Ship Report - Ocean Victory

Ocean Victory
Ocean Victory is a new and very unique looking ship that was built for sailing in cold waters.   Ocean Victory started her first year down in Antarctica sailing for Albatros Expeditions.  Then American Queen Voyages took over when she headed north to Alaska.   American Queen Voyages is known for its iconic looking paddlewheel boats that sail the rivers of the US but they are branching out into more adventurous waters with Alaska on Ocean Victory.   For the half the year that American Queen Voyages is running the ship they are offering one way sailings from Vancouver to Sitka and reverse.  I will talk more about the cruise portion in my trip report.  Today let's just talk about the ship.

Ocean Victory is a brand new build and really is one of the most modern small ship vessels in the market.  I am going to break this report into 3 sections - Technical Details, Staterooms, and Public Spaces.  

Technical Details

• Started sailing November 2021  
• 342 Feet long
• 6 Guests decks
• 93 staterooms
• 186 guests plus 100 crew
• Registered in Nassau, Bahamas (yes that surprised me).

With the highest Polar code 6 and Ice class 1A, Ocean Victory is the ideal vessel for small-ship cruising due to her sturdy construction and X-Bow®-Infinity class, which provides high stability in rough weather and allows for the smoothest movements on high waves, and a Solas 2012 classification which facilitates a safe return to port.
The vessel is part of a brand new generation of low-energy vessels, with 4 diesel engines and 2 electro engines, all controlled electronically to optimize speed and fuel consumption.

Staterooms

•  93 staterooms (90% with balcony, 100% with a view) 
• 22 sets of connecting rooms
• 49 rooms that can accommodate 3 guests
• 2 accessible rooms however there are parts of the ship where a wheelchair couldn't access so that is something to keep in mind.

  I was in a Category C - Deluxe Stateroom with Private Balcony (213-265 sq ft.)   This is the category that has the most rooms onboard.  It is very spacious with lots of storage areas which is great.   It says private balcony however at first you might not think that when you board as there are partition walls that will need to be locked in place.  Technically if the partition walls were not locked you could easily walk around the whole outside deck.  

The stateroom was definitely the most luxurious room I have had on an expedition ship.  Of course being a brand new build helps with that since the other expedition ships I have been on have been older ships.   The bathroom was a nice size with walk in shower but the best feature was the heated floor!   The ship has no single-use plastics onboard so do not expect to find any take home toiletries.  They do have the shampoo and body wash caddies in the shower that most cruise ships and hotels are using now.  I am used to expedition ships not offering fancy toiletries so I knew to bring my own stuff but some guests did not.  
The room could be set up as 2 twins or the bed put together just like most ships.   I found the bed to be comfy but I will say 2 of the 4 pillows were the hardest pillows I have ever felt.   There is a large TV that even offered a nice selection of movies and tv shows to watch.  Most expedition ships do not have TVs in the room or if they do the TVs only play things like video from the underwater camera on the ship.  Honestly on my other expeditions there just wasn't really time for tv watching but this one was a bit different (more on that in my trip report to come next).
There is also a couch and desk area with plenty of space and then the door out to the balcony.   My room was one of the ones that could sleep 3 so the couch could turn into a bed (more child size I would think).   Rooms also include things like binoculars, hair dryer, and a mini fridge.   The sockets might seem like they won't work for your plugs but pretty much most things were fine without a converter.  The things we heard that were not compatible with the room sockets were hair styling things. 
I did get to tour a few other stateroom categories and to be honest they are all very similar.   The suites of course are larger but that was about the only difference.  

Public Spaces
For a small ship Ocean Victory actually has a lot of public spaces.  There are 6 decks of guest area and there is an elevator to get to most floors.  I am going to start from the top down.

• Observation lounge - Up on Deck 8 all the way forward on the ship you will find this cozy lounge with 180 degree views.   There is a bar for refreshments and a good amount of comfy seating.   This area also had some nice spotting scopes and microscopes.   The guides and naturalists will do the hands on science stuff  and other talks in this location.
• Bistro - Also on deck 8 this is a smaller dining location which on our cruise was only open for breakfast and lunch.   There were not many tables in there and we were told on our cruise it was serving the same food as the main dining room so we didn't bother trying to get a seat in there.   There is also a BBQ area with outside seating in this area.   If the weather cooperates there is usually a BBQ lunch served during the cruise (didn't work out on our cruise though).
• Fitness center - Deck 7 also offered the fitness center which for a small ship was a really good size and quite a few people used it during the cruise (not me in case you don't know me).
• Spa - Deck 7 is also home to a small spa room which is something you usually won't get on expedition ship.   It offered a nice variety of services.


• Pool deck - yes even though this ship is doing Alaska and Antarctica it actually has a good size infinity pool at the back of the ship on Deck 7.  There are also 2 hot tubs.  I didn't try either on my cruise but a lot of guests did.  There are also some lounge chairs and other comfy seating options for soaking up any sun that might appear on your cruise.  
• Observation Deck - Deck 5 is basically all public spaces starting at the front with the observation deck.   This is where the special folding platforms are that can open up so you can do some wildlife spotting from a nice location.  It is a pretty unique feature of the ship.
• Expedition Lecture room - this is sort of like the theater onboard and it is where you go to learn all about each day's adventures the night before.  There were also other informative talks in here such as when some locals came onboard.
• Explorer Bar and Lounge - This is where you could grab a drink pretty much anytime during the cruise.   Also this area usually hosted an afternoon tea time with snacks and some nice piano music.  
• Voyager Library - this is a small room right off the lecture room.  It was a nice quiet location with things like books, puzzles, and other games.
• The Reception Desk - right in the middle of Deck 5 so very easy to find anytime you need something. 
• Ocean Boutique -  Yep there was even a ship store with some local items along with branded things.   There was also a small selection of sundry type items that you might have forgotten to pack.
• Main Dining Room - this took up the back of Deck 5 and had lots of nice windows.   There are mostly large tables but since our cruise wasn't full it was easy to get a table for yourself if you wanted.   The dining room served breakfast and lunch buffet style.  Dinner was sit down and open seating so you can arrive anytime during the open hours and grab a seat.   There is also a small section of the dining room that was separated that we were told will be a specialty restaurant but it wasn't operating as such during our cruise.  
• Expedition Desk - this is the only publc area on Deck 4.   It is conveniently located where you will many times get off and back on the ship on days when the ship is docked.  Expedition information was posted here and at certain times a guide would be available for questions.   
• Medical Clinic is down on Deck 3
• Mud Room - Also on Deck 3 and this was probably my favorite addition to an expedition ship.   This area is sort of like a locker room where you are able to store all of your expedition gear that you don't want to have to lug back to your room each time.  If you do not bring gear with you the ship even has some you can borrow such as mud boots and rain gear.  Your life jackets for going out on the zodiacs are also kept in your locker.  Directly from the mudroom you could board the zodiacs and kayaks easily.   The ship is even able to tilt a bit to one side to help with getting on and off the zodiacs.  One important note about the mud room is that you can only get to that via stairs so anyone that cannot walk down a flight of stairs will not be able to get to this area of the ship.   Since the zodiacs are not only used for exploring but also used for getting into some of the ports we stopped at it could mean some people might miss out on a bunch of stuff.

Ocean Victory really offers a premium experience for an expedition cruise.  If you want to get out into nature on your vacation but don't want to rough it this is the ship for you.   I would call it the glamping of the seas.  If you are ready to explore Alaska or Antarctica on this beautiful ship just let me know.

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