CCWineLover

Ahh... I remember that Falmouth included tour! It was indeed really bad. But we laugh at it now. It's true - you really remember the really good and the really bad tours! Wish we'd done Monet out of LeHavre. We were scheduled, but as you may remember, they had the Yellow Shirts protests going on in France and we had to choose between that and Rouen - which fortunately was a good tour, thanks mostly to the guide!

Good question. Previous cruise, had a good Veal Marsala, but this time, not so. Very inconsistent. They had a new menu item - Tuscan Steak. First time it was excellent, cooked to perfection, tender. Second time it was so tough we sent it back and exchanged it for a very good Halibut dish. Actually we often get whatever the fish of the day is. Have had a good experience with that. The pasta has been so so, mostly because most of the dishes are with cream and even the ones that say tomato sauce have cream in them as well. (I like cream but it doesn't like me 🙂) So - did you play hoops at UC Berkeley?

Same thoughts here, Jill and Dale. I do remember those huge portions at CT on the Panama Canal Cruise! Our last cruise just finished (Viking Star) and the portions were "normal" sized. However, in our opinion the CT meals were inconsistent, and we know all the menus. Some were over the top good and some were really sub-standard. Same chef. And Manfredi's was very sub-standard and they even ran out of pasta one night! Rib-eye's are all quite thin now. However, the World Cafe was easily the best we've had there! My thoughts are all cruise ships are cutting back these days, trying to get by with the minimum, ordering just enough. Perhaps suppliers also are giving less standard cuts and quality (fish, steaks, etc). Viking managers try to manage the amounts closely now and thus there are a lot of shortages. Likely occurs on every cruise line these days. One probably has to lower expectations. We'll see if things improve in 23-24. Will be interested to hear how your Oceana cruise goes!

Great idea! Most people seem to want pickup at KEF, tour and drop at ship or hotel. We obviously want the reverse (pick up at hotel or city, tour, and drop off at KEF. Something to fill the final day in Reykjavik without doing a rental car.

In Norway, especially Bergen and Oslo, we had NO problems with the language as everyone spoke English - quite well. A couple other points: you might find better flights home from Oslo than Bergen; the cost of transfers is not that much (we did the train to/from the airport in Oslo and it wasn't that much; the train station in Bergen is a very short taxi or uber ride from the ship or hotels); if something happens and you are a seasoned traveler, you will figure out what to do. Worst case you can always get a flight from Bergen to Oslo as we did. Easy peasy for seasoned travelers. To me, it seems like a no-brainer decision.

Interesting. . . on that social media site that starts with "F", the Neptune's wifi with Starlink was described by several people as quite outstanding and 1000x faster than their other Viking ships experiences (during their FLL-LA cruise). Several commented on that. One even said it was faster than they got at home. So maybe it has to do with either the exact location of the ship or the expectations people have. (What they are comparing it to). For those of us who just got off the Star Panama cruise, wifi was easily the absolute worst I'd ever seen on 12 Viking cruises. Basically non-existent unless you used it from 11:00 PM to 6:30 AM. You could almost set your watch in the morning by when the wifi went to nothing, as people got up, logged on, streamed, did facetimes, etc.

If you do it yourselves, it likely will be less a hassle and cheaper. There have been a number of threads discussing this train and booking it. We were, as I said, all set to book ours in first class (on the advice of friends), when the train shut down for maintenance for the week we needed it. Doing a simple search, here is the most recent thread, but there are plenty of others.

This is what we have for our scheduled June 7-21 New York to and around Iceland cruise on the new Viking Saturn. Times may/will change no doubt. But it gives you an idea. OOPS - meant to quote Red4u2 instead of Liz Masterson! Sorry!!

We experienced something that happens in the summer - track maintenance. End of July 2022, the tracks were closed for a week. Those who took the extension with Viking I believe had to do some buses. We were on our own and since the train was not available, we flew the one hour flight from Bergen to Oslo. Just keep this in mind, they do maintenance in the summer. It could happen just when you will be going.

Thank you so much, CurlerRob, for your information!

You'll be a happy camper then !!!

We did go ahead and book Saga Class home (KEF-SEA-SFO). How many hours ahead of flight time did you have to get to the airport? I've heard it is really busy at KEF. ?

Yes, that was just for COVID. Just got off Viking Star. Nordic Spa is wide open for anyone, beginning at 8 AM. In fact, it was quite popular with quite a number of people enjoying it (10-20?) at a time. I'm sure there are less crowded times however. It is indeed quite nice! The process of using the sauna and steam is just to go into the facility locker room, then through to the pool area. There is a steam room and a snow room opposite each other. Also a cold water bucket and a hot tub, in addition to the jetted small pool. Most fun is to be in the small pool (maybe 15 ft by 20 feet?) when the ship is moving and "waves" are happening!

