Hobson1754

On 5/2/2024 at 2:33 AM, CurlerRob said:

My personal experience is dated (2019), but I think it’s still valid. Our shuttle ran every 30 minutes, drop off was at the Harpa Conference Centre - an easy few minutes walk to the heart of downtown. 
 

You can also walk the shoreline back to the ship if the weather is good - about 50 minutes. 🍺🥌

 

Yes that was my experience in September last year.

4 hours ago, janetcbl said:

May I add  my thanks to all of you WC travelers for “taking us along”. If we couldn’t be onboard in person, we could enjoy the trip vicariously. We join the Mars in Bergen in 19 days; wonder if there will be any remaining WC passengers going on to NYC?

May I just reiterate what #janetcbl has said above. Many, many thanks to all the WC travellers (particularly Clay) for their sustained contributions. I have to hold my hands up and say, from personal experience, good intentions at the start of a cruise to begin & sustain posting throughout a journey demands great discipline - I applaud you all 👏👏

On 4/16/2024 at 8:35 PM, CCWineLover said:

Agree - it was a big disappointment.  Can't for the life of me figure out why all the hoopla and fuss about lobster night.  People cancel other reservations to attend and line up early even.  Good news is that it frees up reservations to Manfredi's or CT on that night - you can walk up with no reservations on Lobster Night 🙂

 

I would normally agree with you Kent about this however on our recent Saturn cruise we had the lobster one night and we enjoyed it - seemed better than we’ve had previously. Don’t know if I’d have cancelled reservation at Chefs Table for it however🤔

55 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Funny you mention hips.  Love the beds ALSO because my hip pains go away on a Viking cruise amazingly enough.   And the hip pain comes back on soft beds.

Well Kent - get shopping for that new bed

I’ve never seen a diffuser - there is a concentrator nozzle, but don’t suppose that helps you.  I believe you can buy a Universal diffuser online at Amazon if that helps- would save you having to take a hairdryer.

We love the beds and have no problem sleeping whilst on board - wish I was now😂

51 minutes ago, fefe1961 said:

 

Hello, you are great, thanks a lot. Next August 17, 2024 we will have our first Viking  on Neptune around British Isles. We are not sure if worth it to buy  Silver Spirit package. We use to drink at the pool margarita or Aperol  or vermouth and before dinner maybe a Prosecco or some cocktail.

We think we are on the line between to think is a good idea to get it or not.

Please help us to decide. 

Have a nice time and thanks a lot in advance.

Federico from Spain (sorry for my english that is not good enough)

Really only you can decide! We get it because I can no longer drink wine 😤 due to acid reflux, however G&Ts, cocktails, non alcoholic cocktails etc I don’t have a problem with and it works out well for us.

We’ve always been booked with KLM and other British passengers we’ve spoken to have also used KLM.  Think they may also use BA. Whilst we’ve not been not overly impressed in recent years with BA, our experiences over our last 2 VO cruises flying with KLM have been less than satisfactory so think I would have preferred BA. Our difficulty will and has always been our need for connection from Newcastle so think KLM is their preferred option.

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Hand hygiene is still a big thing for us and will likely always be.  We sit down in a restaurant and read the menu, touch what we need to touch, order, and then go and wash our hands before the food arrives.

As I’ve said before on this forum - it still amazes me after COVID the amount of people who visit restrooms and walk out without washing their hands.  On our last cruise in February, I lost count of the number of times my husband would tell me, of men who either walked out without washing or gave a quick rinse under a trickle of water. No lessons learnt😠

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

For those who need a photo to understand, see before and after below-we do this to our V/DVs also. 

Yes we do the same - does make a little extra room

Love the bird sounds - cannot visit the rest rooms next to the Living Room without smiling😀 They were still on when we left Saturn 4 weeks ago.

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

You could of course go to both !

My thoughts exactly 👍

5 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

For those that like shopping a visit to Le Bon Marche Rive Gauche is wonderful.  Not as touristy as Galleries Lafayette - full of exquisite items, plus a fantastic food hall.  Close to Les Invalides and Musee Rodin.

https://www.lebonmarche.com/en/store/culture/heritage-lebonmarche

Yes, Le Bon Marche is wonderful, however to miss seeing the architecture of Galleria Lafayette (it’s like being inside a wedding cake) & the view from the roof would be a great shame.

