Iloveketo

You sound like us 4 cruises and still haven’t seen the Beatles, ABBA or Torshavn. We love the live music 🎶 in the Explorers Lounge, during tea 🫖 and especially before dinner in the living room! We happen to love classical music and didn’t feel like it was the same thing again and again. The lectures are where I feel Viking excels! We enjoyed talking to lecturers while swimming, dining and on excursions. They were so friendly and approachable. I agree while Viking is exactly what we like… it is not for everyone.

Two things surprised me about your review. The first that you needed more area to hang things. We travel carry on only, so that probably accounts for our difference of opinion. Second we have been on 4 Viking cruises and they cabin attendants always stop by first thing to introduce themselves and ask if we needed anything. I always need more hangers. They also go over everything in the cabin, such as the heated floors and what we want in the fridge. So hopefully you will try Viking again and get introduced.

I can’t even imagine Viking trying to pick people up at various hotels. On our French Polynesian cruise in January Viking didn’t offer a pre-extension with them or we would definitely have taken it. We went to LA a day early, because we were very nervous about cancelled flights. The address given to us by Viking took us past the ship. Fortunately, our cab driver and my husband saw the ship and figured out how to get back to it . Whenever possible we book the pre-extension with Viking. Sure we can do it on our own, but we like letting Viking take care of us.

Thanks!

Even with using Viking air, we had to find our own way to the port, because we flew in a day early before our cruise to French Polynesia in January. If we end up booking our own flights we wouldn’t be flying in early before our Viking pre or staying past our post with Viking. So, it seems like getting transfers from them might be possible… Thanks everyone!

Can’t get anything other than economy flights though Viking air, which can’t be upgraded. Looking into booking our own flights. Has anyone done this and paid for transfers though Viking?

The new itinerary map on the Viking website looks really nice. At least to me! https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/baltic/in-search-of-the-northern-lights/index.html

The shore excursions vary so much. On our first cruise in January of 2020, the included excursion was a wonderful visit to a Mayan ruin in Belize. We loved learning about and seeing it. On our 33 cruise to French Polynesia in January they had such a diverse amount of lectures that many of us joked that we should be getting graduate level credits for attending. Another nice thing was you ran into these lecturers in the pool, on excursions, at tea, at dinner on the aquavit terrace, etc. It was incredible! One thing about the optional excursions, if you book Deluxe Veranda or Veranda they might be SOLD OUT by the time you can book. This happened to us on our Iconic Mediterranean cruise this November. It was made worse because some people started the cruise farther east in the Mediterranean about a week earlier. So many things are done by cabin category. So, check out what you get for each category. We prefer to eat when we want and by ourselves. This is so easy to do on an Ocean ship. I hope this helps somewhat. We love Viking and feel that they try extremely hard to make the best of any situation.

I like the smaller size of cabin as I can see the TV better while in bed. I love how everyone is basically treated the same once on the ship. I don’t think I would enjoy being on a ship with a “caste” system.

https://www.cdc.gov/yellowfever/maps/south_america.html We hope to get it for our Panama Canal and Central American cruise in January (having trouble getting an appointment at Passport Health). We also plan to book a cruise from Chile to Barcelona for February/March of 2024. So, since South America and Africa are high risk why not get it now.

iPhones do take good photos! My husband is my photographer, so I don’t have too. 😆 I do like having a few photos to look back on after the cruise. BTW, what does YMMV mean?

We are doing the Panama Canal and Central America cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale on January 4 - 18.

I don’t think there is a problem with any ports before Panama. I checked on the CDC website and I am curious if we will have a problem in Jamaica…

I LOVED 🥰 your response! I take very few photos… but I have wonderful memories! We had a GoPro when we traveled with our Waverunner and ended up giving it to my son (the GoPro NOT the Waverunner!), because we found we were concentrating more on the filming than the adventure!

Not sure if we can even get an appointment for the typhoid vaccination our doctor suggested. I called and Passport Health didn’t have anything available for October and nothing scheduled for late November early December. We are planning to book South America and the continue on to Africa and eventually Barcelona. So, we will probably get whatever vaccinations we can since it will be good for all 3 cruises.