CharTrav - it appears that Viking has loaded all the itineraries now through October 2025. I went through them all and it appears there are no new routes or ports. Some routes have more than one ship now (like Orion and Venus briefly in Australia-Bali area). It does appear though that they have integrated in the new ships, but it is hard to tell for a given ship what their schedule is. Hopefully we'll see the new schedules into your Combined Schedule sometime!! We appreciate all your hard work.

Looks like most existing itineraries are now posted through October 2025. Sadly, looking through nearly all of them, I don't find any different itineraries, ports, or routes per se. Even have the same "Names". I had heard they might be revising itineraries in 2025, adding some new routes and new ports, but it appears not to be. Time will tell.

Greetings! You will enjoy Bergen and Norway! And Flam! We have a Roll Call for the June 7-21 leg of the Saturn to Iceland. Take a look.

Hi Astromaid - we are also on the June 7th NYC-Iceland cruise on Saturn! We will be in New York for several days with friends ahead of time and then also spending 3 days 2 nights in Reykjavik at the end before flying home. Haven't really planned anything yet for that DIY post cruise. Have you? I see you found our roll call. Hopefully we'll get more active as we get closer. I'd like to organize a Meet & Mingle for the first sea day after we leave New York. I just organized one with Viking's help and cooperation on a Panama Canal cruise and it was a lot of fun! Kent

I don't think any of this discussion has to do with attitudes towards people who don't fit THEIR view of the world. I think it has to do with behaviors that have not normally been associated with human behavior and interactions with each other, throughout the years. And it doesn't apply to just CC people - it is just a fact of this day in the world where common courtesy, respect for others, and unselfishness have begun to disappear. I'm not understanding why this disappearance is a good thing. At some point human being's "right" to do whatever they want to in the world, regardless of anyone else in it, is bound to cause some friction among most people. I suggest we put this topic to bed, give it a rest, and let all parties nicely agree to disagree. Let's move on!

On a Viking cruise this past summer, we were in Mamsen's having coffee, orange juice, and toast/oatmeal. A woman came into Mamsen's in her bathrobe with her hair, obviously washed, done up in a towel, and wearing flip flops. Don't know if there was anything on underneath. 🙂 She proceeded to order, sit down, and have breakfast, despite the looks of astonishment everyone gave her! I guess all types of people come on Viking these days. I suppose she didn't like having room service.

Why is this topic being brought back up again? Time to move on everyone.

Squawkman - we’ll finally meet. We had booked this Sept 26 Canada/NE cruise a bit ago and now want to cancel and rebook like you did. Good deal. TA said it isn’t permitted, so given you were successful I will try calling Viking directly.

Yes thanks Clay! With the demand surge there may be no more deals, just “sales” like free air and $25 deposits and free SSP. We like the ones where the actual cruise itself price drops significantly since we always do our own air.

There is nothing published about the wine tastings. There are actually other tastings too (of hard liquor and such). They have usually had one regular wine tasting (free for SSP and a charge for non-SSP) and a premium wine tasting (fee). These have been limited to 20 people and they serve cheese and you sit at Manfredi's tables, and are usually on a sea day at 2 PM. You must signup when you get on board. We have not been to the liquor tastings but saw they were often in the evening. Again - I have seen nothing ever published on these tastings. I learned about it from other Cruise Critic people. You just go to the guest services desk immediately upon boarding and ask about the available tastings. Here is a picture from one of the ones we attended.

The assigned time refers ONLY to when you get into your room. Usually DV's can be assured of getting into their cabin at 2 PM (PV's at 1 PM). However, this is NOT the time you can check in and come aboard. In all our cruises, we have found that we can get onboard around 11 AM with no problem (and there are usually about 50-60 passengers already checked in). This gives us a chance to immediately get on the Voyager App and do dining reservations, plus schedule wine tastings, cooking classes, and more (things that could only be done when onboard) - and before the masses get on. This past trip (a couple weeks ago), we actually boarded about 10:40 AM, had our safety drill and were in the Atrium area by 11:00 AM. This also gives you a chance to have a wonderful lunch courtesy of Viking! (We often do the Pool Grill or the World Cafe).

Likewise - I am quite surprised at this "sudden" change in policy. Perhaps it is the "new" Cruise Director bringing their past experiences to Viking from the Mega Ships. We also have several cruises scheduled. If Viking were to make this a permanent policy, we would like bow out.