coco-girl

2 hours ago, Red Ray said:

We were on the same cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it - couple of negatives in having to change cabins halfway through because there was work going on early mornings at the lifeboat outside our cabin (this was rectified quickly by the housekeeper manager & we were given a free meal and drinks for 2 in Sindhu.) In addition we were disappointed that the virtual queuing system for dinner wasn't in operation but we wandered down & were given a pager which meant generally a wait of about 20 minutes (though 1 night that stretched to 45).

 

The buffet was excellent and I was surprised at the number of people eating there in the evenings. The last night saw Asian night and it was absolutely superb.  Sindhu & Ocean Grill were both top class and lunch in the Glass House also very tasty.

 

The entertainment was top class - really good shows from the Headliners,  Michael Buble tribute act Michael Appleton and the comedian Jon Evans were all excellent. We didn't go to the violinist but everyone we spoke to said she had been brilliant.

 

Every single member of staff was friendly & approachable, the ports of call were beautiful - even rainy Bergen - and of course the scenery was spectacular.  Would have like the Captain to have had a bit more personality and he made a bit of a fool of himself by reading the 'script' about Covid & that masks were being recommended - only to come back on a minute later & say in fact they weren't and there was some gastro enteritis on board & not Covid. There were ample hand washing & sanitising facilities available and we saw no evidence of any illness.

 

The Coronation was celebrated nicely with plenty of tv coverage, bunting, special cocktails & menus and everybody got given a gift bag with popcorn, gin & tonic water.

 

Would we sail on Arcadia again? Without a doubt.

 

PS There was also a guest speaker who gave talks on Tommy Cooper, Ronnie Barker, Coronations of the 20th Century & his life as a Funeral Director. The Coronations one was the best, just found his style & delivery somewhat lacking.

We were also on the same cruise and had the most wonderful time... even in the rain in Bergen!!

 The cabins and bathrooms are dated, but we obviously knew that before we boarded.  Our balcony cabin was clean enough, although admittedly, a little dusty in the corners of the room.

Our cabin steward was friendly, and attentive if we had any requests/issues.

We found the food in buffet to be good and we were always able to find something tasty to eat.

On this occasion occasion we found both Sindhu and Ocean Grill to be lacking and not really worth the upcharge, but that was us....

We were on Freedom Dining and, in our opinion, the virtual queuing system is quite simply not fit for purpose! 🙂

But it was not a great hardship to go to pick up a pager, then called in when a table was ready.

Would we sail on Arcadia again? Yes..

Would we sail with P & O again??  We booked 2 future cruises whilst onboard...

1 hour ago, kaisatsu said:

A lot of public toilets in city centers and those in some shopping centers or transit stations may be pay toilets. They take bank cards with a chip. (I highly recommend having a chip-based card in Norway as several card readers are chip-only.)

 

I do recall there was a coin-based toilet in Vigelands Park for a while. Even ten years ago, people were always scrambling to try to find someone who had a coin when they wanted to use it, so I would hope it’s been updated by now!

 

All cafes and restaurants in Norway have toilets available for customers. Some (especially in busy central areas) require a code that can be obtained by asking the staff.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. 

This is exactly the information I needed to put my mind at ease 😅

Coco x

Thanks for the info, I'll make sure we get hold of some coins just in case.

I was thinking that if we were wandering around town and I needed to use a bathroom, we could head into the nearest cafe ( buying a coffee and cake whilst there of course 😁 ) but was wondering if EVERY cafe had a bathroom for customers  to use ?

On 4/15/2023 at 12:09 AM, debsjc said:

We found some public bathrooms in most towns, although they sometimes require coins. I have some medical issues as well, and if necessary I just asked in a restaurant or hotel. Everyone speaks good English and was very helpful. You don't really need it for Norway, but for some places I find it helpful to carry a medical card, so you might want to consider getting one of those. 
Our itinerary was mostly different to yours, but there are public bathrooms in Bergen and Alesund (I remember one free one in each of those ports, and others where you needed to pay) 

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

Ports of call in the Norway are very, very different - some are very small towns with few and limited facilities - others are medium-sized cities with good facilities.

For more detailed answers you need to post you itinerary.

Yes, of course, our itinerary is as follows:

Haugesund

Nordfjordeid

Trondheim

Andalsnes

Alesund

Bergen

Kristiansand

Thanks for the reply.

I've done as much planning ahead as I can, as I seem to be needing every 2 hours 😅

We've booked a couple of excursions where we're only on the bus for a maximum of an hour, the other days we will indeed be mooching about town.

I'm sure that I'm stressing about nothing and that in reality it'll be fine! 😁

I have a query about being able to find bathrooms/restrooms whilst visiting ports on our upcoming Fjords cruise.

