SantaFe1

51 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I dread this situation. 

 

We don't want to get a surprise of a cabin that we don't like the location of.

 

If someone called us and offered us that is one thing, but I have read this before that someone arrived at the ship and were checked in to a different cabin than booked and could not have their original booked cabin.

It was not the most pleasant of surprises.  There was a lot of turmoil checking in, and no room key for us.  We had to tender over on the Greenwich boats with a checkin person and meet for half an hour with the Guest Services manager.  She seemed completely flummoxed about why someone might not want the upgrade.  But I don’t really like the Junior suites.  They are cluttered and crowded.  Two chairs and a sofa is just too much and instead of feeling roomy they feel cramped.  The two huge TVs right next to each other are just laughable to us.  And the TV attached in front of the mirror over the desk at the foot of the bed renders the mirror useless, and there is no good place to dry my hair.  We did enjoy the larger bathroom, and the free laundry.  But the room location was terrible.  Very Noisy. Second worst ever, the worst being a Guarantee room.  We could afford to book a PJS if so inclined, but do not.  We picked our room a year in advance, and we always book the same room, deck six, forward.  I asked to have that room back, but they had already given it away.  If they had asked, I would have said no, especially when I saw where it was. So I guess I would call this a forced upgrade.

45 minutes ago, deec said:

we have many nights aboard Viking Oceans and Rivers even an Expedition...never been offered an upgrade.  But we use a Travel Advisor..perhaps they only offer to those who book directly?

Nope, on our BIE cruise this past month we were upgraded from PV1 to PJS1.  We have a TA and no reason was given.  And no advance notice.  All our luggage was tagged for our original cabin.

25 minutes ago, LucilleMS said:

We are looking at several Viking Ocean Cruise options around Europe.  Our preference is to avoid long bus rides between port and the destination; I've read some itineraries have a 90 bus ride at each stop.  Would love to hear if you enjoyed a cruise where several town stops were in walking distance of the ship, or at least a bus ride of 60 minutes or less.

We are looking at the same thing.  On our British Isles Explorer cruise we had many, many excursions where the bus ride was 90 minutes each way and only 75-90 minutes at our destination, whether you booked with Viking or on your own.  Our next cruise is a Viking River cruise, which we hope will give us destinations with less time on the bus.  I also wish Viking would post the bus times in the description of the excursion.  They certainly know them, since the bus time is always given in the port talks, and Viking runs these excursions several times a week.

1 hour ago, cac2516 said:

I just got off the Viking Neptune.  They don't have mattress toppers.  They just put extra duvets under the fitted sheet.  Still way to hard for me.  Looking for better solutions for cruise next March or I may not be going.  

I also just got off Neptune.  I ALWAYS find the bed too hard, although my husband loves it, so I just leave it alone and suffer in (relative) silence.  But this time, oddly, I found the mattress pretty comfortable and even remarked about it to my husband.  

4 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

We missed Shetland, too, on a 2019 TA. After that experience, and after reading about others on CC who missed Shetland or Orkney (or both), we decided not to rely on Viking and the cruise gods coming through for us. So we booked our own multi-day trip. This way we’ll have plenty of time on the islands and won’t feel rushed.

You two are intrepid.  I thought Lerwick was worth a day of exploration on its own.  Wish we had had more time, although, as I said, in the ‘90s I spent quite a bit of time in Scotland and the Islands.  Loved the Isle of Skye, too.  

3 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Ooooh, lucky you! I’d love to hear more about this. We missed Shetland due to weather but loved Orkney. I’d love to have more time in both places. 
 

I did rail travel around the Highlands many years ago. Would love to spend more time there, too.

I have a friend who is interested in doing this cruise.  Today I wrote her our impressions.  One of the main things was that I’d like two days in several ports!  Just too much to see and do in a day.  Hard to make choices.  And lots of long bus rides taking up too much time for a day trip.  I have also been to most of these ports.  But so good to see Scotland again!  Probably for the last time.😕

If the timing is right, it is possible to do two excursions in one day, but you need about an hour in between or you are blocked from booking.  For example, we just got back from British Isles Explorer and one morning had the paid Ancient History of the Shetlands tour and in the afternoon, the included  Shetland and ponies tour.  What you cannot do is have two included tours in one day.  You cannot have more than one included tour per port, even if they offer two and even if you are there multiple days.  For example, in Bergen there were two included tours offered, a panoramic tour and a walking tour.  You could only book one.  And if two days in port, you can still only book one. The advertised promise is one included tour per port, period!

3 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Looks positively empty compared to our visit a number of years ago! Excellent weather to boot. Congrats.  🍺🥌

Empty it was not!  But thanks for the compliment to my editing skills🙂

One thing we have noted about this cruise is that there are a lot of excursions where the bus time is more than the excursion time.  That is not altogether bad, as there are some lovely drives.  Today was another long drive, but lovely scenery, and different routes to Loch Ness and back to Invergordon.  I have been to Urquhart castle before, and perhaps you can’t go home again.  But it seemed so busy, even on a Monday morning.  But still an aura of Scottish Mystery. 

We had a bit more traditional day in Edinburgh.  We took the included tour to get us up to the castle, then headed out on our own.  Saw the tourist sights, a parade (sorry, no pix) and Greyfriar’s Bobby, a favorite.  

54 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

 

Sorry you had a foggy day! Did you enjoy the gardens themselves? We will be driving through that area next month and plan to stop by the IG.

54 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

 

Sorry you had a foggy day! Did you enjoy the gardens themselves? We will be driving through that area next month and plan to stop by the IG.

