Little Things I Love About A Viking Ocean Cruise
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- During my recent Iceland cruise on Viking Sky, I started thinking about all the cool little things I love about Viking Ocean Cruise ships. I'm not talking about the BIG things that Viking is renowned for... I'm talking about little details that Viking has paid attention to in designing their ships and their policies.
I started working on a list of all of those neat little things I could think of, and I came up with 29 of them. Those 29 cool little things are the subject of this video. They range from great little design improvements that Viking has made to their cabins, to well designed areas of the ships, to passenger-friendly policies like loaning you an umbrella when you go ashore on a rainy day.
If you enjoy this video, you might also enjoy a video I made a couple of years ago that talks about all the BIG things that make Viking different from the other cruise lines: things like not allowing children onboard, and not constantly trying to grab extra revenue from the passengers in all the ways that the other cruise lines do it all the time. You'll find that video at • This Cruise Line Is Di...
If you're interested in booking a cruise on Viking, or on any other cruise line, or in booking a vacation on land such as an all-inclusive resort... feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher. It's not about price. In most cases, a travel agent doesn't get you a better price than you could get by booking it yourself, directly with the cruise line. It's about having someone to make things easier for you... to keep you from making any rookie mistakes... and to do the dirty work for you. Your travel agent should be the one stuck on hold with the cruise line, not you! So, take my advice and contact Caitlin to get her working for you. Her services don't cost you anything at all. She's paid by the cruise lines and the hotels.
Her web site is at www.ambrentravel.com/ and you can email Caitlin at caitlin@ambrentravel.com
Video Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:37 Cabins
2:15 Internet
2:35 Laundry
2:56 Viking Burger & Pool
3:38 Explorer's Lounge
4:37 Wintergarden
4:56 Aft pool
5:14 Restrooms & Art
6:01 Books & Umbrellas
6:41 Jogging Track
7:10 Big Things
7:34 Travel Agent
Excellent film.
In my opinion Jim Zim IS the voice of cruising! Great to see you back on board, keeping well and enjoying retirement 🥳👍⚓️
Currently aboard Viking Orion in Bermuda on a back-to-back. Two glorious weeks experiencing everything wonderful about Viking. This is my sixth Viking Ocean cruise.
Viking is great for people who want a quiet peaceful cruise
Viking is definitely my favorite cruise line and we have done two river cruises and then two ocean cruises before having the last two cancelled this past year. You covered all the little things I like about Viking that I have tried to explain to friends when they ask about Viking. They only fully understand when they actually go on an ocean cruise with Viking and come back raving about their experience. Excellent recap, thanks.
Hi Jim another great video, that ship looks amazing, lucky you on a cruise 🚢 can’t wait to cruise again myself 🙂 I love all the little things too. Nice job Jim, thank you.
Great info Jim. Their river cruises are just as wonderful and inclusive. Our first Viking Ocean cruise is coming up so will be exploring all the nooks and crannies you mentioned. Happy sailing.
Great video. Can’t wait for our cruise on Sky in September. First time on Viking
Moving steadily towards 1/2 million! Nice work!
I ❤ Viking Cruises 🛳 Can't wait to go again 🙂
Enjoyed the video, but disagree about your recommendation against Deluxe Verandas. They are in great locations, particularly if you worry about sea sickness, and we find their storage space more than adequate. It's all about cost/benefit, and these are much more affordable than the suites, but obviously, if you want to pay more, then the suites are terrific.
glad to hear, I just booked that cabin for Panama
I enjoyed the video and it was well done. I've been on a Viking River cruise but not a Viking Ocean cruise. Can't wait to plan one!!!
Another super video, thanks Jim. That Explorers Lounge looks great, but I think I would still prefer a RCL-style Solarium up front
Yeah, the Solarium up at the front of some RCL ships is a great place to hang out! Except I think they blew it on the Oasis-class by not fully enclosing the solarium. Wind and rain can easily get in to the solarium on the Oasis class. The Quantum class has a fully enclosed solarium, which I think is MUCH better.
I totally agree with you about Paulo the singer/guitarist . You’d think James Taylor was singing live. He was with us on the Star in Norway in February 2020 when cruising ended and he was on the Sky with us in Iceland when cruising resumed. We had no Covid on our cruise. Viking has totally ruined the other lines for me.
He really was surprisingly good. Up until Paulo, there was never (in 51 other cruises) a solo guitarist that we enjoyed enough to actually sit down and listen to his entire set.
Hubby and I are leaving on our 2nd Viking cruise to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. Our first cruise was an expedition cruise to Antarctica. We actually got to go down in a 6 person submarine twice. We loved it. They even provided us with all the gear including a lovely red jacket. It was so everyone could be seen on the ice. Penguins everywhere, Albatross, orcas and whales. We got to keep the jacket. I can’t wait for our 2nd cruise.
I'm so jealous that you got to go to Antarctica with Viking! I was fortunate enough to sail on one of the Viking expedition ships, but not in Antarctica.