This will be my first trip away from home since having Urostomy surgery, and to be honest I'm a little nervous. Can someone tell me if most cafes etc have a bathroom and if public facilities are common place?

Many thanks.

Coco

Just now, bluemarble said:

 

See the post I just started titled "2021 World and Exotic Voyages Preview" for a preview of Cunard itineraries through April/May 2021 that have not yet been formally announced by Cunard.

Actually, I’ve just been reading that; very useful info.

Thankyou. 

Thank you so much, that’s very helpful. 

Coco x

Whoops 😬. I am an eejit..

 I meant to ask if anyone can tell me when the 2021 itineraries would be published? 

Coco x

Good Morning,

can anyone tell me when the Cunard 2020/21 itineraries are likely to be released please? I’m particularly interested in December 2020.

Many thanks

Coco x

Thanks all for the replies.

They are available for purchase in advance on myNCL so I think we might just do that.

We have 4 sea days to fill :D

Coco x

Oh apologies, I should have said.. I'm on The Breakaway.

Coco x

Hello everyone,

I understand that the passes for the Thermal Suite are sold on a limited basis, can one advise as to how many people on average that may be?

Has anyone experience overcrowding there?

Many thanks

Coco x

For soon to be first time Cunarders like myself and Mr Coco, that is a tremendous help.

Thank you so much for that.

Coco

i read thru most of this thread and i'm sorry but to me it's pretty simple...

 

2 adults went to a bar while in bermuda. They presumably got drunk and were late getting back to the ship. A 3rd adult who was with them got off the ship to try to find them before it sailed from port. All 3 adults missed the ship.

 

Daughters, moms, etc, who cares. All 3 were of the adult age. Be it correct or incorrect, responsible or not, they missed the ship due to their own choices. None were held hostage or had a medical emergency. 2/3 of the adults missed the ship because they drank too much, 1/3 of the adults missed the ship because she went looking for the other 2.

 

Ncl did nothing, at all, even remotely, wrong.

 

This is not a parenting debate, and the title of the thread is misleading. But that's it, nothing more to the story

"like"

This post is rather long for which I apologize.

 

Currently, there is strong commentary about the way Viking Ocean Cruises compensates for failure in delivery of contracted carriage and associated service levels. They offer credit vouchers (not actually refunding anything and forcing customers to do business with Viking in the future) or they give back as little cash as possible and take a long time doing that. Although, this is a recurring narrative across all Viking operations, it is nearing crescendo on the ocean cruise side.

 

Those who have dealt with other cruise lines or travel companies, see this as outrageously insensitive in a customer-driven market. Most customer expectations are based on past experience or common decency. Why is Viking’s compensation so different from their customers’ expectations? It is money . . . pure and simple

 

Viking’s own finance scheme mandates they keep lots of cash on hand to help manage the credit rating assigned to their corporate bonds (i.e., keep their borrowing costs down). They already pay high interest and a credit downgrade would worsen things. The information below provides some insight into the situation.

 

New York, May 05, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service today assigned a B3 rating to Viking Cruises, Ltd. proposed $250 million senior unsecured notes due 2025.

 

Please note the ‘B3’ rating isn’t the worst junk, but it is considered speculative (i.e., fair likelihood of default) and further downgrades would likely scare off many investors.

 

Below are selected discussion points (for the full rating see this link: https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-a-B3-rating-to-Viking-Cruises-new-250--PR_324517)

 

The growth in the river cruise market is expected to notably slow in 2015.

 

Viking is facing pricing pressure in 2015 as reflected by an expected decline in net cruise revenue per passenger cruise day

 

However, the slowdown in growth at the river cruise subsidiary will be partially offset by the launch of Viking's first ocean cruise in April 2015 which already is 92% booked for 2015

 

If Viking does not continue to maintain available cash balances above $300 million, ratings could also be downgraded . . .

 

Per the credit rating, the ocean cruises were supposed to bolster their accounts. Instead, Viking is being asked to refund a lot of money which puts them in a bind. Of course, this does offer visibility into Viking’s unique requirement for full cruise payment far in advance (sometimes years in advance). Our money is used as collateral for their loans.

 

CC posts from cruisers who have traveled Viking Ocean Cruises to date chronicle everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. I trust them at their word. Their journals indicate two scenarios:

 

1) When things are good, Viking is great (predominantly things aboard ship).

 

2) When things go south, Viking tends to follow (things requiring corporate intervention).

 

Given the corporate financial situation, there is no rational reason to expect change.

 

The folks who have completed their cruises or have fully paid their bookings had every reason to enter their engagements with very high expectations of performance or, if warranted, equitable compensation. I wish them success pursuing those outcomes. For the rest of us, however, we can no longer claim ignorance or surprise.

 

What should we do given our current knowledge?

 

Factor it into our risk assessment when selecting a cruise and cruise line.

