We chose this cruise because of the itinerary and our past Viking expierences. One of our favourite things on this ship is beautiful, clean, modern, excellent public areas. Lots of comfortable areas to sit and relax without feeling crowded. Food is excellent with daily theme luncheons offered on sea days around the main pool and several cook outs on the back deck were offered in the evenings as well as the buffet which always had lots to choose from. Daily offerings of crab claws, crab legs, big shrimp, sushi, shell fish, steak cooked to order, meat dishes. Rotating offers of roasts of lamb, pork, beef, roasted chicken, duck. Daily, a variety of vegetables, potatoes, rice etc, salads, fruit, breads and a nice variety of dessert. Breakfast offered eggs, omelets, cooked to order quickly, eggs benedict, fruits, waffles, in addition to all of the usual breakfast items. Restaurants are intimate and the service is provided by professional, friendly, outgoing staff who are attententive without being obtrusive. The menu offers a variety to choose from and our food was delicious at Manfrefi’s and at the Chef’s Table. The same can be said of the World Cafe, Mamsens and the Pool Snack bar which offered burgers of all kinds, foot long hot dogs, fries, Onion rings and all the trimmings in addition to numerous salads and desserts. The ice cream at the World Cafe is delicious with a variety of different flavours daily. All meals include wine and beer. The spa sauna, pool and snow grotto are an invigorating experience. There is a main pool with a retractable roof and an infinity pool on the back deck. All have lots of lounge seating in comfortable, relaxing surroundings. We especially enjoyed the Explorers Lounge located at the front of the ship. You feel as though you are the captain looking out through the expansive windows onto the ocean. The Viking Sea singers/dancers and musicians were the best and the most talented and enjoyable we have experienced in a long time. Beth, Hannah, Louis and Cole, along with cruise director Jenna treated us to Abba, Beatles, Divas, Motown music that rocked the theatre. The included excursions were informative and provided by knowledgeable guides. The most important thing is we are grateful to all of the staff for their attentive, genuine, smiling, caring approach, ensuring you are having a perfect vacation. How they are able to remember you by name and your cabin number is delightful surprise. It truly was, quote Captain Malmberg, “the happiest, friendliest, funnest ship on the ocean”. Read Less

Well, we are back from our first Viking Ocean cruise – 10 days West Indies Explorer on the Viking Sea March 2019. We arranged our own flights, so we got to San Juan PR and made our way to the ship. Check in was easy-peasy and so different than what happens on other lines. I’ve sailed Carnival (platinum), Royal Caribbean, and NCL in the past, so this was not my first check-in. Of course 930 passengers vice 3000-5000 makes quite a difference. Our room stewards Teddy and Emm were great and met us when we arrived and explained features of our room. They always greeted us if they were about and ensured we had everything we needed. Even though it was about 3:30PM, we found the pool grill had wonderful and we got our first wine and beer (free with lunch and dinner). Waiters were available and checked on us often. This continued throughout the entire cruise in all dining venues! Great job. On the second night onboard, just as we were getting ready to leave San Juan behind, we had our Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle – an invitation was left in our room with the Viking Daily the day before. The Captain and his command staff were busy, but every available senior staff officer attended. We had a very nice chat with Tom Aberg (Hotel General Manager), Edgar de Jaspi (Beverage Manager) and John Cunningham (Restaurant Manager) while enjoying free drinks and finger foods. From that evening on, we were always greeted by these senior officers. Surprisingly, a few days later we got another invitation to another Meet and Mingle. We went and when we asked, we were told by another Cruise Critic member, that they missed the first one – apparently they didn’t realize they had to sign up for the M&M on CC prior to arriving onboard, so they didn’t receive an invitation. But the staff wanted to ensure that they were not left out, so we had a second get together with all the trimmings and all the senior staff. (Now what other cruise line would do that???) At this meeting, in addition to Edgar and John, I had a nice talk with Jenn Beaudoin (Cruise Director) and Mara Buga (Guest Services Manager). I had a special request of Jenn and she made some calls had made arrangements. Thank you Jenn and thanks for Fredrik Svensson for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to another Engineer! I’m not going to do a day to day accounting of my experiences, but I will make a few comments. First, the food and drink onboard