CurlerRob

Is this semantics, or a real change? On the current Viking Saturn sailing from Iceland to Bergen (which it appears you are boarding after it arrives in Bergen), the included (as in no extra charge) excursions are: Panoramic Lofoten, Highlights of Longyearbyen and Drive to North Cape. Each is offered multiple times during the port stop, but they are the same tour. There are, of course, a variety of other tours in each port, all chargeable. 🍺🥌

I had followed your analysis on the Oceania board. I found it based on facts, with your assumptions and occasional opinions clearly delineated. In my view, comparison such as yours are extremely valuable and are appropriate for posting on each of the cruise line boards that they reference. I agree that they warrant a new thread, as you offered. Hopefully you'll do so here - it will be informative and will likely spark more useful discussion. 🍺🥌

Agreed - thank you for posting the link! You likely are aware that Viking's prior investors were TPG Capital and CPPIB, both in for about $500M each between 2016 and 2020. The statement that the debt offering was made available to institutions outside the US was interesting - I'm curious if that means the same two player will participate again. Good financial move by Viking and a solid profit realized by the previous investors. Much nicer to hear a positive industry story rather than the angst over CCL. 🍺🥌

Your satisfaction is absolutely what matters, Clay. It appears to me that US pax have the benefit of a competitive TA environment that provides significant credits when booking - this shows up across multiple boards. We downtrodden northerners don't seem to have the same level of giveback - for example, I've never seen anyone suggest that they have a Canadian TA who offered enough credit to cover gratuities. There is usually something, but it's quite a bit lower, although I'd be happy to be educated otherwise! Enjoy your July trip ... 🍺🥌.

Frustrating, and I sympathize with your experiences, but don't despair. Some time ago, @Heidi13posted his approach to finding his TA. It was structured, rigorous and required a significant investment of his time - but was worth it in the end. I agreed with his approach - if you consider that the amount of money that many of us will commit to a TA for our cruises will easily approach a major home renovation, few of us would find it unreasonable that we should devote a fair amount of time to the selection of our "contractor". If you've already invested that time and still struck out, I regret your luck! When asked, I describe our TA's value as being twofold. First, he executes the basic "blocking and tackling" (as in luggage tags and documents) flawlessly. This is table stakes - as you point out, basic administration is nothing that any of us can't do ourselves. Secondly, his real value has been shown a number of times in his ability to negotiate a favourable outcome when we have had complex rescheduling problems, involving Covid-related cancellations, the dreaded vouchers, personal changes and unforeseen issues. Based on his persistence and client focus, he has been able to secure accommodations that have literally saved us tens of thousands in cases where we had no real leg to stand on with the cruise lines. If I have to find a new TA tomorrow, I'd be asking candidates to provide specific examples of how they had done the same for their clients and following up with references. In our view, a strong TA is worth investing the time to find - best of luck! 🍺🥌

Intriguing post. I'm curious as to why, given your negative experience with Viking River, you would choose to sail with the same company, let alone invest in the second-most expensive accommodation on Viking Ocean? Many pax would have sought out a different company in hopes of finding a more satisfying cruise. 🍺🥌

I think your memory is good - I believe the the Lanai cabins were an addition at the 2018 refit, but others may be able to confirm. Explains why you didn't see them! 🍺🥌

Amsterdam had them - class CA in purple (same many miles walked by them ...). 🍺🥌

Lorna, just for completeness, your information is generally the case, but there are some differences if the cruise is a long one - this is from the Grand Pacific Voyage in 2023. In this case you lose $1K anytime between booking and 180 days. It was the OP's mention of the $1K deposit that caught my attention and caused me to suggest they reference the Guest Statement. 🍺🥌

You'll find the cancellation schedule and penalties for your cruise on page 2 of your Guest Statement. 🍺🥌

Unless Viking has made a radical change, SS is just an advance payment mechanism - it does not offer choices that are denied to others. Pax can request the full beverage list at any time and choose to forego the "included" beverage in favour of anything on the list. The only difference is that without SS, they are charged at the time they order. Put simply, if I don't want the "included" wine at dinner, I'm free to ask for the full wine list, order a glass from it and pay for it. There's nothing on the "SS list" that is not available to me. Cheers! 🍺🥌

VV, not sure I understand your comment regarding "greater selection". SSBP is just a different way to pay for your beverages - all wine choices are available to everyone should you choose to pay for them by the glass/bottle. Of course, this has no relevance to the quality of wines onboard! 🍺🥌

You beat me to the post - but the silver lining is that the seafood will not be at risk of spoiling in the heat (especially in Svalbard). 🍺🥌

Thank you for this - the CDC VSP site is always the authoritative voice for GI outbreaks that fall under their purview. 🍺🥌 What was more concerning to me is that the number of outbreaks across all lines (13) so far is comparable to full-year histories pre-Covid - but we are only halfway through the year. One would have hoped that we had learned basic hygiene lessons from the pandemic. 👿

My apologies for the "he" reference 😕. Gender-neutral handles get me every time! 🍺🥌

