Viking Ocean and River Cruises

[CDNPolar]

Met my husband 9 years ago and we have been married for 7 years now.  When I met my husband, he had never been on a cruise before.  I had been on large ships and was not crazy about my experience on a large ship.

 

We watched a lot of PBS shows and especially during Downton Abbey we would see Viking advertisements.  The ads were appealing to us and our tastes - or so we thought.

 

We were excited to do our first cruise and it was an Ocean cruise.  Our second was River.  We have now done 5 Viking cruises, which would have been 7 or 8 by now if the pandemic did not get in our way.

 

Viking does attract an older demographic, and Viking does not have the nightclubs and casinos, but this is more our style anyway.  Quiet enjoyment of the culture and the food where you are travelling.

 

If you are looking for a great vacation, with great food, great service, great crew, then you should consider Viking.

 

Ocean ships are 930 guests and River ships depend on the river, but range from 60'ish to 180'ish guests.

[AvidCruiserToo]

We have our fourth river cruise with Viking scheduled for next April on the Douro. We thoroughly enjoyed each and look forward to the next one. The excursions and learning about the various locations along with meeting such great people is what makes Viking a perfect fit for us.

[CDNPolar]

We met life-long friends on our first Viking ocean cruise, and they have met us on three cruises since.

 

Each cruise, we meet great people and learn so much about the countries we are in.

 

We are seeing an increasing number of LGBT couples on Viking cruises, and hope to see more and more in the future.

 

We are far beyond the party phase of our lives - not that anyone who wants to party should not - and Viking fits our style completely.

[Canberra601]

We have also done one Viking Ocean cruise, and scheduled to do our next one in January 2023.  The vibe on Viking suits us well.  

[alijay]

My wife is transgender and we are considering a Viking Expedition to Antarctica.  We have been on 2 Viking Ocean cruises before she transitioned, and we haven't traveled at all since transition.  Do you foresee any issues for us?  I know it all depends on the other people on the cruise, but am just looking for some thoughts.   

[CDNPolar]

I was more worried on our first Viking cruise than my husband was.  

 

I am about to say something that may not be popular with some reading this thread, but the comments are with all due respect, if that is possible.

 

My fears were based around the fact that 70% plus of Viking's guests are Americans.  I am Canadian.  In Canada we are not free from discrimination, but we have a significantly better social acceptance of 2SLGBTQ than the USA.  I was fearful that we would be subject to discrimination by the guests, NOT the crew.  I personally have American cousins that have a problem accepting my husband and I.  They hide it well in most cases, but if the truth were known, they don't accept us.

 

What I found was that the guests on Viking ships (we have been on 6 Viking cruises now) are well travelled and overall very accepting and we have never felt any overt discrimination.

 

My husband is younger than I am and there were people in the spa one day chuckling about us and we heard them refer to me as the "sugar daddy" but to me that was laughable and an age thing rather than a gay thing....  And had I been face-to-face with this comment, I would have laughed and corrected them to the fact that my younger husband out earns me significantly.   He in effect is the "sugar daddy" if we go by annual salary and earnings.  Haha. 

 

I personally think that you will be fine.  I don't know what a Viking Antarctica cruise draws in demographics, but my general understanding of Antarctica expeditions is that they draw a wider range of nationalities than a typical cruise itinerary.

 

We leave for Antarctica this December, but we are travelling on Hurtigruten over Viking.  Viking had just entered into the expedition market when we were booking and as much as we enjoy Viking, Hurtigruten was significantly less expensive for the same cruise.  Significantly with a CAPITAL S.

 

With Viking, I don't ever see you having any issues with the Crew.  I feel that Viking Crew are extremely open, accepting, and very humble with everyone.  

 

It is sad that we have to worry about these things when we all just want to be our authentic selves and live our lives.

 

I hope you will share your experience once you have completed your voyage!

 

 

[CDNPolar]

On 9/4/2022 at 2:33 PM, alijay said:

My wife is transgender and we are considering a Viking Expedition to Antarctica.  We have been on 2 Viking Ocean cruises before she transitioned, and we haven't traveled at all since transition.  Do you foresee any issues for us?  I know it all depends on the other people on the cruise, but am just looking for some thoughts.   

 

[charliedalrymple]

We did a Viking river cruise (Danube) and consider it one of our best cruising experience.  We love the small size of the ship and relaxed pace, as well as a generally well-traveled and open-minded group of passengers.  I believe we were the only gay people on board, but we met a group of four women traveling together who have become longtime friends. They actually joined us for an Alaska cruise on my 60th birthday.