This Cruise Line Is Different Than All The Others! 

You will love Viking if you get a chance to work with them! I think I saw 1 crew member get upset the entire time I was on my cruise. The crew literally becomes like family to the passengers as they are always upbeat, and the passengers always seem to be laid back.

You will love it!! they are simply the Best..

once you go there, royal Caribbean, carnival and other cruise lines will be a thing of the past! seriously!

Did you get to go before covid?

KillerNut2 Same! I’m 33 and am very tempted to try cruising for the first time with Viking for my next holiday.

I’m taking my first Viking cruise next July at 39! I can’t wait!

Grant 65 I could listen to Jim's voice all day. I first ran into the channel with the carnival glory secrets video a few years ago and subscribed right away

Yeah, Virgin is still a bit of a question mark in my mind. I think they are really gearing their whole thing to a very hip 30 year old kind of customer. The tattoo parlor says a lot about who they are looking to appeal to. A Viking Cruise is definitely geared towards the 50-70 year old crowd, and that's probably why it works really well for me... since I'm 61.

The Yacht Club is definitely the way to do a MSC cruise! I have actually tried on several occasions to convince my wife that we should do another cruise on the MSC Seaside, but this time in the Yacht Club, and that the comparison of the two would be good subject matter for a video. But she really disliked some things about that first MSC cruise, and so far I have not been able to get her to agree to a 2nd try!

@@JimZim The difference between the regular class and yacht club are night and day. This is our second 14 day on the Seaside, both in the yacht club, and 4th with MSC. Funny thing, I priced the same duration on a Princess ship, just a balcony cabin, but when you add in all the extras, drinks, the Princess cruise was more expensive than the Yacht club. Keep asking your wife to give it a try. The private pool is amazing. You could be the only ones in it much of the time. Cruise on! PS. I would be interested to know what you wife did not like on MSC

True. And while many things that you would pay for on other lines are included in these, it also means you are paying for some of these upgraded services even if you don't need or use them (i.e. alcohol, internet, laundry), it's just wrapped up in the cruise fare. However the line looks lovely and if it was in my budget, I'd love to give them a try.

@@SpeedNoodles You don't even need to pay for the alcohol package. I'm from Wisconsin so I love to drink, but the alcohol package isn't even worth it for someone like myself. One person we talked to purchased it, and he said that it's not worth it. I believe it was like $25 per person, per room per day even if the other person you're traveling with doesn't want the package. For a week long cruise, that would be $350, and my father and I only spent about $80 combined outside of lunch and dinner where we can have all the beer and wine we want.

The Majestic Princess is a fantastic ship. Should’ve stayed with that.

LazyGuy222 We are delaying the trip Singapore to Hong Kong on the Majestic; we wouldn’t pass up going to Asia.

beep848 I see

You are in for a treat on your Rhine River cruise. Did that 2 years ago. Enjoy!

The Penthouse Veranda cabin on Viking is definitely the one I would recommend! You were smart to book those!

Do what we did... When we were ready for a "sea day" of just relaxing on the ship, we just didn't book any shore excursions that day. We stayed aboard and had a nice "sea day" with the ship tied up at the dock.

Yeah, that's how I roll when I'm on vacation!!! At first glance, it looks like a more generous pour than it really was. If you look carefully, you will notice that the stream of Coke had a lot more volume to it than the stream of rum did. In real life, I would actually pour an even stronger mix than what's on the video! But you also have to keep in mind that it was Malibu Rum, which is a lot lighter on alcohol content than some other rums. For example, if you were making a rum and coke with Bicardi 151, you would not want to do a one-to-one pour!!!

I used a gimbal on a few of the shots, but most of it was just using the built-in image stabilization on the GoPro Hero 7 Black. The electronic stabilization is pretty amazing! Not as smooth as using a gimbal, but pretty good in most situations. Also, a few of the shots were using my big Canon DSLR on a tripod. But the majority of the shots were from the GoPro, using only the built-in stabilization.