is outstanding. All venues were excellent, but we always like the Restaurant and had wonderful meals in Manfredi’s and at the Chef’s Table. Service was impeccable regardless of where we ate. Secondly, I was so impressed by the Senior Staff. On most lines, one does not even see the Hotel Manager, Restaurant Manager, Financial Officer or Beverage Manager, but on this ship/line, they were highly visible and jumped in anytime there was need. For example, Tom, John or Edgar often were escorting guests in the Restaurant or in the Theater. (Again, where else have you ever seen this happen?) Third, I was somewhat concerned about taking the included excursions thinking they would be boring. Not so. The guides were obviously well vetted and could answer any question thrown at them. In many of the ports, the tour at a specific time was broken into smaller groups which worked well and kept wait time to a minimum. I learned something at every port! We also did a 3 optional tours and they were wonderful! Only thing I questioned was at all these wonderful Caribbean ports, there were no Scuba diving tours… hmmm. Fourth, was the general ‘we want you to learn something’ on this cruise vibe on the ship. There was a resident historian onboard who had some wonderful lectures and round table discussions. There was also a Geologist who gave talks on how the islands were formed and such. Really interesting! If you happened to miss the talk, don’t fear, it was recorded for on-demand broadcast on the in cabin TV along with lots of other great informative programs, news stations and movies. Fifth, the entertainment onboard was wonderful – singers and musicians were top notch. Shows were excellent. A steel pan group was brought onboard at one port to play by the pool for an afternoon show. We also had Line Dance lessons. Unfortunately, I have 2 left feet when it comes to this! But it was enjoyable! Overall, it was a GREAT Experience and it will not be our last Viking Ocean cruise! Great Job by everyone onboard! Read Less

We wanted to try Viking out and this cruise seemed to meet our needs of a winter cruise, in some warm weather at a better price than Viking offers for its Med Cruises. Our travel was so tiring, with a drive to Manchester, an overnight, then a morning flight out to Philadelphia, then a 5 hour lay over as there was a delay, then a 4 hour flight to San Juan. Coming back was even worse as I drove back from Manchester coming off the overnight flight from Philadelphia. Unfortunately as good as the cruise was, we will not attempt that travel again, as you might have guessed we are not part of the younger generation. Embarkation at the port was so easy and very quick, probably helped by it being past midnight before we got there. Our standard balcony cabin was lovely, all mod cons in place including charging points, bed nice and comfy although my wife and our cabin steward (Bayu) did have a few attempts at getting the right mix of pillows. Bayu was excellent, smiling every day and nothing was too much trouble. He did his job well and worked round our timings in the cabin. Bathroom was modern and really well appointed with a big glass shower cubicle. We thoroughly enjoyed the inclusive trips, they were mainly an overview, but all our guides were really good and we felt safe in their company. Getting on and off the Ship was so quick and easy, next to no queues. Some of the docking places were a bit industrial, so a couple of times our view was the container park when other ships in seemed to have better berths on occasion. We are not big drinkers but had the silver drinks package, it was excellent. Pina Coladas, the best we have had on any ship, we don't like the brain freeze drinks so the bar staff would make it on the rocks with just enough ice, nice and creamy and used the dark rum. We visited Barrincha in Puerto Rico, where the Pina Colada was supposedly invented and the ones on the ship were every bit as good as there. Don't worry if your favourite tipple is not on the bar menu, they will make it if you or they know the ingredients. Doods deserves special mention for looking after us so well. if we wandered in there as our last call for a nightcap he knew what I wanted and a simple thumbs up meant my Toasted Almond arrived at our table. Food was generally excellent, probably the best we have had at Sea other than Oceania, so Viking need to just get that bit better and match them to be top of the league. We did have the occasional wobble, but it was excellently handled by the waiters and in Manfredis we were delivered our pasta and risotto dishes at the same time as our huge steaks. They removed the steaks immediately. Viking head of Departments all get given a cabin at random to look after, so we got Gary, the Executive Chef (recently joined from Oceania). He rang us every couple of days and saw us out and about. On learning of our dislike of the mashed potato he immediately changed the recipe and it was so good after that. He also insisted