Viking Dominates Cruise Critic’s 2018 Cruisers’ Choice Awards
This week Viking® (www.vikingcruises.com) announced that its first three 930-guest sister ships, Viking Star®, Viking Sea®, and Viking Sky® received 10 First Place honors in the prestigious Cruise Critic® 8th Annual Cruisers’ Choice Awards. Viking’s fourth ship, the newly debuted Viking Sun®, was also included on the Awards list.
This latest industry recognition comes as the premier cruise line has dominated nearly every major travel industry award for the past year.
Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking Cruises, said that winning the Cruisers’ Choice Awards was an honor.
“Members of the Cruise Critic Community are among the most experienced and well-traveled individuals in the world,” he said, “they are truly expert voices for the industry, and I thank them. I would also like to thank our entire Viking family, especially our onboard colleagues, without whom these accolades would not be possible.”
Viking’s four state-of-the-art ships earned the top three placements in nearly every category in which they competed.
Viking Sea received First Place honors in six award categories: Best Overall Ship, Best Cabins, Best for Fitness & Recreation, Best for First-Timers, Best Shore Excursions and Best Value-for-Money.
Viking Star received First Place honors in two award categories: Best Dining and Best Service.
Viking Sky, in its first year of service, received two First Place awards: Best Public Rooms and Best Entertainment.
After receiving this latest high-profile recognition, Chairman Hagen said that Viking will continue to strive for excellence as it moves forward into the future. “We are still a young company, and as we continue to add new ships to our fleet over the next decade, we look forward to introducing many more guests to the Viking way of travel.”
In fact Viking dominated the top third of the Awards for Small-Mid-Size ships, since in addition to the First Place wins, Viking ships also scored Second and Third Place honors in most of the same categories.
Viking Sky and Viking Star took Second and Third Place, behind Viking Sea, in four award categories: Best Overall Ship, Best Shore Excursions, Best for First-Timers and Best Value-For-Money.
Viking Star and Viking Sky took Second and Third Place, behind Viking Sea, in Best Cabins. Viking Sky and Viking Sea took Second and Third Place, behind Viking Star, in Best Dining. Viking Sky and Viking Sun took Second and Third Place, behind Viking Sea, in Best Fitness & Recreation.
And, in a clean sweep, for the Best Public Rooms category, Viking won the top four awards, with Viking Sea, Viking Star and Viking Sun taking the Second, Third and Fourth place, behind Viking Sky.
Chairman Hagen describes Viking cruises as “the thinking person’s cruise,” as they are designed for discerning travelers with interests in history, art, music, and cuisine. Unlike mainstream cruise ships, Viking ships are small in order to get guests closer to their destination, affording them more time in port and more overnights.
The list of Viking’s recent awards and honors include being named the #1 ocean cruise line in Travel + Leisure’s 2017 World’s Best Awards , and being voted the Best River Cruise Line by Condé Nast Traveler in its 2017 Readers’ Choice Awards.
Town & Country magazine’s recent Cruise Awards chose Viking’s ocean cruises “Best for Design” and “Best Overall, Contemporary Luxury,” while recognizing Viking’s river cruises “Best for Suites” and “Best for Design.”
In addition, Cruise Critic’s 10th annual Editors’ Picks Awards bestowed five awards on Viking, the most for any river or ocean cruise line.
Cruise Critic is the world’s leading cruise reviews site and online cruise community, with more than 350,000 cruise reviews, covering approximately 500 of the most popular cruise ships. The Cruisers’ Choice Awards are based on ratings submitted with member reviews within the last 12 months.
A Viking cruise offers the best value at sea, with fares that include much more than its competitors. Viking guests enjoy an included value of more than $200 per person per day for an average cruise, and each fare includes an exterior stateroom, a complimentary shore excursion in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes.
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