I feel like maybe you are new to my channel. Let's look at my cruises from 2018, and the number of videos I made about them. In December, I cruised on the Norwegian Getaway... and posted 12 videos to my channel that I made during that cruise, plus 3 more pre-cruise videos such as ones about the hotel we stayed at and the airline flights we took to get there. In May, I cruised on Norwegian Bliss... and posted 14 videos that I made during the cruise, plus two about shore excursions I took during the cruise, and one about the hotel we stayed at before the cruise. In January, I sailed on the MSC Seaside... the cruise I liked the least out of all the cruises I've ever been on... and still managed to post five videos about the cruise and two videos about the pre-cruise stuff. So, there is really nothing unusual about me posting nine videos from my cruise on the Viking Sea. It's pretty much what I do! And as far as the fact that I praised Viking... yeah, same thing I did two years ago after my first cruise with them. It probably has something to do with the fact that out of all the cruises I've been on, Viking's the only one that ranks up there at the top of the list with The Haven on NCL as being the most enjoyable ways to cruise.

@@JimZim I have seen a lot of your videos. It just comes across as you're praising them more then the other's. You make nice videos

It was one of the best cruises I've been on! So, they deserve the praise.

@@JimZim how about making a video about the 3 best cruises you've been on? Surely there have been other nice one's? Aren't Viking cruises more expensive upfront and that's why they can charge less fpr drinks and not worry about the towels etcetera?

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_3X_1iln_JM.html It's like most things in life... the best things cost more.

davidslaton sadly I’m only seventeen 😂

Casinos are always a cheat and cruise ships even more ,than land casinos.

There are ALWAYS future cruises planned in my life! I actually post the information about future cruises on my web site. You'll find it near the bottom of the page at www.jimzim.net/CruiseHistory.html

Viking and The Haven on NCL are pretty much at the top of my budget. It looks like Oceania would be about 20% more for a comparable cabin on a comparable cruise. I noticed that Oceania visits St Barts during some of their Caribbean cruises. That's cool! I've got a big map of the Caribbean in my office, with push pins on each of the islands I've been to. St Barts is one of just a few Caribbean destinations still on my bucket list. In a perfect world, Oceania would invite me aboard for a cruise as their guest (at their expense) to make some videos about how Oceania compares to the other cruise lines I've sailed on. If they're as good as you say, it would be good publicity for them!

Hmm I thought Viking and Oceania was same price range, I did take a quick look, Nov 19 10 night caribbien Oceania 2400$ pr person and Viking 2700$ pr person Veranda stateroom, but as you say not the cheapest any of them, how much Is The Heaven normal fare? I hope you will have the chance of putting a pin on St Barths soon;0) Would say thats the nicest place In the carabbien I have been to, I was so lucky my ship had overnight there so we rented a Mini convertable and drove around a hole day, so nice:0) If there is any place In the Caribbien I am gona rent a house for a week It Is there:0)If you can stick with an Ocean view it was even cheaper, but that Is when i checked prices from Norway(Europe)

It's funny you should mention Alaska. About a hundred different times during my cruise on the Viking Sea, I thought to myself how perfect any of the Viking Ocean Cruise ships would be for Alaska. It totally makes sense, as I think they were really designed with Norway in mind. I would absolutely LOVE to take a Viking cruise to Alaska!

Viking has a cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver and reverse that does an itinerary thru Alaska on their website.

I actually have over 15 sailings with reduced Single Supplements. From 25% to 50% off the Single Supplement. Jim has my contact info at the end of the video. Please fee free to reach out to me.

I've sailed with Viking since things resumed post-pandemic. Everything I showed you in this video is still the same. It's still a wonderful cruise line... definitely one of my favorites! One of the reasons that Viking hasn't been making cutbacks post-pandemic ( while most of the other cruise lines have been) is that Viking is not a publicly traded company. It is privately owned. I've met and spoken with Torstein Hagen, the head of the company, and he's an impressive guy... and the main reason for Viking's success.

@@JimZim Good to know! Thank you for the quick reply! :)

Thank you, Dawn. That's nice of you to say. I started in radio in the 1970s. Couldn't make any money at it, though... so I had to get a "real job". In my heart, I'm just an old radio guy. The big microphone that I use in my videos is a homage to the good ol' days of radio broadcasting.

@@JimZim I like the microphone. You'd be great on the travel channel..you have a voice you could just listen to for hours. Big fan..have a wonderful sunday 🚢⚓☺

I'd welcome the opportunity if Disney invited me at their expense, but I don't really see myself booking a Disney cruise at my own expense. Since it's just me and my wife cruising, with no kids or grandkids coming along, I tend to lean towards other cruise lines.

