CCWineLover

And if you have SSBP, they'll take your order of a glass of SSBP wine, and your room number, then go most likely to the Aquavit Terrace, get your order, and bring it back to you.

This is also the case for the included sparkling wine and the included beer at meal times in the World Cafe.

On 4/23/2024 at 9:19 AM, Jim Avery said:

I have never, in a long "career" sailing on cruise ships, ever seen any cruise line stay the same.  Unfortunately they seem to all fall into the "bigger is better" mantra and move away from what originally made them so successful.  In 8 years sailing Viking we have seen notable changes in food and service.  Still good but not the Wow! of the first voyages.  Our next two bookings are on Explora Journeys and Scenic Ocean.  Both new lines with good reviews mostly.  But then back to Viking for a couple of river cruises.  As has been said many times before, the only constant in life is change.  We just go with what works at the time.🍸

Jim - have heard a lot of buzz lately about Explora.

Will enjoy hearing from you then on how they compare with the current Viking Ocean. 🙂

23 minutes ago, kahuna21 said:

What the heck is a “slider”?

Some cabins have "Sliding Doors" that exit to the Balcony and some have a "Door on a hinge with a door handle" that exits to the Balcony.   A slider is a "Sliding Door" to the Balcony.  They exist on all DV and V rooms plus exactly one half of the PV rooms.  

Search the forum for Sliding Doors and you will find a number of threads.

11 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Just got back from Italy—Sorrento, Naples, Tuscany. Sad to say that Viking’s version of pizza would have the Neapolitans rioting in the streets…! 😹🍕

Well put Linda!   We just did in Feb/Mar Sorrento (1 week), Naples, and Umbria.  Died and gone to heaven.  Never had such great pizza!!   But I didn't like Viking pizza before either.

On 4/14/2024 at 2:50 PM, Jinn said:

For my September 8 cruise Reykjavik to Dover we are no longer going to the Isle of Lewis but instead to Oban about which I know nothing.  Anyone been there?  There are no shore execs listed yet even though there are plenty for the next cruise, Dover to Dover.  Thanks, Julia

Was there in September.  Cold and rainy, but a delightful place.

Yes, Glen Coe is a great place to visit.  Wonderful Natl Park and hike.

Another idea is taking the ferry to Mull and then Iona.

If those take too long, there's always the Distillery in town to visit and taste!  

2 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I was in IT for 40 years. Do you know how many times I’ve heard that? 

Nothing is as simple as it seems, especially if you are dealing with a legacy system. 
 

Same experience here and same opinion...

Have heard that too many times.

1 minute ago, deec said:

WE canceled an optional excursion prior to the departure of our next cruise.  I was told a credit would be issued to the credit card I had used.  Watched the cc for a couple of weeks and no refund so I called and  I was told it would show up within 21 business days of the cancellation.  Never takes that long to charge me but OK.  Last week an envelope appeared in the mail from Viking.  It was a check for the cost of the excursion all the note said was "cc -refund by check".  no notation for WHAT it covered.  Strange but at least I received the refund! 

Dee - we had a similar but bizarre one.  We had "bought" an excursion ahead of going on a recent cruise, and it used $300 OBC from our agent, plus the few remaining dollars on Credit Card.

When we cancelled, we got a auto checking deposit back from Viking for $290.10.  (plus a credit card credit for the few dollars).  I was stumped until I realized that they had given us the TA OBC back in checking account discount dollars instead of real dollars.  (290.10 is 96.7% of 300.00)  I spoke with them and they were all confused and admitted their accounting systems are sort of a complicated mess.  It wasn't worth the time and hassle over $8.90  but something to remember.

2 hours ago, carolinetodd said:

Yep, tough and bland.  I really wanted to like it, tried a couple times, but no.  Just no.

Agreed!  and I can get pizza at home.  I stuck to the good stuff!!  Only so much room 🙂

52 minutes ago, mwhm said:

Recently on a back to back on the Star the "lobster night" was on the next to last night of each leg of the cruise.  Makes sense.  They want you to leave the ship with a good impression of Viking, and people are to busy packing on the last night to have it then.

the last couple cruises we did in the past year had "lobster night" unscheduled, but they appeared on random nights in the middle of the cruise, perhaps coincidentally the evening of a day in port where they restocked supplies.

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Sorry, I guess my wording wasn't very clear.  Yes, my understanding is that this cabin has a door, not a slider.  We have never had a door so would like to try.  Choices (very few) on port side are all further forward.  There is only port side cabins left on all decks.  I like the land side to better see approach to the ports when its early in the moring.  No big deal really, and I'm sure location is find. (and yes, I know I can see on TV)  We were in 3041 last cruise which is really close to elevators and no noise issues. When I said we moved up I meant we did when we took 5031, from a DV on deck 3.  

