LeRenardrouge

Here is a link to information for Viking’s policy:

https://www.vikingcruises.com/about-us/referral-rewards.html?_gl=1*1tuy86o*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE1NzI3MDI5OTQuQ01qdzdzS0I4Y0FDRlFvMDdBb2RmUkVBZEE.&_ga=2.147849982.814238747.1572312676-2076644402.1571149651&_gac=1.232560429.1571162598.CMjw7sKB8cACFQo07AodfREAdA

I am sure I read something on their site (somewhere) that was a bit more specific about a person coordinating Group not just referrals but I can’t seem to spot it at the moment.  Just read it a couple of days ago.

3 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

A question about Ultimate Tuscany - do folks dress for the dinners as on board or is it more casual?

 

Thanks!

The dinner at the winery we went directly to dinner from our excursion so everyone had on same clothes.  Two dinners at the Villa (especially last night) people dressed up a little but not really fancy.  Most men wore same type of clothes worn to The Restaurant on the cruise—slacks and nice shirt (no need for ties) and sport coat per your choice. 

We were in the Explorer Suite (341) on two Viking longships — Rinda on the Seine and Hlin on the Rhine.  Both were terribly noisy and the vibration very bothersome.  It was particularly bad when cruising against the current.  

We had been given an upgrade so we could not really complain; the Suite is delightful.  But had we paid that full fare, we would not have been happy! 

6 minutes ago, pacruise804 said:

Are there light food options near the lounge, or just drinks?

Mamsen’s is right there.  

1 hour ago, Jammy Bun said:

Looking at a cruise from Venice in July 2020 which has an option to take a pre cruise extension covering Florence, Sienna and San Giminiagno (sp?).  
the brochure description sounds wonderful.  Have any of you already done this extension - and would you recommend it?  I’m slightly concerned that there will be long periods of time spend on buses!

Thanks in advance for any information or advice on this subject.

janet

We have done lots of extensions on our Viking cruises.  The Ultimate Italy Tuscany extension is by far the best, most inclusive extension we have done with them.  Almost all meals are included.  Full days of excursions (all included).  Because you are staying in a Villa about 35-40 minutes from Florence, you do not have the long drive from Livorno to Florence.  Thus, you can decide to spend your day ported in Livorno to either go to Pisa (not as far as Florence) or Lucca or go to one of the museums in Florence and save the walking tour of Florence for the extension.  The drive from ship in Venice to or from the Villa Is broken up with a stop at Modena at Villa San Donnino where they make traditional Balsaamic where you have a tasting (quite interesting) and a buffet lunch.  The day touring San Gimignano and Siena is fabulous with nice lunch. One night was a wine tasting and dinner at a winery.  

I highly recommend it.  

20 minutes ago, gordosgone15 said:

Just returned from Mediterranean Odyssey on Viking Star.  The cruise was fabulous but got off to rocky start when flight to Venice was cancelled at Philadelphia Airport.   Rescheduling was tight and many of us missed Venice and some also missed Split.  Viking refunded scheduled tour money but I was wondering if there is any compensation for missing ports?  Any one have any experience with this?  Trip insurance does not cover.

We missed Naples port last year on the Med Odyssey cruise.  Immediate refund on our optional excursion.  No compensation for missed port.  Just part of risk involved in cruising.  

I think on some cruises where several ports are missed they may give some compensation but the terms of contract do not require them to. 

15 hours ago, -Lew- said:

You don't mention the cost, but the better private tour operators currently charge €650 for an eight person van for a comparable tour.  That comes to €81.25 per person.  How does that compare with what Viking is charging?

Last October this excursion with Viking was $139 per person.  An 8 1/2 hour day.  

If you have not toured Florence, I would definitely do Florence over just San Gimignano.  Your cruise appears to have two days docked in Livorno (or at least two full days in that area) so you could do both.  We loved the Tuscany region.  

We did the Ultimate Tuscany extension and we spent one day which included both San Gimignano and Siena with  included lunch in a delightful restaurant in Siena plus an evening dinner at a winery.  Outstanding day and both San Gimignano and Siena are enjoyable hill towns and gorgeous scenery.  We also had a full day in Florence.  

8 hours ago, What was that? said:

Yeah - I did see the 360 degree tour on the Viking website, but other videos (see my other topic) show a different arrangement entirely. That is part of the reason for asking about the LIF - whether it is like the "old" Viking videos, or the "current" user videos.

