Viking Sea DV questions

[Ready to Sail!]

I think I read that the  3 drawers in the closet on the newer ships  had been added  to the Sea and Star. Is this correct?  Any reason to avoid these 2 older ships?  I have also read that the WC options (meaning stations) are better on the newer ships?  Any opinions?  We've only been on the Star and that was pre drawers.  We have Jupiter and Mars coming up but looking at Sea for Panama Canal.  We have done the Canal in 2003 on Princess and want to repeat on smaller ship. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[OneSixtyToOne]

The Sea, Star, and Sky do not have the small Asian food station way in the back of the WC, by the Aquavit terrace/bar. Other than that, and the two ships with the planetarium (Jupiter and ?), the ships are all the same. 

 

Not sure if the 3 older ships all have the drawer upgrades.

Edited June 10 by OneSixtyToOne

[duquephart]

(Jupiter and ?) = Orion.

[FetaCheese]

Was on Star DV in March. No drawers in closet.

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

I think I read that the  3 drawers in the closet on the newer ships  had been added  to the Sea and Star. Is this correct?  Any reason to avoid these 2 older ships?  I have also read that the WC options (meaning stations) are better on the newer ships?  Any opinions?  We've only been on the Star and that was pre drawers.  We have Jupiter and Mars coming up but looking at Sea for Panama Canal.  We have done the Canal in 2003 on Princess and want to repeat on smaller ship. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/

In my opinion, Star is looking it’s age. We were on in Dec-Jan 2021-22 and then again in Feb. 2024.  Two years ago we had a cabin with a ripped pleather couch.  This year, I don’t know, everything just looked tired.  I wouldn’t necessarily avoid it, but our cruise on the much newer Neptune a month ago was much nicer.  Can’t speak to the drawers, since we always book PV which has drawers in the closet.

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Not sure if the 3 older ships all have the drawer upgrades.

 

They -- Star, Sky & Sea -- do not.

 

I prefer not having the drawers in the closet (but the itinerary determines the ship -- not vice versa -- and I take what I get).

-- I like having 5 feet of uninterrupted hanging space, especially when we are traveling in winter and have winter gear to deal with. 

-- I'm happy hanging all of our shirts, pants and trousers in the closet, and that doesn't happen as easily with the drawers in closet configuration.

-- Also, I can't reach the hanging bar above the drawers at all (I'm 5ft tall), which is another reason I don't like the configuration.

-- Without the drawers, there is plenty of shelf above the hanging rail that DH reaches easily and equally as much room on the floor of the closet for shoes (and winter boots).

 

But then again, we pack light (1 carry-on, 1 back-pack each) and this also makes a difference no matter which ship we are on.

[photopro2]

6 hours ago, Ready to Sail! said:

We have Jupiter and Mars coming up but looking at Sea for Panama Canal.

 

As well as the lack of that set of draws on Sea, a bigger difference to my mind is that the first 3 ships do not have the crew-operated, opening side windows in the main pool area. We have found that these are helpful as they allow more ventilation in that area and can sometimes avoid it becoming overly hot.

This is not so relevant for the Panama Canal perhaps, as side windows on newer ships would most likely be kept closed anyway, because of potential issues with bugs.

[FetaCheese]

10 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

In my opinion, Star is looking it’s age. We were on in Dec-Jan 2021-22 and then again in Feb. 2024.  Two years ago we had a cabin with a ripped pleather couch.  This year, I don’t know, everything just looked tired.  I wouldn’t necessarily avoid it, but our cruise on the much newer Neptune a month ago was much nicer.  Can’t speak to the drawers, since we always book PV which has drawers in the closet.

Was told by several crew in both January and March this year, that Star is going into drydock in November, and ship to be refurbished as well.

Edited June 11 by FetaCheese

[kctwinmommy]

I somehow thought we were on the Jupiter for our cruise next year, but now I see it's the Sea. I didn't realize that, or that it was an older one.

[TayanaLorna]

Jupiter and Mars have the additional drawers.  The Star and Sea are the last ones needing the upgrade.  As others mentioned, the Star is due for dry dock upgrades and hopefully drawers will be added.  I think the majority want more drawers.  Sea will most likely go into dry dock in 2025.  We sailed on the Sea in 2023 and did notice deteriation in our cabin furniture but more so on the veranda furniture.  It was falling apart from sun damage and unpleasant to sit upon.  The rest of the ship was Bristol so maybe just some cabins.

