Understandably, cruise travelers have come to associate the Viking brand with river cruising. That makes sense too; their impressive fleet of Viking Longships outnumbers those of any other travel company. Sail with Viking on just one river cruise and odds are you’ll be hooked. Sailing with less than 200 nice people, having nearly everything actually included in the price and having that price stack up nicely against other options is pleasant. It’s the way travel should be. Taking that same formula for success and applying it to the world of ocean cruising, Viking is opening up a new world of ocean cruising as well. These are solid reasons to consider a Viking ocean cruise; reasons that did not exist before but sure make a whole lot of sense.
Connecting With Destinations As Never Before – The world of shore excursions on big ship cruises has always been one of options. Few large ship operators include any sort of tour in the price. When they do, it is limited to one stellar event or a complimentary bus ride to town from the pier at best. Viking Ocean Cruises, like their river cruising counterpart, includes a tour for all at every port of call. They do it right too, limiting the size of groups much like they do on river cruises. Have a question for your guide? They are there to answer, provide guidance for what one might do during ample ‘free time’ during or after the tour and more.
Included: Things Other Lines Charge For – It’s not unlimited beer and wine any time of the day but pretty close and appropriate for most of the culturally curious travelers who sail with Viking. Included with lunch and dinner, beer and wine can be extended with a Silver Spirits plan that is reasonably priced and includes just about anything one might desire. On the all-you-can-drink packages of big ship cruises we calculate the cost and find we have to drink a whole lot more than possible to break even on the deal. Viking’s Silver Spirits add on plan makes sense and has very few restrictions.
Pay Once And You’re Done – I think the inclusive price of a Viking Ocean Cruise is probably one of the easiest-to-compare so let’s take a deeper look at that. While all staterooms on the Viking ocean cruise ships have balconies, there a number of configurations, each with included amenities that increase as you go up in category. This is not like the ship within a ship concept of some other ocean lines. It is also not required to make a quantum leap from “standard” to “suite” in order to gain. A Penthouse Junior Suite, for example, comes with not only more space but complimentary laundry for all. Better yet, they do a really good job with it. A mini-bar in the room that they refill daily is a nice touch too and one that is available on lower category staterooms as well.
The list of what is included in every stateroom is impressive.
- Bottled and purified water refilled daily
- Viking Explorer’s Bed with luxury linens that makes you want to replace your mattress when you go back home.
- Complimentary 24-Hour Room Service that is seriously good. Don’t pass up the Hot Apple Pie and Ice Cream and plan time for room service even though other diining options are hard to pass up
- Luxury robes and slippers and Luxury toiletries in big, easy-to-read bottles that are kept replenished without fail during the voyage
- 42″ flat screen LCD TV with complimentary entertainment that includes live news and sports channels plus a selection of movies and television series.
- Security Safe, Hair Dryer
- Unlimited Internet Access as well as a number of computers to use in the ship’s Living Room area for those who would prefer to leave theirs at home
- Direct Dial Satellite Phone and Cellular Service
- Plenty of 110/220 Volt Outlets as well as plenty of places to plug in USB-powered devices
- All Restaurants are included in the price and reservations can be made in advance of boarding.
Bonus Reason To Consider A Viking Ocean Cruise
Simple Stateroom Categories That Make Sense – On most ocean cruise lines there are so many categories to choose from that it is often difficult if not impossible to choose one or know which is the best fit. Viking keeps that simple with their all-verandah concept that begins at a roomy 270 square feet and offers three more sizes, 338, 405 and 757 square feet. Standard ocean cruise staterooms on other lines are less than 200 square feet. “Entry level” Viking staterooms of 270 square feet are about the size of mini- or junior-suites on other lines.
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