Ingra Tor

this will be our first VO cruise, on SEA, in late May for the Baltic Sea Countries.

 

Holly

Dear Holly,

When in Helsinki the most interesting and beautiful place to visit was the cemetery. In the Orthodox cemetery, which is at the end nearest to the city centre, are the graves of some of the Faberge family complete with an EGG on the tombstone.

In Stockholm try to visit the Vasa Museum, a short ferry bus trip from where Viking docks. I did it on the day that we landed in Stockholm and missed the 1700 hrs safety drill but Viking repeat it later on for late comers. Be sure to take a camera.

Have a great trip,

We did, with help and advice from Peregrina651.

Yours

Ingra Tor

I was wondering about the sea trials. Doesn't that mean that they are testing only for seaworthiness? That doesn't necessarily mean that the whole interior is done (plumbing, linens, furniture, kitchen fit out, etc. etc.

Hi,

Did you view the float out? https://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/video/new/index.html#video/viking-sun-float-out

At the end it lists the order of tasks still to be carried out.

I beleive that the first sea cruises have viking land based staff and travel agents on board to help the crew come together with real passengers.

Since a lot of river cruise (only) passengers, I thought it might be helpful to start a "Tips" thread for new Viking Ocean cruisers to read before their upcoming ocean cruise.

 

If you have a Viking transfer to the airport, expect to get up VERY early. It's just what cruise lines have to do....

 

Hi Roothy,

I think that this may be due to time of flight and airport. We have returned from Bergen on a Viking transfer twice with evening flights to London. On both times we had to leave the cabin by 0800 but had full use of the ships facilities untill Viking took us to the airpirt at about 1600 hrs.

On Friday 1 September, Jane McDonald will be sailing the Baltic Sea on Viking Sky, visiting Tallinn, St P and the ABBA museum in Stockholm. Channel 5 at 9pm. Wonder what she will make of the ship!

Does anyone know when Viking Sea "Into the midnight Sun" is being shown on QuestTV in the UK.

This has already been shown as part of "Mighty Ships" in Canada. This was a fantastic trip and I hope it shows how great are the staff.

Ingra Tor

Here's the full story from Cruise Critic on the second series of Cruising with Jane McDonald.

 

Tune in to see Viking Sky in the first episode at 9pm on Friday 1st Sept.

 

Thanks!

Kerry

I saw the show last night and having travelled on the Star and Sea did not think that it did justice to the ship or crew who are Vikings best asset. It showed the owners suit, which most of us will not travel in, but not the staterooms which are good.

If anyone can tell me when Quest Tv are showing Viking Sea "Into the midnight Sun" in the UK I would appreciate it. We sailed on this trip and it was fantastic.

"Without adequate drawer space, is there enough closet space for two females? "

 

The answer to the above question is: never! Ha Ha. We are just off of Star and while the rooms are a little short on drawer space, there actually is quite a bit of closet space. Our steward brought in extra hangars and I would estimate the closet was at least 6 feet across. It actually spanned the wall parallel to the beds and was about the same length as the beds. Also, there is a storage shelf above the closer and two drawers in the bathroom which we didn't discover until the last days of the cruise. And as roothy123 pointed out, there is lots of room under the beds to store stuff you don't need to regularly access in your suitcases.

Here's a tidbit FYI: there is a hairdryer in the bathroom but the outlet does not fit it, so you have to go into the room and connect by the table to use it. Not an issue for me, but annoying for Barbara.

Dear shipnc,

This is basic electrical safety. You do NOT have high power hand held electrical equipment in bath rooms.

In UK a plug for a hair dryer would fail all building regulations. Be it on land or sea.

Yours

Ingra Tor

Can anyone who has used please comment on these? We plan to pack light, as we will combine the cruise with other travel so plan to use them. Are the machines actually "complimentary" as I read in Viking's website? Are they always busy? Number of machines? Thanks.

Dear Veetee.

Yes the machines are "complimentary" , including soap. In fact the soap is added autumatically and you could not put your own in if you wanted to.

Three wash and three dry machines per Launderette . One Launderett per cabin deck.

I would say that they were not always busy but well used.Whilst I was in there a forth person arrived to use one and had to wait 10 minutes for a machine to come free.

Yours IngraTor

It will be interesting to see whether the Viking onboard accounting system will recognise that Viking marketed the cruise to its UK customers as including gratuities. I will of course give some extra gratuities to our cabin steward and waiting staff if we develop a favourite but it would be unfortunate if I have to queue up to have the auto-gratituity removed. Viking has chosen to market the UK and US market differently so hopefully the staff on board do not miss out.