OK.  We did this cruise on Jupiter a few years ago.  We had a port room.  However, on entering the various ports, we would go topside (Explorer's Lounge or deck 8  )  and were able to see everything from there.  But yes, if you just wish to stay in your room, you might prefer one side over the other.   I personally think you'll be OK in 5031.  You are quick access up to the Explorer's Lounge.  Inside and outside it really was a great place to watch the beautiful scenery.  Expecially if you can get up early to see the Beagle Channel and the Chilean Fjords.

Enjoy!  This cruise was one of our favorites!!

2 hours ago, TravelerTeacherRetired said:

We are in DV3 and booked the 2specialty restaurants. Not sure I really want the later 8:30 one but don’t want to cancel and then have nothing.

Are there any chances of getting a second visit to one of the restaurants when we are on board? 

Many threads on this discussion, but short answer:

Yes - 100 % chance you'll find a 2nd reservation when you get onboard.  Likely the one you want.  Read my post just above the one you wrote.

8 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

We just switched our sailing for next February SA cruise.  There were very few cabins left on starboard which we wanted so not much choice.  We are in 5031.  We do like being near the elevators but usually choose a cabin a few doors away.  From the deckplan it looks like 5031 is directly across from the entry into the ellevators/stairs.  Probably not much we can do if we want to stay on starboard but just curious.  Otherwise, happy to move up and try a PV and a door instead of a slider as we have never had one, only sliders. My husband thinks I worry too much abouth trivial matters and he's right but what can I do? It's me!  Thanks for any input.

What are your options on the port side?   I'm a bit confused as you said you are in 5031, which I don't believe is a slider.  It is across from the elevator which may/may not make a difference.  You say you'd "move up" and try a PV with a door - but isn't that what you have?   We've done 5028 on port side and been just fine (slider).  IMHO on the SA cruise it does not really matter if you are port or starboard.  When there is good viewing (Beagle Channel and more) you will likely be up on top looking anyways.  Much of the time the ships cruise too far from land to really see much.

3 hours ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Loose lips sink ships.

 

If you do get a specialty dish, it's in your best interest to not advertise it. The reason being, is that the cook staff aren't going to be able to handle hundreds of individual and specialized orders. Then, you pit Viking guests versus Viking staff and "Well, you made this special dish for _____________ so WHY CAN'T I HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL, TOO???" It's an awful position to put Viking in.

Thanks!  Agree!  Wasn't thinking.  Clay - keep you mouth quiet or don't post please.

Clay - you are likely now the most famous person on Viking Ships!  I would think everyone knows you by now.  Keep asking for specialty dishes!!  We want to see the photos and salivate as we sit at home and live by your trip vicariously.  🙂

15 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Thanks.  I was a bit surprised how many of the reservations were already taken.  We have a PV so have priority over most of the ship and on the first day that the reservation window opened and within the first half hour, there were some nights that nothing was available in either specialty restaurant until 8 or 8:30.  With that being the case I wonder if there will be any options available if we wait until we are onboard and just a few days away from the night that we want.  Is it possible that they hold a batch of tables each night for reservations made while onboard?

You will not have an issue.  Viking withholds 50-60 % of the tables at the specialty restaurants for booking on the ship.  So on the day you board, immediately check availability and make the reservations you wish at Manfredi's and/or Chef's Table.  Plus, then you will know what menu is on what day at CT, as well as have a better idea of your personal schedules.  I would, however, not wait beyond the first few hours of being on board, as many of the veteran Viking Cruisers I know, including us, use this strategy.

1 hour ago, rjp50 said:

We will be on the Into The Midnight Sun itinerary this summer.  I recently made dinner reservations for the specialty restaurants that include a 6 PM time for the Chef's Table on the evening that we are scheduled to sail away from the Lofoten Islands at the same time.  After making the reservations it occurred to me that perhaps we would be missing some great scenery as we leave port.  Can anyone comment on what we will be missing?  Would we be better off changing the reservation to 7 or 7:30 or perhaps a different night?

 

Secondly, if a change is recommended, how do I go about doing it?  I know I can go into the reservation system and cancel my existing reservation, but, until I do so I can't see what my options are.  I'm afraid of canceling the reservation and then find no suitable replacement time and then not being able to go back and reestablish the original reservation.  Is this something that customer service would be able to do for me?

We had a sailaway from Lofoten at 6 PM in July.  It really was incredibly spectacular!  But again it could depend on weather for you.  If it rained, not so much.  Sailing out, the best views were on the starboard side.  We sat in the Explorers Lounge and watched, and then had a late (8 PM) dinner.    