The difference is build date may be difference.  I believe Lif is 2014 as are Rinda, Hlin, Astrild and Hemming which we have sailed.  Astrild is specially designed for the Elbe and Hemming for the Douro so they are modifications of the regular Longship fleet.

Viking does tweek design so it is possible they decided there needed to be more storage.  

As Peregrina651 pointed out, I believe the vented “cabinet” in the living area is the fridge as that was where it was on the Hemming.  I see no space in the bedroom for the safe so it could well be in what looks like a cabinet door above the fridge.  But on the Hemming it was in the bedroom closet above some shelves.  

13 minutes ago, What was that? said:

In another post I asked about the number and placement of drawers in the Longships VS cabins, and found that there were few of them. So let me ask those of you who have traveled in this class of cabin how you coped with storage for stuff that normally goes in bureau drawers. I don't relish the idea of just piling things around the cabin, so maybe you already have the answers I am seeking?

Be sure and pack light.  In Veranda Suite, you get free laundry service which is excellent and quick turn around.  

39 minutes ago, What was that? said:

And the free-hanging distance from the closet rod to closet floor - or to the drawers.

I captured a screen shot from the 360-degree tour.  It is slightly distorted but it is still pretty accurate in terms of showing that this is a small closet.  It is a sliding door and doesn’t open very far.  You can get an idea of space the drawers take up and There is hanging space above as well as full length beside them. 

Packing cubes  might be helpful for keeping undies organized above the drawers which is what friends did.  It is a shame that the suites have such limited storage space. Remember that suitcases slide under the bed and some cruisers will use them as “drawers” and leave some clothes folded in them.  Just not so easy to always be bending down. 

Having the living area is delightful but plain Verandas are amazing how much closet and drawer space they have and how well organized they are.  

1 hour ago, What was that? said:

 

Thanks for this, LeRenardRouge. Part of my reason for asking is that I see different layouts of these suites in various images and videos and on the Viking site. Some show the closet behind the door (like the image below from the Viking website), and show the bedroom door opening against a full-length mirror with the closet on the wall opposite the foot of the bed. And then there are assorted variations.

 

Then there are some drawers in the living room, but some of the furniture panels with drawer pull handles conceal things that are not drawers.

 

So, if anyone has a chance to examine and describe AA304 - or any of the Veranda Suites on the Viking LIF, I would appreciate it. A video tour would be nice, too.

 

Am I asking too much?

The schematic is not very accurate.  Go to Vikings website and find the river cruises.  Click on Ships and find longship fleet.  Find the link to the 360 tours and find Veranda suites.  The view matches what we have seen.  Most of what look like drawers in the living area are fake.  As you should see, in the bedroom, there is a small closet with two small drawers on the bottom at one side.  

On 10/11/2019 at 10:51 AM, What was that? said:

We are booked on a BUD-AMS GE cruise departing 8 April 2020 on the Viking LIF in a Veranda Suite. Photos I have seen do not satisfactorily illustrate the number and placement of drawers we could use for stashing our clothes, etc. Would anyone have either photos or a description of the numbers and locations of bureau drawers in this type cabin?

TIA.

The drawer space in Veranda Suites on Longships  is minimal.  Much less than in Verandas.  I believe there are only two small drawers in the closet.  

9 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

...  I would guess that a majority of the people on board would be repeat Viking cruisers.

At the Captain’s toast for Explorer Society members on Viking Sky in July 2017, the Captain said 85% of the passengers were repeat cruisers.  So many that they no longer even check to see who has done “how many” cruises.  Not an exclusive group now.  No big deal.  

13 hours ago, sw2315 said:

Watch your mailbox.  Mailings are going out this week to Viking Explorer Society members.

Too bad you chose to ignore this paragraph:

”This is a private announcement in which we are making these journeys available exclusively to you, our most loyal guests.  While we put the finishing touches on these voyages, I kindly ask that you not share this information; we will release details in a public announcement early next year.” 

Of course Hagen should know that very statement would ensure someone just couldn’t resist leaking it. 😉 

Since Clay has posted the information given out onboard his present cruise, I guess the word is being given out by Viking.

