WARNING! These notes are all completely subjective, and there aren’t many photos. This blog is my diary, so it’s important for me to be able to look back at our impressions later. Things we love may be things other people vehemently dislike, and vice-versa. That just makes life interesting!

(And if you’d prefer to just skip to the bottom line: at about 50% of the price of a Viking cruise, we felt that we got good value for money, and would cruise with HAL again. That said, when we can afford it we’ll still choose Viking.)

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Our only prior ocean cruising experience has been with Viking, so they’re our point of reference for everything. We’ve taken 3 river cruises, and 2 long ocean cruises (28 days, and 135 days) with Viking, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute – so much so that we’ve already booked 2 more river cruises and a second world cruise.

Our travel agent, who is also my friend, wisely noted that the 2 cruise lines cannot really be compared, as they cater to a different experience and price range … and yet here I am doing it!

The average ocean cruise cost per day on Viking in a deluxe veranda room (there are NO inside cabins or cabins without verandas!) is around $600-650CAD (450-480USD) per person, including flights, gratuities, and an excursion in every port. There is no specialty dining up-charge, or cost to use the spa, or charge for fancy coffees or pop (“soda” to our US friends), no casino, and no photographer following us around and selling photos. A variety of nightly entertainment options and several daily lectures are offered, along with special-interest classes like bridge and art. There’s a self-serve laundry with free detergent, plus irons and ironing boards. The only “extra” would be the Silver Spirits beverage package, which covers alcoholic drinks beyond the beer and wine included with meals. Given that drinks average just $10 – 15 each, you’d have to drink a LOT to make that package worthwhile. That said, on a world cruise, the Silver Spirits package is included, as is luggage shipping, visa service, business class flights (the standard inclusion is economy), and a generous credit for extra excursions and on-board services (on a 4+ month cruise you might want haircuts!).

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Our starting point for our HAL Alaska cruise in an ocean view (i.e. exterior but no balcony) cabin was $280 CAD per person (it will be $300/pp for a balcony cabin on our upcoming 24 day cruise in January). Choosing the “have it all” option included a $100 excursion credit, a ride on the White Pass Railway in Skagway, the Signature drink package allowing us to have specialty coffees plus alcohol/pop/sparkling water (up to 15 drinks per day, not exceeding $11 each), 1 specialty dining credit, and a $125 onboard credit. There are NO FLIGHTS included (nor, in our case, needed).

So…. adjusting for a balcony cabin, we started our Alaska experience at 50% of Viking’s price, but would have needed to add flights if we didn’t live in Vancouver.

We chose not to book any excursions beyond what our $100 credit afforded (Mendenhall Glacier and the Ketchikan totems).

Here are our impressions comparing the two experiences:

COMMON AREAS:

Every Viking ocean ship (excluding the smaller “expedition” ships) is identical in layout and décor. There’s not a lot of bling; the ship’s feel is Scandinavian classic, with lots of wood, natural colours, clean lines, and simple Nordic artwork. Every space feels wide open and uncrowded, with a calm, almost spa-like atmosphere.

Holland America’s Koningsdam’s decor reminded me of a traditional American steakhouse: lots of leather and subdued lighting – except of course on the big bright pool decks. For me, that meant that the ship felt darker. Was it my imagination that the ceilings were lower? We liked the decor, but our own personal style leans toward the brighter uncluttered Viking model.

The sports deck on Viking ocean ships has shuffleboard, mini-putt, and a walking track, and is rarely busy. HAL has all of that plus pickleball courts, pingpong, and even basketball! The area is generally much more in use, especially by the younger passengers and families travelling with children and teens.

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The pool deck on Viking’s ocean ships is a pretty relaxing place, with lots of deck chairs in which to sun or read, and not much noise. The infinity pool on Deck 7 is small – more of a visual enhancement than a practical “pool”. On HAL, the pools and hot-tubs are larger, and there are more of them. There are children in both the pools and hot-tubs, so if that’s not your thing, it’s a negative.

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There are lots of deck chairs, but quite a bit of the outdoor sundeck space is reserved for cabanas, which must be rented.

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On Viking’s ships, we love the quiet of the Explorer’s Lounge on the 7th deck. The Koningsdam’s Crow’s Nest retreat way up on deck 12 (there are only 9 decks on Viking ships vs 14 on the Koningsdam) is an almost identically-sized spot, with lots of board games, a bar, and a café – but no fur throws, or food, or live music.

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ROOMS:

We’re not really comparing apples to apples, since every cabin on Viking’s ships has a balcony, and we chose an “ocean view” with large window (no balcony) on the Koningsdam. Beyond that though, the rooms are a similar size. Holland America wins for storage space in the cabin, and for best bathroom layout (we loved the larger shower, although I did miss the small seat/shelf from Viking’s showers); the only negative is that the entrance hallway into the room is VERY narrow. I really liked the magnifying make-up mirror, and the coat hooks on the wall(no need to bring our own magnetic hooks). We didn’t use the mini-fridge, and the biggest difference there was that the bottled water in our room was a $6.50USD per bottle cost (NOT included in the drink package!) whereas Viking provided fresh carafes of water daily.

