Jmoondance

14 hours ago, Rally said:

The vast majority of our fellow travelors on this planet never can even conceive of leisure cruising.  Lets be kind to them and us. Bon voyage friends. 

Thanks for posting your heart felt journey! and reminding us importance of kindness.

Take great care.

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

Beautiful sailaway from madeira....not a cloud in the sky....

Enjoy the beautiful weather!

7 hours ago, Orator said:

Every cruise is different even on the same ship. Crew changes and protein delivered to the ship might lead to a different experience. The Head Chef makes a difference. The Officers, especially the Captain do make a difference. The CD makes a difference. 

But cruise line as whole, they only get a one chance to impress their paying pax.

One and done might sound harsh but after spending many thousands $ with many hours of planning left with dispointment why give them a another chance .

Perception to reality is two different things.

I  gathers. 

20 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

you need a thick skin to post on CC 😃🍷

Thanks, I learned that from Viking  CC.🙂

On 3/15/2023 at 6:21 PM, The Other Tom said:

Not everyone did that.  

That in my case also.

On 3/15/2023 at 4:30 AM, tobique33040 said:

  Grass is always greener, eh?

Why not think otherwise!

I'm for one always looking for better ,suitable experience for my dollar. 

1 hour ago, loriva said:

 

I think @millybessmay have answered my question on this but will ask anyway.  We have only sailed with Viking River, not VO--but will do our first cruise with the latter in May.  On VR we had the SSBP and they presented us with a list of bottles of wine every night.  We selected the one we wanted (I believe the price limit was up to $75) and they opened it and poured us glasses.  Never a charge that I'm aware of.

 

Is this a difference between Viking River and Ocean?  Or could it be the size of our group?  We were six at a table, so finished off each new bottle at the meal.

Don't have an answer, never been on Viking River.

25 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

And I assume that the best wine is by the bottle not by the glass  🤔 and as on every other cruise line they will save the bottle from one meal to another. 

Yes.

1 hour ago, tocruiseguy said:

Celebrity also doesn't include the "fancy" coffees like Latte's "free" but even so, thats an awful lot of wine and beer at supper.  I would have to detox after our upcoming 27 day Viking cruise to drink enough for the equivalent of $135 a day😂 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/things-to-do-onboard/onboard-packages/beverage-packages/compare-packages

There is an exception. Even if you have SSP, they will charge for bottles of wine or hard liquor.

There  is no bill to settle before you depart the ship if you purchase the SSP.

Saw many pax questioning their on board accounts while on jthe ship.

5 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Cost effectiveness has nothing to do with access to the full beverage menu on Viking. Everyone can order any wine or drink at any time - the SSBP is just one of the ways to pay for them. 🍺🥌

Of course!

One must answer what is best for them.

We all have to pay what we owe.

On 3/2/2023 at 4:37 PM, SJD117 said:

You had the right to “upgrade” your wines even without the SSP, by ordering your preferred selections and paying for them a la carte. This is a common misunderstanding about the package — that it’s the only way to get better quality. Not true.

Depends on how many drinks you consume, if you enjoy cocktail or two with fellow pax after hours, or before the dinner it might be cost offective to have SSP.

17 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

I respect your right to voice your opinion, in the hope that you respect my right to say that your last paragraph is, in my opinion, nonsensical.

Thanks!

I would like to add services were good all-around, but we never had subpar service problems with other cruise lines we have been on.

My impression with  Viking cruises was not much different than other lines. 

It was our first, we were on 18 days on Chilean fjord in Jan,2023.

They are better with logistics wise in our impression. 

Thoughts Quality of foods are little better than mass cruises line but lack of taste. 

Specialty restaurants were good but nothing exceptional.

Entertainment was very subdued, not much going on during the day, except if you like to play cards game or bean bag toss.

Though,we met some great pax, they were well traveled and interesting to have a conversation. 

Our biggest disappointment was lack of lectures compared our days on the ship and most was Port talk .

Thinking Man's cruise they were advocate wasn't!

