CDNPolar

I would expect that if they are literally jumping the gangway as they are about to lift it that they might get a very polite comment that they "almost missed sailing" with a smile and a chuckle but I would not expect any harsh kind of conversation at all. Customer Service on a ship is not about reprimanding someone unless their actions endanger the ship or other passengers - IMO.

I for one cannot wait until we can dispense with the hard copy passport and move to a fully global digital world of id and credentialing. (Yes, I also understand the inherent risks of this.) I already hate to have to carry actual physical credit cards and use Apple Pay on my Apple watch or iPhone almost exclusively. (Recognizing that this limits the amount that I can tap) I wish for DL, Passport, and a fully digital payment system without a physical card.

I feel that even some 'seasoned' cruisers are not necessarily taking advantage of everything. I have heard many people that have cruised with our favourite cruise line more than once say: "I didn't know this or I didn't know that." Take for instance a Galley tour or a Bridge tour.... on our favourite cruise line, these are not advertised per se but available if you go to Guest Services and ask.

Absolutely leave all the negative energy behind. Don't pack negative energy. I am not saying that everything is always perfect on a cruise vacation, but there are some folks that just seem to invite and find negative wherever they go. We just chuckle under our breath and think - here he/she/they go again - they found a new problem to whine about.

We also after 10 Viking cruises find it hard to be candid on the survey. I remember back to the first and second Viking cruises we were on and we were happy to say that many things if not all exceeded our expectations, but now most seem to meet our expectations because our viewpoint has changed. As discussed in previous threads, I do take offence to be asked to check the highest rating by any crew. I find this quite distasteful. Don't tell me how to rate your service and my experience. I never thought of this but Viking could and should tech-i-fy their surveys and could consider a different version for 1st and 2nd time cruisers and for more frequent cruisers. I personally would also like a place that I can NAME people that clearly went above and beyond in my eyes. I also assume, but have never asked, that this style of survey is scanned for where you check or X and so writing random comments in these areas could well be missed. One of the toughest parts of surveys is dealing with text free entry answers.

I get the contract situation and that crew come and go often mid-cruise for the guests, but this is one of the things that I dislike... We had a bartender in the Living Room that somehow knew both our names from the first day we were on the ship. He always called out to us when we went by, and he created a custom cocktail for our friend that we were travelling with. We loved to stop there for a coffee and a cookie and have a chat. Then, all of a sudden one evening only about half way through our cruise, he let us know that he was going on vacation the next day and leaving the ship. We felt like we lost a good friend! The interesting thing is that we have cruised most regions that Viking sails - most - and we have several times now on both River and Ocean, come across Crew that we met on previous cruises. This aspect we really love.

Ships like hotels go under refurbishment every so many years and it is unfortunate that you found the Orion to be that worn as a newer ship. We have been on Star twice - one of the older ships - and our first time was in early 2017 and it was in great shape. We were on Star again near the end of 2021, just after I read on CC how bad it looked and how worn it was, but we did not experience that at all. Our cabin was in perfect shape, and the lounges and public areas looked to the standard we expected. Perhaps it had undergone some upgrades before we boarded? Because I was in the hotel industry for years, I know how most large chains upgrade their rooms, but I don't know on cruise ships. Is the ship taken out of circulation and upgraded top to bottom, or is it done while sailing bit by bit?

Although we have no issue with the music currently on Viking in the theatre and in the lounges, because we tend to be very "easy listening" at home but still with a very broad appetite for many genres. We tend to listen to acoustic hits, and easy listening, with a lot of solo piano style from different artists. BUT, as @benjaminnicholas said: The contemporary couple was somehow able to suck the life out of every single song they sang. It reminded me of Muzak on horse tranquilizers. I have never heard it said better. I did not want to bring this up, but this couple is karaoke at best on all the cruises I have been on with Viking. I am not saying that they do not have reasonably good voices, but the arrangements and song choices make every song sound the same. This is a reason we don't go to Torshavn. I also agree with @BlairsvilleCruiseGirl that there could be an afternoon or early evening of Rock in the pool bar area, or even the rarely used Wintergarden. We have seen some really "rock'n" shows at the pool in front of the big screen and this could be a great area for this.

I am certain that you will enjoy your Viking cruise. Bet you only wish it was sooner!

Never heard of this...

Yeah - gotta figure out the eUpgrade thing.... never used them before. I think we have 25 credits.

Yeah, we asked about fee waivers for the Privilege card and no go... they want the $599 Because of Apple pay however we share the Privilege in each of our apple pay accounts. You can tap up to $250 with Apple Pay, so we did not get the spousal card. We are rarely not together if the purchase is above a tap limit, so sharing is not an issue and we each have our Infinite cards anyway. We just want the max Aeroplan points from the Privilege card.

We went through this process and that is why we now have 3 TD Infinite Visa cards and 1 TD Infinite Privilege card. 4 cards total. The first year bonus Aeroplan points, other benefits and the Companion Ticket from the Privilege card make it all worth while. We also have banking plans that for the 3 TD Infinite cards, the annual fee of $139.00 is waived for all 3 cards. Sweet.

