Into the Midnight Sun—a live voyage blog from Viking Venus 6/14/24

[DrKoob]

14 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said:

 

Except that bird is looking at you like "you went to all that effort for ME???"

And the answer would be...darned right I did. 😜

[rjp50]

As we are now winding up this same itinerary on the Saturn, I thought I would add my commentary to this excellent report.  First and foremost I have to agree 100 percent about the crew’s willingness to go above and beyond to make sure you are happy.  Below are my other observations.

 

Embarkation - unfortunately this was not as smooth as was experienced by DrKoob.  The initial paperwork process was extremely smooth.  However we then had to use UberBoats to shuttle to the ship in Greenwhich.  This involved standing in the very hot sun for about a half hour or more before a shuttle showed up (we had arrived at the check in at the appointed time of 11:00).  Then, once on board the shuttle, we waited for another half hour while they waited to fill up the boat.  
 

Food - for the most part this was very good.  I was impressed with number of times that premium items like lamb chops, beef tenderloin, lobster, etc. were on one of the menus.  However, now that the trip is drawing to a close, I must admit that it is all starting to become somewhat repetitive.  They could improve the food experience by doing more creative things with their menus.  One thing that was very impressive was that if the grilled items in the WC were not cooked to your liking they were more than willing do a custom batch for you.  One area that I was not impressed with was the deserts.  While the variety in the WC was quite good, nothing really wowed me.  Finally, by far the worst food category was the bread and rolls.  Even in the specialty restaurants they were mediocre.  We can buy better things in our local supermarket.

 

Specialty Restaurants - I agree whole heartedly with DrKoob about Manfreddies.  It is the weakest part of the entire dining experience.  The food ranged anywhere from bad to acceptable but nothing that was exceptional.  Compared with specialty restaurants on Celebrity, Holland America and Royal Caribbean it is a complete fail.  Of course there is no extra charge on Viking, but sometimes you get what you paid for.  I will add one positive thing about it and it relates to exceptional customer service.  My wife who cooks great Italian cuisine talked to the chef and asked him if it was possible to modify the recipe for ravioli.  Given 24 hour advanced notice he was more than happy to comply and the result was superb.

Chef’s Table was good if you can deal with the fact that there is no choice on the menu.

 

Restaurant versus World Cafe - while there may be spots in the Restaurant that are noisy, we were able to find a quiet location.  On the other hand, the WC, with its open kitchen is quite chaotic with the constant sound of clattering dishes. On the positive side there is a lot of variety, but on the negative side, with the need to keep getting up to serve yourself it doesn’t lend itself to a “fine dining” experience.  We tend to choose which one to eat at based on mood and menu.

 

Itinerary and excursions - if you were to be guaranteed good weather I can’t imagine a better itinerary. The main reason I chose this trip was to see the Lofoton Islands.  When I first saw photographs of this area I knew I had to visit.  I arranged a tour with another company that would provide 5 or 6 hours to do this area right.  Unfortunately, the weather was a complete washout with rain and low hanging clouds that made good photography impossible.  

 

My second most important stop was to be Geiranger.  We are currently headed there but the forecast does not look good with high probability of rain all day.  Ironically, today is a sea day and it is bright sunshine and I am sitting on our veranda getting a tan.  
 

The included excursions are adequate but nothing exceptional.  We have done one optional ship excursion and it was better than the included ones.  The best experience that we have had from an excursion perspective was the three third party excursions that we opted for.

 

Entertainment - from my reading of Viking reviews I was not expecting much in the area of entertainment.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.  True, the entertainment in the Star Theater is not what you would see on the big cruise lines in terms of grandeur but it is very entertaining.  The thing that I enjoyed was the smaller acts that were spread around the ship.  In particular, James the guitarist plays a wonderful variety of music that is great to listen to and sing along with.  We find ourselves building our schedule around where he is playing.  
 

The thing that blew me away was the 4th of July party that was up on the pool deck.  We got out there around 7:45 and the band and various singers were already playing and went nonstop until 10 PM.  Everyone was dancing and having a great time.  I can’t imagine how the drummer’s arms felt after keeping that up for so long.  Included in the “various singers” category mentioned above was both cruise director and his assistant.  Both had excellent voices.  I’m not sure if this is a requirement by Viking to become a cruise director, but it was a nice addition to the entertainment variety on our ship.