10 hours ago, icft said:

I just found it unusual for one to be wearing the same shirt in a profile pic as in a random pic from a cruise. Kind of a "what are the chances?" thing.

 

I bet the profile pic was from about the same time at the posted pic but I still find it mildly amusing. Then again I have been told my sense of humor can be strange and your reaction leads me to believe I will be the only one to get a chuckle out of the rare actually occuring.

You were right it was amusing!😄

5 hours ago, icft said:

@kwokpot I looked at your profile pic and your pic in post #9 above. Favorite shirt? 😁

 

I like it though.

What is this all about?😳

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival Pride may not offer specialty restaurants dedicated for suite guests, but Guy's burgers beat any burger I've eaten on Celebrity.

 

Fresh off of a Celebrity cruise, I continue to be disappointed in the lack of venues open when I'm hungry.

 

Celebrity does offer tablecloths in the MDR and the every night available choices in a Celebrity MDR are better, IMO. Specifically escargot and French Onion soup. The steak is better than what Carnival offers, although I have found the quality of the steak in the MDR has steadily declined.

 

Celebrity adding a charge for room service outside of continental breakfast narrows the gap.

 

I rarely do buffets, but was forced to a few times on Infinity. While there are a number of stations crammed into the buffet area, many offered nothing I was interested in. I also couldn't find chocolate deserts like chocolate cake. Celebrity does have something I would describe as chocolate mousse with a little cake.

 

If Carnival offers an itinerary you like at an acceptable price, there really is no need to look farther.

Bingo!

All the cruise line is same as profits driven. 

Enjoy what's given to you, if it's not move on.

6 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

Yes, we spent a few days in Rome prior to our last cruise in a wonderful boutique hotel, and did the math and saw that we could spend a few weeks in Italy for far less than that cruise would cost....still have great food, wine, (probably a bit less than on a ship...😁) lodging and see more of the country.  Same for other areas in Europe.  Those kind of trips are sounding more and more appealing these day.

 

 

Yes,  we did the very same thing  last Oct. enjoyed it very much.

How about the TA cruise after the land travel on your own, they seems to be less pricey.

That way you can able to relax way back to US.

32 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

Am I getting picky? Perhaps. But its my money I am spending. I would  like to keep as much as I can. to spend in different ways.

 

 

Totally agree with your point!

Will stop cruising if it's not worthy of my time and money.

On 2/23/2023 at 8:19 PM, Cruzingmlt said:

Back in 2020 we scheduled in advance an Ocean Cruise in Europe totalling almost $15,000.  It included the trip insurance.   Covid broke out and was raging in the area and around the world.  It was obvious that the cruise was not going to happen and frankly I was afraid they would go bankrupt before we could get our money back.  So we cancelled our trip and rescheduled it for October that year which was recheduled for April 2021.  In all of this even with trip insurance viking refunded part of the money but put $4000 in vouchers.  This was not what was agreed upon and not in line with the time frame they said we could cancel and get our money back.    Now our vouchers are supposed to expire in a few days.   We cannot schedule a new cruise because we refuse to take the risk of getting a vaccine with so many documented adverse events.   Viking has not changed their policy on their vaccine policy.  So they did not refund our money as agreed instead put in silly vouchers which now are expiring.   Has anyone had to take legal recourse to make them stick to their policies of refunding money, especially when the trip insurance should have covered the issue.  We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

Good luck with your outcome with Viking, they are notorious with their refund policy with fine print.

Stay well,happy travels !

2 hours ago, Cruzingmlt said:

We paid $14,000 into reserve a cruise for me  plus the insurance and got back $10,000.   

 

 Op said clearly they paid 14000$ for the cruise fare plus insurance.

45 minutes ago, Dylan0474mac said:

. We can’t be mad at the crew for a s

hip they didn’t build. They did make a comment that beyond’s extra length and width may have played into the issue.  

 

besides the noise, everything else has been amazing with incredible service. 

Good to hear your kind, positive attitude!

Enjoy the rest of the cruise.