How Viking Octantis Is Better Than The Big Cruise Ships

In this travel vlog about Viking's new expedition ship, Viking Octantis, I show you several specific things that Viking improved on this ship versus their other ocean cruise ships.
For example, all Viking Ocean-going ships have heated tile floors in the bathrooms of the cabins, but on Viking Octantis they made two important modifications: there's a switch that allows you to turn off the heater for the tile floors, and there's also a dial that allows you to select how warm you want the floors to be.
A bigger improvement is with the grill, which on the ocean ships offered some grilled food items at lunch time. On this ship, the grill has been moved to be within the World Café, the ship's buffet restaurant... and the grill is now also open for dinner in addition to lunch. Plus, at dinner, the grill is really more of a steakhouse than just a simple grill... offering some very large, high-end steaks at no additional charge.
Another improvement I really liked in the World Café was the addition of a frozen slab at the dessert area, where the staff can mix together special ice cream concoctions... Coldstone Creamery style.
If you're interested in booking a cruise with Viking, or any other cruise line, feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher. It's not about price. In most cases, a travel agent doesn't get you a better price than you could get by booking it yourself, directly with the cruise line. It's about having someone to make things easier for you... to keep you from making any rookie mistakes... and to do the dirty work for you, like being the one stuck on hold with the cruise line, so you don't have to be. Email Caitlin at [e-mail] or visit her website at www.ambrentravel.com
Video Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:41 The Caribbean
1:23 It's Better!
2:05 Cabin Bathrooms
2:56 Steaks
4:46 Coldstone
6:08 Thermal Suite
6:52 Travel Agent
7:31 Theater
8:45 Small Ship
10:13 Toys
11:21 Thanks
12:08 A Full Tour

[@jimmeade2976]

Thanks for acknowledging that Viking paid you for your cruise. Your descriptions were very good, but I have to believe that there is always something you'd like them to do better.

[@theartworkswilmington]

Beautiful! We are going on Octantis July 2023, through the Great Lakes and on the St. Lawrence Seaway !! Can’t wait!!

[@marci3667]

Where is the ship docked now?

[@tomdonelson385]

This ship was in Duluth, MN about 10 days ago!😊The first cruise ship into this port in 9 years. Duluth is expecting 8 more cruise ships this summer!!!😊😊

[@LifeWellCruised]

Wow! You had me at the beach club in St Kitts & open bar 😂. Actually the entire ship and details looked amazing

[@scottgraham4906]

Thanks for another great video Jim. What a great ship and experience.

[@Sotweetie]

What a fantastic ship, thank you for sharing!

[@morgydotc8651]

Thank you for featuring my country in your video, hope you had a wonderful time seeing what the island offers. The Pitons (mountain peaks) Enjoyed watching, spot on👏🏾👏🏾 🇱🇨 st lucia

[@susananderson618]

Wonderful video, great information....thanks for doing this and sharing it all with us!

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Thank you for sharing your trip on this ship.

[@jamesparry7174]

Thanks Jim, best voice and content on KZbin!! Vicking Octanis is now navigating Toronto-Milwaukee and I last spotted her off Point Peele Canada in Lake Erie.

[@DavidGonzalez-61shamy]

Love Viking. We will be back for our 3rd cruise. 2024 here we come.

[@tommytube268]

Mr. Jim Zim, fantastic video! What a magnificent ship. There is now a new and improved bucket list for me since Viking built with this ship. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@fiveinitaly]

Interesting video. Great content. Keep it up. Ciao from Italy friends 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹

[@magerdangers6373]

That looks amazing

[@jamesleyrer3349]

Just found this video, very interesting, to say the least. Thanks!

[@jjl2290]

Wow, great ship and you are the best KZbin Cruise Vloger!

[@danielchayra401]

Loved It Thank You

[@TheMNrailfan227]

One other reason why this ship is great is that it’s small enough to fit in Great Lakes ports such as Duluth

[@stickynorth]

I just found out about the ship today and I am now completely obsessed with it thanks largely to your video here. If I could spend my days cruising around the world in style it would probably be aboard this ship. It looks like Valhalla to me! I also love that it was specifically designed to fit into the Welland Canal to allow it to fully access to entire Great Lakes region which is probably the most underrated marine region on Earth. 25% of the planets freshwater in a series of connected mega-lakes with Canada's largest and coolest cities (at least in the East)? Yes please!

[@jcstevensva]

Darn video took me from knowing there was another expedition ship to Now maybe I should be on that ship. Wow, this ship really looks great.

[@JimZim]

Mission accomplished then!

