ArizonaGal

Mollymoo - I have heard of folks not getting their 'formal' invitations in an email - but for Guest Services not having a clue about the M&M is not good.  If we run into that I will seek an answer elsewhere.

Annarundel - How rude, yes I mean rude, of people to sign up and NOT attend their M&M.  What if you had, let's say a dinner party at your house, and received XXX number of people that RSVP'd 'yes" and only a few showed up?  What a waste of time, money and energy putting your event together.  Things happen in people's life on a daily basis, but a phone call to say you can no longer attend is proper etiquette - which is sadly missing in our society today 

I'm looking forward to meeting the Viking 'ocean' staff on our cruise and also fellow cruisers.

Thanks for posting this!!

15 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

If you are only going to have one cup, then I suggest going for the best available on the ship--which is in my humble opinion the freshly made coffee from The Living Room Bar.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think Viking would appreciate me walking around the ship in my pj's to get coffee.

 

Does anyone have any info on how often the insides of coffee machines are cleaned by the Staff, i.e. room steward?  I know a while back there was a big flap here in the USA about they do get rather disgusting inside if they are not cleaned out regularly.  I usually have only one cup of coffee in the am so don't really plan on using room service.  I don't drink coffee at home...only on vacations.

It does seem interesting Peregrina651 doesn't it.  I find it 'interesting' that the gal I spoke with didn't really have a definite answer for me - other than a 'maybe it depends on the port'.

I just called Viking and the gal said maybe it depends on the port that you need the booklet, but she didn't offer any port info.....same thing I guess about the "travel document".  She seemed surprised that I was asking the guestion.  She said you only need to show a passport and a credit card..  Unless you call Viking and get a satisfying answer from them, I'd at least bring the booklet (I am).

Okay so far, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Barcelona for booklet and NOW "travel document' info from MVJ in Cuba.  I wasn't even going to take that.  I'm going to call Viking - we have less than a month before we leave for Barcelona cruise.

Reading the couple of posts about showing booklet in some ports is a MAJOR FAIL on Viking's part for not mentioning in their booklet....IMO.

1 hour ago, H2Otstr said:

 

I had forgotten about that, but we had to show our booklet in Barcelona before going through the scanner. We did have Viking Transfer, too. I had everything put away since I didn't think I would need anything beside my ship card and had to get it out of my carry on. 

That's strange, the booklet I have for our embarkation in Barcelona doesn't say anything about bringing the booklet for scanning purposes there.  Guess I'll take it just in case and have it in my carry on.

I just happen to have one.  I have been gathering bits and pieces of info since booking our cruise end of August 2018.

I just noticed that you are sailing Sept 2019 on the Star...we are sailing on the Star also.

We live in Arizona, so since the times of booking are Pacific time needed to book at 1am.  Really didn't have any problems and were able to book all the 'optional' tours 77 days out (PV cabin).  Also for the dining reservations that opened up on 3 January, again 1am for us I booked the next morning and had no problems either.

I saved your response email to me and have filed that so I can let you know about the 'wine' tours after we get back end of March 2019.

P.S.  We also booked a wine tour while we are in Barcelona (pre--cruise) via Viator.  "Pendes Wineries Small Group Tour w/wine, Cave and Tapas" (two wineries, seven hours)   It's pricing out now for $85.63/person.  We did a Viator 'wine' tour back in 2015 and visited one of them that is included in our March tour.  Tour was very nice, we had a great guide and enjoyed quite a few samples of their different wines with a delicious food samples of cheese and meats. 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

20 hours ago, zitsky said:

My TA is out of office, no hurry.  Would Viking answer this question or refer me back to TA?

 

Ex. Barcelona, Viking advertises $599 for 2 nights.  Is that per person?  I'm debating about this one to maybe pick my own hotel as I hear that the Viking hotel is not really a short walk to tourist areas, more like a taxi ride.

 

 

We are staying at the Hotel Pultizer in Barcelona for two nights before our cruise.  I booked on-line for a discount of 15% off room rate for a "Signature" room.  Total with tax was $269.30 for two people.  Hotel is located off Placa Catalunya, along Las Ramblas, on a side street.....like a two minute walk to Las Ramblas and a short walk to the Gothic Quarter..  Very nice hotel - we stayed there in 2015 and chose this one again.  It's less than a 10 minute taxi ride to cruise port - depending on traffic.  I booked our stay this past August and price has gone up and they are not showing a Promo rate now.  Still worth a try to put in your dates and see what comes up.

A far cry from $599 booking a hotel through Viking

http://www.hotelpulitzer.es/en/

We have booked the "Croatian Delight" and "Scenic Corfu/Theotosky" for our March 14th Med Odyssey cruise and can report back when we get back home.

Do you have your cruise booked?

Alexsarasota  -   I'm in a PV in March 2019 and just booked the excursions on-line on 12/27 at 1am.  Truthfully getting up at Zero-dark thirty for that was bad enough, so if we have the option to CALL for the two dining reservations sounds good.  Hope that works for me on Jan 3rd.   If not, I'll do the next morning. 

We, myself and a good friend, booked our excursions at 1:00am on Dec 27th - doing the Med Odessey in March 2019 (PV) and didn't have any problem with getting what we wanted for included/optional cruises.  Just make sure to look at the times available in the pull down block - which some have.  We didn't noticed that and messed up on one of 'optional' ones.  Had to cancel the wrong time and then book the correct time.  We were paying on two separate credit cards, but both names were checked and I clicked on my name to book - WRONG - I had to unchecked her name - she did the same thing as me, so we had to go back in and correct.  No instructions on what to do if you are using separate credit cards for different people.  Found it totally confusing.  Only fault I have found with Viking so far.  Just pay attention to what you are doing--I consider myself computer literate most of the time.  Hopefully we'll get a charge card credit, which it did say in the re-booking process. 

Usually the safe master key is held by the Security officer and he will only open the safe at the request of and in the presence of a ships officer or manager. Knowledge from experience.

Thanks azdrydock. I was hoping that is the case. Otherwise a "safe" wouldn't really be safe ;)

They have my permission to do so. Can’t imagine having to spend several days getting a replacement passport on top of trying to figure out how to catch back up with the ship!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for your insight Clay. I just didn't like the idea of anyone opening my safe without my permission.

I've read, though don't know if it's true, that often cruise line employees go to the room of anyone about to be left and look in the safe to see if there are passports in there. If so, they give them to the ship's agent in that port so that at least the people aren't completely grounded for a few days or more. I would love to know if that's true, but I'm not willing to test it myself!

ROOTHY - Did anyone answer your question? I don't want to go thru 29 pages of postings ;) I myself don't want to think of 'cruise line employees' going thru the safe in my cabin as I would be keeping important things in their besides my passport!