 

Neil

Dear Neil,

The onboard accounting does recognise included gratuities.

On the TV or paper Guest Statement that you get at the end of the cruise it showed as "Prepaid Gratuities ($14 x 14 Nights) 196 on the debit line and then the same on the Credit line. This is per guest.

Yours

Ingra Tor

Dear Fair Weather Golfer,

The prepaid gratuities are a promotion come on. I think in the states you have 2 for 1 promotion offers which I have not seen in the UK.

On the viking Homelands my prepaid Gratuities per Guest were ($14 x 14 Nights) $196. As others we left our European money for the room stewart who gave great service.

Yours

Ingra Tor

How about VR Elegant Elbe Berlin<=>Prague? Does it suffer from the variable river depth issue? We're thinking of doing that a year or two after our Viking Homeland next year. Figured we could skip the day long trip to Berlin and do it more completely as a post or pre extension.

Yes it does.

Visit http://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/my-trip/about-my-cruise/current-sailings.html

For details of changes to schedules due to low water levels in Europe.

Budapest is a great place to start or end a trip. We did Budapest to Amsterdam. Just pick the right month, rivers can suffer from draughts and floods.

We are doing Berlin to Prague in October and like you did not do Berlin this June on the Star. There is plenty to do without the 3 hour drive to Berlin.

Yours Ingra Tor

Sort of interesting that the VO Facebook page is totally silent on this issue. I was hoping they would be more transparent.

 

Craig & Susan

Der Graig & Susan,

For those of us not on the cruise updates from Viking can be seen at http://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/my-trip/about-my-cruise/current-sailings.html

If you cant read the link look up oceans/my trip/ about my cruise/ current sailings

Yours Ingra Tor

I seem to recall seeing the answer to my question somewhere in these threads, but can't find it--- what is the location in Stockholm for embarking/disembarking? Thanks-- would like to scout out nicer hotels as close as possible as we hope to spend a couple of days there prior to starting our cruise in Stockholm.

Hi

Location was Stadsgardshamnen 24 o our trip.

Yours Ingra Tor.

Maybe people are no longer interested in blogs and pictures, but I'm catching up by reading a blog or two I hadn't had time to look at before. Here's a fairly interesting one if you're interested in some of the more technical aspects of the Star:

http://www.avidcruiser.com/2015/05/14/viking-star-christening-voyage-day-3-sailing-the-north-sea/

Found this to be a good report but surprised that The vast majority of the 50 day guests were Australian.

For the people who have done the Homelands Stockholm to Bergen cruise, how was disembarking? Did it take long time? What time were you allowed to leave ship. We are going to fly to Munich so I need to know when to schedule the flight.

Hi

Dont realy understand question as we arrived in Bergen 1 day before the end of the tour so we could have walked off at any time. Some people left at about 3 AM if they had early flights. We stayed on till 5 PM, ( flight at 8 PM) walked off ship into terminal, picked up bags and walked out. Maybe 5 minutes, max of 10 mimutes.

Yours

Ingra Tor

Folks, I sit here with tears in my eyes. I'm a solo traveler heading out in October for Istanbul. I have become overwhelmed by the endless list of complaints, valid or not, and felt like I was making a mistake. You all have really been encouraging and I thank you. I am interested in seeing a photo of people actually boarding the ship at a port but I can't find one. Maybe someone can steer me in the right direction. I need to see how steep the ramp is. Have a great trip all!

Dear Staying Afloat,

We did the Homelands in June so we were at different ports.

The steepest ramp we had was at St Petersburg.

Had the tide been 1 foot higher the lower door would have been used.

There were lots of staff on the ramp and at the bottom of it to help us on or off wether we needed help or not.

The ramps are provided by the ports so may not always be the same length.

I am trying to add photo!

We had a great cruise and have booked for "Into the midnight Sun " for next year.

This message was posted in wrong place

Hi Ingra

What a fantastically useful report. Thank you so much for taking the time to give such detail. We come from uk, not florida!

Really spooky.....you replied to traveltwin's post but addressed it to teefine which is me. Traveltwin IS my twin but you couldnt have known that...weird, eh?

And finally, was there anything you didnt take with you that you wish you had?

Again, many thanks.

Hi Teefine,

Not Spooky, Just me not knowing how to use Cruisecritic properly.

The only extra would have been waterproof over trousers as it rained very hard in Stockholm. Spar has disposable trunks for men in the Spar lockers. We took alarm clock for early starts and torch for emergency use.