DEMOGRAPHICS:

Viking does not allow passengers under 18 years of age and, given how expensive the cruises are, most passengers are either retired or very well established in their careers. Our non-scientific guess would be an average age of 65. We were told that Holland America skewed even older, but the cruise line does not have any age restrictions, and on this short cruise during the summer school break there certainly were lots of families with children ranging from toddlers through late teens.

DINING VENUES:

Viking’s ocean ships have a buffet (the World Café) which includes, among many other things, a pizza oven and a HUGE gelato bar; a large main restaurant; a pool grill; Mamsen’s Scandinavian deli, and a separate full bar with coffee barista in the Explorer’s Lounge; the Living Room bar/coffee/pastry/snack lounge, plus 2 specialty restaurants: Manfredi’s Italian, and The Chef’s Table curated 5-course tasting menu venue. All are included at no extra charge.

The Koningsdam has the Lido Market buffet, the Main Dining Room, the Dive-In pool grill, and New York Pizza & Deli included in the cruise fare.

The 5 specialty restaurants, as well as the gelato bar, Grand Dutch Café, Explorations Café, and all bars are pay-as-you-go. The Club Orange dining room is only accessible by buying a supplementary Club Orange membership, at a daily cost of close to $20CAD per person.

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FOOD:

It’s possible that we’re the exception, but we enjoy the food in EVERY one of Viking’s shipboard venues. We’re especially fans of the fixed-menu Chef’s Table, which has introduced us to so many flavours that were previously outside of our comfort zone (Viking Food). Our least favourite venue is the World Café, where the buffet food is more difficult to keep truly hot, and the temptation to overstuff ourselves with “just a bit of everything” is too great. That said, there are several live-cooking stations in the buffet, and the gelato bar maybe my favourite spot on the entire ship! The special event dinners, like tomahawk steak night and international-themed brunches, are also real highlights for us.

Holland America’s food was uniformly good – except for steaks – and in the case of Tamarind restaurant was truly great, matching anything we’ve eaten on Viking. The steak issue was always with the cook; even in the Pinnacle Grill where steak is the specialty, our medium rare was overcooked. We found the Lido Market buffet food good, and hot, but seating difficult to find.

DRINKS:

As noted, we upgraded to “have it all” for our Alaskan cruise, which covered up to 15 drinks per day per person, up to an individual drink cost of $11 USD. By “drinks” they mean everything: pop, tea, coffee, water, juice, beer, wine, and liquor. Purchasing a beverage package is almost mandatory (the cheapest base package at $8USD per day covers only fountain drinks).

The HAL Signature Drink Package package when not included is also more expensive than Viking’s Silver Spirits option by a factor of over double per day ($50 USD plus a mandatory 18.5% gratuity vs $25) than Viking’s Silver Spirits option. The biggest difference is that if you’re not a big drinker of alcohol you don’t need a Viking drink package at all, because Viking’s price already includes hot and cold drinks at breakfast; beer, wine & soft drinks at lunch and dinner; and 24-hour specialty coffees, teas & bottled water. Additionally, Viking passengers can buy wine or booze (or bottles of interesting local soda) in ports of call and bring it onto the ship to drink, without incurring any fees. That’s a real contrast to HAL’s policy!

On this Alaskan cruise we probably averaged 6-8 drinks per day (mostly coffees, because that’s our thing) of which half were wine, beer or alcohol-based, usually with dinner. Had we not had the package deal, we would likely have done without the alcohol, and only racked up charges for our water, a single glass of wine (for me) at dinner, and lots of coffees.

WI-FI

The wi-fi on Viking was frustratingly inconsistent, but when it worked, streaming and blogging were a breeze. On HAL, our “have it all” plan included an internet package for 1 device per person which did not allow streaming, or uploading pictures into my blog. After upgrading, at a cost of $5USD per day, I had service that I was happy with. On a longer cruise, we might both need the $5/day upgrade.

EXCURSION EXPERIENCE/LOGISTICS:

We’ve done both included and optional excursions with Viking, and have thoroughly enjoyed 99% of them. Excluding our one almost disastrous experience in Saudi (Episode 236 – Bus 10) our only complaint was that one or two might have had more bus time than we liked. We’ve never had a guide that was anything other than excellent. As a bonus, on our specific cruises at least, Viking had getting people on and off the ship for shore excursions down to a fine art.

Holland America does not offer any included excursions, which is not surprising at their price point, but the “have it all” package we purchased did give us a $100 per person credit toward excursions as well as a train ride in Skagway. That credit gave us two short shore experiences, one in Juneau and one in Ketchikan, and the White Pass Rail in Skagway. We thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The biggest difference was group size (about double the Viking group size), and the fact that there was not a crew member assigned to accompany each busload of passengers.

DAYTIME SHIPBOARD ACTIVITIES:

Both cruise lines have trivia (HAL has several games each day), corn hole (“Baggo”), games, puzzles, books…. but what we really love on Viking are the wide range of expert lecturers. Viking’s lectures cover diverse topics, always related to the cruise destinations: history, architecture, nature, politics, culture, etc. The speakers are scientists, diplomats, retired professors, naturalists, journalists, professional photographers – all experts in their fields.

