1st time Viking Ocean- what are evenings like?

[ParrotheadG]

This will be our first Viking Ocean cruise, although we have done many “mass market” cruises.  We have also done a Viking River cruise. I’m curious as to evenings activities aboard Viking Ocean. I realize it’s much different from typical cruise ships, which is very welcome!  The river cruise was very low key, with just a pianist in the lounge at night, and occasional local musician.  Just trying to get an idea of what we can expect on the ocean cruise.  Thanks as always for everyone’s time and insights!

[WanderingBrit]

Very mellow, at least in our experience. We've never been awake late enough to sample Jazz at Torshavn, so can't comment on that. We attended only one musical review in the theatre and found it underwhelming - a repertoire of pop classics all delivered with the same modest energy level.

 

There will soften be a movie on the big screen above the pool, with popcorn.

 

There's usually classical music in The Living room, piano or strings, and a musician in The Explorer's Lounge - guitarist or pianist accompanying themselves as they sing typically. It's very relaxing and entirely conducive to early-to-bed types like us 🙂

Edited February 20 by WanderingBrit

[OnTheJourney]

To my recollection, there is some form of entertainment in the theater most nights. Viking has gotten to be just a tad more mainstream in that regard being that there is a group of quite talented singers / dancers who put on more of a production-style show similar to what RCL or X does but on a smaller scale. In comparison, our first Viking cruise featured more solo / duet entertainment. The resident pianist plays in the atrium area every evening and other times during the day. Other venues, like the lounges, also will have evening entertainment. Can't speak to it being every night since we don't really attend much of that. Then, there's usually a resident guitarist who also shows up at various times and venues. I'm sure you'll enjoy your first ocean experience. Similar to what you refer to about river cruising, you'll find Viking ocean to indeed be a more laid-back, relaxing and quiet environment than a larger ship where there's alot going on most all the time. We love it for that. Lots of nice places to just sit and read as well.

[OnTheJourney]

7 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

We attended only one musical review in the theatre and found it underwhelming - a repertoire of pop classics all delivered with the same modest energy level.

I had a different experience with this, thinking that the dance / singing corps was quite good and performed enthusiastically. Thanks for mentioning the strings. Often it's a cello and violin duo. I will add this, however, which goes along with my comment about having gone a bit more mainstream: The one resident pianist, who plays astoundingly well in her classical repertoire, seemed to have shifted more to arrangements of pop/show music from various time periods. Somehow it just didn't seem an ideal 'fit'' for her style and surely underutilized her talents. I deem it highly possible that some guests, over recent years - being used to pop music on other ships - may have commented that Viking tends too much to a primarily classical format in the live music, and so a change was made. That's pure conjecture on my part however. Somehow never expected a rousing chorus in the theater of "Sweet Caroline" on Viking, but, nothing stays the same.

Edited February 20 by OnTheJourney

[CDNPolar]

We love the Star Theatre and even though it is not a "big show" we have always been entertained with the evening show.  

 

The only complaint that we have is there is not enough variety of show material across the Ocean itineraries.  It is kind of like when you fly a lot, you have watched every movie on the plane that you are interested in and you are forced to watch something again on your next flight.

 

With Viking, we have seen the Abba and other standard performances a few times now and would like some variety.  The only variety with this is a different crew of four (2 female and 2 male) performing the show.

 

We have found the Cruise Director led reviews very good and there will usually be one of these.  We have also had magicians, and other types of entertainment brought on board for some variety.

 

We only look at this as 45 minutes after dinner before we go to bed.  We don't have high expectations for this entertainment which is why we are generally always entertained and content with the show.

 

We have only been to Torshavn once with friends that we were travelling with and we were good with the Viking Band and singers, because they also perform on the Star Theatre stage, but we found the venue itself to be claustrophobically small and low ceilings.  It was too tightly packed and too loud for our tastes.

 

We do like the guitarist, the pianist, and the strings that rotate from the Living Room to the Explorer Lounge at night.

[duquephart]

26 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

We love the Star Theatre and even though it is not a "big show" we have always been entertained with the evening show.  