What is the likelihood of satisfactory reimbursement

for cruise cancellation, disruption, or general quality failures?

If Viking is selected,

we need to base our expectations on demonstrated reality rather than comparative industry norms.

 

I pondered well into the night about whether to do this post, but believe it is useful information to assist each of us trying to make informed decisions when choosing our next cruise.

 

Thom

"Like" :D

Coco x

It's not just the sleeping, it's the sitting, touring, basically the cruise was ruined due to a serious defect aboard the ship. The OP deserves a free trip in an upgraded cabin that includes gratuities and airfare. In other words a free trip to replace the crappy one they had as a direct result of the injury due to a defective cabin.

 

Additionally ALL medical costs and additional payment for pain and suffering needs to be offered to them.

 

For the passengers who weren't injured but had the same issue, they also deserve a free cruise and one hell of an apology for the added stress at the airport.

 

There should also not be a one year time limit. That only adds injury as some people can't get that type of time every year. They should be given a full three years to take their trip.

"Like" :)

Pictures of shower after glass explosion.

Picture of my back days after bandages finally removed.

Oh my goodness! Poor you, that must have been very scary indeed!

I shudder to think what might have happened if you had been slightly turned the other way and had glass fly into your eyes!!

Viking really do need to step up here and recompense you accordingly.

They seem to throw Future Cruise Credits or On Board Credit at every situation/incident.

The very least I would have expected would be for them to put you in a lovely upgraded suite on a future cruise, with all of your airfare expenses etc taken care of.

I agree with others when they advise you to take this further and get some legal advise.

Best wishes,

Coco.

Mammacat, you are very welcome. :)

Coco x

Re: Coco girl

I am wanting to cancel too. However, spoke to TA advised we would loose all our money as its a Sept. 3rd cruise.. I'm not liking all this drama. Did you loose all your money. What was the process you used?

Hi Mammacat,

Our cruise was/is in October 2015, we had paid the deposit in 2013. We called Viking direct ( didn't use a TA) to tell them we were cancelling, then backed that up with an email to them the same day as they had requested cancellation in writing.

The booking T & C's here in the UK state that you forfeit all deposits if you cancel, so that was exactly what happened; we 'lost' about £2,000.

It was a lot of money to lose, but we felt that it was the right decision for us.

Since we originally booked in 2013 there has been a lot of ' life stuff' happening in the Coco household. Mr Coco has had a couple of major ops and other events have happened that have made life a bit stressful.

Having sailed with Viking River a couple of times, we were very much hoping that our upcoming trip on the Star in her maiden season would be of the same quality as their River Cruises, where Viking has always exceeded our expectations. We wanted a great holiday, with every thing pretty much taken care of, and no stress.

It seems that for now at least, it is not to be. In my humble opinion, they are just not ready to deliver what we would expect of them, so rather than risk being disappointed and wasting our very, very precious holiday, we cancelled Viking and have rebooked with Cunard.

I realise that this is maybe a lot more info than you asked for Mammacat, but I give it hoping that others who read it don't flame me for cancelling and losing all that money.

We can't really afford to chuck cash away, but our holiday is precious to us, and right now as you quite rightly state, there is too much drama going on.

We hope that Viking sort out their many teething problems and go from strength to strength.

I do hope that if you go on your trip on September 3rd, that it is fabulous! ( and uneventful) :)

Either way, please report back to let me know.

Best wishes

Coco x

First thing we do in the buffet is get drinks and put on our table. Then we go up for food in shifts and go up more than once because you don't need to put everything on one plate!

Like!

Cruise Critic's Viking Star rating by passengers in freefall ... now only 43% loved!

I am so relieved that we've had the courage to cancel our September '15 booking.

Even though we've forfeited quite a substantial deposit, it still feels better than throwing good money after bad.

We've had such a rotten time health wise since booking this in 2013; this trip in particular, we just wanted to chill out and have everything taken care of.

We adore Viking River cruises and had assumed (naively?) after all the hype, that Viking Oceans would be an even better product. It's such a shame, because I feel Viking will lose a lot of it's loyal river customers unless it gets it's Oceans operations in order.

For now, we have rebooked a cruise this year with a competitor.

Long term..... ? who knows ? but we will keep an eye on things.

Coco

Cruise Critic's Member reviews is available for Viking Oceans now. The reviews should be posted there and perhaps others will see and have the option of cancelling cruises before final payment based on the information available.

We have taken the river cruises with Viking and always had a fabulous time, those trips have always exceeded our expectations.

So when they showed us the presentation of Viking Star we booked immediately (August 2013), imagining it would be of the same high standard.

We have today cancelled our Viking Star trip for September 2015.

We forfeit our deposit, which we were prepared to do rather than risk sailing with Viking Oceans this year.

Will perhaps rebook at some time in the future when the get their act together.

Thank you Hattie.

Coco