RetroRod

On 5/14/2019 at 6:06 PM, ClevelandKid said:

I originally posted this question a year and a half ago, but I am going to ask again in the hopes of getting more current information.

 

For those who have booked Business/First Class through Viking Air - did you feel the price was competitive to what you would get just booking it yourself?  Flying 10 hours to Europe or 16 hours (or more) to Pacific Rim countries make flying first class almost a requirement.

 

Thanks in advance

Last year we used Viking Air LAX to Athens returning via Rome along with Viking transfers. My TA worked everything and we were able to get all the dates and flights we wanted, including flying the new 787. After the fact it seemed the airfare was a little high. This year’s cruise I booked my own airfare, LAX to Stockholm, Bergen to LAX. One stop each way. Viking Air price was $4300 PP for business class. After a lot of research and watching fares I found KLM/Delta for $3200 PP in business class. One stop each way. Transfers in Stockholm will be around $75 for a taxi and in Bergen around $19 for the bus.  For us, this works and leaves a lot for the Silver Spirits package😊

19 minutes ago, Richard2 said:

I certainly hope it would not work, and I doubt that it would. You are not in Vegas. If it worked, word would get around, others would start doing it, and the concept of no charges for the specialty restaurants would become a facade. If you try it, do it very carefully, because if I saw it, I would report the maitre'd to the hotel manager.

You probably didn’t see my post explaining my post was an attempt at “humor”. But, for some self-righteous people they just need to lighten up a little😊🍷

I failed to mention we didn’t have any problems getting through the Athens airport. It was pretty easy to navigate, at least the day we were there. 

We arrived in Athens last year (April) for our cruise around 5 PM. We had the Viking transfer that took about 2 hours since Viking waited for the other folks flying different airlines to arrive. We hit rush hour traffic and the actual drive was about 45 minutes. It all depends if you are arranging your own transfer and local traffic conditions. You never know if there will be road construction that could further impact the drive. 

I neglected to add a 😊 to my post to indicate humor.  

If all else fails and you really want a reservation at a certain time a maitre'd “friendly handshake” with $20 bill might work. It has for me in Vegas. I know some folks will think this is wrong but it does work. 

IF the award is 10 mil the PAX will only get around 7 K after the lawyers take their third. 

 The class action is on behalf of 1300 passengers according to a LA newspaper. I think they are including the crew. When it’s settled the passengers will make a fraction of the 10 mil. The lawyers will make between 25 an 33%. 

The two St. Petersburg by Metro & On Foot tours on our June HL Cruise are both sold out. Looks like it’s a popular excursion. Hopefully, someone that has been on it will comment. You may want to check out the Ports of Call section for more info. 

You do not have to take the Viking tours in SPB. There are a number of private companies that offer 2 day tours that cover/visit essentially the same things Viking offers. I booked with one of these companies for about half the cost of Viking. 

For those that have been on an ocean cruise, food, especially hot food, is the last thing you should worry about. We have found Viking room service is very good and the food was delivered fast and it was”hot”😊

Found this wine list from 2018 on a website. Pretty good selection. 

https://sandinmysuitcase.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Viking-Ocean-Cruises-Wine-List.pdf

Yes. Don’t know the exact size but the unit fit in my shirt pocket. 

We did the POA cruise a few years ago and took a taxi to/from the airport. The taxi did not accept credit cards and only learned this once we were on the way to the ship. Does anyone know if taxies still do not take credit cards?

Just a little thread drift. In September 2018 we booked the December 20, 2019 to January 3, 2020 14 nts. Panama Canal, Central America, Cuba Cruise out of Miami. The itinerary ticked the boxes we wanted, Panama Canal  & Cuba (Santiago) and over the holidays. However, I get an email on April 17 saying the stop in Cuba is cancelled because "many businesses" will be be closed Jan 1 and they are unable to operate shore excursions. It is now "NEW Panama, Central America Holiday" cruise. IMHO, a business would likely be open if the incentives were enough to do so. Instead Viking will add another sea day making it 5 out of 14 days at sea. For our inconvenience they are offering $125 PP OBC. We will be cancelling this cruise due to their change in itinerary. To many sea days for us and no Cuba.

Cocopico, great review and outstanding photos. Thanks for posting. What type of camera did you use?

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

That is generally the case. You can also tell as all even staterooms are on port. 

Thanks for your feedback. 

We will be sailing on the Sea in few months for  a HL Cruise. This will be our third Viking Ocean Cruise.  A few months ago someone posted about the signage Viking uses for fore/aft and cabin locations. Pretty straightforward and helpful. As I recall, Port/Starboard wasn’t marked and we would get turned around coming out of the elevators. One person commented you can quickly tell port/starboard because there is a phone mounted on the port side of the wall as you exit the elevators. Can you confirm/verify this tip?

Yes I know if you only book included excursions the process can go fairly quickly. However, the CC I entered for my account was not used for option. excursions. I had to enter all my CC info  for each optional excursion. Yes, I know I could put everything in the cart, and then check out at one time. However, experienced Viking cruisers know that you run the risk of your excursions being “stolen ” from your cart before you actually checkout for popular excursions.  I think Viking should link the  CC entered for on-board purchases to excursion purchases. 

Just booked all our optional excursions. I forgot the card linked to the account is not used for excursions. Major PITA to have to enter your info for every excursion if you follow the “pay as you go” booking advise I.e. put in cart then pay for each excursion” Maybe Viking will make a change to their software. 

Our excursion booking window opens tomorrow March 21 @ 1201 PM Pacific and I just got an email from Viking reminding me of it. 

I found a number of good travel tips on Rick Steve’s website. Here is a link re: money

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/travel-checklist-money

The Viking post re: the timing change for excursions is the same verbiage I received via email. Kudos to Viking for putting this out on CC. However, burying this subject in MVJ FAQ, with an asterisk, makes finding out about the change very difficult for most people. I guess being in CA I don’t have to set my alarm clock now😊

Richard2 thanks for the post that “clarifies” the new excursions booking times. Something that is important to a lot of people is buried in Help FAQ. Amazing. Another example that Viking has a good product, good service (generally speaking) but their front office has a lot to be desired in performance.