Sea vs Orion

[OneSixtyToOne]

17 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Interesting, as that was not my memory when we were on the ship! Oh well.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruise/viking-ocean/viking-jupiter#

 

Photo dated 4/27/2019 Barcelona to Copenhagen 

She arrived from Rome on her maiden. We remember following her maiden because there was an incident with a tugboat that caused a dent and we were concerned it would impact our trip.

Edited May 16 by OneSixtyToOne

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

This is what I thought, and this would be done in a season that the ship is either due to reposition, or when they can afford to have a ship out of service.  This is very similar to a hotel schedule of 5 years for complete refurbishment, but hotels will just shut down a floor or portion of a floor at a time.

 

I believe that our resident merchant mariners (Heidi13, Jim Avery and chengkp75) have explained that there is a required dry docking every 5 years and that it is definitely built into the ship's itinerary well in advance.  While the required operational checks are carried out there is time for refurbishing the hotel space.

 

In the meantime, maintenance and repair is ongoing.  

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

My understanding from reading CC these last years is that each ship is refurbished every five years and taken out of circulation for a few months for that purpose.

 

From what I've read here over the years, it is just a two-week lay up and usually somewhere along the route already planned. 

 

It is amazing how much they can get done when there are no guests to get in the way and they can work as many hours a day as necessary.

[rmalbers]

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

This is what I thought, and this would be done in a season that the ship is either due to reposition, or when they can afford to have a ship out of service.  This is very similar to a hotel schedule of 5 years for complete refurbishment, but hotels will just shut down a floor or portion of a floor at a time.

Ya, I've seen that in hotel reviews and even pictures posted with the reviews.  One person will say the room was great and another will say their room was in terrible shape.  The pictures will show different furnishings, etc, in the same hotel!

[photopro2]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:03 AM, CCWineLover said:

There are some differences between the ships you mention Sea and Orion.

One significant difference I would point out is that the first three ships, including The Sea, do not have slide-down windows in the main pool deck area. Sliding windows on the later ships add more flexible ventilation options in addition to opening the roof. We find that the main pool decks on later ships are less likely to get too hot as a result.

[MikeyB]

On 5/16/2024 at 10:42 AM, Mich3554 said:

The Orion is probably slated for refurbishment.  We got off it on 5/14 as well and don’t agree with what was said totally.  In fact, meals in Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s were some of the best we have had.  We had excellent cabin attendants, and mostly ok service in WC.  
While we were on board, the carpet was replaced in the corridors.  DH noted that the floor in the Explorer’s lounge was buckling, near where it opens to the outside deck.  However, we noted this on the Jupiter as well, so suspect that there may be design issues with these 2 ships, since they were built about the same time.  

I also got off the Orion on May14th.

All staff I encountered were very pleasant.  Food in the Restaurant was very good.  They actually served lobster three times which surprised me.

Enjoyed having a "do over" on May 2nd when we crossed the date line.

The ship was in good shape. There was some wear and tear but that can happen in the first year of a new build.

[lisaatric]

On 4/3/2024 at 8:03 PM, CCWineLover said:

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.

We had drawers in our closet on the Sea last year. Maybe they’ve updated the rooms?