[@Mark-oy1wv]

I saw this ship taking off from Downtown Detroit yesterday. Beautiful ship and nice to see on the waterways🤗

[@froskus]

09:36 It’s always so exciting when seeing our Norwegian flag.

[@janinesantos9069]

What an awesome video

[@Brianrockrailfan]

great video

[@gregtrain1]

Hey Jim! I just rode the Rocky mountaineer train last week. You won't be disappointed! The scenery and the food are top notch!

[@JimZim]

I really enjoyed the one day trip I did on Rocky Mountaineer. Would love to do a longer one at some point.

[@gabeadventure]

Looks nice

[@1mezion]

It looks like a wonderful ship I understand the part about ducking close to the shore and a tender carrying you to straight to the beach, the disadvantage is you don't get to see the island as u do when you're on a bus being taken to a location.

[@seagreen6442]

I got nice service on Danube in 2019, together with my husband and friends there. Just wonderful magic legendary experience! 🌹❤️💖💐

[@rosemaryhanson4721]

I sure enjoyed watching it coming in under neith the areal lift bridge

[@440tomcat]

Been watching it sail the Geart Lakes for a month now. I would love to go on a short voyage but it's now not on my bucket list it's for the VERY RICH that puts me on my deep well list.

[@MrSacky73]

Nice photos of her in St. Kitts

[@dscott130]

It sure sounds super nice. I'm used to Crystal too. I wonder if this is all inclusive.

[@rubberyowen1469]

Fantastic. What a change to the massive floating apartment block cruise ships. More of an adult only ship as well which has got to be a good thing for a relaxing Vacation. Cruise ship companies, are you watching?

[@lowercherty]

She's on the North American Great Lakes this summer. Oh well, bucket list.....

[@lyndawest5329]

Amazing, I want this to be my first cruise, thank you for sharing. I have a question, is Viking Octantis disabled/wheelchair friendly? Love your video, and I've just subscribed.

[@JimZim]

For the most part, yes. The exception is that I don't think they allow motorized wheelchairs or scooters aboard. I'm not sure if they have specific cabins that are designed with wheelchairs in mind... that's something you might want to check with a travel agent about.

[@quinterobuya6307]

Soon joining it

[@JimZim]

For an Antarctica cruise? I'm jealous!!!

[@alanoveseika261]

👌👌👌

[@KeltoiMagus]

Did they ever think of putting the cole slaw in a cup on the side?

[@henryvanveen5365]

I have never been on a cruise ship. However, I would not like to go on the Disney land type ships which is too commercialised. I would be happy to go on one of these expidition cruise, especially if it was going to Antartica. I have always wanted to go there.

[@gregjohnson1890]

Octantis comes to Milwaukee this summer about every other week.

[@JimZim]

Yes, these Viking expedition ships will be a common sight in the Great Lakes during the summers from here on out.

[@tommyedodson2412]

A free cruise would make me a Viking fan.

[@thomascomeau9271]

John and Paul are two yellow submarines on Viking Octantis and there will be two more submarines on Viking Orion that will be named George and Ringo. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are the four members of the Beatles. Ringo Starr is also one of the narrators of the Thomas and Friends TV series from season one to season four. When are you going on your next cruise on which cruise line? As always, I am Thomas Comeau and I will see the replies from you, Jim Zim, Very Important Fun Person!

[@JimZim]

The next cruise will be in the Puget Sound area in Western Washington state. I've got an assignment to shoot some video for American Cruise Lines on their ship American Constellation.

[@seagreen6442]

🌹❤️🌹💐👍🌹💐👍

[@stevee4636]

10 k for 10 days, each, that's a lot of steak....Jim, Octanis IS an Ocean Ship, very capable.

[@77Ronnie77]

I am just wondering. Is this ship for sale?

[@JimZim]

I'm confused by your question. Are you asking if it's possible to book a cabin on this ship? Or are you asking if you could buy the ship that Viking just spent $255,000,000 to build. Perhaps you're looking to start a new cruise line. :-)

[@aimeerogers4542]

do you prefer Viking expedition ships to Viking Ocean ships

[@JimZim]

Yeah, that was pretty much the point of the entire video... all the reasons why I preferred this ship over the other Viking Ocean ships. I love the other Viking Ocean ships, I just love this one even more... for all the reasons detailed in this video.

[@peggyt1243]

3:35 Nothing like a slab of meat on a plate. There is enough to feed a family of 4 for 3 nights. Where are the vegetables? With regard to the cole slaw ......... they should double the amount and skip the fries.

[@gwndds]

How many passengers can it hold?