11 hours ago, Pappri said:

I sure wish #3 was how you state Andy - not on board the Viking Sky right now.  DW and I are SOOO frustrated and upset with Viking LA that we are now talking about getting off the ship.  ANY SUGGESTIONS on how or who we should talk to will be greatly appreciated.  We got the $3K pp pre-cruise credits and used those up when excursions were open for booking, even went over $700pp which we put on the CC.  Then the India overland became available a week later, which @Jim Avery recommended, so we purchased that for $2.5K pp on the CC.  When we diverted to Africa, we decided to cancel the India Overland and get a refund.  There were multiple pages of people on the waiting list, so it was easy to fill our slot and they paid Viking $5K cash to take our place.  Then our refund showed up on the TV as $5K non-refundable credit.  We paid the full amount via CC pre cruise.  We went down stairs to customer service, and they agreed that should’ve been refunded to the credit card or as refundable credit to the account.  After a week of constantly checking with them on the status (and having to re-explain the entire situation every time) they finally said they were unable to change it onboard and that they referred it back to LA.  We called LA last night at 9pm (8:30am pacific time) and the condescending lady could not explain how refunds are handled.  She changed the rules several times during the conversation when her arguments contradicted what Viking had already done.  We did receive some refundable credits onboard for excursions that were canceled that were purchased pre cruise with non-refundable credits.  We also received a direct payment to the CC a couple of weeks ago after Viking canceled the Europe excursions.  Those payments were $1Kpp so it didn’t account for the $6K total we put on the CC.  We even said that we would accept partial payment to the CC (to cover our actual CC expenditures and taking into account the refunds they sent) and the rest non-refundable - which is the most fair for each party.  NOT A CHANCE was their answer.  So we now have $7100 in non-refundable credit and 2 months left with nothing left for us to spend it on.  Viking not only keeps our $5K (actually effectively half that with the other refunds) but also got an extra $5K from the folks who took our place.  Anyone else on board getting ripped off?  Andy, I can see why you went hardline against the LA folks and every minute we think about this grow the same way.  We have 4 other cruises scheduled with Viking (including the longitudinal WC) totaling over $150K that we are now about cancel and go with another cruise line because of this and especially the condescending way we were talked to by the LA office.  Is the WC help desk still open and could they help or are we stuck working with LA?  Oh, and when I asked who do we escalate this to, like her supervisor, she said that they were all equal and didn’t have anyone higher to escalate to.  PLEASE HELP!  Poor Chris, our Explorers lounge bar keep, for having to listen to this and having to restock the Makers Mark.

Hi Pappri - if you paid a bulk of it on your CC, which they won’t refund, can you not contact your CC provider who should fight this battle for you - I know in the UK if we have issues with a company & have paid by CC they will take up the issue for you.

50 minutes ago, molymoo said:

A lot depends on the cruise.  We have been on 10 VO cruises and three were in PJS's (upgrades courtesy of Viking) and generally use their laundry service for everything except "personal" items.  We have often had difficulty getting washers/dryers ... especially on sea days.  Generally folks are polite and patient but there are always a few that will "dump" your stuff if you aren't back immediately.  On one cruise we witnessed a "gentleman" go on a tirade about how the washers/dryers were to be used.  He insisted that if you are using washer #1 then Dryer #1 was "yours" and no one had any business using it.  A woman who had washed her load in washer #4 placed her load in dryer #1 which according to him was "his".  When his wash was done he opened dryer #1, dumped her wet clothes on the floor and stated that "that should teach her to follow the rules".  Takes all kinds!

Shocking - obviously his rules!! I personally wouldn’t have a problem with someone removing clothes from the washer/driers and placing them in the provided baskets if the cycle is finished & machine is needed - but definitely would if they’d been thrown on the floor!!!😤

14 hours ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

There must be more than one Mexican menu?  We had it on Venus 2 weeks ago, appears to be different.   I cannot find my menu, but if I do will post.

I agree, we also had it 2 weeks or so ago on Saturn and it was my least favourite menu we’ve had in Chefs Table 😏

On 2/24/2024 at 8:15 PM, Hockeyump said:

'Someone said'.  I'm not a Viking cheerleader but I would like to see a copy of  this letter before making assumptions.

We’re on Viking Homelands, May ‘25 and we’ve been advised by letter (via our TA) that the port has changed to Tallin from Mariehamn.

We have very recently returned from our 3rd Viking Ocean cruise and would like to give a brief summary of our impressions.

Firstly the Pros:-

We had been on Saturn last September and it was exactly as we remembered it. Felt a little like ‘coming home’, although I know that Viking ships are all exactly the same. Ship is beautiful and attention to detail, especially upkeep from housekeeping is second to none.

All Staff are exceptional in regards to service, courtesy and friendliness - it was really nice to see some crew who we met last September and who remembered us. Maitre D’ and waiters in Restaurant were excellent.

In our opinion the food in the Restaurant was better this cruise than on our previous cruises - not that it had been bad before - but it seemed as if they’d ‘upped their game’. There was a new Executive Chef and a new menu.  On our last cruise we ate 3 times in Chefs Table and twice in Manfredi’s - this time we only used them once each as we enjoyed the restaurant so much. Last cruise I’d had a problem with fish being over cooked on a few occasions - this cruise every time was perfect.

Whilst we don’t tend to use the theatre much we do like to sit and listen to the classical duo/artist, pianist, guitarist/singer and often the Viking Band in Torshavn. This cruise we felt was the best we’ve seen especially the classical duo Pablo and Zsofia (violinist and classical guitarist). They were so talented.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the good weather for a lot of the cruise - this was a real bonus in February and the roof was even opened on a couple of occasions on pool deck during lunch.

