Sea vs Orion

[RobinB13]

Has anyone been on both ships?  I know they are supposed to be identical but with Sea a couple years older, is it showing more wear?  Trying to decide on a date for a cruise and not sure if that should be a factor.  Thanks.

[CCWineLover]

1 minute ago, RobinB13 said:

Has anyone been on both ships?  I know they are supposed to be identical but with Sea a couple years older, is it showing more wear?  Trying to decide on a date for a cruise and not sure if that should be a factor.  Thanks.

We've been on all the Ocean ships (not counting Sun).

The 9 (not counting Sun) Viking Ocean Ships currently sailing are the "Star" class.  They are all nearly identical with some slight differences.  Viking made changes to improve things as they moved from each group of three -  1st group: Star, Sea, Sky   2nd group:  Orion, Jupiter, Venus  3rd group: Mars, Neptune, Saturn

 

There are some differences between the ships you mention Sea and Orion.  Orion is really not that much younger than Sea.  However, Orion was the first that has a Planetarium on Deck 8 of Explorer's Lounge (Jupiter is the only other one with it.  It was cancelled on future ships).  Orion also was the first to implement a food "station" in the World Cafe that you walk up to.  (Around the corner from the Gelato area and across from the Aquavit Bar in the back).  Now it serves Asian dishes Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.  Quite popular.

The first group (Sea included) also did not have drawers in the closets for DV and V rooms - just shelves.  They were added on the later groups.

 

As for showing wear, people who've been on VERY recently would have to answer that.

 

Between these two I'm not sure I'd be too worried, but no doubt there will be strong opinions one way or the other from folks.

[millybess]

4 minutes ago, RobinB13 said:

Has anyone been on both ships?  I know they are supposed to be identical but with Sea a couple years older, is it showing more wear?  Trying to decide on a date for a cruise and not sure if that should be a factor.  Thanks.

We will be on Orion for the first time next week.

 

We have mostly sailed on Sea, and as recently as January. We really like Sea and we haven’t noticed any wear. 

 

 

[millybess]

Just to add: dates, itinerary and availability of preferred cabin and location would be our deciding factors, not the ship. 

[RobinB13]

We do have a deposit down on Alaska for next year but haven’t had the final payment yet.  It is on Orion PV and has the door vs slider.  I am trying to decide if I should switch the cruise date, and ship to Sea, to get a slider.  It just sounds more appealing to me.

[wine-wine-wine]

We prefer ships without the planetarium as it uses precious Explorers Lounge space. But given the right timing, price and itinerary we would happily sail any of them. 

[CDNPolar]

Our experience is that Viking keep their ships up well.  The ship is not your deciding factor, the itinerary is, IMO.

[kag3120]

We were just on the Orion (Feb-Mar).   FYI, the planetarium was there but CLOSED for the duration of our itinerary (Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to Bali). And, I  believe it was expected to remain closed for the duration of this entire cruise (Grand Pacific Explorer—several legs, ending in May in Vancouver). 
 

They did have an astronomer on board, but still, we were disappointed. I do agree it takes lots of space in the upper Explorers Lounge, especially when it’s not open anyway☹️

 

PS. best I could tell, the ship appeared to be in excellent condition. That said, I didn’t really explore all that much. 

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, kag3120 said:

We were just on the Orion (Feb-Mar).   FYI, the planetarium was there but CLOSED for the duration of our itinerary (Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to Bali). And, I  believe it was expected to remain closed for the duration of this entire cruise (Grand Pacific Explorer—several legs, ending in May in Vancouver). 
 

They did have an astronomer on board, but still, we were disappointed. I do agree it takes lots of space in the upper Explorers Lounge, especially when it’s not open anyway☹️

 

PS. best I could tell, the ship appeared to be in excellent condition. That said, I didn’t really explore all that much. 

IMHO, you didn't miss anything in the Planetarium.  It was worthless (well, not totally, but definitely a 3 on a scale of 10).

Would be nice if they took the 2 of them (with Jupiter) out of the 8th floor and opened it up again.

[LindaS272]

56 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

IMHO, you didn't miss anything in the Planetarium.  It was worthless (well, not totally, but definitely a 3 on a scale of 10).

Would be nice if they took the 2 of them (with Jupiter) out of the 8th floor and opened it up again.

I’d only give it a 2! 🔭

[Mich3554]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:16 AM, RobinB13 said:

We do have a deposit down on Alaska for next year but haven’t had the final payment yet.  It is on Orion PV and has the door vs slider.  I am trying to decide if I should switch the cruise date, and ship to Sea, to get a slider.  It just sounds more appealing to me.

We are currently in a PV with a slider.  We did the world cruise with a door, and TBH I really don’t find it that much of a difference.  I find slider is harder to open and harder to secure.

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

IMHO, you didn't miss anything in the Planetarium.  It was worthless (well, not totally, but definitely a 3 on a scale of 10).

Would be nice if they took the 2 of them (with Jupiter) out of the 8th floor and opened it up again.

 

I agree with the planetarium.  We have sailed twice with a planetarium and the first time we were so excited and rushed to sigh up and wait at the doors, and were totally underwhelmed and almost fell asleep.

 

The last time was as @CCWineLover indicated a 3 out of 10 at the most.

 

I came into this from a city - Toronto - that had a full scale planetarium connected to our Royal Ontario Museum.  This was a massive dome and you were almost lying down in your chair.  It was one of the most memorable experiences that I have every had in "theatre" and the Viking experience was meh.

 

Even if we sail on a ship in the future with a Planetarium, we won't even bother to sign up unless they were offering OBC to do so!