I actually like the expedition ships better than the regular Viking ocean ships because of the improved buffet. Check out my video about Viking Octantis at th-cam.com/video/qZ7dC409qXA/w-d-xo.html
wow so cool look so fun ti do
I just stepped off the Viking Sky on June29th. It’s everything you said.
liked video
That shower is BIG!!
I am kinda scared of cruise ships and don't know much about them but you changed my mind although I'm not going on a cruise ship any Time soon
Been cruising on Viking for years. The longest I have ever been on hold was was still under ten minutes. Most times no hold at all.
Love watching your show. I do have a question. I booked a flight through cruise line. They only use first and last name. Is this a problem with TSA?
It's good that you're paying attention to this! Catching these kinds of problems now will save you a big headache the day of your flight!
Your flight reservations should always exactly match your passport or drivers license... whichever you will be using as ID to fly. If the name on your reservations do not match your ID, contact the cruise line to let them know about the problem.
Thanks so much for this wonderful video. On the Viking Website it looks the Penthouse Veranda cabins are located more toward the front and rear of the ship and closer to the elevators. Did you notice that your room felt a great deal of motion and/or were noisy?
I didn't notice any motion at all. As far as noise, just make sure you are not near one of the self-service laundry rooms, and not within 4 cabins of the elevators.
@@JimZim I am so grateful for your response. Do you mind sharing which cabin number you were in?
Jim - Do you have a history in radio? Not many reviewers using an EV RE20...plus a voice like yours. 🙂
Yep... the RE20 microphone is a nod to my days in radio during the 1970s and 1980s.
Hi jim
Nice drone footage! Did you shoot that?
No, they wouldn't let me fly my drone from the ship. However, on my upcoming river cruise it looks like I will be able to... so, that ought to be interesting!
@@JimZim Thats cool, just a word of caution. It is much more difficult to fly a drone in Europe. They have some pretty strict rules
Our river cruise will be right here in Washington state in the USA.
My biggest concern is if the drone loses contact with the controller, it will try to go to the "home point"... which is where it was launched from. In the case of a ship moving on the water, if it tried to land at the home point it would end up landing in the water wherever the ship was at the time the drone was launched. That would be bad.
My other concern is that when trying to land the drone manually on a moving ship, you'd have to have a fairly wide open deck to land it on... since the ship will be moving underneath the drone. You don't want to start the landing sequence and then have a deck chair move underneath the drone as the ship moves down river during the landing. The first time I try it will be a bit stressful, I bet! It will be an interesting challenge.
@@JimZim Sorry, I thought you were talking about a Viking River Cruise. Your biggest obstacle launching from a ship is going to be your compass going crazy from all the metal. One way around that is to launch by hand. Hold it as far away from any metal surface you can. You can manually update your home point. I've flown off a friends sailboat a few times. Its not always pretty launching and landing Lol
I've heard that before, but I'm wondering if that may only be a problem with certain types of drones. The one I use, the DJI Mini 2, uses a completely different system for communication between the drone and the controller than older drones used... which is why it can fly so much further from the controller without issues than the previous model did. I've spoken to a cruise line employee who has flown from the type of ship I'll be on, and the home point issue was the only issue he ran in to. His drone tried to head home to where the ship had been docked!
In any case, it will be interesting to see how it goes... especially the first time! If the first time goes well, I'll probably shoot a lot of aerial video... and if it goes badly, not so much!
Jim, my son is looking forward to a Train video, he is 5 years old and checks your channel everyday for model trains, and he is complaining you totally forgot the trains for a while lol
Yeah, I was worried this was going to happen! Over the last year and a half, when there was no cruising, I shifted the focus of the channel very heavily to model trains. It was never my intention that the channel would just be a model train channel, but for a year and a half there wasn't any cruising to talk about! So, now that cruising has restarted, I've had some opportunities to cruise again and the channel has swung away from model trains for a little while. I knew I might easily disappoint some folks who had gotten used to lots of new model train videos. Sorry about that! Well, I can't cruise forever! It's just a matter of time until I'm stuck at home with no cruises to talk about and I'll get the model trains out again!
@@JimZim thank you Jim for the reply, I really enjoyed all your content in your channel and loved the cruise videos, just my son is in love with train videos and specially with the ones in your channel, enjoy your cruising and when you get your lovely trains out, my son looks forward to the videos, thanks again :)
Oops. I’ve booked the lowest category 🤷♀️. I’m sure we’ll be fine.
Don't panic! I usually agree with everything Jim Zim says, but on this occasion I can categorically say that the V and DV cabins are absolutely fine! We have spent over 8 weeks onboard Viking Oceans, always in DV grade, and have never had a problem with storage. Of course the PV and suites are roomier, but you pay for it! Enjoy your cruise.