 

The only complaint that we have is there is not enough variety of show material across the Ocean itineraries.  It is kind of like when you fly a lot, you have watched every movie on the plane that you are interested in and you are forced to watch something again on your next flight.

 

With Viking, we have seen the Abba and other standard performances a few times now and would like some variety.  The only variety with this is a different crew of four (2 female and 2 male) performing the show.

 

We have found the Cruise Director led reviews very good and there will usually be one of these.  We have also had magicians, and other types of entertainment brought on board for some variety.

 

We only look at this as 45 minutes after dinner before we go to bed.  We don't have high expectations for this entertainment which is why we are generally always entertained and content with the show.

 

We have only been to Torshavn once with friends that we were travelling with and we were good with the Viking Band and singers, because they also perform on the Star Theatre stage, but we found the venue itself to be claustrophobically small and low ceilings.  It was too tightly packed and too loud for our tastes.

 

We do like the guitarist, the pianist, and the strings that rotate from the Living Room to the Explorer Lounge at night.

 

I have yet to be "forced to watch" a movie on an airplane. On which airline does this typically occur? 

[CDNPolar]

1 minute ago, duquephart said:

 

I have yet to be "forced to watch" a movie on an airplane. On which airline does this typically occur? 

 

Oh, my....  Every airline when you are flying for 13+ hours and you have not downloaded Netflix to your phone or tablet.  If I want to be entertained, I force myself to watch something again.

 

Only YOU can force YOU to watch something again.... haha.

[taiwan_girl]

Pretty quiet as others have said.  The house band moves over to Torshavn after the show in the Star Theater, and often, some of the singers perform there as well.  Our four young adult kids had fun, as did we, but a Viking ship is definitely not a place for late night carousing.  

 

I thought the shows were good, but we had pretty clear expectations before getting aboard.

[VacayAddict]

We were in the Viking Neptune over the holidays and were so surprised by the excellent shows each evening in the Star Thestre! Really great and a good variety of entertainers.

[chipmaster]

We did our first Viking Ocean and found it about what you’d expect on a smaller ship designed for older folks.

 

Others have already described the evening options.  If a more active and high level is what you are looking for Viking will be a disappointment.  As we were sailing for the ports and better food we didn’t find the more slower and limiting options disappointing, appropriate for the demographics is probably what it is, LOL

[CDNPolar]

37 minutes ago, chipmaster said:

We did our first Viking Ocean and found it about what you’d expect on a smaller ship designed for older folks.

 

Others have already described the evening options.  If a more active and high level is what you are looking for Viking will be a disappointment.  As we were sailing for the ports and better food we didn’t find the more slower and limiting options disappointing, appropriate for the demographics is probably what it is, LOL

 

I agree that Viking is appropriate for the main demographic that is the Viking guest, BUT, we are younger than the main demographic and we love the Viking atmosphere.  We don't want the noise, crowds, casinos, etc.  We enjoy the more sedate atmosphere of the Viking experience.

 

I sometimes think that Viking have a reputation that suggests only the older crowd will enjoy.  We think that more would enjoy Viking if they gave it a try.

[chipmaster]

13 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I agree that Viking is appropriate for the main demographic that is the Viking guest, BUT, we are younger than the main demographic and we love the Viking atmosphere.  We don't want the noise, crowds, casinos, etc.  We enjoy the more sedate atmosphere of the Viking experience.

 

I sometimes think that Viking have a reputation that suggests only the older crowd will enjoy.  We think that more would enjoy Viking if they gave it a try.

A couple things that could be considered that is probably consistent with the old folks 😉   Longer gym and spa hours,  not everyone stops and goes too bed that early 

[CDNPolar]

35 minutes ago, chipmaster said:

A couple things that could be considered that is probably consistent with the old folks 😉   Longer gym and spa hours,  not everyone stops and goes too bed that early 

 

Very true on the gym and spa hours, but if I am not mistaken, I have always understood that after the spa and gym closes for the night, it is available to some crew.

I may be wrong with this, but this is what I understand.  