Nothing is more "fun" than trying to compare cruise lines and reconcile them from an apples-to-apples standpoint! I may be mistaken, but I believe that @Vineyard View posted earlier that he prefers to have the full drinks package - if that's the case, adding that in to the O cruise-only fare of $7399 would almost totally close the gap. There's also a SB air credit offered now (this may be new), but I can't see the actual amount. Thanks to both of you for the analyses - these threads are making it clear that the cost differences between lines can sometime be much narrower than it may seem at first - always a function of what amenities the individual finds important, of course.🍺🥌

I did a fair bit of analysis about a year ago, as I was contrasting HAL, Viking and Oceania. My conclusion was that Viking's paid excursions were at the lower end of the "standard" cruise line markup - which we find to be about 2X - 2.5X DIY cost. I did not see evidence that their excursion costs offered the same relatively low prices that the drinks did (as you observe, they are excellent value). 🍺🥌

I don't believe you are misinformed, but just for more detail: The 1-year (or occasionally more) PIF date is painful to say the least - but I've seen no signs of Viking moving to alter it. (Note that the cancellation penalty schedule is not aligned with PIF - it's much closer in to sailing and very similar to other lines). Because you can request a 6-month PIF date if you have another cruise booked, some pax use a workaround - book something way out in time with a $25 deposit, then leverage small investment for a shorter PIF on the cruise you want. The included ShoreEx is typically a bus tour or a walking tour. In our experience, they are useful for pax who are unfamiliar with a port, want an overview and are not comfortable with something like a HoHo tour or going on their own. I don't have any experience with single supplements - Viking's published information is not helpful: "What is your single supplement? On occasion, Viking will make special solo traveler fares available". Food is a third rail of subjectivity. I don't go there. The only observation I'll make is that it's easy to find both lovers and haters for the food on any cruise line. Pure opinion (free advice being worth what you pay for it ...) - both Viking and O have their pros and cons. We have sailed both and will do either again. 🍺🥌

Quite possibly correct for the UK or Oz - I can't claim any direct knowledge. My experience is that my comments are accurate for US/Canada - happy to be educated if that's not correct! 🍺🥌

You have more than 60 posts on this and other boards - all cookie cutters of this same opinion. Your seemingly pathological need to indulge in inaccurate hyperbole about any other line than Oceania has become massively tiresome. You hate Viking (and X, and ___) - we get it. Please spare us further repetitions.🍺🥌

Your understanding is not correct. Viking's normal PIF is 12 months - if you have another trip on the books, you can request a 6 month PIF. There are the occasional, high-demand trip where PIF is immediate, but they are very few in number.(Cancellation penalties are closer in to the sailing dates, similar to other lines). Their PIF dates are still well in advance by industry standards, but as long as pax continue to accept it, or course they'll take the interest-free loans! 🍺🥌

Weather and seas are unpredictable at best - we've had little success in relying on seasonal trends. I think your instincts are good regarding the spring and W-E. It may be a bit cooler, but I'd agree that arriving home without a 6-hour jet lag would more than make up for the loss of hours when sailing east. Autumn TAs, while likely a bit warmer, are always at some additional level of risk as it's hurricane season. We prefer the E-W flavour, but that's due to our NA location. Either direction, we greatly enjoy the extended ocean passages - good luck with your decision! 🍺🥌

Not unless they had unusual 4-dimensional space-time warp powers. I was curious, so I measured both - not happening, even with the case opened. (In fairness the suitcase is oversized and the bed has a somewhat different frame). No lack of storage, even with the case in the closet - it was just unusual. 🍺🥌

Quite so, but very few hotel showers pitch you around in a seaway. When that happens, the tight space becomes a much larger concern. We adapted, but the shower size was the worst element of our cabin on Insignia. 🍺🥌

The following is from a post I made after a November/22 trip on Insignia. There was lots to like about Insignia - the bathroom was not one of those things ... 🍺🥌 Cabin We chose a ‘Concierge’ cabin, with a balcony. It was advertised as 216 square feet, which was somewhat smaller than the ~270 square feet on our comparative lines. In general, we found the cabin itself quite adequate, with more than ample storage. An oddity was that our one large suitcase would not fit under the bed, as it usually does, but it did fit nicely into the closet. The bed was very comfortable. The pillows were feather, which is not our preference but we did not request a change. The toiletries provided were highly scented, but scent-free versions were available from the cabin steward. The balcony was quite standard in our experience – a sliding door opened to two chairs and a small table – worked fine for two people. The bathroom was VERY small - to the point that the commode lacked the necessary legroom. Worse was the shower - it’s tiny and a strange trapezoidal shape, with maximum dimensions of about 22” by 34”. It was extremely difficult to use and would be dangerous in a seaway as there is simply not enough room to brace oneself. It was pretty clear where the sacrifice was made regarding the lower square footage. There’s obviously nothing to be done about the configuration, but new pax should be aware. Our cabin rating would have been an A but the bathroom was so awkward to use that it dragged it down to a C.