ohiojohn

11 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Just a reminder for US travelers to enroll in the State Department’s STEP program. They will notify you of security concerns during your stay. For example, when in Santiago last year we got a notice of demonstrations in the downtown area. We were leaving that day so it didn’t affect us but it IS informative. Recently, for our upcoming trip we’ve received notifications of demonstrations.

 

https://step.state.gov/STEPMobile/Default.aspx

Thanks for posting this info.  I immediately went to the site, signed up and entered my next Viking cruise.  Did not know Italy is at a Level 2.  Also found an iPhone app for the state department searching using “Smart Traveler”.  I also appreciated your review of the Classic Greek pre extension, thanks.  We go on this pre-extension in early October.

The following may help you getting from the airport to the port.  I copied and pasted from another contributor on this site.  I also will be in Athens early Oct for a Viking cruise and will use the below site.

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. 

I guess I should thank Viking for the slightly off position of the Stateroom Diagrams, since no one wanted a stateroom door facing the elevator lobby in my 5th floor case.  We have 4 Viking Ocean cruises booked over the next 2 years.  You and I may be similar in our approach in analytics which drives my wife crazy.  I already know our future flight routings, based on connection times, equipment used, and which connection gives us the best backup plan.  It helps to stay with one airline.  And yes flights are not posted out for 2 years, but I check on the current routings published and the current equipment used.  Having access to the sky lounge helps for connections.

We have booked #5028 on the Saturn for this October, knowing we would be facing the elevator lobby area.  This was the last PV room, so we grabbed it.  On other Viking cruises we noticed the elevator lobby area was generally quiet, but there are exceptions.

Your first hand analysis was a pleasant surprise, indicating no rooms on the fifth floor forward facing the elevator.

Now your pictures and diagram are priceless and a keeper.

1 minute ago, aungrl said:

It sounds like you have a good plan in place, but one thing that occurred to me as I read this post is that - if you're able to do it  - you could walk your bags off yourself, rather than putting them out the night before for Viking to offload with all the others.  That eliminates the time associated with waiting for your bags once you disembark.  (That said, in our experience, the bags have always been waiting for us once we walked into the terminal.)

We thought of that, but walking off with large suitcases would max out my wife who had partial knee replacement this past January, and is doing great.  We even thought about downsizing the luggage, but this cruise is 15 days with a 4 night pre Greece excursion, and we are arriving 4 days early to explore on our own.  We have done 2 Viking cruises so we are familiar with the post cruise transfer process.  Our next cruise also disembarks in Civitavecchia, but I already booked an outbound from FCO at 1:50pm.  I would like to think I am a fast learner.

Thanks for your reply.

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Food for thought.

 

If your invoice said not to book flights before 10 am, it means that Viking expects (and that is not a guarantee) guests to be able to start heading to the airport at 6am --  one hour of drive time arriving plus 3 hours before departure.

 

You plan to arrive  two hours ahead of departure. Well, actually it is less than two hours, because boarding closes 15-30 minutes ahead of departure and you have to be at the gate by 10am.  Now you are down to an hour and half to check in, hand over your checked bags, get through security, go through border control and walk to your gate.  Is that really enough time?

 

 

 

Thank you for your kind insight and food for thought.  Yes you are correct, I am not allowing enough time. So, last week I sent to Viking a transfer request form, which I will follow up in about a week.  I preferred the private car route but do not believe Viking would have our bags ready in the terminal at 6:00am while they are focusing on getting bags into the terminal for the Viking transfer guests.

I have appreciated reading your many comments, as we are refugees from Celebrity and do not know all that we should know after only 2 cruises with Viking.

1 hour ago, Ready to Sail! said:

I just had s similiar experience trying to change one leg of muti city flights.  Checked website and got a almost 2K increase.  Checked less than a week later and its just over $200 so called AA to make the change.  Rep said $1500 increase. I said site said $200.  She disagreed so I said thanks, hung up and did myself directly on site for the $200 increase.  Air travel these days is really crazy.  Wasn't this way "back in the day."

agree with your experience.  I just finished booking refundable flights for another cruise last week with a price I was comfortable with.  Then a few hours later I noticed the price was several thousand dollars higher.  These flights were booked as soon as the 330? Day Window opened up.  People we say wait until about 6 months before your cruise to book to get better pricing.  That may be true say for coach but for Premium Economy or business class, I have found booking earlier is best.  I guess it is all about available inventory of seats.

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

1 hour ago, cmason said:

While sailing on another cruise line, I spent a few days in Rome prior to the cruise. I took the express train from FCO to the Rome train station.  A few days later I took the train from Rome to Civitavecchia. It took perhaps an hour.