 

Summary - this is our first foray into small ship cruising having been primarily Celebrity customers, but also a number of other mass market lines.  My overall impression is very positive.  I think I will reserve final judgement on the value proposition until I have had a few weeks to reflect on it.  If Viking were priced equal to the mass market ships there is no question that it would blow them away.  However, as we all know, there is a significant price premium for Viking.  We have future cruises scheduled for Windstar and Oceania.  After those we will see if we want to become loyalists to any particular cruise lines.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, rjp50 said:

As we are now winding up this same itinerary on the Saturn, I thought I would add my commentary to this excellent report.  First and foremost I have to agree 100 percent about the crew’s willingness to go above and beyond to make sure you are happy.  Below are my other observations.

 

Embarkation - unfortunately this was not as smooth as was experienced by DrKoob.  The initial paperwork process was extremely smooth.  However we then had to use UberBoats to shuttle to the ship in Greenwhich.  This involved standing in the very hot sun for about a half hour or more before a shuttle showed up (we had arrived at the check in at the appointed time of 11:00).  Then, once on board the shuttle, we waited for another half hour while they waited to fill up the boat.  
 

Food - for the most part this was very good.  I was impressed with number of times that premium items like lamb chops, beef tenderloin, lobster, etc. were on one of the menus.  However, now that the trip is drawing to a close, I must admit that it is all starting to become somewhat repetitive.  They could improve the food experience by doing more creative things with their menus.  One thing that was very impressive was that if the grilled items in the WC were not cooked to your liking they were more than willing do a custom batch for you.  One area that I was not impressed with was the deserts.  While the variety in the WC was quite good, nothing really wowed me.  Finally, by far the worst food category was the bread and rolls.  Even in the specialty restaurants they were mediocre.  We can buy better things in our local supermarket.

 

Specialty Restaurants - I agree whole heartedly with DrKoob about Manfreddies.  It is the weakest part of the entire dining experience.  The food ranged anywhere from bad to acceptable but nothing that was exceptional.  Compared with specialty restaurants on Celebrity, Holland America and Royal Caribbean it is a complete fail.  Of course there is no extra charge on Viking, but sometimes you get what you paid for.  I will add one positive thing about it and it relates to exceptional customer service.  My wife who cooks great Italian cuisine talked to the chef and asked him if it was possible to modify the recipe for ravioli.  Given 24 hour advanced notice he was more than happy to comply and the result was superb.

Chef’s Table was good if you can deal with the fact that there is no choice on the menu.

 

Restaurant versus World Cafe - while there may be spots in the Restaurant that are noisy, we were able to find a quiet location.  On the other hand, the WC, with its open kitchen is quite chaotic with the constant sound of clattering dishes. On the positive side there is a lot of variety, but on the negative side, with the need to keep getting up to serve yourself it doesn’t lend itself to a “fine dining” experience.  We tend to choose which one to eat at based on mood and menu.

 

Itinerary and excursions - if you were to be guaranteed good weather I can’t imagine a better itinerary. The main reason I chose this trip was to see the Lofoton Islands.  When I first saw photographs of this area I knew I had to visit.  I arranged a tour with another company that would provide 5 or 6 hours to do this area right.  Unfortunately, the weather was a complete washout with rain and low hanging clouds that made good photography impossible.  

 

My second most important stop was to be Geiranger.  We are currently headed there but the forecast does not look good with high probability of rain all day.  Ironically, today is a sea day and it is bright sunshine and I am sitting on our veranda getting a tan.  
 

The included excursions are adequate but nothing exceptional.  We have done one optional ship excursion and it was better than the included ones.  The best experience that we have had from an excursion perspective was the three third party excursions that we opted for.

 

Entertainment - from my reading of Viking reviews I was not expecting much in the area of entertainment.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.  True, the entertainment in the Star Theater is not what you would see on the big cruise lines in terms of grandeur but it is very entertaining.  The thing that I enjoyed was the smaller acts that were spread around the ship.  In particular, James the guitarist plays a wonderful variety of music that is great to listen to and sing along with.  We find ourselves building our schedule around where he is playing.  
 