I may have mis-spoken. They might help you to book flights. I had questions around my airport benefits with the card such as free checked baggage, etc. This they told me I had to call Aeroplan. But, if they are a Concierge for the card, and this is a legit benefit of the card, they should be able to address my questions. But, now I know one thing they cannot do.

The cost is minor against the desire to NOT put a mouthpiece in that we don't know the sterilization methods, but I get you...

I just called the TD Privilege Concierge yesterday for "help with travel bookings" as it states they do... They could not help me because I had a question about booking air and my Aeroplan benefits. To me the Concierge program is for help with booking hotels, and in some cases exclusive restaurants. They can offer better rates at some hotels. Tickets and tours as well. Here is the site for Visa Infinite Privilege Concierge: https://www.visainfinite.ca/privilege/en/concierge.html

British Air carry on is 23kg. But if you are connecting to another partner airline once you get to Heathrow, I don't know what happens.

I had not seen this discussion before, but read through it. I am personally wary of any reseller that is giving such a deal that you cannot pass on it. How are they doing it is my first question. I do know for a fact because Air Canada advertise this that the lowest air fare they have is always on their website and you cannot get that on Expedia or any other supposed discount site. If Expedia is offering an AC flight at $1000 you can find it on the official AC website for $850. (Numbers pulled out of the air) I have found a couple of times on GoogleFlights that there is a great offer and then at the bottom is shows you multiple ways to purchase, and I have been directed to sites that I did not know that were not the airline sites that were offering the flights and I just exited and went back to the airlines directly.

I would say more common on river than ocean, but not that they don't show up on ocean too. My only beef with jeans is the ones that look like gardening jeans. I have NO issue with full black non-faded or other dressy jeans.

It all comes down to the voucher "rules" and there are many. If your cruise was particularly expensive and then you have a 10% or sometimes 25% boost, you have to spend that voucher (typically) on one cruise in the future or lose the value if you don't spend it. Vouchers are hard to insure for medical, cancelation and interruption. Not all insurance companies insure vouchers, so if the worst happens, you may lose the voucher if you have to cancel as they are not transferrable once applied to a cruise.

Thank you for your review and for the most part it sounds like this was a positive experience. One thing of note, when you talk about private tours and being back on time, you mentioned that Viking often would leave even earlier than stated in the Viking Daily... That would be because they knew that all passengers were back on board from the scanning of your key card. We have experienced this and this is a good thing for Viking if everyone is back on board and they can leave early, and if early enough, that could mean sailing at a slower speed to the next port and saving on fuel.

The only reason I suggested I don't want to travel on ships of 3000+ is that these are the ships that typically have the bigger shows and higher end entertainment. Viking has never marketed themselves as having BIG shows and entertainment. They have this now and in the past to give us something to do after dinner and I don't see it as more than that. We have grown tired of some of the shows because we have seen them too many times, but we still go with the hope that something will have changed. (ABBA and The Beatles) We are doing our first TA cruise this October and so I am anxiously awaiting what the entertainment will be like on those 6 nights.

Surveys are often built to give falsely positive resutls. As a Learning and Development professional I have taken a number of courses on how to build surveys. Most don't build surveys well, from my perspective and what I have learned about how to build them. On surveys that are 1-10, where 5 may be considered neutral, often any number from 6-10 is grouped together to be a "positive" result. You may see that "Overwhelmingly our customers have ranked our services positively" but this may include many 6's and 7's which are not high ratings. I am a person that rarely gives a 10 in these ranking scales because something has to go far and above and greatly exceed my expectations to get a 10. To me a really good score is giving an 8 and many things get a 6 or a 7 and I am still okay with them, but not a raving fan. The above thinking is true for many people responding to surveys making 1-10 scales very subjective. The 6-10 range will mean something different for everyone. We have seen here on CC how subjective reviews of the food are on Viking Ocean ships. We love the Chef's Table and others dislike it and for many reasons. How do you assign a proper number to your experience with the Chef's Table with a range of 10 numbers that are not defined. Most surveys I make if they are on a scale, are done with a 4 scale but have a definition beside each. 1 = Does not meet expectations 2 = Somewhat meets expectations 3 = Meets expectations 4 = Exceeds expectations When I am assessing the results, I would give separate reports for 3's and 4's but also group them to see what is the total of positive responses. 3 and 4 are clearly positive, and if your expectations are not met, then you choose 2 and that is easier for someone to choose because it is not a complete slam of the service or product. But back to the survey... I was astounded the first time, and I have heard this several times now, that we should choose the highest rating on the survey. This is a fail on the side of Viking that if they know their crew are instructing people this way, they should put a stop to it, and if they don't know, they should be informed.

We last minute booked a river cruise in December last year - 2 or 3 weeks before departure. The ship was changed last minute. When we arrived at the airport we were not on the manifest and when we arrived at the ship they did not have our reservation. (But, on a manual list in the office they knew we were to be there...) They said a combination of our last minute booking and the change of ship... Our excursions were not recorded - the optional ones that we paid for. This was a bit of a cluster&$*@ but they worked it out.

This to me seems like a new phenomena.