Yeah, two years ago, when I booked my first Viking cruise, they didn't even have the capabilities of booking a cruise online! And it's not exactly like 2016 was the dark ages of Internet technology! Viking has some huge strengths, but also a few weak areas... and I agree that their web site is one of the weaker areas!

The free tours are generally the walking tours or bus tours that give you an overview of the city or island the ship is visiting. It's never the more involved tours like going on a sailboat or visiting a resort or a beach. But, something that really surprised me was how inexpensive the Viking tours were that were not the "included" tours. Viking just isn't out to make a killing on extra revenue from the passengers on shore excursions. So, they don't add a huge markup to the cost of a tour, beyond what the tour operator actually charges Viking. On the big cruise lines, there is a very large markup! So, I was surprised at how reasonably priced all the beach tours were during our Viking cruise.

thank you, I was wondering about that. I found most of the excursions on RC to be quite expensive for what you get and was trying to figure out how much extra it would cost me to do those nice beach excursions you did on your 9-island 11-day cruise

If you go to the Viking website, choose the itinerary you want to do, and then scroll down to the area that lists all of the ports the ship will stop at, it will have an area to the right of that that will say "read more". If you click on that, it will show you all of the excursions they generally have for all of the ports on that itinerary. It will even say "included" with the excursions that are listed as a walking tour or panoramic bus tour, while it won't list a price for the other excursions.

They do allow wheelchairs, just not electric scooters. If you had someone with you to push your wheelchair, you'd be fine on Viking.

@@JimZim True, but I do not. My travel partner would more than likely be my sister and she needs a scooter as well. Oh, and her husband is also disabled, and they use scooters when they travel. Anyway, thank you for replying back.

You will not regret it. I've been on two Viking Ocean and one Viking River cruises. I consider the Viking fleet my home away from home. It's relaxed, unhurried, you're not nickel and dimed, you're treated like an adult. There is a certain level of sophistication but not stuffiness. The destinations are about cultural enrichment not taking the party ashore. I can't say enough good things about Viking. The demographic does skew a little older (I'm 44), but on my latest cruise (Christmas 2017) there were more than a few in their thirties and even twenties. Bottom line, no matter how young or old you are, if you're looking for a sophisticated relaxing getaway, Viking will definitely meet your expectations. If you'd like to get an idea of what Viking has to offer I've made several videos of my own Viking experiences. Check them out and tell me what you think.

If you Google "Viking Ocean Cruises careers" you will find the answer!

It's always dangerous to ask me a question about cruise ship food... because my tastes in food are a bit different than most people's taste in food. My food palette basically is that of a 13 year old boy. Meat, potatoes, hamburgers, pizza, lasagna, tacos, enchiladas. I am about as far away from a foodie as you can get. So, anytime I'm talking about food, you have to keep that in mind! With that said, considering the overall food situation on Viking versus Norwegian, I much prefer the dining on Norwegian over the dining on Viking. Our recent cruise on Norwegian Bliss was a nearly perfect match for my tastes in food. Some aspects of Viking's food are excellent... but others not as good for me. I enjoyed the steak and the big steak fries in the main restaurant. The croissants at breakfast are the best I've ever had. They make a good omelet at breakfast. The burger out at the pool grill is second only to Guy Fieri burgers. But a lot of the other food just wasn't my style. On the other hand, my wife -- who has to eat gluten and dairy free -- really loved the lengths that Viking went to in making sure they had good meals for her. Your question was specifically about The Haven Restaurant. I like The Haven Restaurant a lot... especially breakfast! I've had some good steaks there... and their burger is pretty good... perhaps third on my list, behind Guy Fieri and the one at the pool grill on Viking. The French Dip sandwich was also good, on my most recent cruise. But the problem with The Haven Restaurant is the very limited menu, which is the same every day of the cruise. I certainly wouldn't want to eat every meal in The Haven Restaurant. The menu is too limited for me. But considering the overall mix of having both The Haven Restaurant AND all the other NCL dining options available during the course of a cruise, it's an easy choice for me... I pick NCL over Viking in that competition. But of course, food and dining is just one aspect of a cruise. Viking wins out in some areas, The Haven on NCL wins out in others, and I even think Carnival's Vista-class ships would win in a few categories if there were such a thing as the Jim Zim cruise awards. Those three would be the big winners, and Royal Caribbean's Anthem Of The Seas would probably win a couple of categories, too.

