HHI Cruiser1

Viking will never change what you agreed to pay (even before final payment); unlike many other cruise lines which will provide some form of credit even after final payment (you can search CC for many examples in the other forums). Seems that once Viking has your money, it's a done deal as (again) Viking has your money. Just something to remember the next time you book a cruise. As others will point out (in different ways), just stop looking at Viking's advertisements and you'll be happier.

Quote - I definitely wish I had more in hard-copy format right now. NCL could claim that they see things differently. But they might have a hard time ignoring my wife's original return ticket (that went unused). I suggest the use of chat when need to document discussions as you can get a transcript of chat to produce as info to NCL or airline. I have done that with LATAM and it works as it stopped all the 'he said, she said, they said' circle. Good luck.

Sorry, no edit and spell check didn't help... 'you should NOT be at fault'.

Good luck. Since you can't change the ticket (only NCL or airline), then you should be at fault, but proving that is going to be hard. Either way, NCL should have received refund from airline for unused ticket. That should be easy to prove by requesting a ticket receipt from airline (it will show what went where - can be done online or call airline and say you need it for insurance claim).

Did you check your flights on AA prior to your departure? It would seem that all flights would have been visible for confirmation (flights, times, times, stops, layovers, names, etc.), ours have always been available.

Just tell next Viking caller to stop all calls and remove your info from their contact system. Works on credit card companies, should work on Viking.

Thanks. LauraS has discussed suggestion with me via CC email. Thanks for followup info and note.

Do you think that Cruise Critic should have a new forum for River Cruise Lines where all river cruise lines could have separate areas like ocean cruise lines do? Why or why not? Wouldn't this encourage more roll calls and sharing of passenger experiences for river cruise lines?

Gift Shop Manager, Internet Manager, Doctor, Jewelry Manager, Cruisenext Manager (several other managers) are all 3 strip NCL officers. HR & Training Manager is only a 2.5 strip NCL officer. When onboard, all vendors are assigned NCL titles and ranks (discussed this with Art Director during our dinner), each must fit into ship's hierarchy under Captain's command structure. Learned strip levels while on BTS tour.

Just had 'Dinner with Officers'. Officers can mean any 'stripped' officers including Cruise Next Manager, Internet Manager, and Art Director. We had dinner in MDR with Art Director (3 striped officer, only normally wears a suit).

I don't believe that any foreign flagged ships are 'required' to maintain any ADA regulations (example onboard are numerous and easy to find, like widths of halls and cabins, crew quarters, etc.), just like no OSHA or Min Hourly Wage Rates. So cruise lines just need to adopt what airlines have done, ask about formal training and name of training facility. Then say no, just like airlines have done to stop ponies . Yep, next there will be ponies onboard, kicking and running the halls. Maybe there will be pony rides on pool deck.

True that these are the 2 ADA approved questions from ADA FAQ; however, US DOT goes further to ask: Name of Animal Trainer or Training Organization. This simple question is what has stopped most of the 'service animal' pets on planes. You can review entire form here by searching for :U.S. DOT Service Animal Air Transportation Form.pdf. Seems that cruise lines need to require something similar as approved by US DOT.

Viking recently changed my cruise dropping several important ports prior to final payment date. Viking told me to rebook if I didn't like new itinerary. So I attempted to rebook; however, Viking would not honor several old vouchers which had been applied years back at booking (include vouchers for actual cash paid to Viking). Now it appears that these vouchers are worthless even though Viking changed cruise itinerary. It's like ordering a filet at Manfredi's and being served Viking Burger, both are good, but it's not what you ordered - do you just eat it and act as nothing happened or ask for a filet again? Yes I know that Viking can do whatever they want to ports, etc. by contract but how can Viking ethically just keep actual cash paid when Viking changed. Has anyone actually gotten Viking to honor a voucher outside of voucher window (OBC, cash, etc.)?

