Viking vs. Gate 1 river cruise observations

Travel and Leisure

Editor's note: I've written this for those that might be new to river cruising, and due to Viking's extensive marketing, that's probably the only brand they have heard of. I'm not a travel agent, nor am I affiliated with Gate 1, so don't really care who you book with, but for those where a few thousand dollars saved is a huge deal, I thought I'd jot down what our friends told me. I have nothing against Viking; if you're a huge fan and want to keep sailing with them, that's great. I've not written this piece for you.

David vs. Goliath

After our first trip with Uniworld on the Rhine, we got hooked on river cruising, and I started to do a lot more research into the different operators, routes and pricing options. Since she was a travel agent, and we received a special price for our first cruise, I didn't know a thing about this unique way of exploring Europe, nor was I aware of what existed out there.

Viking always shows up in your Google searches

I started Googling, and of course, one of the first hits that you will get is for Viking river cruises, even if it is a Google Ad. Sign up for the free brochures? Sure! Now we get a glossy brochure on our doorstep at least once a month... in fact one just showed up today! With so much money going into advertising, everyone knows who Viking is, but what about the other end of the marketing spectrum?

 

We stumbled onto Gate 1 because I subscribe to a travel discount page, Travelzoo. It's not a discount travel agency, but rather a way for tour operators, hotels, etc. to advertise and create promos without doing it themselves. We jumped on one great deal with Vantage for Tulips and Windmills, so we validated the usefulness of Travelzoo that time. But when a promo came up for a ridiculous deal for a Danube river cruise with Gate 1, we nervously pulled the trigger. We had no idea if Gate 1 was a legit tour organisation (of course they are), but with virtually no advertising, how were we supposed to know what we were getting into?

Anyhow, as I've written about in a previous post, Gate 1 has become our current favourite river cruise operator (vs. Uniworld, Vantage, and Emerald). While on our Gate 1 trip, we made friends with a couple from the West coast as well, and they recently returned from a Viking cruise on the Rhine. I have always been curious about Viking, so I asked them, "how does Viking compare to Gate 1?"

Disclaimer: I'm just the messenger here; I'm quoting their comments to me almost verbatim, then offering my thoughts vis-à-vis the Gate 1 experience that we shared with them.

• 
  The clientele on Viking were much older than the Gate 1 crowd. As I've commented numerous times, we've met lovely people on all our cruises, and you will too, sharing stories of your day with others during evening cocktails and dinner. But sometimes the average age of the cruisers can slow things down, like evening port talks and loading/unloading coaches. Conversely, Gate 1 had a first-come, first-served bus policy; this meant that the faster, more agile folks got on and headed off without delay. With the somewhat younger demographics on Gate 1, we didn't feel like we were being held back/slowed down as much.
• 
  Food wasn't as good, especially breakfast; limited choices and repetitive. Didn't deal with food requests/allergies very well. Gate 1 had better variety and regional cuisine was superior. Gate 1 wait staff were very accommodating for my wife's allergies, even making sure she did not select certain items from the buffet. We especially liked that Gate 1 had at least one regional dish in each port; e.g. weinerschnitzel in Austria. In my comparison post, I commented that you're not going to get terrible food on a river cruise, but foodies might be disappointed by some lines.
• 
  Entertainment was not as good on Viking, likely due to age of crowd. We had a great entertainment coordinator on our Gate 1 cruise, and participation level from the guests was very high. While evening activities on board were limited, Gate 1 made the best of it with fun games like trivia and name that tune, etc. They even had some token prizes (e.g. local cookies and wine) awarded for the winners of each evening's event!
• Viking air proved to be problematic; extra charge of $150 to use our airline; Gate 1 did not charge for that. This is an issue I've read about with Viking on the FB group; the one time we booked our air with the river cruise operator (Avalon), they booked with our desired carrier and flight selections at no extra charge.
• 
  New ship (1 yr old) and clean lines which we liked. Booked a French balcony and liked it. Viking's ships are almost identical, so if you like the look, you'll not be disappointed on any of their ships. Their French balcony room is small at only 135 sq. ft., compared to a similar room with Gate 1 at 172 sq. ft. Gate 1 leases most of their ships, except the Monarch Empress, which from the video, seems quite nice.  You can look up other videos, photos and reviews of their other ships on Google too. Our Gate 1 ship has been retired, but it was fine (Cat B stateroom pictured). Gate 1 interiors have a more traditional design, but not busy (e.g. Uniworld). 
• 
  Tours were the same. Contrary to popular belief, you are likely getting the same local walking tour on Viking as you are on Gate 1. As we have seen in person, the local guides that show you around town are shared amongst most of the river cruise operators. i.e. when the local guide finishes with their Viking group, they change their lanyard and QuietVox, and head out with a different ship's group.