Thank you for the detailed response Jim! You are actually the reason why my husband and I tried out the haven. We absolutely loved it and ate almost every meal there. We are big foodies and your rave review was one of the reasons why we chose it. Your recent Viking experiences have sparked our interest. The ships look lovely and quite frankly very relaxing. If Jim Zim awards were a thing, picking cruises would be a lot easier! Can’t wait to see your next video. Please thank your wife as well! Best wishes, Susan

Love the review but a slight disagreement with you on the Haven. I cruise NCL large ships and am a fan of the Haven. Though the menu is very limited in the Haven, please keep in mind that you can have anything you like, you have to open your mouth and ask. For instance I am a fan of Filipino food and I eat rice and a protein meat for breakfast daily, that being said. I specifically asked for 3 of our dinner nights to have Filipino cuisine and for my daily breakfast as at home I had chicken breast, rice, and or beef and rice with plenty of fruit. now my point none of what I ordered for dinner and or breakfast is on the menu but I asked for it and with the provisions on the ship it was easily accommodated. Its like McDonalds finally figured out that they could serve breakfast all day because guess what? They have the provisions in the kitchen.You are given a butler service, concierge etc., With a very diverse crew and various cuisines on the ship I never even thought that I had to stick to a 10 item menu when I paid a premium for Haven. Large NCL ships I've cruised Haven are Escape, Bliss, Epic, Getaway, and then the suites on the smaller ships Star, and Pearl. NCL examined the issue of Haven guest paying a premium to only be subject to a limited menu all the way down to silverware, plates, premium drinks etc., I know as I was aboard the Escape when they had folks from their Miami office in Haven speaking to guest purposely about change and feedback. I am sure we don't cruise as much as you but when we do NCL its the Haven and the suites. RCCL, Celebrity, Princess, Carnival, and MSC again all different but their goal is revenue. Love the differences you pointed out and I see several advantages from your review. Regarding butler service that is also under utilized because 'we' don't ask questions, I asked plenty of questions. Example as we all know the general cruise population can not access the Haven unless invited which there is a cost, on the other hand haven guest can enjoy the rest of ship. We hung out at the general pool area and though we were Haven Guest, we had our butler bring our drinks with mixers from our stateroom to where we were. Yes, those little phones that they tell you at the start of your cruise ring directly to your butler are for that use. Just ask. sorry for the long response but I would agree on the nickel and diming you, but though I will be cruising Viking in August on the 11 day I have done the math and nothing is really different regarding cost. Viking seems to be big on its included but price reflects those items that you are paying for. I wise old lady (grandmother) told me 50+ years ago "nothing is free" or in this case included, you pay for it all. Viking just adds it all in from the start. Adults only is nice so again we will be cruising Viking in August and yes to truly compare we are doing the same accommodations we would normally get on NCL, RCCL, Celebrity, and Carnival. Again love your reviews thanks as it has helped a great deal.

Mission accomplished, then!

Noticeably absent from their movies on demand was "The Poseidon Adventure" and " Speed 2: Cruise Control"!

That's nice of you to say! I was a DJ in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually the Program Director of a radio station. But I couldn't make any money at it, and had to get a "real job" to support my family. In my heart, I'm still an old radio guy. (And I still love those old 70s songs!) An interesting development is that my voice is actually better now that I'm older, and also I have a lot better technical equipment available to me... like pro-quality microphones, sound processing equipment, and digital audio recorders and editors. So, these are the golden days for me!

Jim Zimmerlin What an intriguing backstory! I’ve always figured that you have a perfect voice for radio. I wonder if any stations would consider a show just for you to discuss cruising?

Yes he is... So soothing. Sang! I'd like him to tell me a bedtime story so I could sleep like a baby.

I did see that! Unfortunately, I do have a "real job" and a contract to stick with it for at least two more years. So, I can't cruise full time quite yet. Maybe someday!

@@JimZim that would have been a blast!

I haven't cruised with Regent, so I'm afraid I can't offer any information on that. Sorry!