Crestawave

4 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

Honestly, don't even worry about it.  When I spot first-time cruisers and see the awe they are in, I actually get somewhat jealous, and I remember that feeling I had on my first cruise.  

4 days in and to be honest you really wouldn't have a clue who the other first timers aboard are.

Other than the unrivalled friendliness of the crew, the exceptional food on offer and the sparkling cleanliness of the ship, the thing we most like about being at sea is being able to sit outside and not being pestered by flies, wasps, mosquitos etc whilst eating.

We're all ready planning our next Viking Journey , Greek Odyssey in 2025 favourite so far.

Thanks for all the replies, TBH we're not concerned about being spotted as first timers or Brits. We're really exited about the whole upcoming experience and hopefully we'll have a great time , meet some interesting people and see some fabulous places. 

We're in our mid 60s and about to take our first ever cruise. We're going with Viking to central America. From what I can see from the ship roll call we might stand out because we're Brits and everyone else seems to be American. Is there other things that might give us away ?

We're taking our first ever cruise in January it's the Pacific coast and Panama canal trip. Our TA arranged flights to LA and transfers to an overnight hotel in Long Beach . We'll get the hotel sort  book an Uber to get us to the cruise terminal . So that's all sorted. 

When we disembark at the end of the cruise in Fort Lauderdale will we be able to book a Viking transfer to Miami Airport for our flight back to the UK ? If so is that something we do once aboard or do we use an online booking form before departure. Or will there be taxis on the quayside at Fort Lauderdale maybe. ?

On 10/22/2023 at 7:52 AM, Hobson1754 said:

Yes same as us - at Reykjavik we looked as if we’d be pulled through a hedge backwards😂

According to my wife, that's the look I normally go for !

8 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 booking bridge and galley tours,

Did not know about those, definately something we would find interesting.

2 hours ago, AZ_Tim said:

 

I would place a higher priority on getting the shore excursions you want, as availability is often based on what Viking's contractors can provide. 

We managed to get 2 of the 3 we really wanted online, hopefully the other one will be avaiable once aboard.

Looks like we'll be spending a lot of Day 1 attempting to book trips and restaurants that we was hoping to have in place before we sailed.

1 hour ago, snookie1 said:

 and had a wonderful time talking with the other couples.☺️

We did think that we might make friends once aboard an look into sharing a table.

On 10/29/2023 at 4:25 PM, Crestawave said:

All sorted.

One of the three non inclusive excursions we tried to book must have sold out whilst it was in our basket but the only way to find this out was to login on a different device otherwise I'd have waiting all night for the original screen to update.

As far as the trip we missed out on is it a matter of if there's enough interest ie people on a reserve list, Viking will book some more spaces or is it taking a chance on someone dropping out ?

Just tried to book Manfredis for a couple of evenings but all reservations taken before the 7pm GMT opening booking time. Looks like an upgraded cabin might be the way forward if we enjoy our first Viking cruise..

Cheers ,We'll check out your channel and the other sugestions.

1 hour ago, Squawkman said:

We put our cabin on the wait list, as did others - and a second group was established. 

 Is that something that you do once aboard or is that something you can do pre cruise?

Hi Everyone 

My wife and I are taking our first cruise next January on Vikings Panama Canal and Pacific coast trip .

We've watched a lot of Gary  Bembridge's excellent  Tips for Travellers videos on YouTube and was wondering if anyone could recommend any other YouTube channels or podcasts to check out.

We're a older UK couple so suggestions reflecting our age group and location would be most welcome. Most of what we have found so far seems to be US based

Hope you're all having a great day wherever you are. 

All sorted.

One of the three non inclusive excursions we tried to book must have sold out whilst it was in our basket but the only way to find this out was to login on a different device otherwise I'd have waiting all night for the original screen to update.

As far as the trip we missed out on is it a matter of if there's enough interest ie people on a reserve list, Viking will book some more spaces or is it taking a chance on someone dropping out ?

Hi Everyone 

We're trying to book our excursions for our first cruise. We was on the ball and had everything selected and in our checkout basket 5 minutes after the opening time ie 8pm GMT . We've submitted all the payments details and it came up that it should all go through within 5 minutes. 20 minutes later nothings happened. Is this usually the case where possibly everyone of the same cabin type, DV in our case, tries to book excursions at the same time?

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've  had a look and its about a 20 minute cab ride from our hotel to the cruise terminal so I reckon setting of sometime after midday should be just about right. No point, as you say,  being too early but we don't want to stressed about the possibility of being stuck in traffic either.

BTW any ideas what the cab fare is likely to be ? We'll get the hotel to get one for us.

We're staying in a DV cabin , will we have to have the  drinks package to have alcohol stocked in our cabin fridge.

We're going on our first cruise next January which departs from Los Angeles. We're overnighting in Long Beach and getting a cab to the terminal. I know we'll be at the quayside early,  thats just the way we are, and was just wondering if there's any facilities ie toilets or somewhere to get a drink while we wait to embark. Or maybe we can get lucky and get aboard early. 

We're staying in a DV cabin if that makes any difference. 

1 minute ago, CDNPolar said:

 caution if you are booking your own excursions and if you book independently and you are not back in time for the ship to sail - for whatever reason - the ship does not wait for you.  On the flip side, if the ship arranged the excursion and that excursion is late, then they wait.

I don't think the missus would be impressed if we get stranded ashore !

24 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

It is a shore excursion, a local tour arranged through the cruise lines. You can purchase those but you can also deal directly with most excursion operators and pay less then what the cruise line charges. It all depends on your comfort level. 

As it's our first cruise we're going to keep everything in house with our cruise line.

Probably the simplest of my first time cruisers daft questions but what is a Shorex ?

Cheers for the advice JB

As this is our first cruise we're probably going to stick with the  Viking organised trips so I don't think we're likely to be spending too much whilst ashore. I think taking about 50 dollars in small bills per day will probably be enough for us. To be honest, we're more inclined to leave the bank cards in the cabin safe .

In  your opinion is it worth going for a drinks package ? we get drinks with our meals included. We would probably have a couple of pints or shorts in the evening too.

Just found out that the Viking silver drinks package is £340 per person so unless the bar prices are exceptionally high I think we'll pay as we go.

Cheers for the advice JB

As this is our first cruise we're probably going to stick with the  Viking organised trips so I don't think we're likely to be spending too much whilst ashore. I think taking about 50 dollars in small bills per day will probably be enough for us. To be honest, we're more inclined to leave the bank cards in the cabin safe .

In  your opinion is it worth going for a drinks package ? we get drinks with our meals included. We would probably have a couple of pints or shorts in the evening too.

On 10/13/2023 at 8:31 AM, John Bull said:

As @leaveitallbehind's post, the USD is accepted almost everywhere in the Caribbean & central America, but to be sure we need to know your ports

 

JB 🙂

We're calling at Cabo St Lucas Mexico,  Puerto Caldera Costa Rica  Colon Panama , Cartegena Colombia and Cozumel Mexico.

We're going on our first ever cruise next January which calls at several Central American countries . Is it worth getting local currency to spend whilst ashore or will US dollars be the thing to use ? Also is there ATMs on board the ship which is Viking Mars.