Perhaps you wait until onboard and see which menu it is before you make any changes.  And check the weather forecast as you get closer.  That's what I would do.  Keep your time for now and be flexible when you board.

1 minute ago, Breckski said:

I'm really not upset and not concerned about the double-booking as I easily identified the issue.

 

But any thoughts as to why they don't let folks apply funds from cancelled excursions to their account?  They already have a system to track credits to your account.  

Good question!   I will ask the Excursion Manager in person when I seem him/her in a few weeks.

Just now, Peregrina651 said:

I think you have posed one of those 'damned if they do, damned if they don't scenarios.  No matter how they handle it, there will be complaints.  

 

Still, perhaps they should have suggested that folks double-check their schedules for conflicts and that otherwise, no action was necessary.

Agreed.  In hindsight maybe the "legal" wording should have warned everyone.  But sometimes we travelers have to take some initiative and do our own action.  We live in a world these days where more and more people want everything told to them and don't think for themselves.

Maybe I've been a seasoned traveler too long, but so many things just occur to me to ask and delve deeper when something like this occurs.  And then I take the initiative.

Sadly, Viking can't think of everything.  At some point we travelers have to accept some responsibility to watch out for ourselves too.  They try, but there are so many things and one-offs that come up.  As I said, I was very happy that for us they took no action and let me decide.  Some may say Viking should have called me and shame on them, but I don't agree.  I was fine with contacting them.

23 minutes ago, Breckski said:

Got a question about a Viking policy simply out of curiosity.

 

Here's the background.  This week I got an email from Viking stating that an excursion had been moved from one day to the subsequent day due to the excursion operator not being able provide the service on the original date.  The email also stated:  "Your schedule has been automatically adjusted and there is no action required on your end."  Not exactly true as the shifting of the excursion created two timing conflicts with excursions already booked on the second day.  I called Viking, and the rep said I had to cancel the ones on the second day and re-book them on the first day if I wanted to keep those excursions.  One could easily criticize the email stating no action required but I simply write that off to volume and the fact Viking can't adjust schedules on their own.  But I would word the email differently.

 

Here's the question though.  Why doesn't Viking give one the option of applying funds for cancelled excursions to their account - like having a self-funded OBC?  To me this would be simpler than what I ended up having to do which was cancel two excursions (and wait for Viking to refund into my bank account) and rebook (and immediately pay) for the same excursions on a different date.  I really don't think this happens enough for Viking to have this policy for float/interest income.

 

Any thoughts?  I find the current method inefficient and not customer friendly.  Wonder if I'm missing a legitimate reason for the policy.

Had this happen to us just last month.  I never though got into the deep analysis that you have done 🙂

When they shifted excursions day 1 to day 2, that then overlapped with ones I had on day 2 - for us it showed double booked on the new day 2 on the calendar.  I contacted Viking immediately and they said they rebooked us to the new day 2 and even though we already had some excursions that day, we kept everything.  We wanted to give you the opportunity of cancelling or rescheduling any of the 2 you already had on day 2.  I was quite pleased that they would give me that opportunity.  So we just rescheduled/rebooked them to day 1.

On 4/16/2024 at 2:29 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

No, they will not refund the difference.  Viking vouchers have no cash value.  You also cannot divide the voucher over two cruises.

 

You either have to upgrade your cabin, buy all the optional tours, or spend the money on Spa services, or alcohol or on the gratuities. 

 

We will only take cash back refund regardless of the voucher offer.

I agree with you on taking cash rather than vouchers.

However - you might want to ask now about the voucher splitting issue.  We were able to split vouchers over $10,000 into two different cruises.  Specifically we had $12K and did $6k against one cruise and the remaining against a different cruise.  (pp so 2 x that for couple).   I was surprised, but we were told that if the voucher is more than $10K you could do this.

Perhaps that has changed now as that was 2 years ago.

And yes, there is no refund, but you can apply the remainder to pre-paid gratuities, excursions, etc...   Vouchers are all a bit different in rules so look closely.  Some you have to completely use before boarding.  We have an upcoming cruise where there's about $1.7K left to spend and that voucher's rules says it has to be spent before the cruise is completed (so good use it onboard as well).   Vouchers are not created equally.

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I think that 15K steps in 3 hours even on flat surface would be a lot for many people and a real workout.

 

It would be interesting if Viking would consider putting "Step Counts" into their excursions.  This might help many folks to understand the demand from a walking perspective.

 

That is a fair workout for 3 hours.