we re visit Manfredis after our earlier issue with the Steaks, he organised it all and we had the best service and food of the cruise. we were also left nice little surprises in the room on a few of the days. So well done to Viking, as Gary said, it helps him stay close to the Guests and he can jump on things quickly and he did. We never had to queue for anything, sun beds were always available around the pools, no queues at the Bars, restaurants straight in. Entertainment, the Singers were really good, but Viking did not make best use of them, I would like to have seen a show in the lovely theatre every night. Also after 10.30 the ship was even more empty, some guest duos brought on board to enhance evening entertainment would be better for us. Would I go with Viking again, yes if they can keep their prices competitive and home port the Ship in the Caribbean where we can get a direct flight from Britain. Read Less

We had done two Viking Ocean cruises and have cruised other lines such as Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Oceana. We like the Viking River cruises better. We had a balcony but it was on the rear of the ship so we walked a lot. There were few hangers and not that many drawers to put things in. They kept the hallways very cold,the restaurants were cold and the theater was cold. We were in the Caribbean so it should not have been cold when it was warm outside. I was getting sore throat and had to take a lot of cough drops. We ate most of our meals in the World Cafe even though tipping is automatic. The specialty restaurants were included but you needed to make all of your reservations at the beginning of the cruise. I am a comfort food person, not a gourmet. The Mexican restaurant food was not like any Mexican food I had before. The portions were small and some of the food was unfamiliar to me even though I spent 30 years going to Mexico. The Italian restaurant menu was in Italian with extremely small print in English and I could not read it with my glasses on. I just asked for ceasar salad and Chicken Parmesan. The Restaurant seemed to serve the same menu pretty often. Viking gives you wine and beer with lunch and dinner and we had purchased the silver package using a credti from our travel agent and that was good. There were two Captains parties plus a sale away on the last night with champayne and snacks and this was very good. I had a problem about being invited to a mix and mingle even though I had started the role call. So I missed the first event but Mara from Romania, who was the head of Guest Services helped us out and there was a second mix and mingle that we did attend. It seems redundant that first you have to either start the role call or enroll and an exiisting role call and then also register for a mix and mingle, But I now know this and will be ready for the next cruise. I like the River cruises better because the ships are smaller, it was never too cold and we had people, who kept us fully informed on all events. Read Less

This was our first ever cruise and we were celebrating a big birthday. Having heard about the ship, expectations were very high and it did not disappoint. We flew in to San Juan late in the evening and so just went to bed the first night, but the embarkation was smooth and luggage was delivered quickly. As we arrived late, they put some sandwiches and fruit out for us along with a bottle of champagne and some red wine, and reminded us that we could order room service as well. As it was gone 1am and we had been up for 24 hours we passed! We were in a Deluxe Veranda cabin. We can't understand why anyone would complain about the size of these - it was very comfortably big enough for us. The bed was large and comfortable, the sitting area was ok, the bathroom was superb and it was great to be able to sit out on the balcony. On the first day we explored the ship which was all light and airy, not at all busy and just nicely laid back. We were always able to find places to sit and service was generally attentive. We ate mainly in the World Cafe as it was more casual and did not require us to dress up. The food was always nice there, usually a good choice of mains and some divine little desserts (as well as cookies and ice cream). We also sampled the Pool Grill where they did some delicious burgers and grilled tuna. We managed to have two meals at Manfredi's, the speciality Italian restaurant. The food was delicious and the plates were huge! We also had a special birthday meal at the Chef's Table which was a five course tasting menu, where every dish was exceptional, each of them paired with wines. We really enjoyed the entertainment on the ship. The main entertainment was from four young, energetic and very talented performers who put on three main shows - an ABBA show, a showcase of famous song writers and a Beatles show. One of them also did a solo show Divas through the Decades, and another did a jazz set Beyond the Sea - both of these were top quality. They were supported by a four piece band and two lounge singers who were ok. Other entertainment included a guitarist, a classical duo and a piantist, all of whom were ok. One of the real positives about the cruise was how friendly everyone was. It was impossible to pass any crew member without them greeting you, and it always seemed natural. The cabin service was exceptional with rooms serviced twice a day. We were surprised to read any negative reviews about this ship. Perhaps it does not have quite as much going on as some mega cruise ships, but for us this was close to perfect. A nice size of ship, never crowded, very attentive staff, good food and enjoyable entertainment. Read Less

