Covid becomes something we live with  more easily.

 

[Ontario/AZ]

Lackcreativity,  I find that people that travel with another couple or two, don't go out of their way to be friendly.  I am always greeting with a smile and a few words.  Of course, the 930 on board were not all unfriendly. We have met a few travel buddies as well but that was river cruises in China and Cambodia/Vietnam.  Those were almost 30 days long so you do spend many hours together.  Anyway, I will see how it is this time.  Doesn't matter we will have a great time on our next 4 booked Viking cruises.