Frisky070802

3 hours ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

We'd be right behind you! I'm so thankful for this review. This sounds like our worst nightmare. 

Same here!  It wasn't sounding so bad until the non-stop music thing was mentioned.  Nooooo!

On 2/21/2024 at 9:36 AM, duquephart said:

Once you know about them you know about them. But they are basically sprung upon first timers - in which case the price is not the price.

I knew in advance they weren't included.  It's easy to find out.  

8 hours ago, longterm said:

Which port did you have to skip? We're really hoping to get to see the Orkney and Shetland Islands, but my impression is that these 2 are probably more likely than most to be at risk of a port skip.

We had Orkney, Belfast, and ullapool swapped out well in advance. They subbed in Stornaway, which was washed out. 

21 hours ago, longterm said:

Question: I've been under the impression that June/July are better months for traversing the North Sea;  we're boarding the British Isles Explorer on July 4th. 

 

Am I correct, or is the North Sea in those summer months just as turbulent as other months?

 

(fingers crossed)

 

Thanks,

bob

 

 

We did the BIE last August, so not quite the same window but a datapoint.  Mild most of the time, rough enough one day to give the tender drivers conniptions, and rough enough another day to cancel a port.   Probably that was the day I almost fell in someone's lap in the theater :) 

We've only cruised once, but we were deck 6, toward the front, and really liked it.  It was close to the forward elevators and easy to get to lots of things like the lounge, the theater, and the laundry.  But, we have nothing to compare it to.  We'd booked the same room for another cruise, but then changed it it was already taken, so we'll be on the other side of the ship (still deck 6 forward).  Biggest difference, we think, is what is immediately above the room (lounge versus another cabin). 

11 hours ago, leishirsute said:

It appears Viking inaccurately expects people to have cellphones in order to get their cruise information after embarkation as they remove any trace of a booking on the myvikingjourney website after departure.  One would expect the info on the website to match the info on the phone app.  Is there any way to get my cruise info on a Windows laptop after embarkation?

MVJ is just a web page. It has nothing to do with being on a phone, as the info simply goes away when the cruise starts. I really don’t understand why. The times for excursions and such are available in the Viking Voyager app… maybe that’s what you’re asking for on a laptop?  (Edit: I see you replied to that effect and I missed it. I was responding more to others talking about MVJ. )
 

but if you can access email, just look at the cruise documents they emailed you. 

9 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Please explain your response. We found that depending on who was running it, it was good or not so good. The Viking Daily tells you who that will be.

I meant that someone who specifically asks about trivia may be used to "pub trivia" or even more interesting/challenging online trivia leagues.  We did trivia the first day it was offered, in the Star Theater, and it was vaguely entertaining, but after having done online/pub trivia for a few years, we chose to skip it the other time it was offered.  That's not to say I would never do it, just that it proved not to be attractive enough to go out of our way.  

This is totally my opinion; I'm not trying to start a flame war with those people who enjoy it!  I only meant that, given someone was specifically asking about it, they should possibly temper their expectations.  It's just like the difference between a tournament bridge player and casual living room bridge ... neither one may find it terribly enjoyable playing with the other, compared to what they're used to, but it's still a way to pass the time.  

There is trivia on sea days, but I’d you care enough about trivia to ask about it, you may be disappointed. 

11 hours ago, Meander Ingwa said:

….

 

Amsterdam is no different from any other Urban city.  You probably want to stay away from the red light district 

O/t but this amused me. I lived in Amsterdam for a year, before the days of Starbucks. The best roasted coffee beans in the city were found at a shop in the Red Light District.  My wife and I were so chagrined venturing there, but we did so in daylight…. 

My wife and I were on the British Isles Explorer in August (2 weeks).  We are in our early-mid 60s and felt like we might have been in the 20th percentile or so, if that -- almost everyone we met seemed older and retired.  But the vast majority were also really active, and more fit than we are :).  For instance I remember a port where we and a number of others were taking a long escalator up, and a handful of people clearly older than us were basically sprinting up the stairs!  

We were supposed to cruise in 2020 and were going to use Air+, but when we rescheduled with a pre-extension in Oslo, we made our own arrangements using frequent flier miles.  I know a number of people have been happy with Viking Air, but I've seen enough negative stories that I'm inclined to stay away, even if it seems like the cost will be nontrivially higher.  I like to control my own destiny ...

I heard excursions dropped it but regular ocean still has it. 

Someone said they book DV and have never been shut out. On our one cruise, BIE, we booked PV and did fine, but friends who booked DV were unable to get multiple tours we had gotten.  Nothing’s guaranteed! 

22 minutes ago, ChrisB123 said:

Funny you should say that, if it weren't for my 5 grandkids and 4 great grandkids, I'd love to move to Texas and leave the quagmire of California. 😂  Well, except for Austin or Houston.  😂

I sense a rom-com coming on ... house swap! 

He knew the table was loud. But he may have felt it was not his place to chastise them unless someone complained and gave him cover to do so. 

4 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Right you are.  /But, correct me if I am wrong, to use your pre recorded content on the room tvs through the ships wifi would require you to upload (enter) the wifi system then stream to the tv.  Vikings system supports no streaming.  

But that's exactly what I'm saying!  They say not to stream and they don't provide a device that would allow streaming, even from stored content.  I am saying that they could provide good wifi even if they don't have good broadband (satellite) and allow people to upload stored content from their devices to their TVs.  

3 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Hotels don't bounce around and depend on a sat dish to keep up with the motions. Hotels also do not constantly change latitudes and the further away from direct overhead, the lesser the connection.  Simple.  No streaming.  To expect a work around will only leave you frustrated.

You didn’t get my post.  I’m not talking about downloading from Netflix, live. I’m talking about replaying downloaded content over wifi, which has nothing to do with latitudes. 

53 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

I don’t blame them for not enabling something that’s going to bring with it all sorts of tech support expectations, and complaints when a passenger can’t make it work. Easier by far simply not to enable it.

I suppose.  But I figure hotels manage it, and a cruise ship is basically a floating luxury hotel.  It's within their power.   

10 hours ago, millybess said:

And thou shalt not stream (please)🙂

That’s the thing. I get that the connectivity to the rest of the world is really, really lousy, and everyone shares one thin pipe.  But they could put many wifi access points throughout the ship and let people stream stored content from a phone or tablet to a tv. Hotels often let us “cast” from a device.  Why can’t a cruise ship? 
 

I posed that question on Facebook and was basically mocked for suggesting I’d want to watch tv during a cruise. And indeed, I downloaded many hours of content and watched a small subset, mostly in the fitness center. But I did watch sometimes before bed, and would have preferred the larger screen.

Good point!  But it’s really not a good look. Then again, Viking IT has fallen over in many respects. 

So our cruise is coming up, and we keep getting mail inviting us to do the "comfort checkin" ... which we did after the first such invitation.  Including a comment that says "if you already did this ignore it" is absurd.  Why don't they already know we did it and not bother us?  

@Hanoj, you were lucky. We canceled our June 20 cruise just before Viking would have, so we got no extra sweetener, and were forced to take some of the cancellation $ in vouchers. 

I totally agree with your dismay about vouchers not being refunded. Didn’t realize part of our payment, left over from 2020, would not be covered until we paid more to upgrade to include it. Talk about “fine print”!  Very disappointed.