Great Boston pictures and foodie recommendations! We have a full week scheduled in Boston next May.  I noticed on a FB site that one of the BostonByFoot docents was a tour guide for one of your Viking excursions.  I am checking out their tours. Anyone know anything about them?

Could this be a case of confusion on terminology?  There are excursions and there are pre- and post-cruise EXTENSIONS.  

Your original posting ting says you have already booked a pre and post-extension.  If that is true, your invoice should show those extensions.  As has been said, some sailing dates do not offer the pre or post extensions. and when they do, they often do sell out fairly early as numbers are limited. 

In most of the EXTENSIONS we have done, they are usually a package deal with a set number of excursions.  A few have had an optional but not usually.  

It it is definitely too early for you (or anyone else) to be able to book EXCURSIONS.  That will be dependent on your stateroom category.  Sometimes your myVikingJourney might say an excursion is sold out even this far ahead and it usually is just that Viking has not yet finalized details and sometimes it might say that for an excursion is not going to be offered on your particular sailing date.  Doesn’t make a lot of sense but it seems to be a way they can keep an excursion description on file.   As you get closer to sailing date (usually around 110 days plus or minus a few) those excursions that will actually offered for your sailing should appear on your myVikingJourney.  

I would encourage you to discuss with your travel agent whether you are actually booked for the pre and post extensions and ask to be given a copy of the invoice.  We always work directly with Viking so get that automatically.  I have heard of lots of people who work with a travel agent who do not see that invoice and the details.  

2 hours ago, moatenote said:

We are taking this same cruise next September and are considering the optional tour to San Gimignano.  Did you like it??

We did San Gimignano on the post-extension for Med Odyssey last October and we thoroughly enjoyed it but ours was a whole day tour including Siena.  

1 hour ago, -Lew- said:

 

Thank you for pointing that out.  You might also have noticed that at other ports only a stateroom keycard is suggested...no ID of any kind.  That's a bit too minimalist for me as we should all have some form of ID on our person when in port.

lew,

The same directive to take your passport ashore was posted in the Viking Daily for ports of Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Venice on the Mediterranean Odyssey cruise last October.  There was no such note for Naples but we ended up missing Naples due to severe winds on the night we were supposed to leave Civitavecchia and so we remained docked overnight. 

We did see one man immediately before us pulled aside and detained in Venice when he did not have his passport at the terminal re-entry and security.  He was holding up the lines so after they refused his embarkation, I don’t know how he was dealt with. This was a passport check and security check in the terminal and separate from boarding key card scanning and security on actually getting back the ship.

So it behooves everyone to read their Viking Daily carefully.  

2 hours ago, theduffys said:

Us as well

Please look back at zitsky’s posting #116 of the Viking Dailies for 10/5 for port of Civitavecchia, the first entry about arrival time and instructions for what you should take ashore.  It seems to me that this is a a specific instruction to take your passport with you.  

When we had a port cancelled for weather, our credit card was immediately credited for the optional excursion we had booked and missed.  So it looks like it depends on who does the cancelling.

On one river cruise (Elbe) which we cancelled one day before flying out when we received notification the ships would not move, we had the full credited amount in 24 hours back in our bank account since we had used e-check rather than credit card. 

19 minutes ago, zitsky said:

It seems indulgent to have my own thread.  And do you really want to hear my stream of conciousness?  

 

But I will try.  I can't promise to document everything all the time.

Try twitter!

I was on the same cruise as Phil in Oct 2018 and can confirm we were also asked to show our cruise documents (i.e cruise booklet) at terminal check in at Barcelona.

We were not asked for it when checking in at Greenwich Pier for the “Into the Midnight Sun” cruise in July 2017.

I usually carry mine since there is a lot of info on the first few pages with contact numbers for the ship in the event of travel delays or emergencies.  If you don’t want all the bulk of excursion info, at least take the cover and first few pages which confirm you are booked on the cruise.   

57 minutes ago, philw1776 said:

Sintra before we reached our river ship

Great pictures as usual, Phillip!  So so clear.

56 minutes ago, blacksmith said:

How long ago were you on a VO cruise that included Italy? A few years ago we cruised with Oceania and they retained our passport even while in Italy. 

October 16-30, 2018.

Information from three ports in Italy on the Med Odyssey ocean cruise. We missed the port of Naples due to weather. As you can see, we were directed by Viking to carry our passports on shore.