 

The train station is across from the port, but you need to board a port bus to get to the berth where your cruise ship is located. This is far easier than it sounds, and the busses are waiting by the entrance to the port.  

 

So, the train is a reasonable option, as the bus will drop you by the station, you take a Trenitalia train to Rome, then get on the Leonardo Express to FCO. You can check the Trenitalia website for Civitavecchia Porto to Fiumicino Aeroporto.

3 hours ago, DrKoob said:

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. They help take your bags to the car. When we got to the airport, they got our bags out and, in one case, walked us into where we checked our luggage. Another time, we were going from airport to hotel, and the hotel was on a pedestrian street. The driver walked us all the way into the hotel, which was halfway down the block. 

 

I love that they contact us a week ahead to verify, and then the day before (we fly to Europe tomorrow, and I just got the e-mail), they send us the driver's name, type of car and license plate number. They verify the address, and they give you the driver's contact number. 

 

On this trip, we are using them all over England, especially in London. The traffic is too much there to watch a cab's meter go up and up and up...

Agree about Welcome Pickups.  We will use them when arriving Athens, which is on the front end of this same cruise.  Thanks for all your info. It is helpful.

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

We recently disembarked in Vancouver. The earliest available disembarkation was 0700 (we arrived about 0600). From 0700 to sometime after 0800, pax who wished to disembark were required to deal with their luggage on their own. That was stated on the disembarkation letter.

 

My memory has it that luggage was scheduled to start to be available for pax about 0815. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the luggage conveyor and the backup was a crane moving one pallet at a time. The net result was about a 60-minute delay in the posted disembarkation times - pressuring some pax flight times.

 

Given your 2-hour window, it wouldn't hurt to ask Viking if it's doable, but obviously the unexpected can happen. Good luck with whatever you choose! 🍺🥌

Thanks for your response.  Viking has indicated in the documents not to schedule any outbound flights out of FCO before 10am, ours is at 10:30.  I know the Viking transfer would work, but trying to use a private transfer.  I have looked at many angles.  Funny story,  last week we booked flights from FCO to the USA for another Viking Disembarkation in April 2025.  This time we looked at later flights that day.  The cost of those flights caused my heart rate to peak.  So, I checked flights 2 days later leaving on a Monday, I kid you not thousands $ were saved.  Why is this funny, the day before our flight is Easter Sunday. Maybe good and bad.

yes you can book with Viking, then have you TA grab the reservation. 
Today I booked another cruise with Viking and then sent the booking number to my TA.  Although, it was a weekend the TA responded immediately.  
We booked the Viking Homelands cruise and used the special promo for booked cruises which expires tomorrow, I believe.  I got through to Viking immediately, no waiting, and spoke to a very knowledgeable Viking agent.

8 hours ago, hcat said:

what type of ear plugs are good for sleeping?  ones I looked at are for loud  concert sound...maybe we need both

I use very simple earplugs from Amazon.

Mack's Soft Moldable Silicone Putty Ear Plugs - Kids Size, 6 Pair - Comfortable Small Earplugs for Swimming, Bathing,Travel, Loud Events and Flying | Made in USA

now I could get the Bose, but between my sleep apnea dental device and a chin harness to keep my month shut, along with my sleep apnea mask and tubing someone may mistake me as an alien.

We were in a Magic Carpet Suite 10178, for the Dec 10 sailing of the Ascent.  YES, we CAN confirm there was a lot of creaking.  We both wear ear plugs to bed so not a big issue for us.  But we were surprised for a new ship that creaking was occurring.  We have been on the Apex 2x and do not remember any creaking.  The Apex rooms were in the exact location of the Ascent room  we booked.  Now for a real positive, The Magic Carpet on the Ascent was so quiet you never knew it was moving, however on the Apex you knew when it was moving because of the noise.  For us this was not an issue on all three sailings.

3 hours ago, TeaBag said:

 

We were to start with 2 days in Honolulu, then Lahaina, Hilo and Kailua.  Now, we have only one day in Honolulu, boarding day, sailing at midnight, no Lahaina which is understandable, then Napali coast, 2 days in Hilo which is the pits, Kailua and on to Vancouver.  People are talking about cancelling.  I don't know why Celebrity doesn't return to Kauai as it is a beautiful island.

Hope you get everything worked out.