The thing that blew me away was the 4th of July party that was up on the pool deck.  We got out there around 7:45 and the band and various singers were already playing and went nonstop until 10 PM.  Everyone was dancing and having a great time.  I can’t imagine how the drummer’s arms felt after keeping that up for so long.  Included in the “various singers” category mentioned above was both cruise director and his assistant.  Both had excellent voices.  I’m not sure if this is a requirement by Viking to become a cruise director, but it was a nice addition to the entertainment variety on our ship.

 

Summary - this is our first foray into small ship cruising having been primarily Celebrity customers, but also a number of other mass market lines.  My overall impression is very positive.  I think I will reserve final judgement on the value proposition until I have had a few weeks to reflect on it.  If Viking were priced equal to the mass market ships there is no question that it would blow them away.  However, as we all know, there is a significant price premium for Viking.  We have future cruises scheduled for Windstar and Oceania.  After those we will see if we want to become loyalists to any particular cruise lines.

Great objective review!   Wanted to suggest that as you ponder the cruise over the next few weeks that you also consider the total cost of the cruise to determine if you still believe there is a “significant price premium”.  
 

We tend to book relatively last minute (6 months or so pre embarkation) and have found that with the promos offered and after taking into account the amenities Viking includes versus what we typically use on a non-Viking cruise that the cost difference can be as low as $15 per person per day which to us is worth it for the smaller crew and no kids. That calculation was done on a transatlantic in 2019 comparing Viking to Royal Carribean on a spring TA. The per person per day savings isn’t as good on a cruise with more ports or their more popular cruise.  Of course the calculation is impacted by the amount of onboard credit Viking allows, on other cruise lines our travel agent doesn’t provide enough to cover the gratuities but on Viking they do so that is a big impact. 

[DrKoob]

7 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Embarkation - unfortunately this was not as smooth as was experienced by DrKoob.  The initial paperwork process was extremely smooth.  However we then had to use UberBoats to shuttle to the ship in Greenwhich.  This involved standing in the very hot sun for about a half hour or more before a shuttle showed up (we had arrived at the check in at the appointed time of 11:00).  Then, once on board the shuttle, we waited for another half hour while they waited to fill up the boat.  

We had to use the Uber Boat as well but I guess we were just lucky and we didn't have to wait that long. Plus, the weather may have had something to do with it. It was cold and almost going to rain so they pushed us through pretty quick. I don't recall it taking more than about 20 minutes from the time we got in line until I was getting on Venus. Maybe because we were in the first wave of folks so there was a full boat almost immediately. 

7 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Restaurant versus World Cafe - while there may be spots in the Restaurant that are noisy, we were able to find a quiet location.  On the other hand, the WC, with its open kitchen is quite chaotic with the constant sound of clattering dishes. On the positive side there is a lot of variety, but on the negative side, with the need to keep getting up to serve yourself it doesn’t lend itself to a “fine dining” experience.  We tend to choose which one to eat at based on mood and menu.

I really want to know where that quiet location is. If you tell me, I will tell you that if you want quiet in the World Cafe, go down to the end where the bar is (and the officers sit) and it's very quiet down there. No crashing or clanging. But maybe because I love to cook, I like demonstration kitchens where I can see everything happening. And I agree on the desserts. But I say that about every cruise line on their buffet. On the other hand one night they had Campari gelato. OMG. Delicious. But they never had it back and when I asked why, the wonderful young lady working the gelato bar said, "The crew liked it to much and ate it all." 

 

8 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Summary - this is our first foray into small ship cruising having been primarily Celebrity customers, but also a number of other mass market lines.  My overall impression is very positive.  I think I will reserve final judgement on the value proposition until I have had a few weeks to reflect on it.  If Viking were priced equal to the mass market ships there is no question that it would blow them away.  However, as we all know, there is a significant price premium for Viking.  We have future cruises scheduled for Windstar and Oceania.  After those we will see if we want to become loyalists to any particular cruise lines.