[duquephart]

10 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Very true on the gym and spa hours, but if I am not mistaken, I have always understood that after the spa and gym closes for the night, it is available to some crew.

I may be wrong with this, but this is what I understand.  

 

Do we care what happens after it closes?

[chipmaster]

25 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Very true on the gym and spa hours, but if I am not mistaken, I have always understood that after the spa and gym closes for the night, it is available to some crew.

I may be wrong with this, but this is what I understand.  

Well good for the crew.  I hear after the restaurants close the crew also works to clean it.  Neither is relevant to me.

 

i have never been on a cruise where the gym hours were so short and limiting.  I appreciate most of the demographic spends little to no time exercise, Still leaving it open probably late and early probably not going to impact nor limit the crew.   
 

I did squeeze in some workouts and would have no issue working out with the crew over the other passengers.

Edited February 22 by chipmaster

[geordie_jim]

Whilst sytle of music and entertainment are very subjective, for those looking for something a little (it is Viking !) bit more upbeat, generally the guitarists/singer in the explorer lounge (pretty much most nights) have ranged from good to brilliant for us , the last cruise we were on in Nov 23 had John as the Guitarist and I would say he fell into the category of brilliant, he did a session in Torshvan once at around 9:30PM and opened with Stairway to heaven and the already quite full Torshvan crowd appreciated his performance with a standing ovation. Torshvan can be pretty lively , we have had many a late evening dancing the night away, but as is often the case it depends on the crowd on the ship, if you want this style of fun , it is there. 

[CDNPolar]

33 minutes ago, chipmaster said:

Well good for the crew.  I hear after the restaurants close the crew also works to clean it.  Neither is relevant to me.

 

i have never been on a cruise where the gym hours were so short and limiting.  I appreciate most of the demographic spends little to no time exercise, Still leaving it open probably late and early probably not going to impact nor limit the crew.   
 

I did squeeze in some workouts and would have no issue working out with the crew over the other passengers.

 

Then write Viking asking for extended hours.  I was just sharing what I understood to be the situation and could have something to do with the hours.

 

If you don't like the hours - write them and investigate why for yourself.

[katlew]

We're on the younger side of Viking guests too, but are not into shows or casinos, so Viking is just rignt for us. We did go to one show on our last cruise & it was enjoyable. We liked the guitar player in the evenings in the Explorer lounge playing songs we all knew. Torshaven was definitely the hopping, louder place in the evening with the band and dancing & it was packed most night of our last cruise. They also showed a movie on night on the pool deck & had a party on the pool deck with the band another night. 

[epimom007]

We will be cruising from Rome to Venice on the Viking Jupiter in April. What time are the shows, typically? We weren’t able to get dinner reservations earlier than 8-8:30, and fear we will miss the entertainment. 
 

thanks. 

[Zippeedee]

6 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

Do we care what happens after it closes?

I care. If opening the spa and gym to crew members after 8pm helps them be happier, healthier employees, that benefits everyone.

[chipmaster]

12 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Then write Viking asking for extended hours.  I was just sharing what I understood to be the situation and could have something to do with the hours.

 

If you don't like the hours - write them and investigate why for yourself.

Yup… I did, LOL

[chipmaster]

6 hours ago, epimom007 said:

We will be cruising from Rome to Venice on the Viking Jupiter in April. What time are the shows, typically? We weren’t able to get dinner reservations earlier than 8-8:30, and fear we will miss the entertainment. 
 

thanks. 

On our cruise the shows started 8:30 or 9pm

[CDNPolar]

22 hours ago, epimom007 said:

We will be cruising from Rome to Venice on the Viking Jupiter in April. What time are the shows, typically? We weren’t able to get dinner reservations earlier than 8-8:30, and fear we will miss the entertainment. 
 

thanks. 

 

Some cruises, there are 2 shows, one earlier and later.  Not on every cruise.

 

Dining reservations are not necessary for "The Restaurant" which is the main dining room.  You can walk in anytime. 

[formernuke]

NOt quite the same, but the shows are also available some time later on the room TV's.

[SJD117]

Sedate.