Just last month we had an Excursion Manager come on board in the middle of our B2B cruise.  He was easily the most informative (and understandable) speaker at Port Talk/Excursion Talks.  He really laid it out for people in detail on the amount of effort required on excursions.  Telling us roughly how many steps to get to a bus, or to downtown, how many steps in the tour, what kind of grade we'd face, estimate of total steps on the tour, total time walking, total time standing, bathroom break times, minutes for shopping and when, and so much more.  He also gave good limitation examples - for instance, if you cannot use the stairs to go from deck 4 to 5, then you shouldn't do this tour as their are no lifts, or if you cannot walk 1/4 mile on your own over cobblestones, you should consider other alternatives, or if you cannot make that first 2 foot step up into a bus, then bypass...  and more like that.  Very practical.

Wish this was put into the Excursion descriptions when you purchase them however.

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We took the same extension and 100% agree. It was a terrific experience. Here is my writeup:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2906353-almost-live-viking-sky-journey-to-antiquities-jan-2023/

 

Wow - so totally agree.  In fact, we usually don't do extensions but it was so highly recommended by OneSixtytoOne on CruiseCritic, that we did the Athens 4 day one just last March.  It was SO good - and WELL worth the value.  We stayed at the NVJ Athens Plaza right on Constitution Square - heart of the action.   We also loved Mycenae but enjoyed Delphi even more.  Lots to do in Athens on our free day so we didn't venture outside the city but some did.  Highly recommend this 4 day extension for the value (unlike many other Viking extensions).

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

Those aren't "Viking price changes".  They are a result of dynamic inventory availability and pricing.

 

First key is to remember that what you have available through Viking (or any cruiseline) is merely a subset of the overall inventory and pricing available from the airline directly.  As such, it may be many different forms of inventory (and of pricing).  A not-so-brief explainer coming up.

 

The first type may be a "hard block".  This is a fixed number of seats, sold by the carrier to the cruiseline.  It's now up to the cruiseline to determine their retail price, given that they have already purchased the seats for their resale.

 

It could be a "soft block", where the cruiseline agrees to a certain number of seats, but has the ability to return all or part of any unsold inventory back to the airline under pre-agreed terms.

 

Another form is "moving block", where the inventory block may vary depending on pre-negotiated conditions.  As inventory systems become more and more dynamic, this is becoming more prevalent in the airline industry.  Inventory may be added, or removed, due to conditions of the overall yield management of a specific flight or flights.

 

An airline may also give the cruiseline "free sale" or "open sale", which means that they have full rights to sell all seats and all inventory.  This is usually at the spot market price for tickets, and tends to fill out the gaps when contract blocks become unavailable (usually because the agreed upon block has been sold).  There may be contract provisions where the airline can stop or limit this type of sale.

 

Since the specifics of airline contracts is a trade secret of both parties, one can only make informed guesses as to what's happening behind the scenes.

 

I'm going to guess that you got into a moving block situation - tickets were available, then they were available at a lower price, then they weren't, then they were, at still a different price.  Highly indicative of changes in inventory.  Which can be because of ticket sales through Viking or because of yield management calculations by the airline, or both.

 

Also, it's important to remember....airline tickets are not like the box of cereal on the grocery shelf.  They have different fare rules, are associated with different fare buckets, and have dynamically variable quantities available at any given time.  Trying to compare them with products that are not dynamically priced is a waste of time.

 

So, to the OP:  Congratulations.  This time the system worked out for you.  You lost out on inventory, found it again, and had the price be lower than what you would have paid originally.
 

 

Amazing rendition and explanation.  Well worth the popcorn!  🙂

Thank you so much.

This should be required reading for the many people who continually complain about Viking Air choices and changes and blame Viking all the time.

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Lobster is good, no doubt, but I don't know that it is that amazing to me to get all excited about.  I would be just as happy with any well cooked meal.

 

For me lobster is a feast where you are not just having a tail cut in half, but you have a plastic tub of whole lobsters on a paper lined table, crackers, picks and all the tools, put on a bib and get down to business.

Totally agree!!

Actually our favorite lobster is Lobster Rolls from James Hooke's in Boston.  Yum Yum !!

1 hour ago, deec said:

We have always been very happy with the cruise consultant and found their suggestions valuable plus the OBC is always useful to use toward our gratuities.  Not the consultant's fault that Viking would NOT honor the double pass passenger credit  😞

I'd agree, Dee, with one exception we had (the last cruise).  We didn't mesh.  He wasn't a used car salesman.  He was an order taker and didn't volunteer any information.  I had to know the questions I wanted to ask and maybe he might answer them.  It was like pulling teeth!  And he kept looking at his watch - and then finally said - well are you going to buy or not (i.e. please leave it you aren't)...   but that was only once!