The above few factors led them to indicate that, "We won't river cruise with Viking again". Of course, one of the reasons why we like Gate 1 is because I am so cheap frugal, and you can get such great deals with Gate 1. Viking seems to always have a sale going on too, but if you delve deeper, it seems that their list prices are over-inflated by at least the cost of flights, as they almost always offer free air. I'm not saying you can't get a good price with Viking, but just don't get sucked in by the promo offer; tally up the final costs including room upgrade and deduct any air allowance. I like to use a per night rate to compare against others; you can read more on my math here. Upgrading to a room with a French balcony or their Veranda Stateroom will quickly escalate that seemingly great offer. 

If you are patient, you can likely find a deal with Gate 1 for desirable dates in the range of $200-240 USD/night in a French balcony room (sometimes far less). Virtually all the posts from cruisers who have done both on the river cruise FB group or the Gate 1 one will claim that they felt the value they received on their Gate 1 cruise was better than their Viking experience. I can't claim that, but given our other river cruises with Uniworld, Vantage and Emerald, which were all very similar, I'd be surprised if I came away with a substantially different opinion. Indeed, if I take all of our friends' comments above at face value, you get the same or better experience with Gate 1, but at a substantially lower price.

But Gate 1 has some noticeable differences that may or may not matter to you. For example, beer and wine are not included with lunch, as they are on all the other operators I can think of. They also don't give free transfers to/from the airport unless you book your airfare with them (vs. say, Emerald who gives free transfers regardless). There aren't any free backpacks and travel document folios sent out before your trip, and you won't find reusable water bottles or tour books to take with you in your room (Edit: Emerald no longer offers backpacks and travel folios). Likely the biggest issue is the size of the fleet and lack of routes served. e.g. Viking pretty much covers every river itinerary you can think of, as well as providing (pricey) pre- or post-cruise extensions in cool European cities (that are not necessarily on the river's itinerary - e.g. Paris). Gate 1 does the Seine, Douro, Rhine, Danube, "Grand European", and Holland/Belgium - they also do extensions, but limited to the obvious nearby embarkation/disembarkation points. Regardless, if you would like to keep your river cruise budget in line, Gate 1 should be on your list for consideration.

Counterpoint

I am not ashamed to admit it - I like McDonalds. Billions upon billions of customers agree, and have proven that Mickey-Ds is not a bad place for a burger. The same must be true with Viking; at last count, they have 80 longships servicing Europe's waterways. With up to 190 guests per sailing (which is much more than other operators), you end up with hundreds of thousands of guests per year! That can't be an accident. Their product must be good enough for guests to want to repeat their experience, and their model seems to work for those cruisers. As a first-timer river cruiser, are you going to have a great time on Viking? I would almost guarantee it. How can I make that assertion? It's because as a newbie, you have nothing to compare to. French balcony room seems a little small? Pfft. You haven't been in an Avalon Panorama Suite, so you don't know what that's like. You won't miss the free backpacks and water bottles that you weren't expecting anyways. Keep sailing on Viking, and you will continue to be blissfully unaware of the differences out there with other river cruise operators; there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Don't worry, be happy.