We too were long-time Celebrity cruisers. I think I pointed out that to get the same access on X that I have on Viking (looking forward as we sail in—especially important going up the fjord to Geiranger) on X's e-class ships is only available to suite guests. By the time you figure in the cost of the suite to get all access, you may as well do a Penthouse Veranda. That and all the other pluses with Viking that they don't have that other lines do. 

 

If you are a foodie, you will love Oceania. The food is amazing. Their Italian restaurant is one of the best we have ever eaten at. You may also like Windstar but that is a true SMALL boat experience. 

 

Thanks for an excellent review and for your comments on mine.

 

[janetcbl]

We have found it to be more quiet in the stern portions of the Restaurant, even during the 6-7 hour.

[CCWineLover]

13 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Both had excellent voices.  I’m not sure if this is a requirement by Viking to become a cruise director, but it was a nice addition to the entertainment variety on our ship

Thank you for taking such time to give your thoughts and recaps.  I'm sure we all appreciate it!  We are veteran Viking travelers and your points are right on.  There are pluses and minuses to be sure and you've hit on all the ones we have.

FYI - yes, it IS a requirement for the Cruise Director to have Entertainment (preferably singing) experience!  There is always one evening show where the CD is the main focus - primarily singing.  They've all been spectacular for us.

[deec]

Maybe the most amazing exception to this is Bruce ( last name is escaping me) he is an amazing pianist and performer!   PLUS he he can envision and execute an awesome show with onboard talent.  We were so fortunate to watch Katie ( from Scotland) and "A-veen" ( I have no idea how to spell he Irish Name) perform and amazing...while onboard the Jupiter in Spring 2022 as we were slowly emerging from COVID. Bruce was new to Viking and was replacing Katie who was orienting him and Aveen was our wonderful assistant CD.....could Viking have had more talent in one place?....well maybe Heather may have made an appearance!  oh...and the guitarist was fantastic too!

[deec]

AVEEN....Aoibhín O'Neill 

[jsiegel]

With the sun never really setting when you were far north, did the cabin have blackout curtains?  If we do this cruise, should I bring eye shades?

 

Thanks,

 

Jackie

[deec]

Black out curtains work great!

Edited July 8 by deec

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, jsiegel said:

With the sun never really setting when you were far north, did the cabin have blackout curtains?  If we do this cruise, should I bring eye shades?

 

Thanks,

 

Jackie

Stateroom has blackout curtains. No problems. 

[wcGma]

On 6/16/2024 at 8:08 AM, DrKoob said:

Someone on my blog commented as to why we were eating dinner in The World Cafe instead of The Restaurant. Here's what I told them: 

 

We have switched to the buffet for our dinners for a couple of reasons. The Restaurant on Viking ships seems really LOUD to us! I think it's the low ceilings. We also find we eat a lot more when we go to the MDR. They bring bread, we eat it. They take our order, and we wait. We eat more bread, and they bring the appetizer. We eat it, and we wait for the entrée and eat more bread. And of course, we have to eat what they bring. So we eat more or less of something because we do or not not like because we don't want to waste it.

 

At the buffet (which on a Viking ship serves pretty much the same food as the MDR) we can take a little of this and a little of that.

 

And to be honest, I am past the dressing-up stage. If we were still on a ship that REALLY dressed up, I might be into that. It would be fun to get my tux out again. But here people just put on hard-soled shoes (which I hardly ever wear anymore) and better pants and shirts (I live in shorts and tee shirts) I will take a pass. We will still put on that stuff for the specialty restaurants but that's about it.

To each their own. On my two VC (Norway/iceland Aug 2022, Norway In Search of Northern Lights Mar 2024), we much preferred the MDR. Buffet food was good mostly, though had a meatball raw on inside and often food was lukewarm and or got cold by the time you selected your small bites and got to the table. Never a problem with cold food in restaurant and you can get your omelet without the wait in line.  My husband is better at not overeating but for me, the buffet presents too much I can’t say no to. Thus, I sample and leave a lot of wasted food. Do love the salad selection offerings and the Asian section at the back of the buffet.