Mr Beans

For us it seemed to be a matter of who the rep was.  In Nice the guy was great, restaurant recommendations that were spot on, help with understanding local transportation especially since we encountered a transit strike.  In Budapest there was little assistance other than accepting our luggage to transfer to the ship so we could spend our day sight seeing.  On our upcoming cruise we booked on our own, the Viking price seemed extremely high for a short bus trip overview, a hotel that was farther out than what we were able to book and the trip to the airport should be a minimal charge. 

Last January we had the same issue but hadn't used Viking transfer  I had written to them and had an email that we could stay on board or they would hold our luggage.  When I asked on board, they said NO.  They put people who had paid transfers in a hospitality suite at the Sheraton across the street. They offered us that option only if we would pay the $100 for a transfer.   We used the Sheraton to hold our luggage and just tipped appropriately.  Be aware that if your departure day is a Monday, alot of the restaurants will be closed

Not sure if this is too late for you, we did this trip last January.  First days included trip had 1 hour at a beach, I wish we had signed up for the early morning trip and just stayed for beach time and took a taxi back. The only island that had a beach close to the port was St Martin, we took the water taxi over and rented chairs.  There were taxi's at all the ports.  I used the specific island info on Cruise Critic to figure out best beaches for taking a cab to.  We did a tour in St Lucia with Cosol tours that gave us an hour of beach time.  We also just took advantage of the pool on the ship for some of the afternoons

15 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

We are sailing out of NYC this October. We booked independently at The Michaelangelo. (I asked on CC ports of call for hotel recommendations as there are just so many, and this one was mentioned several times).  We did not want to stay directly in Times Square, but within walking distance. It is rated 5*, and in March they had a good promotion, so we booked it for two nights. We did find that hotel prices in October were pretty high, but we aren’t paying close to $900/night. 

Michaelangelo is one of my favorite hotels in NYC and very convenient for whatever you want to do

I was on Viking Sea in Jan and walked the deck several mornings, only saw 2 people jogging.  Agree with others, they are hosing the deck and there are slippery spots and the blind corners so joggers would probably prefer the treadmills.  

We were on the Sea during the January outbreak.  It was small and I thought Viking did an excellent job - crew worked through the night, changes were made immediately (spa and pool closed, buffet was no longer self serve, crew was at the door to restaurants ensuring people washed their hands before entering, menus and things like salt and pepper shakers were removed from the tables - clearly they have a process that gets followed).  All we saw for several days were crew members walking around cleaning railings, elevator buttons, etc.

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Thank you so much for your local knowledge!  We are boarding the Viking SEA in San Juan on Feb 17.  Nice to know that we can rest easy.   As to location, I just found this today on Marine Traffic web site, showing how close the Viking SEA is docked right today Feb 8th, ahead of its next cruise.  We look to be very close to the Old Town.   As a local, do you know if the Fort will be closed?  I heard it might due to Government shutdown Feb 15 (anticipated). 

We were there in mid January during the last shutdown and the forts were open

Vineyard View -  We stayed in Philipsburg mainly because there were a number of ships in port that day.  We took a water taxi to the beach area and did a fairly quick walk around on Front St.  Most of the shopping is jewelry and the usual stuff.  We did not check out the restaurants - I hadn't seen any during my initial research that I wanted to go to.  Would have liked to have gone over to the french side to eat but wasn't sure how much would actually be open

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Thank you for the great comments Mr Beans.   Wife and I are doing this cruise in 10 days and a little apprehensive - as I've heard the port excursions are not so good.  We do have a PV room so glad you enjoyed that.  And we booked the St Kitts train which now I wish we had not then.  The Catamaran tours filled up fast.  As for taking private tours, did you have any concern that you wouldn't make it back to the ship in time? 

We went on the Viking SKY Homelands cruise last May and absolutely loved it!  Per others comments - we never had ANY lines to eat anywhere.  Sometimes one side of the World Cafe was full and the other side was empty (go figure!).  We also didn't get advance reservations for the specialty restaurants, but found many people must have cancelled during the cruise because they opened up quite a bit later! 

We are just hoping that the wonderful experience we had in the Baltics is repeated!

The train wasn't awful - just alittle more low key than I was expecting, basically a ride through the countryside, with entertainment and rum drinks.  In St Lucia we used Cosol, yes I was concerned about getting back, many of these companies guarantee to be back and ask for your ship info prior, I knew it was to be about a 6 hour tour but obviously we went much longer, picked up at 8:20 and we got back a little before 4pm.  St Thomas & St Martin were the 2 ports with lots of shopping and restaurants, all others were pretty small.

