When I'm not on a cruise ship I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how much I wish I was on a cruise ship!
And there's a part of me that likes a fun cruise... one with water slides and comedy clubs and acting younger than my age, but...
I am a 62 year old guy now and that probably goes a long way towards explaining why lately...
I tend to daydream about going on a relaxing cruise.
When I think about what ship I wish I was on quite often lately it's been a Viking Ocean Cruise ship.
Here's the thing about why I tend to daydream about Viking Ocean Cruise ships over the other cruise lines.
The ships are completely un-crowded.
They only carry 930 passengers.
I was on Carnival Horizon recently and there were almost 5,000 passengers aboard.
You just never have that kind of problem on a Viking Ocean cruise.
OK, sure, that's not a fair comparison.
Carnival Horizon is a much larger ship with much more room for all those passengers to spread out.
Here is a more fair comparison though...
A Viking Ocean ship versus Royal Caribbean's Empress of the Seas.
The two ships are nearly the same size.
Well, actually the Viking ship is just a little bit bigger but she carries literally half as many passengers.
Half as many! That's a big difference.
And the kind of passengers that sail on Royal Caribbean or Carnival or NCL or MSC...
Totally a different kind of passenger than you find on Viking.
First off, children are not even allowed on Viking.
In fact, I'd have to guess that the average age of a Viking passenger is probably greater than 60.
And they're well-traveled, well educated, affluent...
Nobody's there for a booze cruise...
And there are no crazy bachelorette parties going on.
When I cruise on Carnival I go to the quiet serenity retreat to get away from all the noise on the rest of the ship.
Or I book myself into a Havana cabin on Carnival's Vista class...
Because it's quiet and uncrowded in the private Havana area.
On Norwegian, I almost always book a room in the Haven...
The private, uncrowded retreat that most other passengers can't get in to.
That's what I have to do to get the quiet uncrowded cruise experience I'm looking for.
And that's the thing about a Viking Ocean cruise!
I don't have to go to some quiet, uncrowded part of the ship.
The whole ship is quiet and uncrowded!
There are only 930 passengers sharing a pretty big ship.
So, it's just not crowded and the whole experience is geared to mature adults.
I really like it.
If you've never been on a Viking Ocean cruise...
To really understand what's so great about it...
You have to understand both what it's got and what it doesn't have.
Let's start with what it's got.
Every cabin on the ship has a balcony.
There's complimentary Wi-Fi for every passenger...
And no need to log in or register. It just works.
There's complimentary beer, wine, and sodas at lunch and dinner.
And complimentary coffee, tea, and bottled water at any time.
They even have complimentary gelato in the buffet.
The self-serve laundry facilities operate at no extra charge.
Viking even supplies the soap!
Out at the pool there's complimentary sunblock.
And speaking of pools... there are three.
An infinity pool at the back of the ship.
Pretty much my favorite place to be!
A midship pool that's under a sliding glass dome so that it's usable in any weather.
And an indoor thermal pool within the spa available to all passengers at no extra charge.
There's also a complimentary shore excursion in every port of call.
The crew is noticeably happier than what we usually see on other cruise lines...
And that's because Viking pays a higher wage than the other cruise lines do.
It gives all crew members free unlimited Wi-Fi so they can stay in touch with their families back at home...
And the whole way that management treats the crew is just better.
It's very easy to notice when you're onboard a Viking ship.
The interior design of the ship is one of the best I've ever seen.
To say that there's a Scandinavian influence would be an understatement!
All the furniture is classy looking and comfortable.
All of the pool and patio furniture is high-end.
Everything about the way they've designed the interiors of the public spaces is tasteful and comfortable.
Even the public restrooms are classy!
There's a different feeling onboard a Viking ship.
Passengers are treated with respect, not suspicion.
For example, if you need a towel out at the swimming pool, just take one!
You don't have to show your ship ID card to get a towel.
Those ships where you have to show an ID card to get a towel and show it again when you return the towel...
That's because they think that you're going to steal the towel.
They are suspicious of you, not respectful.
It's just not that way on Viking.
There are umbrellas that you can use on a rainy day.
You don't have to check them out or sign for them.
Just take an umbrella if you need it.
If you order a drink at the bar you don't have to show them your ship ID card.
Just tell them your cabin number.
They don't think that you're going to try to charge a drink to some other cabin.
They know you're not gonna do that on Viking.