 

We also spent a lot of time planning and booking for this Hawaii cruise.  I had just booked an AirB&B in Vancouver for 3 days.  Got a great air rate to Vancouver using air miles. A few weeks ago I booked the return trip from HNL to home, actually booked it at the 330 day period.  Glad I booked refundable air. Car rental in Honolulu for three days at a great Black Friday rate, will now need cancelling.  So now the fun begins tomorrow unwinding all the reservations.  But our replacement cruise is wonderful.  At the end of the day we just did not see the allure for the Hawaii cruise especially adding 2 more sea days.  The only money I will lose is the $200 for using Booking at Sea Future Certificates and around $78 for cruise insurance.  When final payment was due I up the limits on the cruise insurance.  Glad I kept the limits very low when first booking the cruise.  This is a great tip from Steve.

19 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Is this the cruise on Edge, May 1 from Honolulu to Vancouver?  

nope my cruise was on Sep 20 2024  Vancouver to Honolulu 13 days.  Looks like your second day was affected also for your May 2024. Although I am guessing the second day was affected as the day is just cruising past the Island of Kauai.

52 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

And so it happens again, disasters in Maui have caused vacations to be disrupted.   The coast of the Kauai is beautiful and can only be seen from the sea although there is a hiking trail through the cliffs where you may see some of it if you don’t break your neck.   Hope Ohiojohn enjoys his new cruise.   What cruise line is allowed to dock in Venice?    Cruise ships are now docking in another town and you must take a water taxi to get to Venice.

Apologize if I mislead you about Venice.  The correct port is Chioggia.   I should have identified the stop as Venice(Chioggia).

19 hours ago, ohiojohn said:

From a long time Celebrity cruiser, in my heart I believe the old Celebrity would have done some small gesture.  I believe Celebrity DOES NOT owe them anything, but I will leave you with this.  Last month we took a cruise from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale on our new primary cruise provider.  The cruise was going to be late into Port Everglades by 4 hours. This screwed up many flights as you can imagine.  This cruise was only the 2nd time over 25 cruises I used the cruise carrier's Air.   We were automatically rebooked on a direct flight at 5pm.  The cruise carrier allowed us to stay in our rooms to 10am and breakfast was open to 10am.  We were off the ship at 12:30pm.  When we got home I noticed a nice e-mail from the cruise carrier owning up to the delay and we should call a special number if we were impacted.  I was not impacted so I did not call.  This gesture was very positive.  Today, I booked another non Celebrity cruise, and today Celebrity notified me of a change in our Vancouver to Hawaii next September on the Edge.  We have the Ascent booked on Dec 10 2024 and after the Hawaii cruise, no more Celebrity.  Both of our last 2 Celebrity cruises are booked in the retreat.  Sorry for the long comment.

So an update from my previous post above.  After I reread the changes this morning to my Hawaii cruise it turns out the 2 days in Maui are cancelled due to the fires.  This is understandable, however we are receiving basically 2 sea days.  But 1 sea day is now advertised as a sail by the beautiful island of Kauai. I will not unload or vent how disappoint this is.  Celebrity had several months to fix this, but yet we get 2 sea days.  So, today I booked a cruise to replace my Celebrity Hawaii cruise on my new favorite cruise line.  Lucky for me I only had $200 invested for the Hawaii cruise. The new cruise is 15 days from Greece to Rome with 11 stops and 3 days in Venice in early October.  I only have one Celebrity cruise left which is on the Ascent Dec 10.

From a long time Celebrity cruiser, in my heart I believe the old Celebrity would have done some small gesture.  I believe Celebrity DOES NOT owe them anything, but I will leave you with this.  Last month we took a cruise from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale on our new primary cruise provider.  The cruise was going to be late into Port Everglades by 4 hours. This screwed up many flights as you can imagine.  This cruise was only the 2nd time over 25 cruises I used the cruise carrier's Air.   We were automatically rebooked on a direct flight at 5pm.  The cruise carrier allowed us to stay in our rooms to 10am and breakfast was open to 10am.  We were off the ship at 12:30pm.  When we got home I noticed a nice e-mail from the cruise carrier owning up to the delay and we should call a special number if we were impacted.  I was not impacted so I did not call.  This gesture was very positive.  Today, I booked another non Celebrity cruise, and today Celebrity notified me of a change in our Vancouver to Hawaii next September on the Edge.  We have the Ascent booked on Dec 10 2024 and after the Hawaii cruise, no more Celebrity.  Both of our last 2 Celebrity cruises are booked in the retreat.  Sorry for the long comment.

