CCWineLover

We have left the ship at Bergen dock several times and walked. Once to the Bergen Bors, which is a little closer than Hotel 13, in May. The other time to Hotel Rosenkrantz, which was closer, in July. If you are dragging luggage, it will be a decent walk for you - but if it is a nice morning, it is actually a pretty walk. Only you can determine if you are up to it! (or if you have too much luggage to shlep!) There were NO shuttle buses at the pier/dock. There were plenty of taxi's so that wouldn't be a problem for you.

Passport required if you are a U.S. citizen. Don't know about other citizenships.

On our recent Viking Star cruise, they ran out of the usual coffee paper cups and instead just had the very tiny small water/juice paper cups that were not viable for hot liquids. So used the ceramic cups. Only issue is that they are sometimes cold, so have to put hot water in them first, then coffee or whatever hot liquid, and then transfer to the insulated cups. It becomes a process.

Azulann - Well stated! I agree totally. Planning ahead of the trip and Spontaneity while on the trip! Best of both worlds. We do some "planning" for activities during the trip, but always have Plan B and a Plan "Go with the Flow." I don't think it's an either or - it can be both! I do think most people (or a least one person in a couple) do planning ahead of time. I think the difference among people is more how regimented they are during the trip and/or how flexible they can be. (Go with the Flow). Seems most of the complaints can come from those who do find it harder when things don't go as planned during the trip. Travel is an adventure and we've experience so many interesting things that were a result of things/events changing during the trip. Happy cruising to everyone, regardless of which camp you fall under.

Port arrival/departure times have always been on about page 3 of the Viking invoice document that every Viking cruiser gets when they even just put down a deposit. Go back and look at that document. If u don’t find it ask for another copy.

Thank you. Hmm. Didn't realize there was a Viking Voucher and a Tripmate voucher and that they were different. Didn't know the Tripmate also could give vouchers out and that they were different from Viking vouchers and had different legal implications. something to think about.

Linda - I always wondered as well. They tell you not do do certain things with the outlets, but I'm sure people do them anyway. People still bring hairdryers for example. from the one site, it appears something like this might have happened: "We can confirm that a small fire occurred in a guest stateroom on board the Viking Orion while the ship was docked in Sydney the morning of February 3 (local time), .... early reports indicate the cause of the fire was electrical, possibly from a corded device."

Our tradition is to try to board at 11 AM. Do the safety briefing. Then head to the World Cafe. If it is nice weather out (like we had in Ft Lauderdale and also San Juan), we can eat outside. Tradition on Viking is that they always serve the best salmon, always, at embarkation lunch. One of our favorites! 2nd choice is the Pool Grill, which we've also done.

Perhaps it is best to go to the source - call Viking and / or Tripmate and explain the situation. Will be interested to hear what they say, so hopefully you can report back to us all.

Yes. Flew them from Lisbon to San Francisco non-stop last summer. Very very good. Food exceptional, service also. Very helpful and friendly. Was on their new A321neo - nice plane too. Pleasant flight - and yes, no luggage lost for us either! The name stands for Portuguese Aereal Transportation (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) and the company was founded all the way back in 1945. The company quickly started operating international flights. In fact, its inaugural flight took place back in September of 1945 from Lisbon to Madrid.

I can also confirm that we cancelled a cruise that would have given us $16K vouchers. Our TA worked with Viking, who said that they could split the vouchers into two vouchers as long as a voucher was not more than $10K. So we did two $8K vouchers apiece - which made things much more manageable as that is about the amount now for many of the Viking 14/17 day cruises. Note - this was done fall 2022.

Here is a picture I took this past summer, showing where the Viking Ship anchors near the Cutty Sark/Greenwich River Cruises docks.

Viking does not dock. They anchor off Greenwich, and you take a tender to/from the ship from where the Thames River ships dock (which is right by the Cutty Sark). You can take a tube (slightly arduous) to downtown London/British Museum. We took an Uber from Kensington (much farther than British Museum) and it was very reasonable and quick. You can also take a Thames River cruise down towards Westminster and take the tube from there.

We asked, on the Star in Dec/Jan 2022-2023. Were told that this ship, at least, was not doing Pistachio buns for the forseeable future. They were sorry that we were disappointed. I said that we weren't the only ones. At least they didn't make up some excuse like "supply chain" 🙂

Simply Amazing!!

You were lucky. In our two Viking visits to Barcelona, we've been docked way way down the other pier south of the World Trade Center. Not walkable. But taxi service was not too bad.

Sadly, Clay, you got us hooked. So it was disappointing to learn they didn’t serve them anymore - at least on the Star. This past Dec-Jan. Maybe that was an aberration. Or the specific ship chefs decision.

And we LOVED your great pictures as well !!

Jill - what wineries or wine region did you go to? Sad for New Zealand.

We just recently got off Viking Star. I had the same thoughts you had. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the tables at Manfredi's and Chef's Table were laid out exactly the same as all our other many post-COVID cruises. It was for us very reassuring to see especially that there were many tables for 2 at Manfredi's for instance, and they were nicely separated. Even Chef's Table had their tables widely separated. Can't say the same for The Restaurant, where the twosome tables were jammed together like the old days. I was also told by the Hotel Manager that Viking is seriously planning to modify their current internal policy of setting aside more than half the tables for on-board booking, which has been in place since COVID. possibly by this summer - which would bring things back to where they were pre-COVID.

Good idea! Been using the same email so maybe that's why we never get promos sent to us. I figured they only sent them to those who hadn't traveled much.

What is HOP? Been to Bergen airport many times. Depending on where your plane lands, it can be a fairly decent walk (10 minutes briskly) to baggage claim.

You'll never know unless you try it. Depends on how adventurous or risk-taking you are.

I also think planning and being spontaneous can co-exist. For example, in the preparation for a trip, especially far from home, I agree with others that the detailed planning and logistics and research are some of the best parts of enjoyment ahead of time. Certainly in these days, one needs to have things carefully put together and doing that research to make the various decisions that need to be made ahead of time (in a Viking cruise: air flights, pre or post?, getting to/from airports, cabin, excursions, etc. These are the sort of logistical decisions require detailed planning - and to me that is fun! However, there is another element that for me does not need to be planned out until the trip or cruise actually happens. This is to me where the spontaneity comes in if you let it - and can also be a fun and interesting element to a trip. I've seen people on both extremes of the spectrum. Each to his own. For me, this is about going to a city or a port and not necessarily have it planned out what you will do - going with the flow (above and beyond pre-planned excursions). It is about not planning out every meal you are going to onboard ship and exactly when you will have it. It's about going with the flow, meeting new people, watching a lecture later on TV because the sun was out and the pool was calling, right when the lecture was scheduled indoors. You get the picture. So I do think one can have both aspects: detailed planning and spontaneity. And for me at least, they both provide their own enjoyment.

Same thing we do. Steve is great at TripInsurance Store!! Great web site he has as well with tons of information.