CDNPolar

Sorry to have asked a question. Often these discussions go off track and I was not clear what the question was referring to. Sorry if I offended you.

All I can say is we did Viking Homelands and loved every minute of the cruise from the food to the excursions. We have sailed Viking about 8 or 9 times now.

Agree with WestW too! One of the funniest things that happened to us, was in the thermal spa which we frequent daily.... And, this was not taken as anything about being gay vs. straight.... I am quite a bit older than my husband and I did not hear this but my husband did. There were 2 straight couples in the smaller hot tub connected to the larger thermal spa. My husband spends most of his time on the large bench at the end of the thermal spa. I move between the snow grotto and the steam room. Apparently one of the men in the hot tub indicated as I walked between my two favourite places that I was the "Sugar Daddy". I laugh at this because, my husband is much younger, but he also makes much more money than I do... So he is really the sugar daddy. I was not offended by this nor did these folks exhibit any homophobia... it was just an idle gossip comment that could have been directed at anyone.

My experience is the cabins are identical. it does not matter what side you are on.

I agree that the medical is potentially a farce... but this is the cruise line's way of limiting their liability if you have to be signed off by a doctor. I will say that our doctor took the whole thing very seriously and one of us had some serious medical issues exposed on the doctor's report and not one question from the cruise line or with the doctor when we boarded... I was kind of surprised.

Are you asking about Coastal Voyages or Antarctica? If you are talking about Antarctica, the basic ashore hiking and zodiac boat cruises are included. The snowshoeing, kayaking, and camping are extra but you have to win the lottery first. I will have to search up the invoice for these additional costs, but I did not think them out of line. Perhaps 80-150 pp?

This may work for some. We will tip the Host at the check-in desk in The Restaurant. Then we ask for the same table each night and we have had success with that. This way we get the table we want, and we get to know the serving team for that table really well.

We have found that in most countries - most - that the US dollar is good for tipping. I don't disagree with Heidi13 at all and their method, we just have not done that ourselves. We are Canadian, and we go to the bank - just did this yesterday - and get 70+ One Dollar US bills and some 5's and 10's. We use the dollar bills for tipping the guides and bus drivers. Why do we do this? We find that on most Viking cruises, the guest demographic is primarily American and they are freely using the USD for tips and we just have followed suit whether good or bad. One thing to note, unless you are tipping in local currency, do not ever give coins. Loose coins in any currency are not typically able to be exchanged at a bank. The other thing specifically that we found with Argentina and Buenos Aires, that they want CRISP NEW American bills. We booked a private day tour in Buenos Aires, and guide expressed that the bills needed to be new'ish and not damaged or stained in any way. Sorry if I am adding confusion to your question.

Just to further confirm, we have a friend that would do a River over Ocean any day because she needs strong medication on any ocean voyage, but no medication on a River Cruise ever. (And she has been on 10+ river cruises)

I guess one of the things that I think of is that restaurants at home that we go to, there is often not much room between the tables, and you are close to your neighbours... as close as the The Restaurant on a Viking Ocean ship. I think that the difference is when you are in a restaurant at home, you are not typically talkative with your dining neighbour, whereas on a ship, you are on a shared experience and most all are being polite and nice and just want to share the experience. The ship is like a community of people that are together in the experience and most are very open to talking. We are private people and we get a table for two where we can. We have been seated at a 2 top beside the window and at a 2 top along the long wall backing to the kitchen - where the tables are very close. 98% of the time, we have just sat, started our conversation, and not had any "interference" from the neighbouring tables. Perhaps we look unapproachable? Perhaps we look rude an uninterested in talking? I also recognize that some are stating that they cannot have a private conversation with people so close. We talk about the day and tomorrow's attractions and very benign things. If we have something to discuss that is more private that we don't want someone to overhear, we would do so in the cabin.