Yes, the gardens are spectacular.  But 50 acres, and we were supposed to have a guided tour and did not.  The rhododendrons and azaleas were spectacular!  Do go.  Just don’t take a bus tour, IMO.

16 minutes ago, DesertCruiser2000 said:

This was all bus ride to farthest point, Little Assynt, and return same route. We had 2 photo stops, one each way with about 30-35 minutes in very very small town. It was nice to see the green hills and lochs but not worth 3 1/2 hours or the cost. 

Same with ours to Inverewe Gardens.  All bus ride, very cold and foggy in the gardens.  We toured for 30 minutes and had a hot lunch. But three hours on the bus.  And late to the tender.  As soon as our group boarded, the ship left.  I have been to little Ullapool before and wish we had done it again.  

9 pm.  We are moving fast.  I don’t know why, as. It is only 55 nautical miles to Holyhead.  I am so happy with how the captain handled this.  

Yes, I have done many scary tenders, but this one I asked to get off.  Just not safe.  And then we did.  
Update:  tonight at dinner, we met a couple who went over on the first tenders.  They did their tour, but then it was too rough to come back.  Viking put them up in a hotel for four hours until it was “safe” to return.  But they were still pretty shaken.  Then in CT we watched two other tenders return.  Slowly, slowly.  I am so glad we didn’t go this morning.  It was really frightening.   It I think Viking did so well by everyone!!!!

Captain canceled all further tendering about an hour after my post above.  Very few of us got to Dublin today.  Just those on the first two tender boats. I hope they all arrive back safely.  Best tip— go on a sunny day.

Welcome to Ireland!  Rainy, windy, rough day.  We got on the tender boat, which was more than difficult.  The conditions were so bad down there that the rope snapped.  No one else could get on.  One woman was separated from her husband.  Then, the tender pilot said, no way are we going anywhere.  So he motored back, tied up with a new rope, and off loaded all of us.  Absolutely terrifying.  And I’ve been in lots of bad conditions.  Tender operations have been “paused,” but I’m pretty sure the captain will cancel them.  Problem is, six groups, two tenders had already left and are on their way to Dublin.  Stay tuned.  Quite nice in Explorers Lounge right now.  I’m enjoying a bowl of raspberries🙂

We had the inaugural version of this menu at the end of our 2019 WC.  The chef was on board and prepared it.  We were eating with our English friends, and none of us liked it.  But—we had it again last night and found it delicious.  I guess it’s been tweaked over the years.

16 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

One night in Chef's Table the upgrade white was Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. Viking should be ashamed.

Agreed!  Bottom shelf grocery store wine. 

5 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

 

Glad you had the upgrade but confused about the first couple of sentences.  Sir Francis Chichester's multi award winning ocean racing yacht "Gypsy Moth" was put into dry dock next to the Cutty Sark in 1968  and was moved and set free in 2005.  There is a Gypsy Moth  Pub right next to the Cutty Sark - did you mean the pub?  Also intrigued as to which building was used for check in.  There is an empty restaurant almost next to the river boat ticket booths so possibly there ?

We had a house in Greenwich until recently and the Viking presence onshore was previously in a tent in front of the visitor centre.

Watching the Viking (and other) cruise ships in Greenwich was always delightful. 

Yes, the pub.  It’s as far as a taxi can take you and there were at least ten there when we arrived.  But thank you.  I suspected the Gipsy Moth was a ship, and now I know!

After a long cab ride from central London to the Cutty Sark, or actually the Gipsy moth, everything was a breeze checking in.  They had Viking agents stationed everywhere from the Gipsy Moth to the checkin building (not a tent).  Easy check in, then a big kerfuffle— they had our package of excursion tix, but no room keys.  So the agent accompanied us to the ship, we met with Guest services manager who told us there were no room cards because we had been upgraded from a PV1 to a PS1— no idea why.  All our luggage was tagged for our original PV cabin, but by 2:30 everything had been sorted and all the luggage arrived at our new cabin on deck 8.  We may just watch the sail away from deck 8 after all as we are on the port side (rather than from Explorers Lounge.)  Nice first day!

Beautiful day yesterday at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.  The Rhododendron dell was in full bloom and spectacular!

So happy to be on this adventure with you, Andrea.  

I just want to chime in here, because, as I get older, I do read the descriptions and ratings religiously.  So on our cruise to Hawaii, last month, I stayed away from a demanding rainforest hike in Maui that my husband did, for 7 hours.  Yes, good.  But I did a demanding 4 hour hike in Honolulu that was fine.  Last year in the Med we did cooking in an Italian Castle that was rated easy.  It was one of the most taxing excursions I have done.  An hour up and down stone staircases in the castle, the standing for two hours in the kitchen with no place to sit.  Pompeii and Herculaneum in Naples were marked demanding, but for me weren’t.  It’s just really hard to tell what you get.  I sometimes google the same shore ex and find that Princess has much better, hour by hour descriptions than Viking does.  But honestly, it just depends on what tires you, I guess.  I am fine walking, but standing and stairs are not great.  I don’t think I have held anyone up yet.  But I would hate to be the one who does that.  

19 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

while strolling along the beach we saw 50 or more “pilgrims” making the hike to Santiago.

We saw pilgrims in Baiona on their way to Santiago on our WC.  They carried a card that marked where they had been.  Quite a sight!

On the website they have a behind the scenes zoo experience which I would love to do.  Being born and raised and living all my life in Southern California, until we retired, nothing on this cruise is really new to us.  We are approaching it as a wine-tasting cruise!  But yes, we will have to look for you and your camera on April 18 next year.🙂