Ok, today I had my booked onboard cruise changed to include OLife Ultimate. My TA stated that Oceania agent could not 'stack' my onboard booking OBC nor my 20th Anniversary OBC with OLife Ultimate. So it does not appear you can have both. If anyone has added OLife Ultimate and kept either onboard booking OBC or 20th Anniversary OBC, please respond as I'm certain others and myself would like examples to provide Oceania agents.

Has Viking dropped any of your ports yet? Many Viking cruises during this time have several changes to their itinerary.

Here's NCLH website with full info and links to forms and FAQs (see links at bottom). https://www.nclhltd.com/investors

Doesn't matter what O does with port times if O excursions are not adjusted/reduced/dropped. Out of 4 ports so far on this O cruise, delayed twice due to late returning O excursions. O excursions which travel far away from port are impacted by traffic and have been planned to allowed adequate time at each site so passengers don't feel rushed. Once O adjusts or drops this longer O excursions, maybe reduced port times can be met. Of course, passengers may not like the reduced O excursions, or of course, the O excursions can burn a lot of fuel to go faster returning to port (just more carbon footprint for O).

After reviewing updated itinerary, finally realized that changes reduced ports from 12 to 10 and overnight in Edinburgh will cost more since Viking only allows 1 included excursion per port - all at the same cruise price for a complete 12 port BIE cruise. Yes, you can tell I'm not happy with how Viking is handling this change of ports. Viking Customer Service has no ideal why ports were changed (only repeats email wording). But Viking will sell all the cabins as a complete BIE. Yes, you can tell I'm not happy with how Viking is handling this change of ports. Thanks for your comments and statements........

NCLH has already installed Star Link on at least one NCL ship (can't remember which one). In fact, testing was in progress and passengers reported greatly improved internet speeds. Pictures were posted on Star Link antennas. Search NCL forum for info.

Reducing port times doesn't work well if ship excursions lengths are not adjusted. Recently on our current cruise, 2 port that had reduced times had to wait until original time for ship excursions to return. So it doesn't work well if everything isn't planned properly. Expect that ship excursions may need to be reduced or dropped if traveling a long distance from port.

Thanks for replies so far, but really hoping for explanation . Having sailed Viking several times, I can agree that Viking does a great job for their passengers and normally compensates passengers fairly in many different ways (kindness, OBC, etc.) for issues/problems; however, in this case Viking has not clearly stated why Belfast was dropped. Likewise, many have posted how great Belfast is/were on their BIE, but some on these cruises may have really wanted to see Belfast on their BIE and are left without explanation. Many comments/posts clearly indicated that Belfast appears to be a much better port than those substituted.

Recently Viking sent out emails to BIE cruisers stating that Belfast was dropped and a 'sea day' was added. Little information was provided as to reason why - emial made statements like "necessary due to a number of variables.....due to operational changes" - whatever that means. Does anyone know why Viking dropped Belfast as it's a significant port on this itinerary with many great excursions? Also, Viking greatly undervalued stated compensation for dropping Belfast and adding another great 'sea day'. While I know they can do whatever they want per contract, it seems they think no one will care that they dropped Belfast, feels like passengers are being taken for granted maybe.

I asked today on Insignia and was told Oceania as a whole has disabled all ports (hdmi, etc.) and casting/bluetooth to all onboard televisions due to security concerns. I asked why for one-way hdmi and got same answer. Televisions are really just large monitors with everything streaming thru ethernet port and television is programmed to disable all other ports and remote control commands. I suggest we comment on surveys about lack of hdmi port; maybe survey comments will help future cruisers.

Never heard that excuse - 'optimize arrival and departure times' - (i.e. - going slow to burn less?). Seems like ALL Oceania arrival and departure times would also be impacted by this new direction, but haven't read any posts about other ships being late or early impacting excursion as published by Oceania.

Previous NCL Free At Sea WiFi was for only Guest 1; however, now NCL Free At Sea WiFi includes Guests 1 and 2. So it would depend on which Free At Sea came with your booking. I suspect that its from the current Free At Sea since you posted wording 'guests 1 and 2', and if so, both would be connections. You'll need to read your Free At Sea offers closely or call NCL for clarification.