I agree with not scheduling a flight before 11am, yes it can be done but sh_t happens.  I just got off the Viking Star today Oct 24. Today was a Tuesday with only Viking and a Princess 3,000+ passengers in port Everglades.   I used Viking Air and had a 11:31 Delta flight to LGA then on to Columbus Ohio. These flights made for a very long travel day to get home with a 3.5 layover at LGA.  This was doable as we would use the Delta Sky Lounge, and the Viking promotion included air at no cost.  One last item we probably have over 20 cruises disembarking at Port Everglades, so I know the port and FLL well.  Of these 20+ cruises sh_t never happened to me.  But this cruise it did, yes it did.  The cruise started from Montreal and ended 15 days later at Fort Lauderdale.

Nothing but great things to report on this cruise, HOWEVER……. ON Monday late morning we noticed the ship throttled back going very slowly, maybe 4 knots from 16 knots.  Monday was the day before disembarkation.  The captain made on announcement that we lost an engine and we will arrive late.  He also mentioned that passengers with Viking Air would also be re-routed automatically, and for independent travelers they should not arrange a flight leaving before 4pm at FLL or MIA.  So for the first time I  did not have control of the situation because I used Viking Air, and my travel agent could not help when I used Viking Air.

About 4 hours later we noticed the ship was back at 16-17 knots. I have an app that shows me this, called Marine Traffic.

So the ship docked around 11:30am, cleared quickly and independent travelers could disembark around noon.

Viking told us we could stay in our rooms till 10am, which was the same time Breakfast ended. Typically we would have to get up early to eat and be out of the room by 8am. Now back to Viking Air, they routed us on a direct Southwest flight leaving at 5pm, repeat a direct flight. Sorry for the long post, but wanted to provide a lot of data so individuals can understand anything can happen.  But for us everything ended as a better positive than negative.

Btw after getting our bags there was no immigration to go through, we just walked out of the terminal.  I guess we were on cameras using facial recognition, but just my guess.

Summary, a fantastic cruise, loved Montreal and Quebec City, food was great, ate at Manfredis 2x and ate at the Chefs table 4x, booked another cruise while on this cruise. 

I also have not observed prices coming down for my next two cruises after considering OBC and Gratuities.  I compared my booked cruises as of yesterday’s pricing to today’s pricing.  Both cruises are in the retreat booked into a MC.  As most have indicated they did not expect a fair reduction in price and now we have proof.  For us the primary issue has always been TRUST. We have lost trust in Celebrity and its product.  Tuesday, we board a 15 day Viking ocean cruise, which could have been Celebrities 23rd booking from us.

Thanks great job, very funny, still have a smile on my face

42 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Hopefully this is a nice restaurant area...we had to use the patio for dinner and the conference room for breakfast as they said this was on the way.  When was this done?  We were there last Nov. and really didn't notice any major construction. 

https://www.yelp.com/biz/olive-and-sea-no-title

open now, we will be there for a Dec 9 stay, for a cruise on Dec 10.

We always thought the promotional material was a waste of money until………..
About a year ago we went on our first Viking Ocean cruise to Iceland and Norway cruise.  Since this cruise we are continually receiving Viking promotional material.  Well last week we found an attractive cruise from one of the many mailings we get, sometimes several in one week.  Within one day of reading the material we booked a cruise.  Kinda, not in our nature to book a cruise within 60 days of sailing.  However, this was an easy cruise to get to and had free air and a promotional code of ACU23.  You really do not know the amount of the full promotional amount by stateroom, until you enter the code into the fake booking.  Once we entered the code realized the nice reduction,I then researched the air possibilities.  The cruise leaves from Montreal and ends in Fort Lauderdale, on the Star Oct 10.  We will fly in one day early.  Many of the optional tours are already fully booked, however we were able to get all the included tours with no problem.
Summary, I guess the mailings work from Vikings point of view.

1 hour ago, nps001 said:

I stayed here post reno.    The rooms were fine and the service decent (not great but not bad either).    F&B offerings were very limited and the service was SLOW.   And the prices were very high.    That being said, I have stayed at about 4 hotels near the port, and the Hilton was the best.

There is a new restaurant at the Hilton Marina, which required an expansion to the existing Hotel.  The hotel is open and looks very nice.

10 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

By your 2025 cruise there may well be more changes in the Retreat product, and it could be entirely different from today. My TA talked with her Celebrity rep yesterday about the butler changes and her rep said there will be more changes to the Retreat product by the end of this year, the rep would not say what they are. My TA's cruise business is over 50% with Celebrity so she is very concerned about these changes.

I guess booking the retreat now is out of the question, you certainly do not know the product you are purchasing.  What is that phase "catching a falling knife"