HAL has lectures called EXC.Talks, on this cruise mostly hosted by the cruise director and incorporating filmed documentaries. They’re interesting , just not as engaging as having the experts on board in person. HAL’s daily activity planner seemed to consider the multiple daily sales presentations (referred to as “Promotions”) by their onboard shops as “entertainment”. About that we disagree.

Both cruise lines’ ships have fitness centres in addition to their sports decks. HAL’s sports deck had more activities and was much better utilized than Viking’s. The fitness centre on the Koningsdam was much larger than those on Viking’s ocean ships, which is logical given triple the passenger capacity. Both are well equipped, but Viking’s space seems brighter – despite the fact that both have floor-to-ceiling windows.

SPA:

We did not use individual spa services (massages, for example) on either cruise line.

On our Viking cruises, I really loved the open-access spa area, with its sauna, cold dip, heated pool, hot tub, “snow” room, and quiet lounge area. On our 2 cruises so far, Viking successfully eliminated over-crowding in the spa by having people sign in and limit their time to 90 minutes. I’m not sure if that’s still the case.

I didn’t check out the Koningsdam’s spa, partly because I don’t currently own a bathing suit, but also because a “day pass” to the spa costs $49 USD, as opposed to being included on Viking.

EVENING ENTERTAINMENT:

Viking Ocean has a different stage show every night, ranging from solo artists and magicians, classical musicians, and comedians through to “destination” performances (cultural acts, like folk dance troupes, brought on at specific ports), choirs, bands, cabarets, and ensemble mini-Broadway style shows. There is music somewhere all day, in various locations around the ship, provided by an acoustic guitarist, a pianist, and a classical duo. At night, after the stage show, a 4-piece band and vocal duo entertain in the Torshavn lounge (until around 11:30 pm) with its cabaret-style tables, padded lounges, and a small dance floor.

Despite HAL’s ships being music themed in their decor, there was no live music offered during the day. The Koningsdam did have a nightly stage show plus 3 music clubs vs Viking’s one. BBKing’s Blues Club, Billboard Onboard, and the Rolling Stone Rock Room alternate showtimes; since they’re all in same area of the ship, they cannot run simultaneously without the music bleeding into the adjacent venues.

Keep in mind that the Koningsdam holds 3 times as many passengers as any Viking ocean ship; that means a lot more people needing to be entertained.

The theatre on Viking’s ships seats 400, or approximately 50% of the ship’s capacity, for one show per night, usually around 8:30/9:00 p.m. If you can’t get a seat, you can watch the performances live-streamed into your cabin. The World Stage on the Koningsdam seats 667, approximately 25% of the ship’s capacity, and the 45 minute shows run twice nightly.

On our 7 night Alaskan cruise, the evening World Stage entertainment was a movie, a modern dance troupe (twice), a lecture, and a vocal group (twice). The dance troupe was absolutely outstanding, combining technology, lights, music and dance into a spectacular performance, which was a real highlight of our cruise.

SERVICE/CREW:

Viking’s ships hold a maximum of 930 passengers, with 602 crew. The Koningsdam holds 2650 passengers with 1025 crew. At a crew to passenger ratio of 1:1.54 for Viking and 1:2.56 on the Koningsdam, we expected to notice a real difference in both the level of service and how well staff would be able to remember individual passengers.

Overall, we found the staff to be friendly and professional. Our room stewards, Gede and Poni, were terrific, and Yela in the Tamarind restaurant was a particular standout. The biggest difference was that the lower staff ratio meant no table service in many of the casual dining venues, lineups for specialty coffee, and (horrors!) mostly needing to go to the bar for a drink instead of bar servers coming to us.

Ted and I both noticed that there was not enough staff on the pool decks to clear tables, remove wet towels and re-set deck-chairs, or mop up spills and pool/hot tub overflow water. The public areas were reasonably clean, but not the scrupulously clean of Viking’s ships.

There was also little interaction with the officers, who we really didn’t see around the ship, vs almost daily interactions on Viking. That could have been a function of where we spent our time, of course.

UPSELLING:

Frankly, on-board photographers trying to capture our every moment and sell them back to us, extra charges for restaurants, and an on-board casino (aka money pit) all strike us as generally bad ideas, but we recognize that they are an accepted part of “traditional” cruising, and we both know how to say “no”. On Viking, we don’t need to say no because none of those things exist.

BOTTOM LINE:

By the end of our 8 day cruise we had spent $308 CAD ($227 USD) per person per day in an ocean-view cabin. Viking’s 11-day Alaskan cruise running this month would have cost $630 CAD ($477 USD) per person per day in their basic balcony cabin, almost exactly double.

While we still much prefer Viking’s model for ocean cruising, for this particular itinerary and short cruise duration, we were quite pleased with the value for money….

…and we’re looking forward to our next Koningsdam adventure to Mexico and Hawaii in January.

Before that, though, I’ll be heading to Victoria on my own in September for a few days of catching up with my best friend; Ted and I will be touring Morocco in October; and in December Germany’s Christmas markets are beckoning. It’s a big beautiful world with lots to explore!