Maybe your favourite decaffeinated tea. Before our first tour I asked Martha (on the Explorers Desk ) where I could find English tea, Cabin and Restraunts had lots of speciality teas. When I returned from the tour my cabin had a dish full of Twinings English Breakfast tea in it.

Tips:- At Tallin on quay many shops and a Choclate truck, bought a bar of Kalev Tallinn dark chocolate for 6.60 Euro. Went into Tallinn on shuttle bus later and bought same bar of choclate at Rimi supermarket for 3.35 Euro. They also had boxes of Tallin chocolates for 2.69 Euro. A must for the ladies is a traditional Haapsalu scarf, wife says it is very warm when worn.

We bought it at shop number 22 Pikk (I think KODUKASIT ) cost 86 Euro.

Also a MUST for Stockholm is the VASA musium cost 130 Kr. Closes at 5 make sure you take your camera. I caught a ferry acoss to it. Walked from ship towards city to nearest end of SKEPPSBROKAJEN ( on viking map) to catch ferry. Small box office to buy ticket. They nearly all speak very good English.

It you travel by train in Norway ( NOT flam train) and are old enough ask for a senior ticket. (Half price)

Sorry if this is a bit long winded.

Yours

Ingra Tor

We had the least expensive Veranda room. Our room was right next door and on the same floor with the room size and configuration as those who paid more for a coffee pot and more again alcohol. You can order room service any time in the morning and they will deliver a pot of coffee within minutes. You can make a reservation for the speciality resturants once you board and there is no problem with availabilty for seating times or dates. You can walk into The Resturant ( finer dining than the World Cafe) and have no waiting for any meal. You can bring alcohol on the ship in your suitcase when you originally board and beer and wine daily if you like. But they really do serve beer and wine for about 3 hours at lunch and again for 3 hours at dinner, what they free flow.

Drinks in the bar are cheap $4-6.00. You would have a hard time spending the difference in room price in the bar.

We picked up a cancellation 18 months in advance for the Maiden Voyage and I was not disappointed in our decision to book a plain ole Veranda room.

It was fabulous!!!!

Hi Jkerr,

We have been in the DV cabins on deck 5 and have now booked cabin 3012 (V1) for next year. Do they have a fridge ( all be it an empty one)?

Yours with thanks

Ingra Tor

Anyone that has been or is onboard Baltic cruise in May, June?

1. How cold has it been? Planning to layer and not going from Stockholm till the 27th June...so not to Bergen till early July

2. How well does the wifi work now that press tours are done?

3. Any special tips or ideas?

4. How much movement around North Sea, Stavanger? Should I get RX for seasick pills?

5. How much light in the day these days...white nights?

Thanks in advance

Hi Teefine,

We have just come home from Bergen having done the cruise.

You are taking your cruise in the right direction as to finish in Norway is a high.

Had heavy rain on the first day in Stockholm but was pleased to see that there was an umbrella in the stateroom.

Only took it out with us on one other day. Never wore waterproof anorak that I bought for the trip.

If you come from Florida it was cold, if you come from the UK it was not.

Never felt the ship rock or roll but wife said she felt it roll one evening!

Helsinki was not very interesting to me on the included tour, A very crowded Rock Church and a statue in a park. The best part of Helsinki for me was the cemetery. In passing it on the included tour the guide mentioned that one of the Faberge family was buried there and has an egg on the grave stone.

I went to look at it and the cemetery is very large, very well kept and has some interesting grave stones, Angels on some, naked ladies on others. Not what you would see in the UK. The Faberge grave is in the Orthodox part of the cemetery which is the part nearest to the city centre. I walked to it and then caught the Viking shuttle bus from the city centre to the ship.

For St Petersbrug we were advised that it could be difficult to fit in two tours in one day if they were only hours apart due to the traffic delays. Took Canal tour in morning and Song and Dance at night. Held in the Officers club (many steps up to the theatre) and performed by the Red Army troop. It was very good.

Next day went to the Hermitage repository. We thought it was very good. Only 18 in group with a Repository staff member as Guide. Air conditioned building only our group in room at any time.

At Warnemunde we did our own thing and took the train from the port to Bad Doberan and then bought a ticket at the station to Ostseebad Kuhlungsborn West ( Molli steam Railway ). Then as weather was warm walked down the prom and boarded the train further back toward Bad Doberan. And hence back to Warnemunde.

A third of the people who I spoke to who went to Berlin liked it, A third would not do the trip again and the last third wish that had not gone to Berlin at all as it involved a 3 to 4 hour drive there. Some then had an hour and a half coach tour of Berlin.

