Celebrity Cruises vs Viking Cruises

Please Note: There may be additional inclusions and privileges for select stateroom and suite guests or select loyalty member tiers. Activities and entertainment vary by ship, itinerary and departure and are a guide only.

Is Celebrity or Viking better value?

On face value a Viking cruise is generally more expensive than a similar cruise on Celebrity, however the fares are mostly all inclusive and the lead in (lowest price) stateroom is a balcony cabin with a private veranda. Viking holds a few promotions annually, such as the Explorer sale, which run for a few months at a time, offering savings and value add ons. If you get in early, you can take advantage of discounted business class flights, companion fly free or free port extensions. Viking provides a premium cruising experience at an attainable price point.

Called an all-inclusive price by Viking, this means that many of the items you have to pay extra for on other cruise lines such as Celebrity, are included in your fare. On a Viking cruise your fare includes a free excursion in every port, all onboard meals and snacks, tea and specialty coffee, beer, wine and soft drinks served with meals, Wi-Fi, laundry facilities, access to the full Nordic-themed spa facility and 24-hour room service. What’s not included is premium wines, spirits and cocktails (and for these you can purchase the Silver Spirits Beverage Package for USD$20 per person per day); treatments you might book in the spa and salon, and optional excursions if you want to dig deeper in destination than the complimentary tours offer.

When you cruise with Celebrity you will pay a base price and then add on for-fee extras on top of the fare. You fare includes your accommodation and complimentary dining, some soft drinks, tea and coffee and most onboard activities and entertainment but you will need to pay for specialty dining, alcohol and some other beverages, onshore excursions, room service charges after 11pm and Wi-Fi packages.

Often you can add the features that Viking include as standard onto a Celebrity stateroom fare (beverage package, a specialty dining package, Wi-Fi package and shore excursions) and your total price may come out similar to a Viking balcony fare. This will really come down to which itineraries you are comparing, and what specials each line is running at the time.

Celebrity often runs promotions such as their rolling Sail Your Way offer which may provide savings, a choice of free perks including onboard credit, beverage packages and Wi-Fi, all of which will alleviate some onboard expenditure if you book a promotional fare. Consider these tiered fares, as well as other promotional offers, when you are weighing up which line is the best value for you.

Which ships will suit me best?

It goes without saying that if you want to travel with children under 18 years of age or like casinos then Viking is not for you. There are no casinos on onboard their ships and they don’t accept children under 18 years on their ocean cruises.

Viking ships are the newer of the two fleets, the oldest ship, Viking Star launched in 2015. All follow the same design and the same services are offered across the fleet. Offering only balcony staterooms and suites, each ship boasts a private veranda in every stateroom, has an infinity pool at the stern and spacious relaxing public areas. You will be surrounded by an understated, sophisticated Scandinavian ambience. Each ships’ capacity is 930 passengers. Onboard a Viking cruise you will find couples and solos (albeit there are no solo staterooms), who are globally minded travellers.

Celebrity’s classic cruise ships range from 2000 – 3000 passengers and they primarily attract couples and solo travellers seeking quality food and wine experiences and a more sophisticated cruising experience than their sister line Royal Caribbean. Celebrity are family friendly, offer children and teen programs and each classic cruising ship has a casino and other onboard attractions and events (which differ by ship class) that you won’t find on a Viking ship. While their ships are older the Celebrity Revolution 500 million dollar refurbishment program is re-imaging each ship in the fleet with cutting edge facilities and amenities.

Scandinavian Muted Elegance v Modern Sophistication

Discover the quiet alcoves and elegant large public areas with muted colours that define the Viking ship experience. From the Explorer’s Lounge at the front of the ship with its library and telescope, to the Wintergarden next to the outdoor area, Viking’s ships are designed to facilitate a relaxing ambience for their guests.

Celebrity Cruises offers a diverse range of ships across the fleet, divided into four classes – the Edge Class, Solstice Class, Millennium Class and Expedition Class. Celebrity ships offer upmarket or modern sophisticated décor. Bringing a range of contemporary cruise innovations to their fleet, Celebrity Solstice ships have the 1/2 acre of real lawn where guests can relax, play bocce and (at cost) rent a cabana or watch a jazz concert. The Edge Class ships have the Magic Carpet, cantilevered to the side of the ship and operating as a restaurant, bar and destination gateway for tenders. It’s a different onboard experience on these ships also though equally you will find ambient indoor and outdoor public areas to relax in.