Have done 8+ ocean cruises, 7 river cruises. This experience with Viking Ocean was the best we've had. Food was excellent, varied menus and lots of choices. Good excursions and options at each port. In retrospect we would have done more adventuresome excursions on our West Indies but no regrets. Staff on the ship is top shelf. The crew was just as good as could be. Have read previous reviews on CC with some complaints and negative comments about Viking Sea. If there were problems earlier there aren't now. Our evaluation, and that of others we sailed with: Viking Ocean a great experience, Far better than Oceana, Royal Caribbean, Princess etc. We noted that quite a few folks had done more than one Viking Ocean cruise already, just in their third year of operations. No casino, no kids, no pressure. No big shows. Nice events in the evening - a movie by the pool, a bit of classical music, some singers and dancers. Passengers were mostly 65+, about 1/3 from UK, 2/3 North America. Read Less

We had been on the ocean ships before so knew what to expect. The boat is not that old the décor the same as other of the ocean ships. The layout virtually identical. So that makes a great experience or does it? The main plus is that you get what you expect if you have been with them before. Much is the same, like the speciality restaurants and the casual dining venue and the general layout .The continuous growth of the company raises interesting possible concerns. Staff training needs to be good and standards maintained. It feel at times they are on the edge with inconsistent service levels at restaurants and dining venues. Casual eating at breakfast and lunch saw staff being moved around often to "cover" an area then be countermanded by another staff member which left gaps in cover. Food was not consistently hot, when advised the answer was not really acceptable as they said you could ask for hot plates. This was something of a challenge when you asked for hot plates, staff consistently looked surprised and often had to search around. The trips were in the main quite good for the places visited. They were of reasonable length and the party sizes good. The worst was the delay we had to an already Viking scheduled late arrival of 9 pm. We eventually reached our cabin at 1 in the morning. The staffing level was small on arrival and transfer to the ship was slow. It was clearly not unexpected. Departure was equally disappointing off the ship by 8 for a flight in the afternoon at 2 pm. 6 hours and not even a cup of coffee provided. Basically you lose a day travelling at each end not great value Read Less

Small ship with under 100 guests and adult only. Booking through to leaving the ship was extremely well organised. We had a penthouse balcony cabin which gave excellent space for clothes as well as a sofa and chair, fridge, large tv etc .The staff,[ particularly our cabin steward Alvin] couldn't have been better. The ship is not for people who want glitz and chandeliers, it has a comfortable elegance. The entertainment was good but not a lot of it and we would have liked it to be a little more varied. All of the restaurants were excellent far better than other cruise lines we have been with and afternoon tea was lovely. A free trip was offered on each island and the ones we went on were okay but not outstanding, the free trip we took on St Thomas should have come with a warning for back pain sufferers. The vehicles were open buses with it felt like no springs on very rough bumpy roads. We took taxis to the beach on a few occasions on different Islands with no problems until St Thomas when I wanted a nostalgic trip to Magens Bay which is unchanged and beautiful the water is so clear it is not neccesary to snorkel to see the fish they swim around your feet. unfortunately the taxi driver didn't return for us, luckily for us another couple shared their taxi with us. We would cruise with Viking again but we were very cross that we had to disembark at 7.45 for a flight at 1pm which meant a long wait at San Juan airport and another of 4 hours in New York. we would look more closely at travel arrangements made by Viking in future. Read Less

