We have cruised on Seabourn for our previous 7 cruises, but we liked the Viking itinerary from Durban to London because we have dear friends that live in Durban, whom we visited a couple of days before our cruise. A few days after booking this cruise, we got a flier from Viking offering the same cabin on the same itinerary for $1000 less/pp. We called our travel agent as we do when that happens with Seabourn to get the best price guarantee. What? Not only do you not get a best price guarantee, Viking made us cancel our existing booking, pay a significant cancellation fee and rebook the same cabin. Not cool and definitely not Seabourn. Oh well, price is less expensive than Seabourn......or not. Tips are included in the price of your cabin with Seabourn. Not so with Viking. Only later after you have booked do they offer you the privilege of pre-paying your tips at close to $900/pp.

Embarkation was a breeze- faster than Seabourn. The Viking Deluxe Veranda suite was significantly smaller than Seabourn’s standard Veranda Suites.- No walk in closet, no sofa, no capacity to close off seating area from sleeping area. If you order room service, you must eat your food hunched over a coffee table because there is no room for the food cart and two chairs that you get on Seabourn. In other words it is not really a suite on Viking unless you spend more money for a Junior Suite.

Dining on Viking was inconsistent, with Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s Special restaurants usually being very good to excellent. The Restaurant main dining offerings varied from excellent to inedible. The World Cafe had excellent sushi, sashimi, soups and breakfast omelettes. The dishes on the buffet varied from very good to terrible. You had to order the deluxe wine package to get wines comparable to the standard wines on Seabourn. Some of the Viking included wines were good, but many of the white wines were undrinkable ( 2 Buck Chuck ). Standard “Champagne” was a Viking brand- use your imagination. Read more