Food and Drink

Across their ships, Celebrity Cruises offers a greater range of complimentary and specialty dining, which incurs a cover charge. Celebrity takes the edge on international cuisine and they offer sophisticated menus curated by chefs with Michelin-starred resumes. Japanese, Italian and French fine dining in elegant and sophisticated settings is a Celebrity hallmark.

Viking offers the same restaurants on each of its ships and all dining is complimentary. There are no extra fees for any restaurant but there may be reservation limitations for non-suite guests for Manfredi’s – the popular fine dining Italian restaurant. On Viking anything you’ll eat onboard including the afternoon teas, specialty coffee and tea stations is complimentary. Offering quality destination focussed menus, Viking’s dining options are highly regarded by guests.

On both cruise lines there is a mix of sophisticated and casual dining. Viking claim to have the most al fresco dining at sea and Celebrity claim the largest collection of wine at sea.

On Viking ships, you could get away with not purchasing a beverage package, with their included beverages with meals and relaxed policy on allowing passengers to bring alcohol onboard from ports, which can be consumed anywhere on the ship with no corkage fee charged.

Celebrity offers several non-alcoholic and alcoholic packages, the Classic Package for alcohol starting at USD$59 per person per day with the most expensive being USD$85 per person day. If you like your cocktails, spirits and premium wines you will want to purchase a beverage package.

Luxurious Spa Experiences

Both cruise lines offer upmarket, luxurious spa experiences. Drawing upon Scandinavian traditions and preferences, the Viking spa includes a sauna, steam room, therapeutic pool and a snow room (with actual snow) where you can recover from the hot steam or sauna experiences. This spa area is relaxing and is complimentary for all guests to enjoy. Celebrity offers an incredible eight experience thermal suite on Celebrity Edge at cost, except for Aqua Class Suite guests for whom the service is complimentary. On both cruise lines treatments come at a separate cost.

Entertainment

If you like to be entertained with large scale productions Celebrity is the cruise line to consider. All ships offer bespoke live shows, music, nightlife, film and dinner experiences.

If large scale productions don’t rock your boat (pun intended) and you prefer watching exclusive filmed opera performances or TED talks, listening to destination focussed lecturers from historians and other such experts then Viking offers these as a hallmark of their cruising experience. Similar experiences are more likely to be found on one of Celebrity’s expedition ships than their classic cruise ships.

Who has the right itinerary and shore program for me?

Celebrity has more ships and therefore offers a greater number of itineraries than Viking. If you are seeking a longer voyage Viking offers Grand Voyages and Worldwide Cruises.

With two Expedition ships, Celebrity offers expedition cruises of the Galapagos on Celebrity Flora and Celebrity Xpedition; while Viking will commence expedition cruising in the polar regions on two new expedition ships in 2022.

While it’s not the case for all their voyages, Celebrity Cruises offers more round trip journeys, starting and finishing in the same port whereas Viking itineraries tend to start and finish in different ports, except on a handful of voyages. For example, an itinerary with Celebrity to the Norwegian Fjords will generally start and finish in the same port, be that London or Amsterdam. Viking itineraries will, in all but a handful of cases, start in one port and finish in another, such as starting in London and finishing in Bergen, Norway. This is noteworthy for travel plans or tours you might take to complement your cruise experience.

Excursions

On a Celebrity Cruise you will pay for all shore excursions. Choices include Celebrity Discoveries, culturally focussed trips and Chef Market Discoveries that include culinary excursions with the ship’s chef to uncover local flavours and then return back to the ship to witness a cooking demonstration from the morning’s purchases. Adventurers can choose to join adventure focussed excursions curated by English adventurer Ben Fogle. Evening tours for special dining or performance experiences can also be booked in select ports. Celebrity offer a selection of small group tours for up to 24 guests.

Viking offer a free excursion in each port with additional excursions offered to purchase. The free excursions lean toward city walking tours or bus tours to give guests an overview of the destination. Their range of paid, destination focussed excursions are organised into three categories – Local life, excursions that reveal the rhythms of daily living; Working World, glimpsing the local artisans and producers at work and Privileged Access that offers Viking guest exclusive access to cultural treasures and performances. You will spend more time in port, with overnight stays in virtually all ports of embarkation and disembarkation.