We are fairly new cruisers. We’ve been on one other cruise line, Crystal. Viking likes to brag that they’re a better rated brand than Crystal, so all of my views are compared to our experiences on Crystal. Ship: The ship itself is beautiful. It’s classy and well laid out. They were very diligent about cleanliness, so we had no GI issues. It’s modern, well-stated, and the spa is phenomenal. Cabin: We booked an Explorer Suite, which was lovely. It had a wrap around balcony, a lovely bathroom, walk-in closet with a sit down vanity, ample storage, and a living room. My complaint about the room is that other than being able to book our excursions early, there’s no preferential treatment for the room category. The air travel accommodations/booking process was awful, which I will address later. When we got on the ship, we had to go looking for our luggage. It was not delivered to our room. With this room category, I would have expected a higher level of service, but that was not the case. Maybe the owner’s suite has this, but don’t expect anything extra for booking the higher level room. Dining: Crystal totally beat the Viking Sea in this category. The meal quality was spotty. We had great dinners at the specialty restaurants, Manfredi’s and The Chef’s Table, but the quality of service and food was inconsistent even there. The service and food quality at the World Cafe and The Restaurant was sometimes good and sometimes poor. We had great service in The Restaurant one night and poor service the next. They seemed untrained and even the manager was pitching in to help. I felt like this whole voyage was a training voyage for much of the crew. Entertainment: I hate to be negative here, because the entertainers were clearly trying to do a good job, but someone mentioned that it was along the lines of a high school musical presentation. I think that’s a great assessment. The left handed guitarist was great, but I wouldn't book this cruise line hoping for great entertainment. Excursions: We were in the Caribbean, so we were wanting relaxing, water-themed activities. The beach excursions were WAY TOO SHORT. We would just get settled on our beach chairs and they’d say, “time to go.” My advice would be to pay a taxi cab driver to take you to the beach and bring you back. Save the money for the taxi driver. The excursion I was most looking forward to, Cruising the Anguilla Channel, was canceled the night before. I think they knew all along, because it would never show up on our TV under our “excursions booked” tab, but they didn’t tell us until the night before. And take cash! The islands are still recovering and most of the places don’t take credit cards. We booked this cruise 8 months in advance. When we booked, the website simply said, “one free excursion per port.” They really needed an asterisk that made it clear that the excursion was their brief overview of the island in a bumpy, crowded bus. We thought it meant any excursion, which was NOT the case. Shady. Service: Our cabin manager was sweet and it would be difficult for me to fault her, but I found her English to be very hard to decipher. This was the case with many of the crew members. They were just inconsistent. We ordered room service, which is offered 24 hours a day, and more than once, they shorted us one breakfast. They brought the missing items 25 minutes later, but we had to leave for en excursion. The spotty service was most notable in the dining establishments and the luggage delivery I mentioned earlier wasn’t a good sign for our first 15 minutes on the ship. The people in Guest Relations seemed stressed out, probably from the negative comments. Everyone was trying to print boarding passes at the same time and they had trouble with the paper and printer. The spa had great people and they seemed to be the most organized and professional parts of the staff. BIG NEGATIVE: I specifically asked the travel agent and Viking NOT to make us sit and wait forever at the airport for our departing flight, as we had a nine hour flight awaiting us. Viking kicked us off the ship at 6:30 am, and our flight didn’t leave until 1:00 pm. By the time we arrived home, we had been up for 20 hours. There was a flight at 8:00 am that Viking could have booked us on. BIGGER NEGATIVE: I would advise anyone taking this cruise to book their own airfare. The cruise offers airfare as an included feature, but it’s really not worth it. We were flying out of LAX (Southern California). Viking wanted us to fly north to Chicago or New York, IN THE DEAD OF WINTER, just to turn around and fly south to Puerto Rico. We tried to renegotiate different flights that didn’t have us flying into inclement weather. We finally decided to purchase our own outbound flight, but because we did this, they charged us a $100 surcharge, which they would not reimburse us for. You read this correctly, they charged US $100, even though we paid for our own airfare, so we could avoid the illogical flights they wanted us to take!!! Embarkation and Disembarkation: The people were nice, and the guy who loaded the luggage at the Puerto Rico airport was a rock star! There certainly