That is what I what I thought you were referring to... So, the cruise line mandated 50K in evacuation insurance. In Canada I could not get any insurance company to state 50K coverage, and I am covered for personal travel by my company extended medical benefits. All I could get them to do is give me very loose wording that indicated that they would evacuate me to the best and necessary medical facility away or back home depending on circumstances and the level of urgency. Here is where I question the whole evacuation business for Antarctica. Once you are 5+ hours into the Drake Passage, you are out of range of helicopter evacuation anyway. The ship has to turn around. Once you are cruising around the Continent, there is NO land based evacuation, or helicopter/plane evacuation based on where cruise ships sail. You are 48 hours plus to help and that means that they ship has to turn around and head back. We had a broken hip in the first 15 or 17 hours of sailing that was because of the seas and the passenger had a bad fall and broke her hip. The ship had to turn around because we were too far into the Drake for any air evacuation. The next try was to get close enough to the Cape for helicopter but then it was determined that the winds were too high. The next try was a ship to ship transfer but the winds were too high. We had to go all the way back to port. Now, if you need evacuation, your insurance would likely be called upon to pay for the helicopter or ship to ship evacuation if that was necessary close to the Cape. We submitted our policy language and it was accepted. I cannot tell you for sure if my insurance would have paid for a helicopter or not.

Do you mean medical? Cancellation / Interruption?

We are about to embark on our 8th or 9th cruise with Viking and we have been on both River and Ocean. NEVER any concern about being a male couple on Viking for us. We do table for two for meals, and we have our beds together. The Cabin Stewards are amazing and very accepting and never a second glance. We sit together in the lounge for the live music and together in the theatre for the shows. Now we are not a PDA kind of couple, but it is obvious that we are a couple. We have been on Ocean (930 guests) where they have had LGBTQ+ meetups, but not seen that on River. We have not attended the LGBTQ+ meetups ourselves so cannot comment on the number that show up. These have typically been held in the upper level of the Explorer Lounge. On the Ocean Ships we have seen multiple other gay and lesbian couples. We have seen the same on River Ships, but not in the same number, but they are much smaller ships. From our experience you will be welcomed by the crew and feel this welcome throughout the ship. We have never had any situations where we felt that other passengers were opposed to us being there, for lack of any other way to put this... Don't take this the wrong way, but we don't attend the LGBTQ+ gatherings because we don't feel the need to immediately associate with other gay folks. We have met some naturally through interactions on the ship, but more so we have met and made good and lasting friendships on Viking Cruises with straight couples. I think that the main thing here is we were (or rather I was) more skeptical in the beginning way back in 2015 when we took our first Viking Cruise together of the reception that we would receive. We contacted Viking and talked to them directly about it and they assured us that we would be received like any other guest and they were not wrong. We love the vibe on Viking and we are not party people so the quiet atmosphere of Viking without the noise and confusion of a large ship suits us well. We love the lectures from the Resident Historians and we love the crew and the service and the food. Viking just suits us. Not that we may not venture and try other cruise lines in the future, but we are Viking loyal for sure. No, Viking did not give me a free cruise to give you this review! There are others on CC that cruise Viking that will chime in here I am sure.

Regarding the vouchers that you purchase on the River Cruises... We were told by the Cruise Director on our River Cruise in August of this year that the sale of these vouchers was likely to cease in 2024. I have not confirmed this anywhere else, but this Cruise Director announced this during a port talk to the entire ship, so I would hope her information was credible. The vouchers that you have purchased would remain valid with no expiry date, BUT, you would likely not be able to purchase them in the future because Viking was discontinuing the sale of the vouchers. Also to note that you cannot apply a voucher to any cruise that is already booked, whether you are at final payment or not. The voucher ($100 for $200) can only be applied at the point of booking. This rule alone has stopped us from buying these vouchers, because we typically always have one or two Viking cruises booked in the future and so the vouchers are useless to us.

If you do book, don't leave it until the last minute on board because you will get "shipboard credit on current sailing" and that from my knowledge must be spent onboard. You cannot move that anywhere. The first time we booked onboard, we left it to the last day and we had to spend the credit in the gift shop or lose it.

The TA we use, if we cannot use the big box TA I think we have only spoken to once on the phone. We do all by email. She has it made with us as clients, because like this past Friday, we decided to take a cruise leaving on December 23rd, called the cruise line, made all the arrangements, booked our shore excursions, and paid the entire thing on the spot. As soon as the invoice arrived from the cruise line in my email I shot it over to our TA and asked her to pick up the booking which she did within a few hours and we have OBC and rebate cheques coming. Done and dusted.