[@JimZim]

It only carries a maximum of 378 passengers. For reference, the other Viking Ocean ships can carry up to 930 passengers. And of course, many cruise ships these days carry 3,000 - 4,000... and the biggest carry up to 6,000. So, this ship is REALLY uncrowded!

[@jboywallace]

How much would this cruise go for?

[@JimZim]

There are so many variables... the type of cabin you book, the length of the cruise, the itinerary, the time of the year. You can get an exact answer to your question by doing a mock booking on Viking's web site. That's where you go through the motions of booking a cruise, but never give it any personally identifiable information such as your name, email address, etc. You pick the date, the cabin type, and all that... and you'll be able to see an exact price. Let's just say that it's a lot more than a cruise on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, etc. At least twice as much, and maybe more. But then again, the big cruise lines are all about hooking you with a low initial price, and then getting a LOT more money out of you once you're onboard... from beverages to shore excursions to gambling and shopping. On Viking, there's a lot less additional money spent by most passengers, beyond the cost of booking the cruise. For example, because beer and wine is included at lunch and dinner, most people spend little to nothing on booze on a Viking cruise... where that's a HUGE source of additional revenue for the major cruise lines.

[@erics607]

I would put a cruise like this at an estimate of around $8,000 per person for 10 days for the cheapest room category. I did a breakdown of most of the itineraries they offer with this ship, and the going rate is anywhere from $750 - $950 per day per person. That might seem like a lot of money, but the difference between these cruises and your typical ocean cruise is that a lot of the excursions are included. All of the boat tours, kayaks, and submarines are all included with the cruise.

[@fredericcolombier5380]

He looks like the old before WW1 boat with his inverted bow, but these human-sized ships are better than large units in every way, and because and thanks to this fact, they have a human size and in this type of ship, the fewer passengers there are, the better the performance is of quality see premium see luxurious cruise on board . P.S : Then between us, be it said, in the event of a shipwreck, you have more luck on a ship of this size than on a floating building, the Costa Concordia gave us a small glimpse of what a gigantic liner looks like in the way of sinking and again that it stranded on rock , if that had not been the case and that it had continued its course, the number of survivors would be close to the Titanic and that of the victims; three more time. You do not evacuate 500 passengers like you evacuate 3000, in this specific case, there will be losses and you will have to make choices...

[@HrHaakon]

It also didn't help that the captain had a complete panic attack and that the officers were not suited to that evacuation. The Italian coast guard deserves more cred there than they could possibly have gotten.

[@fredtedstedman]

she's beautiful - that's the difference !

[@stevee4636]

Keep in mind, Jim never pays for his Cruises, so his,opinions, may be slightly, Cruise Line leaning...just say'n

[@JimZim]

That's actually not true. I've now been on 56 cruises, and I have paid for 50 of them. But I think your real point is that I didn't pay for THIS cruise on Viking Octantis, which is true. But I truly do like Viking Octantis a lot, and would recommend it to family and friends.

[@boyo2012]

I’m a coleslaw fan so I’d disagree lol

[@TicklerTeo]

first lol

[@jaguar4u2012]

I dont know how to explain this, but this ship looks much more "sexy" if you please... I dont like the look and the feel of the cluttered huge fat floating refrigerators I would prefer a ship that looks boutique and graceful, spacious, with no useless facilities... I mean "Go Karts" on a ship?! that's just silly... what's next? a Ferris wheel at the bow of the ship?!

[@Botoburst]

I would put the cole slaw on my burger, this guy is picky eater.

[@WpGaming1]

There is no way this ship is better than large cruise ships like Disney/NCL/Royal Caribbean ships, the only scenario in which this ship is better is if you're 55-80 years old and have a shit load of retirement money just burning a hole in your pocket. This is a boomer cruise which costs $7000usd/week per person. You can get an 11 night Norwegian cruise from Disney for $4800 USD all in for TWO people. With 5x the stuff to do and youre going to way better ports than Duluth or Toledo. This is a beautiful ship but Viking is not the way to go.

[@JimZim]

I guess it didn't occur to you that a lot of the folks that cruise with Viking are, just as you said, 55-80 years old and have a shit load of money in their pockets. This cruise line is not for you, at least not this year... but you'll get there at some point in your life... if you work hard, invest well, and save well.

[@WpGaming1]

​@@JimZim I knew this before I even clicked on the video, I just saw the title and thought it was funny that you try to pass Viking off as a better cruise option than others but you don't really give reasoning why? You really only say that its a smaller ship, and at the end where you talk about how it has Zodiacs and other small craft. You also don't get very far in life being a smartass. I've been on my fair share of cruises don't talk to me like i'm some broke college student when I was just giving my opinions.