[kctwinmommy]

1 minute ago, TayanaLorna said:

Jupiter and Mars have the additional drawers.  The Star and Sea are the last ones needing the upgrade.  As others mentioned, the Star is due for dry dock upgrades and hopefully drawers will be added.  I think the majority want more drawers.  Sea will most likely go into dry dock in 2025.  We sailed on the Sea in 2023 and did notice deteriation in our cabin furniture but more so on the veranda furniture.  It was falling apart from sun damage and unpleasant to sit upon.  The rest of the ship was Bristol so maybe just some cabins.

Ohhh... wonder if she'll go into drydock earlier in 2025, we don't sail on her until October. I guess we'll see!

[Ready to Sail!]

17 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

They -- Star, Sky & Sea -- do not.

 

I prefer not having the drawers in the closet (but the itinerary determines the ship -- not vice versa -- and I take what I get).

-- I like having 5 feet of uninterrupted hanging space, especially when we are traveling in winter and have winter gear to deal with. 

-- I'm happy hanging all of our shirts, pants and trousers in the closet, and that doesn't happen as easily with the drawers in closet configuration.

-- Also, I can't reach the hanging bar above the drawers at all (I'm 5ft tall), which is another reason I don't like the configuration.

-- Without the drawers, there is plenty of shelf above the hanging rail that DH reaches easily and equally as much room on the floor of the closet for shoes (and winter boots).

 

But then again, we pack light (1 carry-on, 1 back-pack each) and this also makes a difference no matter which ship we are on.

Thanks for all the answers and some great information.  Just a couple of responses.

Itinerary used to determine for us also, but at this lovely time in our life, length of flights and number of airports, along with upgraded seats has priority.  from now on, must be at least a US port on one end or the other and will fly no longer than 7ish hours in Premium Economy. 

We're taking our last marathon travel days in Februry when we do the SA cruise from California with really long flights both directions. Hope we survive!

We pack as light as possible, and hang as much as needed if not many drawers.  We did fine on the Star in our DV, our catagory of choice.  With other lines ship was always a consideration but with Viking not really important, I was just curious more about the WC.  Finally, after saying "we are thinking of repeating PC cruise" hubby has informed me he's not that interested! So, now looking at a itinerary we like on the Vela and will be interested in reports here on CC once she starts sailing.  Thanks again to all you Viking experts. 

[TayanaLorna]

14 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

Ohhh... wonder if she'll go into drydock earlier in 2025, we don't sail on her until October. I guess we'll see!

The Star has a blank spot in their schedule while she is in the Med from November 11 to December 2, 2024 so looks like those are the dry dock dates.  She was built in 2015.  The Sea was built in 2016.  Her schedule only goes to August 2026 and has no gaps.

[kctwinmommy]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

The Star has a blank spot in their schedule while she is in the Med from November 11 to December 2, 2024 so looks like those are the dry dock dates.  She was built in 2015.  The Sea was built in 2016.  Her schedule only goes to August 2026 and has no gaps.

Thanks, I should have clarified that we're on the Sea. I'll look and see if maybe that one will go before our cruise!

[2blueyam]

I am glad to hear the Star will be getting some refreshing before our Feb/Mar 2025 sailing. We should be far enough out from the drydock that any issues introduced by that work should be corrected, but close enough that the updates should still look nearly new. We will adapt to whatever we find in the closet, drawers or no drawers. We don't even mind leaving some stuff in a suitcase and pulling it out mid-cruise and putting some dirty clothes in. Not a big deal and way easier than the land tours we have been taking where we pack up and move every 2 or 3 days.

[Ready to Sail!]

3 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

The Star has a blank spot in their schedule while she is in the Med from November 11 to December 2, 2024 so looks like those are the dry dock dates.  She was built in 2015.  The Sea was built in 2016.  Her schedule only goes to August 2026 and has no gaps.

