It is probably important for you to know my family and I are seasoned cruisers. Over the past 25 years we’ve sailed a total of 31 times on Celebrity, Holland America, Cunard, Princes, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, and MSC.
This was our first sailing with Viking Ocean. We’ve wanted to try another upscale, luxury line after sailing on Azamara a few years ago, but have never been ready to spend the extra money, which typically cost $400 to $500 a day, per person. We picked this cruise largely because it was a Northern Lights cruise in an area of the world we had never been, the Arctic Circle. The question is was the Viking Sky worth three to four times the cost of mainline cruises?
One note of caution: even though we thought were prepared for the cold temperatures that awaited us, we discovered that we had not anticipated the severity of the bitter cold temperatures we would face and the length of time we would be exposed to them. On several days temperatures dropped to -25 F and we spent up to 5 hours on day without a break other than a camp fire. More about this later.
Stateroom
Our stateroom was on Deck 4. It was a much better than average stateroom experience in how quiet the cabin was. Maybe it was because that even though we are near age 60, we would rank in the upper 25% of the youngest cruisers on board. However, I think the fact the ship was new probably had something to do with good sound proofing between cabins. We were also impressed with the quality of the mattress, linens and towels, all a step above other lines like Celebrity. The heated bathroom floor, however, was a completely appreciated luxury! There was plenty of storage and outlets, too.