3 hours ago, lextrvlr said:

Thanks Mr. Beans for the informative post. We are taking our first VO cruise this summer. Yo do cause me concern when you say, " a couple of times in World Cafe where we had to circle a couple of times to get a table." Please tell me if you had to wait for tables in the Restaurant also and if there was a problem with queues elsewhere.

Many thanks.

Once was during the Seafood Buffet night which was pretty popular, also we tend to eat around 7ish.  Never had to wait in the dining room .  

Our first ocean cruise but have done VR previously.  Thanks so much to those who contribute to the boards on Cruise Critic as I felt very prepared in terms of expectations.  Ship was very lovely and the staff was absolutely amazing.  How these folks remember peoples names, drink preferences, etc is beyond me.  Was worried that 900 guests was too big but we never really saw crowds except a couple of times in World Cafe where we had to circle a couple of times to get a table.   Agree with others that have posted that some of the included excursions were not all that great especially compared to what we've experienced on river cruises.  We did a combination of included, a couple of optional and just our own thing.  Some of the port areas were somewhat disappointing in that you would need to take a taxi to get somewhere for other than shopping.  We enjoyed the caves in Barbados, kind of wished I had skipped the train in St Kitts and done Nevis instead as people raved about it.  We did a private tour in St Lucia which was wonderful.  We did a beach day in St Martin.  In retrospect I wish I had booked one of the catamaran tours.  Food was mostly pretty good although I thought there were a few things that could have been better - more spice or flavor to shrimp dishes, lobster dinner was abit overcooked, some beef not so tender - I did think their NY strip was much better than their rib eye.  We ate at both specialty restaurants twice and enjoyed them both.  Loved room service for breakfast.  There was a small outbreak of norovirus during the cruise which the staff/crew handled amazingly well and were able to contain quickly although there was obviously some impact to the guests.  We had a PV which was lovely so if we do ocean again I'm now probably spoiled and won't want to downsize.  All in all a very good way to experience VO and a smaller cruise experience, great weather, beautiful islands, met some wonderful people and were totally spoiled by the staff.

We booked a PV3 and got a guaranteed room.  We are getting a PV1, deck 6, so, same room but it sells for a higher price and I guess the difference is location.

Don't know specifically about boarding a ship but family visiting us for holidays were told at airport to expect TSA delays up to 3 hours at airports

Last year there was a Valentines special which included free air and free beverage package for several cruises, I think you needed to book for a cruise that left no later than early June, which we took advantage of for the Romantic Danube

My husband does change the time on his pump and he's usually ok with that because he's eating every 4 to 5 hours (except at night hence the snack). You should probably talk with the dr about any specific concerns about potential dosage changes.   I would also try to make sure you pack an extra bottle of insulin, I've known people who have dropped and broken a bottle on vacation.  He also will sometimes adjust his amount of insulin and take a little less if he knows he's going to be doing physical work (or for a trip, extra walking).  I also pack snacks and food for the airport and plane because there are often delays or times when he just needs something.

We travel with glucose tablets, gel and glucagon shots.  I always have at least one of these  with me on our excursions including maybe a small bottle of coke and some candy.  I will also grab an apple or some other fruit from the breakfast buffet and keep it with us. For river cruises I also have made sure we had some fruit, candy and soda in the cabin since he generally has a snack before bed or if there was a low sugar problem during the night.  Not as concerned about the food on the ocean trip coming up since they serve snacks, there's 24 hour room service and there's a stocked fridge in the room.    The time changes and excursions can mess up my husbands numbers and I've had to deal with low blood sugar more than I care to think about

It's been a few years since we stayed here but we really liked it.  Great location for the beach, literally out the door compared to some of the larger hotels. Very close walking distance to bigger hotels for dinner and casino.  Was looking to return last year but went to another island due to hurricane issues

Puerto Rico cabs use a flat fee by zone and there is also Uber (although I don't think they can pick up at the airport).  I believe the fare from the airport to the cruise terminal is $25 or less per ride.  We are doing a cruise which starts and leaves in San Juan and we did our own air rather than use Viking so that we could get non stop flights from Ct.  If we had used Viking I'm pretty sure it would have been multiple flights both ways so we just booked on our own and used miles

It is almost time for me to choose excursions for a Jan trip.  My understanding is that some of the included excursions are better than others, we have a couple of optionals in mind and will also plan on at least 2 or 3 days to hit a beach. Considering an island tour in  What I'm looking for feedback on is this:  Any recommendations for which included tours/islands to take vs skip when planning our beach days.  I've read that after a while these island overviews all seem to blend together.  We've been to San Juan and St Martin before so St Martin will definitely be a beach outing.  Considering a private tour in St Lucia but we dock at 8am and the tour meets at 8:20, not sure if we'd make it in time.  Thanks for any advice