The Ship: Viking Mars
We’ve done cruises with other cruise lines, and they were mostly OK, but this summer we did back-to-back Viking cruises to Iceland and Northern Europe and now it would be really difficult to ‘back peddle’ and go back to those other cruise lines. I fully acknowledge that all the things about Viking that I like may well be reasons that other people would want to avoid them in favour of other companies. Let’s start with the ship:
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It’s considered a smaller ship with a maximum passenger capacity of 930 (compared to 2500-3500 or so on most cruise lines and 6000+ on the big ships). In our previous cruise, there were 725 passengers on board. The clientele skews older. Part of that is because Viking does not allow children on board. Every passenger is an adult, so this automatically rules out younger parents who want to take their kids on holiday with them. While this will be a huge turn-off for some people, it’s an “OMG, YES!” from others. I fall into the latter group without an ounce of shame. When we were at our hotel, there was a family with children (perhaps ages 4-7) who were loud and disruptive. We thought, “I hope they won’t be on the ship” and then we remembered, “they can’t be!”
Well-behaved children can be a joy to be around. But let’s face it, the odds of all the children on a ship being well-behaved is pretty much zero and you’re stuck at sea with the little bastards. No thanks.
Because the clientele skews older, the focus of the cruises is also very different than other cruise lines.
Most cruise lines focus on making life on board as fun and interesting as possible. There are casinos, art auctions, endless trivia nights, a sports deck, probably water slides and climbing walls and basketball courts. They usually have multiple venues for musical acts, big production singing/dancing shows with people doing covers of pop tunes, magicians, comedians, and the like. Some have dance parties and themed evenings, plus lots of things for the kids to do. I’m not bad-mouthing any of that, by the way, as it can make the cruise feel like one big party.
Viking focuses instead on the destinations rather than the on-board experience. Life on the ship is quieter, there are no casinos or art auctions or midnight dance parties around the pool. The spots where you might expect to find kid-friendly areas are instead home to a nice bar or some art or maybe a library. There is a large theatre at the bow of the ship which will have some entertainment on days when you’re at sea, but its primary function is to provide experts on the history and culture of your next stop, which they call ‘port talks.’ If you don’t want to go down to the theatre to see it live, you can watch it streamed on the TV in your cabin.
Viking does have live music on board, for sure, but instead of having big production shows, they have a handful of on-board musicians (usually a guitarist, a string ensemble, and a pianist) who provide background music in the various lounges and common areas of the ship. They’re very good, but you’ll have to listen to them amidst the chattering and other noises of whatever place they’re playing. There is a sorta-party live music venue on board, though, and that’s Torshaven. It’s a nightclub-like room near the front of the ship where the resident band plays, sometimes with a guest singer.
There’s a nice spa below the big theatre that specializes in the Nordic style of relaxation: fire and ice. The Norwegians have a custom of sitting in a sauna until they’re fully cooked, then plunging into ice-cold water to shock their bodies into… well, I dunno what, but it’s supposed to be fantastic. I wouldn’t know. Regardless, the facilities for that are really nice. On either side of the main room, there are gender-specific smaller areas that each have a dry sauna and a cold plunge pool.
In between these men/women areas is a common area with two large hot tubs. The smaller one has hotter water and hydro massage jets. The larger one is not as hot and has strong currents from one end so you can swim in place. I like them both.
In addition to the pools, there’s a steam sauna and two different methods of doing your cold shock afterward. One is a shower with a bucket of icy water that dumps on you with a pull of a string (um…. no.) The other is the “snow grotto”, a closet with a bench where the temperature is around -5 or so and there’s a snow making machine. It’s interesting, and before I lived in an area with snow, it might’ve been more appealing… but again: no.
The other big difference between Viking and the other cruise lines we’ve done is Viking is an all-inclusive cruise. If you’ve not done a cruise before, this might need some explaining. On most cruise lines, you see the advertised price and think, “that’s pretty reasonable.” What you might not realize, though, is that price is for an inside room - in the centre of the ship with no windows. If you want a room with a porthole to look out of, that’s going to cost more. You want a balcony? That’s a LOT more. Ships also have the regular restaurant and a buffet, plus two or three ‘fancy’ ones that you have to pay extra for. Viking has those as well, but it’s no extra charge if you want to eat at the upscale place rather than the regular one. You simply make a reservation and show up.