Is this the first refurbishment for the Star?  Seems many lines do about every 5 years but not always a complete makeover.  Am I assuming that they change out carpet when needed inbetween drydock?  Just wondering what Viking's plan is, especially since their older ships are just hitting the 10 year mark.  I'm thinking with Viking having standard decor throughout their fleet then any updates would not be as noticable as, say comparing to NCL who have updated their older ships with complete change of decor (and definately for the better!)

[NightShayde]

These are really general DV questions and not limited to the Star, but I don't think the questions are important enough to warrant a whole thread of their own.

1. I know there's a coffee/tea machine of some sort in DVs. Is it a pod-based system? If so, what kind? Or is it a more traditional setup with a little coffee filter?

2. Is there a clock in the room, or can I bring a plug-in digital clock? Is there even an outlet for that type of thing on the desk?

[shipboy]

We were on board the Star earlier this year and there were workers renovating staterooms on Deck 5. I didn’t think to ask what they were doing, but on passing everything had been removed. Possibly doing some refit ahead of the dry dock

[formernuke]

51 minutes ago, NightShayde said:

These are really general DV questions and not limited to the Star, but I don't think the questions are important enough to warrant a whole thread of their own.

1. I know there's a coffee/tea machine of some sort in DVs. Is it a pod-based system? If so, what kind? Or is it a more traditional setup with a little coffee filter?

2. Is there a clock in the room, or can I bring a plug-in digital clock? Is there even an outlet for that type of thing on the desk?

It is a pod type system. No clock per se (just in the TV). There are outlets on both nightstands on either side of the bed. 

[NightShayde]

52 minutes ago, formernuke said:

It is a pod type system. No clock per se (just in the TV). There are outlets on both nightstands on either side of the bed. 

Awesome. Thank you!

Do you happen to know if it's a Keurig or Nespresso? Or some other brand with which North Americans are unfamiliar? Trying to figure out if bringing a few of my hot apple cider pods would be worth it.

[CCWineLover]

10 minutes ago, NightShayde said:

Awesome. Thank you!

Do you happen to know if it's a Keurig or Nespresso? Or some other brand with which North Americans are unfamiliar? Trying to figure out if bringing a few of my hot apple cider pods would be worth it.

It is a Nespresso using the original pods.  Do a search on forums and there are many answers about these machines, including some valuable pictures.

We bring Nespresso original pods from home as we like strong regular coffee.  The ship pods have gotten a bit better.  They used to be 4's and now are 6's.  The decafs are good at 10.  

If your apple cider pods are Nespresso Original sizes, they will indeed work.

[Ready to Sail!]

45 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

It is a Nespresso using the original pods.  Do a search on forums and there are many answers about these machines, including some valuable pictures.

We bring Nespresso original pods from home as we like strong regular coffee.  The ship pods have gotten a bit better.  They used to be 4's and now are 6's.  The decafs are good at 10.  

If your apple cider pods are Nespresso Original sizes, they will indeed work.

I'm still not clear on options for adding creamer.  Do they supply those little non dairy creamers? I was thinking of maybe bring a small bottle to fill at WC and keep in the frig.  

[Ready to Sail!]

3 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

I'm still not clear on options for adding creamer.  Do they supply those little non dairy creamers? I was thinking of maybe bring a small bottle to fill at WC and keep in the frig.  

Just to be clear I'm sure I could get from room service but don't want to do that every morning. Other option is to run down to the Living Room Bar for our first cup.  Our first cruise we weren't drinking as much coffee and so had the machine taken out, but will probably use it next cruise daily. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:59 PM by Ready to Sail!

[NightShayde]

12 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Just to be clear I'm sure I could get from room service but don't want to do that every morning. Other option is to run down to the Living Room Bar for our first cup.  Our first cruise we weren't drinking as much coffee and so had the machine taken out, but will probably use it next cruise daily. 

I may purchase a small bottle at an onshore shop and bring it onboard. Same for lemon juice (I tend to like lemon rather than milk/cream in my tea).

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Just to be clear I'm sure I could get from room service but don't want to do that every morning. Other option is to run down to the Living Room Bar for our first cup.  Our first cruise we weren't drinking as much coffee and so had the machine taken out, but will probably use it next cruise daily. 

Your room steward can bring you a small pitcher to keep in your fridge for a few days and will replace it as needed. That’s what we do for our tea after removing the coffee machine.