could have been more clear instructions, but we figured it out. Your Fellow Cruisers: Most of the people on the cruise were older people. When I say older, I mean 70+. This is fine, and we expected an older crowd. I am 60 and allegedly a young looking 60, so I had more than one older woman ask me if I was old enough to be on the ship. In fact, some women were somewhat hostile about it. My husband is older than I am, and we generated a few eye rolls and disapproving looks. We were there to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, so clearly people were jumping to some wrong conclusions. The people we enjoyed were the ones who ventured out with us on excursions. They were more active and friendly. I guess you don’t get to choose who you cruise with, but just know that it’s mostly seasoned travelers. Read Less

I was looking forward to this so much and first time trying Viking, thought the Caribbean would be a good choice as it was one of their less expensive cruises and I wanted to see what the Viking experience would be like without spending too much money. Weather was mixed, some of the Islands are still recovering from various hurricanes so be prepared for infrastructure and transport that may not be what you’re used to. No sea days, in a different port each day ( except San Juan at the beginning ) Let’s start with the good things: Beautiful contemporary classy ship with gorgeous public spaces. Staff good in the main but quite a few seemed to struggle with our British accents and some were surly and on automatic pilot. They didn’t listen. Good cabin stewards. Nice cabin but on the small side. Fantastic bathroom. Top end and stunning spa suite. Expensive for treatments though. Included excursions were ok but given itinerary it was to be expected. Optional excursions expensive. Silver beverage package good at a decent price but all drinks reasonably priced in any event. Other cruise lines should note. Good included WiFi And the not so good: Food and wine Layout of buffet and indeed main restaurant not great. Small ship so narrow down each side. In the main restaurant, you felt at times if you were sitting in a corridor. Service very spotty, wine waiters, difficult to get a hold of, serving staff were different all the time. Seemed a bit chaotic and it took on average around two hours each night for a 3 course dinner to be served. Not always asked if you wanted tea or coffee. Food itself ranged from very good to indifferent and we had over cooked fish and lukewarm food on more than a few occasions. The speciality restaurants offered better service but food didn’t live up to the hype. They take themselves far too seriously in The Chefs Table. The staff need to lighten up a bit and let their personalities come through. Having said that, there was one waiter who was particularly bumptious, condescending and aggressive. After we complained, the restaurant manager sorted it out but it was quite an upsetting experience. Mentioned the overcooked fish in mid cruise survey and was gobsmacked when the head chef called, came to see us in Manfredis that night, got the main chef to come to our table too and arranged for beautiful petit fours to be sent to our cabin. It was impressive how Viking wanted to sort things out. We had upgraded wines as on the package- seemed to confuse staff but in the main the upgraded versions were decent enough. However, the included wines were pretty poor with very limited choice. It wasn’t exactly free flowing either way. Mamsens good, coffee and pastries in the downstairs bar good. Lovely Gelato and desserts in the buffet. You get much better food and wine on Oceania though. No comparison. Room service- we gave up after a few days. Missing items. Wrong items. Entertainment- A real weak point. Good band, four great young singers with 4/5 shows over a 10 day cruise. Couple of movies shown in the evening. No guest artistes. Classical duo. Nice up to a point and then begins to grate. Good pianist but no vocals.Not looking for high impact stuff but it was a bit too sedate. Better than Oceania though where the Tumbleweed roams freely. Atrium bar and Explorers bar very nice places for a pre dinner cocktail. Toshaven - lovely little venue for dancing but not well attended. Good fun though and the band/ singers very good. Didn’t go to any enrichment lectures so can’t comment. Others said they were interesting. No casino but in my book, not missed. We are a couple in our late 50’s so we were at the lower end of the age spectrum. Fellow guests were in the main very nice, polite and courteous. So, summary- there is much to like about Viking BUT at this price point, there are other options that may suit better. It depends what you’re looking for. If only I could combine a bit of Oceania, a bit of Celebrity, Regent and Azamara with Viking, I think I’d have found the perfect cruise line. I thought I had found it, but I wouldn’t rush to book another cruise with them unless the itinerary sang to me. Read Less