And meals are where the all-inclusive value really kicks in. Every cruise offers meals included, but if you want a glass of wine with dinner, that’s going to cost you. Here, it’s included - imagine dining with free wine refills at lunch and dinner without having to mentally calculate how much extra that’s going to cost. It’s really nice. The wines are really good, too! When you hear “wine is included,” you half-expect it to be Two Buck Chuck or whatever they can get by the gallon at the cheapest price, but no… we’ve really enjoyed the wines on board and every day is a new one to try.
Our stateroom cabin is really nice - and because all the Viking ocean ships are identical (save for a few cosmetic and decor differences), we immediately felt at home when we got to our room. Basically the only adjustment was that this room is a mirror of the one we had on our previous cruise, since it’s on the opposite side of the ship. Little touches add up, like having both European and North American outlets, USB outlets, the towel warmer and heated floors in the washroom, as well as the spacious (for a cruise ship) shower.
The best thing, though, is the bed and linens. Seriously, the sheets on this bed are probably the best I’ve ever slept on. They are so good that Rob and I pulled the bed apart until we found the manufacturer’s tag… and unfortunately, they only sell to hospitality companies in bulk. Dammit.
Anyone who’s cruised before knows the annoyance of that safety drill that you have to do before the ship sets sail. You’re herded into groups on deck by your assigned lifeboat and crammed into tight little rank-and-file blocks of passengers. There you stand while your group leader explains how to wear a life vest and what to do if there’s an emergency. It lasts far longer than it should and being crammed up in a wad on deck with strangers is never fun.
Viking does this completely differently. When you first board the ship, you’re given a hot towel to freshen up (in case you’ve arrived after a long flight) and a glass of Champagne. Then you’re directed to a room where someone explains how the life vest works. Since they’re doing it as people arrive, you’re not crammed up with dozens of strangers on deck, you’re sitting in a nice room with five or six others in the air conditioning. As for the rest of the safety information, you get that on the TV in your stateroom. It’s mandatory that you let the video play through (it’s about five minutes long and includes some amazing scenery from places Viking goes) and then click at the end that you’re familiar with the safety procedure. That’s it. You’re done.
The staff are the biggest asset on Viking, however. You’re pampered. Simple as that. The minibar in the room comes with gin, vodka, rum, and Scotch. We don’t really need the rum and vodka - so our cabin steward refills the minibar with just gin and Scotch. It’s included, too, and refilled once per day. There was a bottle of Champagne as well, which we had switched out for a nice bottle of red wine. The room is cleaned twice per day and at our cabin level, laundry/ dry cleaning/ ironing services are included as well. A few shirts and pants came out of my suitcase all wrinkled, so I simply left them on the bed with the form and when we came back that evening, they were gone. They’ll be back this evening when we come back from dinner, cleaned and pressed. It’s really nice to be spoiled.
The food is really good as well. The menu has a set of standards on the left page (beef, chicken, fish, salads) that doesn’t change, so you always have something familiar to fall back on, and the right-side page has fare that reflects the part of the world you’re in at the time. Since this cruise is going to hit multiple countries with a bunch of different cultures and cuisines, I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of menu we’ll see. Our last cruise was mostly homogenous in that regard, doing Iceland and Scandinavia - lots of fish with an occasional foray into reindeer and lamb. Plus, with unlimited wine refills, one’s palate becomes a bit more adventurous, so bring on the challenging stuff! If it’s nasty, I can always head to the poolside grill for a burger or a hot dog.
So far on the Viking Mars, we’ve only done the buffet. That’s not a bad thing, as I love their sushi bar. Rob had other things, including steamed crab legs with butter, but I put both hooves in the trough at the sushi counter and stuffed myself. Not pictured above is the octopus sashimi that I had to try (delicious flavour, but a bit chewy). My new favourite thing, though, are the green rolls in the middle. While I love sushi, I’m not a fan of the seaweed wrappers that hold everything together. Those green ones in the middle are wrapped in lettuce leaves instead and OMG that’s my new favourite sushi. Honestly, it’s such a simple change and yet it makes the flavour profoundly different. I wish it were more common everywhere.
And that’s it from the ship. We’ve just returned from the “overview of Athens” tour that was included with the cruise, and had a nice lunch of smorresbrød, and now we’re about to set sail into the Aegean Sea, but I’ll save that for the next post.