We are on the Panama Canal and Central America cruise, so we should be ok. We are only in Mexico and Belize before Roatan. This is what I had found regarding Honduras requirements. Not from Viking: Vaccines If you’re traveling from Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago or Venezuela, you must first get vaccinated against yellow fever. Also if you’re coming from Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabón, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, Sudán, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe or Togo.

Yellow fever vaccination needed for anyone to get off the ship in Roatan, Honduras? I thought it was only if you were traveling from a country where it is prevalent. So everyone traveling from the US is now required to have a yellow fever vaccination?

Thanks for your critique. We are hoping to book this late in February of 2024 and then continue onto Barcelona. It sounds like you enjoyed it even with the issues. We have taken 2 Ocean cruises since 2020. One in December in the Caribbean and to French Polynesia in January. Some things were changed or missed, but we still had a wonderful time on both!

I agree! Did you get to do the sub? We didn’t see much in Georgian Bay, but it was still quite an experience. I slipped in the little pool and messed up my knee so we missed out our kayak experience. We loved the special operations boat. So glad we were able to experience the ship! Enjoy the Octantis!

If you are a steak 🥩 lover, try a cruise on one of the Vikings Expedition ships! The steaks available on a daily basis at the World Cafe were incredible! Better than Manfredi’s!

Wow! Most be a permanent change…

So glad you decided not to cancel! We have never stayed in anything above a Penthouse Veranda and love Viking! The Explorer Suites look incredible! Nice perks too, like free laundry service and early booking of excursions and reservations for dining. Enjoy!

In Search Of The Northern Lights London (Tilbury) to Bergen Booking Number: 6414050 Mr Lawrence Luke Ms Margaret Hansen 06OCT2022 Dear Viking Guest, Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming In Search Of The Northern Lights voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of a change in your itinerary. It has unfortunately become necessary to alter your itinerary due to a number of variables. We have explored the available options to provide you with the best possible experience during your journey. We apologize for any disappointment this change may cause; however, we trust you will find the alternative arrangements enjoyable. We will no longer visit Bodø, Norway and Stavanger, Norway, and will instead visit Amsterdam and have an extra day at sea. We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause; however, we trust you will find the alternative arrangements enjoyable. Please note, we are preparing an updated shore excursion program and you will have the opportunity to book shore excursions in Amsterdam along with your other destinations. If you have booked any optional shore excursions in Bodø and Stavanger, they will be credited to the original form of payment within 21 business days. Your updated itinerary can be found below: Day Original Itinerary Revised Itinerary Day 1 London (Tilbury), United Kingdom London (Tilbury), United Kingdom Day 2 Sail the North Sea Amsterdam (Ijmuiden), Netherlands Day 3 Stavanger, Norway Sail the Norwegian Sea Day 4 Sail the Norwegian Sea Scenic sailing: Norwegian Inside Passage Day 5 Bodø, Norway Narvik, Norway Day 6 Tromsø, Norway Tromsø, Norway Day 7 Tromsø, Norway Tromsø, Norway Day 8 Alta, Norway Alta, Norway Day 9 Alta, Norway Alta, Norway Day 10 Narvik, Norway Scenic sailing: Norwegian Inside Passage Day 11 Sail the Norwegian Sea Scenic sailing: Norwegian Inside Passage Day 12 Bergen, Norway Bergen, Norway Day 13 Bergen, Norway Bergen, Norway To see your updated itinerary in full, please visit MyVikingJourney.com. Should you have any questions regarding this update before your departure, please contact your Travel Advisor or Viking at 1-855-300-3970, Sunday - Saturday, 5:00 AM to 7:00 PM, PT. We look forward to welcoming you on board and wish you a wonderful journey. Sincerely, Viking

I like the steak at Manfredi’s and my husband liked the chicken parmigiana, but we both prefer the Chef’s table. We also prefer the buffet to the Restaurant. I thought we were the only ones to feel this way! On the Octantis the World Cafe serves incredible steaks with the option of lobster tail with it. So, we canceled our reservation to Manfredi’s and never regretted it!

No! We prefer the Chef’s table to Manfredi’s. We didn’t think we would, but we loved it. I do agree that the ribeye is excellent at Manfredi’s, but I end up eating too much bread waiting for my steak and then don’t enjoy it. Having a variety of dining options is nice!