Berlin Bear

Ok, living in Germany I’ll jump on that one. We found coffee on Viking to be weaker than our normal (not too strong) German coffee brands. So you should be ok.

Not a big fan of Heathrow, but our flight last year from Heathrow to Buenos Aires with BA - booked by Viking - in economy was absolutely fine. Wouldn’t hesitate to use the airline for long haul again.

Dear Mr. Hagen, Stop ignoring your fellow mainland European citizens / potential customers! Please make it possible for us to book a Viking cruise either through a Viking office based somewhere on the continent or through our travel agents. Thank you! It’s not going to happen, I know.

Fully agree. Casablanca was our first port on our first cruise in 2011 and we had no idea what we were doing at the time. We simply took the shuttle bus into town from the industrial port and wandered through the open air market to the mosque which was very impressive. We were incredibly lucky in being able to join a small German-speaking group (there were four of us) to tour the mosque, including the hammam.

Envy🤢. When we sailed from Manhattan on the Viking Sea in October 2018, we were, despite a full ship, completely alone on deck! Made ourselves comfortable on a sofa. We put it down to the fact that our North American sailing companions had seen it all before 😁

Did you manage to leave Heathrow before the air traffic control network failure? Keeping my fingers crossed for a safe departure and looking forward to following your travels!

I quite liked this one, seen in Nairobi. Note to myself - try to look busy when sitting

Well, we’ve certainly gone off topic now, but we’d love to repeat the trip as well. Although we spent 10 days in quarantine, we actually only missed one port - Montevideo.

Nothing at all, of course. I was simply bemoaning the fact that the European owner does not cater for his fellow European citizens - tongue-in-cheek, so to speak I really like the Viking Ocean product, but I think we must all recognize that the owner has been very smart in choosing such a streamlined business concept (English language passengers only on identical ships). This is not a criticism, it is simply stating a fact. Still love the ships though!🤩

BTW, shipboy, I believe we were on the Southern Atlantic Crossing together in March 2022.

Ok, thank you. I will try that.

Many thanks for your quick and helpful response. Very much appreciated! I‘ve moaned about this before on these boards, but it’s such a pity that Viking cruises are not marketed or sold in mainland Europe, despite the owner being Norwegian. The two cruises we’ve done up to now have been booked in the UK by telephone. Oh well, it was worth a try 🙄.

I would love to know where to find this price and build tab that you all talk about! Whenever I try to type in Viking.com or vikingcruises.co.uk, I am always redirected to vikingcruises.com and there doesn’t seem to be a price and build function there. any advice?

We’ve done around 25 cruises with TUI Cruises. They use to have a loyalty program but it was suspended in spring 2020. Since then, there have been a number of messages from the company that a new loyalty program would emerge at some point, but this has never materialised 🤷‍♂️. By the way, the eighth ship will have a capacity of around 4000 passengers.

And WiFi

Ah OK, thanks for this clarification. We were there in June last year and I don’t remember any construction work going on. Now carry on enjoying your cruise!

As a Brit/Liverpudlian, I’m really enjoying your daily reports. Just a comment on Kirkwall - we’ve visited this port on three separate occasions with two different cruise lines and have never tendered. Always docked and then taken the shuttle bus into town.

Which went on to be Mein Schiff 2 and then Mein Schiff Herz and has now moved to Marella and will reappear as Marelle Voyager

Yes, their business model seems to tend towards streamlining or simplification - identical ships filled with English-speaking passengers. Very cost efficient. I’m not saying this is bad, we enjoy the Viking experience. However, other comparable English-speaking cruise lines (e.g. Oceania, Regent, Seabourn) are marketed in Europe and can be booked either directly or via travel agencies. Even P&O sell their cruises over here 😅. It is quite odd, given the emphasis on everything Norwegian, that Viking neglects to cater for the European continent. Yes, business model… I don’t mind having to book directly with Viking, so I guess I will have to set up two strands of communication with the US and UK offices so that I can compare prices and conditions. The lack of response from other Europeans who are interested in sailing with Viking sort of confirms my feeling that we are a tiny minority!

Thanks for all your responses. Unfortunately there are no European travel agents, apart from in the UK, that deal with Viking Ocean cruises. Since Brexit, it has become more difficult for us to book in the UK, although it is still possible if we can provide a UK address (I have willing relatives 😁). I have no experience of booking travel in the US - neither via a travel agent nor directly. The terms and conditions seem to differ from the EU/UK ones. I was hoping to hear something from other European (non-UK) Viking customers who have the same „dilemma“ and are willing to share their booking experiences here. Thanks in advance!

We have so far done two Viking Ocean cruises - loved them, even though the second was blighted by Covid. There is unfortunately no possibility of booking a Viking cruise on mainland Europe, so both of these cruises were booked directly with Viking UK, which worked out really well, although we had to book them with flights and then travel via London. Since Brexit however, I no longer have access to the Viking UK website and will need to provide a UK address to book a further cruise there. This is not a problem as I have family there. The UK terms and conditions are similar to the German ones and the cruise prices generally include flights and gratuities. So, now we would like to book a cruise for December this year and I’m unsure whether to book in the UK or the US!? I would be really grateful if any fellow Viking cruisers from mainland Europe could let me know where and how they have managed their bookings. Any insights or advice would be very much appreciated!

Nyhavn, where the canal boat tours start, is also on Kongens Nytorv.

When we were kids we loved running up and down the „tunnels“ to the floating landing stages at the Pier Head when we were taking the ferry across the Mersey. I know, it sounds corny, but I’m old enough to have lived through a time before everything became touristified. Have a wonderful cruise everyone!

Well this is what I just found „The tides today are 8.3 m, 2.2 m, 8.0 m and 2.6 m. The maximum high tide recorded is 10.3 m.“ If you visit beaches close to Liverpool, the sea may be so far out that you don’t actually see it. Which reminds me - there is a very interesting, atmospheric sculpture on Crosby beach, just north of Liverpool, called Another Place https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Place_(sculpture). 100 cast iron figures looking out to sea. Depending on the tide, you may be able to see the complete figures or just their heads.

Perfect picture to illustrate why I suggested in my message (#119) above that a good meeting place would be the Museum of Liverpool - it’s that modern white/dark glass building that you can see almost in the middle of the picture. Just a hop, skip and a jump from the ship. Following the waterfront you can see some red brick buildings. That’s the Albert Dock where there are a number of car parking possibilities. By the way, the walkway (yellow tunnel) can get incredibly steep at low tide. When we were there last summer there was transport provided for passengers who didn’t fancy the walk.