If I am reading you correctly you don't need calling to or from Canada, but you do want to call locally in NZ? There are some eSIM companies that offer voice and data, so that you can make local calls, but that entails having a new number from your current. If WhatsApp calling would suffice there are other eSIM providers that only give you data, and you could make WhatsApp calls. Airalo is the company I am about to try for our upcoming trip, but they only do data with their Regional eSIMs that I am looking at. Airalo also has Global eSIMs that have Data/Calls/Texts that you can buy too. Calling looks expensive - their top plan is 200 calling minutes and that is US $89.00 I think that it might be good to know how much calling you are going to need. I think that eSIMs are limited on the calling feature. If you want to be able to talk daily back and forth with friends or relatives, you might be better with the local provider.

This story makes me chuckle... Yeah - it could be like the Venice bit that some will do it to experience Viking and then never do it again. It still rings clear, that Viking fill their ships so the very few here on CC that have issue with it are not enough to make Viking change their policy. OR, is the fact that the deposit is only $25 pp now a response to the market? Seems to have been running for a long time now.

General statement that many were not out of their cabins. If I was to estimate, I would say only 1/3 of the passengers were in the dining room for meals. Perhaps as much as half, but I would say only 1/3. We had 11 metre waves both directions. It was a fun ride. Many of the folks out for meals could have been wearing a patch, I really don't know. Our doctor would not prescribe the patch to us... Said too many potential side effects.

Which Christmas Cruise are you on? I think - or hope - you will love Viking Ocean... it is a great experience for us. Yes, Viking can have a lot of optional excursions, but we pretty much book all the included and then look more closely at the optional. We might book one optional for every two included. If you are brave to book excursions off of Viking's offerings, you often find the same content of excursion on a site like Viator for less than Viking is offering. The tours don't always work with the port timing, but there are deals to be had out there.

One of the things that we consider is embarkation and disembarkation cities or countries. Why? Because if you can book the cruise one direction or the other, we will consider what direction we can get a direct flight to and leave the connection flight to the way home. There is less likelihood - IMO - of delayed luggage when there is no connection. Each time we have had delayed luggage it has been the connection and most often LHR is the airport that was the culprit. For instance, we leave for a River Cruise embarking in Amsterdam and disembarking in Basel. The cruise is available in the opposite direction too. We can fly direct to Amsterdam but have to connect coming home. We chose the direction of the cruise for this reason. Now, I have likely jinxed us for this flight.... fingers crossed!

I totally agree on the acceptance thing that you suggest. I just like to go on the cruise with my husband and be accepted as a couple like everyone else, and not be excluded or shunned because we are gay. I also don't want to go to the meetups just to find other gay folks to hang out with... I will use my home city of Toronto as the example. Growing up gay in Toronto (I am early 60's now) we had the Gay Village and that was the centre point of all the gay community. If you wanted to have a romantic dinner with your wife or husband then you went there to a gay restaurant where you would be accepted. The gay village still exists to a certain extent in Toronto but you can go have that romantic dinner anywhere in my fine city and really not be concerned that you won't be accepted. Accepted being the key word. I honed in on your comment "I just think no one showed up" to the gathering. We never go to these so I would never know if there were other gay singles or couples on the ship unless it was obvious and sometimes it is... We look for any authentic individual or couple that just wants to connect and talk and share experiences regardless of who they love.

I don't know this sign-in thing, but why would you not just sign in with your nickname? For instance if your legal name was Jonathan and you signed as Jon, would there be a fuss? If your name was Richard and you signed in as Dick, or your name was William and you singed in as Bill? I would not want him to miss the teenage functions - that would be a shame. That group may be the most welcoming and non-caring.... so to speak.

Agree - most kids today look at you strangely if you question gender or pronouns... like what is the issue?

It will feel very different than any ocean ship - mega or not. It is a totally different vibe. We have sailed both Viking Ocean and River and leave on a River cruise in just under two weeks. We love both but you really cannot compare them. On Ocean we can be totally to ourselves and sit in all dining venues at tables for 2 and kind of be anonymous to an extent. On River, you really cannot do that. Most River ships don't have tables for 2, and there is no place to really get away from people. One dining room, and one lounge. Many people do both, but we find the people that do River cruising are far more friendly and ready to introduce and talk and that really starts with the first meal at a table for 6 or 8. Hope you will love it.