Imagine for a minute that your brother is the Captain of a cruise ship and you went on that ship on a cruise.
Imagine how the crew of the ship would treat you, the Captain's brother.
Well, that's basically the kind of treatment that I've gotten from the crew on my two Viking cruises.
It's very noticeably different than on the other cruise lines.
Respect and trust, not suspicion.
There's a reason that Viking was voted the #1 ocean cruise line by the readers of Travel and Leisure magazine...
Every year for the last four years.
Ranked higher than even the luxury cruise lines!
The itineraries tend to be port intensive. In other words, not a lot of sea days.
On most Viking Ocean cruises you visit a new destination just about every day of your cruise.
And while there are a fair amount of 7-day Viking cruises available...
There are way more longer cruises than most of the other cruise lines offer.
Even cruises that are three or four weeks long, or longer.
Now one that I've got my eye on, my ultimate bucket list cruise...
Is a 40 day cruise departing from Los Angeles...
That visits the Hawaiian Islands...
And then heads South to French Polynesia...
For stops at Bora Bora
Moorea and Tahiti...
And then, as if that wasn't already enough, it visits New Zealand and Tasmania...
Before finally ending up in Sydney, Australia.
Now THAT's my idea of the ultimate cruise itinerary!
Sorry! I got a little off track there! Slipped into a deep cruise fantasy about the South Pacific!
Let's take a quick break now so I can snap out of it and when we come back...
I'm going to tell you about a whole bunch of things you won't find on a Viking ocean cruise...
And believe me, you won't miss them!
Before the break, I mentioned some of the things that stand out about a Viking cruise.
But it's also important to mention what you don't have on a Viking ocean cruise.
No children. That's a big one right there!
And no smoking except for in one little section of the very highest outdoor deck...
Where it doesn't bother anybody.
There are none of the things that cruise ships have to get as much of your money as possible.
I'm talking about no casino, no bingo...
No photographers trying to take your picture so you can buy it later.
And no art auctions.
There's no extra charge to in any of the restaurants onboard.
If you get a massage or any kind of treatment in the spa they don't pester you to buy additional products or services.
On the big cruise lines, management tracks a metric called "onboard revenue".
Basically, it's how much extra money they can get out of you when you're onboard the ship...
In addition to all the money you paid in advance just to book the cruise.
I don't have access to the industry-wide figures, but...
I would have to guess that Viking Ocean Cruises ranks somewhere towards the bottom of the list as far as generating onboard revenue.
Getting more money out of you... it's just not something that Viking is trying to do.
The best example I can give...
They let you bring your own booze onboard!
They don't search your luggage and confiscate it.
I bring a bottle of Malibu rum with me from home.
I never have to buy a rum and Coke during the cruise. I can pour my own.
More things you don't see on a Viking Ocean cruise...
There are none of those electric scooters for the elderly and disabled.
Even on the mega cruise ships, there's not enough room on a cruise ship for those things.
They really interfere with the movement of all the other passengers.
And Viking just doesn't allow them.
And there's no ugly plumes of black smoke coming out of the smokestacks...
Because every Viking Ocean cruise ship has a state-of-the-art exhaust scrubber system installed.
Now there are currently six ships in the Viking fleet...
With eleven more on order over the next eight years.
And the ships share a standardized design. They're all nearly identical with just minor differences.
So, you don't pick a Viking Ocean cruise based on which of the six ships you want to be on...
You pick the cruise based on the itinerary.
You can see all the itineraries on their website, but...
I think it's actually easier to just go through one of these little booklets that they send in the mail.
If you're not already getting the booklets in the mail, just go to Viking's website...
Scroll down to the very bottom of the page...
And click the link that says "order a brochure".
And when you're ready to book a cruise with Viking, or any of the cruise lines...
Feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.
Her services don't cost you a thing.
Her fees are paid for by the cruise line.
Caitlin will answer all your questions for you... She'll take care of all the details of booking your cruise...
And she'll be looking out for you to help you avoid making some of those rookie cruiser mistakes!
I've cruised with Viking twice now and it's interesting because on my first Viking cruise...
There were a couple of things that could have been improved...
And on my second Viking cruise, they had taken care of some of those things.
So, now I'm really a big fan of Viking Ocean Cruises!
I'm going to put a couple of links up on the screen here.
If you have time to watch some more videos, check them out
I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!