We are still quite new to being on a cruise ship, so find the whole thing quite novel. Below are some pictures of various aspects of cruise ship life, starting with the interior of the ship. Note – all pictures here are from Viking Ocean ships, not the Viking River ships which are much smaller and offer much less open space.
The thing that impresses us with the Viking Ocean line of ships is just how empty the ship feels; there are so many different spaces, and relatively few people, that you can always find somewhere to be alone. And the decor is very relaxing – no harsh colors. Each Viking Ocean ship holds only 930 passengers, a far cry from the 2,000, 4,000 and even 7,000 passengers accommodated by some cruise lines.
This is the ‘Wintergarden’ – known for serving ‘afternoon tea’. I think this has to be the quietest area of the ship, and is almost always empty. Note these are all my own photos, taken of the ship while walking around during the cruise, so these areas really are this empty!
Then there’s Mamsen’s and the adjacent Explorer’s Lounge – an informal cafe and bar / lounge area, also not usually that busy.
There are also a bunch of seating areas around the ship, connecting various parts, where you can sit or lounge at your convenience, and are often empty.
On the lower level, there’s a lovely open Atrium area (called the ‘Living Room’) with a small bar, a piano, a grand staircase, and some side areas where you can play cards or work on jigsaw puzzles. At night, a piano player and violinist will entertain.
There are two main staircases, which we always take instead of the elevators.
There’s a decent sized pool with an open roof that doesn’t get much traffic, most of the time. We were able to go for an evening swim by ourselves and we often walked past it when it was empty later in the day.
The rooms themselves are pretty decent; Viking doesn’t offer any ‘inside’ rooms, or rooms with windows only – the minimum room type is an outside room with a veranda. Given all the space on the ship, there’s no opportunity to feel claustrophobic or crowded.
Here’s a typical daily schedule showing restaurant times, etc. Also, a couple of random views from the ship.
Entertainment on Viking ships is pretty subdued (no casinos, no discos, etc), but there is a small intimate bar with a performer, and there’s a large theater where there is a performance of some sort most nights. They also give informative talks every day telling you about what you are about to see at the next destination. On the first night, they invite everyone to meet the senior crew, and on the last night, they present all the staff who made the journey possible, including the cooks, the cleaners, the room stewards, the engineers, all the way up to the captain.
And then of course there are the restaurants! On the lower level, there’s a large formal dining room called ‘The Restaurant’, which is open to everyone and serves a full menu. There are also two ‘specialty’ restaurants (Chef’s Table and Manfreddi’s) that serve a refined menu, with each guest only getting a limited number of opportunities to eat at them. And then there’s our favorite – the ‘World Cafe’. It’s called a ‘buffet’, but that doesn’t really do justice to it – there are cooks on hand to prepare just about anything to order (eg, a rib-eye steak or a tuna steak at night, or scrambled eggs at breakfast) in addition to all the available dishes. My favorite discovery on the last cruise was the ‘noodle bar’, a small section where a cook will prepare fresh noodles, Asian style.
Viking provide a very informative set of 360 degree interactive photos of all the ship areas, including the rooms here. There’s also a gym, a spa, a library, and several other special-purpose areas.
The outside of the ship is also pretty spacious – plenty of places to hang out, walk around, etc. The top deck has some walking paths and ‘game’ areas, while the lower level has a quarter-mile ‘walking track’ that circles the ship so you can exercise.
I really do enjoy just about every aspect of life on the ship. I can’t say the same for the port visits. Arriving in a port at 8am and leaving at the typical 6pm doesn’t give you enough time to get to know a place, and returning to the ship for dinner means you don’t get to explore the local restaurant scene, or get to know a town at night. Also, sometimes the logistics of getting that many people to and from the ship can mean an awful lot of wasted time; we wasted an entire day in Bangkok due to Viking’s insistence on taking us to the ship at midday, even though we weren’t sailing until the next day. And most of the planned ‘visits’ are in groups of 30+ people on a large coach, which doesn’t feel too intimate. I’d much rather explore a place on my own. Having said that – Viking do employ some impressive guides who really know their stuff and who give you a lot of insight into a place.
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