Loved a lot of the Ports even though we’d been to a lot of them before and most of the included tours were OK.  The walking tour of Naples was really good and we really enjoyed the paid for tour of Lucca. We ditched Venice tour as it poured and we didn’t fancy being there for hours getting soaked, so a bit of a disappointment there although we have visited before.

Now for the Cons.:-

Dress Code or lack of it!! I’ve never, in over 20 cruises, seen such a lack of dress code in restaurants on board a ship. I mentioned it to the Maitre D’ and was told that ‘Americans don’t like to dress up and as long as the jeans aren’t ripped they are allowed in’. It wasn’t just jeans. I’m certainly not advocating formal attire for Viking, but as I stated in another post, one night I saw 3 women all very casual, exiting Manfredi’s after dinner and one had on baggy joggers tucked into UGG boots. To say a lot of people were very casual is an understatement - what is the point of a dress code if it’s not being enforced. It is a slippery slope to allowing shorts & swim wear in.

We and others we spoke to, felt that the ship was very loud and noisy, more so than the other Viking cruises we’ve been on. Especially around the bar areas - there seemed to be people shouting & talking very loud and, if the guitarist or classical duo was performing their voices were raised even more so that it was difficult to hear the entertainment. So rude. At times we just left Torshavn or Explorers lounge.  Restaurant was also very loud - people can’t seem to talk in a normal voice and, I know I’m probably going to be lambasted for this, but the voices were always American. There seemed to be a different mix of ages on this cruise and lots of first time cruisers. I don’t know if it was to do with the 4 separate weeks/legs of this cruise - lots of people got off in Rome after just a week. I had heard that there were late offers for separate legs of this cruise so maybe that is related to dress & noise.

All in all we had a great time and, as we’re going on Viking Homelands in May ‘25, we can only hope that Viking can sort out the niggles otherwise don’t know if we’ll be booking another. Fingers crossed🤞

It took us less than an hour in the coach from the ship at Chioggia to Marco Polo - they estimate around 1 hour 10 min. but traffic was good on Wednesday so it took less. You’ll have to allow however for collecting your luggage & getting it on the transfer coach. I think you should be onboard by 6 - 6.30 if flight is on time - you may not have your luggage delivered to your stateroom by then though.

On 2/28/2024 at 8:27 AM, CCWineLover said:

Interesting enough,  this was highlighted in this morning’s Viking Daily (we are on Saturn in Venice (Chioggia).  Titled DRESS CODE REMINDER.  
There apparently have been a number of complaints on our last segment about Vikings lack of enforcement.  We shall see.  Some people don’t read and some don’t care.

I’m going to post a précis of our cruise when I get myself sorted i.e. unpacked, laundry etc. but felt I had to jump in here in response to Kent’s post.  We did the Barcelona to Venice legs of Kent’s cruise and I really don’t think there was any enforcement of dress code around the ship.  One evening I saw 3 women leaving Manfredi’s all ‘dressed’ very casually to say the least.  One of the women had on baggy jogging bottoms tucked into UGG boots and what I can only describe as a utility coat with lots of pockets that you’d wear to go fishing - they would have looked under dressed for the World Cafe!!  There was a guy very casually dressed who always seemed to wear a knitted cap/hat in the restaurant.  I also saw a man with his bath robe on (no trousers) standing at the bar in the Living Room, it was quite busy, talking to others for at least 20 mins. I could go on and on!!

It depends greatly on what & how much you drink. To my great dismay I no longer am able to drink wine because it doesn’t agree with me, however, cocktails, G&T’s, Mocktails etc. I’m ok with so the package for me is ideal.

14 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I must be the only one who likes Chef's Table and enjoys eating there even with allergies. 

We really like Chefs Table - ate there 3/4 times (can’t remember which) on last 15 day cruise. Not so keen on Manfredi’s.

44 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Yes and if it's the same as Australia, the deposit you pay isn't refundable. Ours isn't quite that high but it's a chunk. 

Yes - 25% - none of it is refundable, so we need to be very, very certain if we’re booking a cruise 18 months out🤔

46 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

So far nothing special.  By that I mean one sea day pretty much runs into the next.  Were more stops originally planned in Hawaii as well as the South Pacific.  No real reasons given for changes (many of which changed prior to embarkation in LA) nor any compensatory stops or paper.  Food is better since I and others complained, especially about the very watery soups.  Soups much better.  Plenty of the usual daily activities  and lots of speculation as to future tracks around Africa.  That will of course be shared when it happens.  🥃

 

 

Oh dear - sorry about the many changes, hopefully it’s a little more positive with improved food. I’d be less than happy however if I’d spent all that money on a world cruise.

7 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

It’s a miracle!!! After lots of bar time on Viking, and always asking, when they pass out the foo-foo canapés, for pretzels or potato chips they delivered these baskets around the bar. Pretzels, potato chips, cheetos, tortilla chips and more.👍

How the rest of the cruise now Jim - in particular the standard of food in restaurants & other glitches?