Yeah, it boils down to how much stuff you bring with you, and whether most of it can hang in the closet or not. My wife and I usually bring a total of three large suitcases, and only a small amount of that stuff is the kind of thing you can hang from hangars in the closet. So, we need drawers. In the Penthouse Verandah cabins you have a chest of drawers that contains six drawers and two shelves. The Verandah and Deluxe Verandah cabins don't have that. It makes all the difference, unless you pack very light.
You will be absolutely fine. We are booked in our second D2 cabin in Feb. on West Indies Explorer. All the amenities are fantastic, food is amazing, staff so courteous and professional I doubt we’ll want to do any other cruise line. Enjoy your trip, you’ll be back for more!
You don't have to pack a ton of clothes like a good portion of cruisers do. For me I could get away with 2 pairs of jeans, 3-4 pairs of shorts for a warm climate cruise, maybe 5 shirts, 1-2 pairs of dress clothes, and some odds and ends since you get free laundry. I could technically get away with one pair of khakis and one dress shirt because of the free laundry. It all depends on what you feel that you need to bring.
We booked a 30-day cruise "Mediterranean Passage" that was scheduled to sail from Mumbai in April 2020. Viking cancelled it just as the pandemic hit. They refunded the entire fare. We are now hoping to do a similar cruise from Mumbai to Athens in May 2023. We are fully vaccinated and boosted. Is cruising safe now?
AFTAH-NOON TEA?! I-m Bri-ish! Everyone on Viking seems to be Bri-ish.
Actually, no. Viking markets exclusively to the Americas and does no marketing in the UK at all. There may be a few Brits onboard who have simply heard on their own about how great Viking is, but I'd guess that greater than 90% of the passengers are from the USA or Canada. Just because they like showing up for afternoon tea doesn't mean they're British!
@@JimZim Well maybe they’re truly British in their heart.
@@JimZim No, you're slightly out of date here. Viking does quite a bit of UK marketing these days. Our numbers are increasing, and I think Viking will be stealing cruisers from other lines who have taken advantage of the recent 'Brits only' cruises from Portsmouth around the British Isles.
Viking is HEAVILY marketing in Australia- have been for quite awhile and it’s ramping up considerably
@@JimZim Viking does a lot of marketing in the U.K. We were on the last South America & Chilean Fjords cruise before the shutdown, and it seemed that there were almost as many Brits as Americans.
Disney wins the awards for the large cruise ships and I agree but, Viking wins for the smaller ships.
Deluxe is not as good as standard room? really?
You have to understand the terms Viking uses for their staterooms. The least expensive type of cabin is called a Deluxe Verandah. This is what I suggest you avoid, because the amount of storage is inadequate. The next step up from a Deluxe Verandah is called a Penthouse Verandah... and that's the type of cabin I'd suggest for most people, as there is much more storage.
@@JimZim Love your videos, but on this occasion I must disagree with you! DV cabins are absolutely fine! Don't scare people... dress code is casual, so you don't need an enormous amount of storage space. We did a 4+ week cruise around Africa on Viking Sun a couple of years ago, no problem with storage.
@@JimZim Veranda is the least expensive cabin. The mini-bar does not get replenished. Viking replenish it daily in deluxe veranda.
I was trying to avoid a super-complicated answer, and may have over-simplified my statement.
There's Verandah, then Deluxe Verandah, then Penthouse Verandah, and others after that.
I was lumping Verandah and Deluxe Verandah together, for simplicity's sake.
My point was, unless you pack extremely light, book a Penthouse Verandah.
Anything less than that doesn't have the chest of drawers against the wall, which contains six drawers and two shelves. Without that chest of drawers, all you have in a Verandah or Deluxe Verandah cabin are a tiny bit of storage in the desk and a tiny bit of storage next to the closet. Not enough, in my opinion.
@peterchin is correct. V is the lowest category, exactly the same as DV except minibar isn’t replenished and it doesn’t have a coffeemaker. DV minibar gets replenished daily with non alcoholic beverages. The PV that Jim likes gets all in the DV plus more space, alcoholic beverages in the replenished minibar, pressing and shoe polishing. We have sailed in all three and as we are light packers, we find V or DV the best value.
Seems like a guy hawking the more expensive staterooms for the benefit of Viking. Is this an ad?
No, it's not an ad. I've been on 63 cruises with nine different cruise lines. I share my impressions, both positive and negative, of each cruise I go on. I don't work for the cruise lines, and I don't work for any travel agency. I'm retired from a career in the nuclear power industry and I enjoy going on cruises and then telling the world about them.
Regarding Viking... as you say, I "hawk the more expensive staterooms", and there's a reason for that. Their lowest cabin category, the "Deluxe Verandah" has woefully inadequate storage space for the stuff you bring with you on a cruise. The next higher cabin category, "Penthouse Verandah", comes with a large chest of drawers that makes all the difference. So, I try to let people know that with Viking, it's a bad idea to go cheap and book a Deluxe Verandah... a Penthouse Verandah (or better) is what you're going to want.