In Stavanger we did our own private trip, again by train, to Egersund in the morning on the 10:17 Region train. The Region train is very smart with a families coach with a play pen, I have never seen one like this in the UK, and a cafe on board. We walked into and out of Egersund and came back on the 13:17 hrs Local train, not very nice more like a commuters train. The Viking party on their tour to Egersund got of off this train prior to boarding their coaches. Once back at Stavanger (14:30) we went out on the included tour which started at 15:00 hrs and was interesting.

Again in Flam we went on the included tour in the morning and our own private trip on the Flamsbana train in the afternoon. You can buy the ticket on line or at the station which is next to the port. Well worth the trip. Train goes up, waits 5 minutes and comes back, with photo stop at Waterfall. All details on the web.

We think that the ship is great, the staff is great and that the cruise was great. Yesterday we booked up for “Into the midnight Sun” out of Harwich next year.

Yours

Ingra Tor.

If you go to http://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/VIKING-STAR-IMO-9650418-MMSI-257903000

on the internet you can track the ship.

This morning I contacted Viking UK to book our excursions for Viking Homelands trip later this year.

 

I was informed that only the optional tours are bookable. I have made my own arrangements for some days and I was planning to book the included tours for other days at a time suitable for me.

 

I was told that the included tours would be automatically booked for me and I would get the times with my final paperwork. How do I change the times before I leave if they are unacceptable?

 

Can anyone from the UK confirm this is how it is done

Dear Fair weather golfer

I am due to sail on the 20th of this month.

If you go to

http://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans

then click on

“my Viking journey.”

This should take you to

http://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/my-trip/my-viking-journey/index.html

This explains how to book excursions etc.

These are placed in your WISH LIST. It does not reserve or book them. This only happens after placing them in your shopping cart and paying for them. I paid for them via the phone. The site says that Viking should phone you for payment. I phoned them to ensure that I was in.

I think you can also cancel them on the site or on the ship. There are time limits on cancellations.

<h3>My Viking Journey also sends notifications to you.

Jan 27 2015 Joined “My Viking Journey”

Mine were.

Notifications

28 Jan 2015 Start building your wish list And follow your to do list.

3 Mar 2015 Complete Your Guest Information Form.

26 Mar 2015 Book Your Shore Excursions Now.

19 May 2015 Only 1 week left to make reservations.

Hope this helps

</h3>

Hi Neil,

Can you please give me an address to send the information to or you can contact Viking UK at 02087807900 and ask for the contact details for the Customer Services Manager.

Dear OneBag,

Understand that you cannot contact Viking UK . Maybe the difference is that here we have a “Customer Service Department “and in the States you have a “SALES Support Department”. Once I had spoken to the Service Helpline I asked for her to pass an email on to her manager. This done he replied giving his direct phone number and direct email address for all future correspondence. ( and he has had plenty).

I cannot praise him enough during this period and hope that all problems on land are not fixed as they are concentrating on the problems at sea.

Looking forward to my trip on the 30th May.

Dear Onebag,

I agree that Viking are using us as their software testers but have found that they are very interested in my observations.

I have sent in 8 observations to the UK customer services manager, within 48 hrs he has always replied informing me that my observations have been passed on to the USA based technical team.

He then informs me when they have been actioned.

In 5 cases resolved, 2 cases referred for future decisions and one I do not know if it has been done.

The one that I do not know if it has been resolved is that I have been able to book two Chef’s table reservations and MVJ shows that I now have minus 1 reservations remaining.( I should only be able to book one). I am not going to cancel one to see if the problem is fixed.

I am confident that all the logistics will be worked out to our ultimate satisfaction.

I am keeping in mind that this is an inaugural cruise for Viking Ocean.

Thanks for the heads up on train times, as it is essential we are on the early train.

Hi, In April 2014 Viking UK sent me the following proposed itinerary. We have decided not to go on it.

Day Time Duration (mins) Action Hotel Name Included meals

1 06:30 60 Breakfast and disembark ship

07:30 10 Transfer to station, check-in and board0

07:58 Train departs for Oslo, snack car on train

14:27 Train arrives Oslo, city tour starts

14:30 60 Panoramic drive of Oslo

15:30 20 Photo stop

15:50 30 Panoramic drive to Viking Ship Museum

1620 45 Visit Viking Ship Museum

17:05 30 Panoramic drive to Oslo hotel

17:35 Check-in and evening at leisure, own dinner arrangements

Radisson Scandanavia

Day 2 07:00 90 Breakfast

08;30 Check out of hotel and transfer to airport

This would be for a UK flight.

Hope this helps