GigemAggies

Agree that Gardens by the Bay is not to be missed but you don't need a guide there. You could spends a day there. Save the guide for other things. If you're on your own definitely get the Grab app (Singapore Uber) it's so easy to get a car anywhere. And it's very inexpensive! Also, if you're into zoos, Singapore has a fabulous zoo!

Kingcole I hope you post after you've experienced the PS Suite on Infinity. We will be sailing in it this May and I was wondering if the suite had been updated. Last time I looked was in 2016 and it was still the same (a little dark and outdated). Most of the M Class Penthouses have already been updated. 

Will the "rapid" tests be accepted by the airlines as well?

7 day RCL. Disney is producing themselves out of the market and as much as we love Disney, the price isn't justified. 

Germayp653 , I totally agree with you! 

Couldn't agree more. We were EXTREMELY disappointed with the Explorer suite for the price we paid. We won't make that mistake again. 

31 minutes ago, Focused1 said:

Totally agree with you. We just disembarked the Orion and were extremely disappointed in the Explorer Suite. Except for free laundry, the amenities and the space in general were ordinary, cramped and clunky. The bathroom was smaller than most standard cabins we have had on other ships. We were in an aft suite and the wrap around deck was unusable as it was loaded with worn and weathered wood furniture covered with soot from the engines. Huge cushions (size of a double lounge) were brought into our suite in the evening that fell on the table during rocking seas. Just terrible. If we sailed on Viking again, we would choose a Penthouse Veranda Suite. 

Be thankful you had an aft suite! The forward suite balconies are a joke because you aren't allowed out there. You can only access a very small area on the side, nothing forward. And the movement in the front of the ship was awful. 

Save your money. Don't bother with the Explorer Suite. Unlike other cruise lines, the only thing you get with this high end space is a little extra room. We were very disappointed in the nonexistence of other services. Not even a beverage package. 

On this cruise right now. Weather has been a difficult factor. We are on the Saint Lawrence river today. We have missed 4 of our stops. Many extra days at sea.

This has been a horrible cruise for us. It turned in to a repositioning cruise, since we skipped 4 ports. And we feel the Captain was too hasty in canceling ports. A repositioning cruise is not what I signed up for or paid for. And Viking ships aren't designed for a lot of sea days in a row. Nothing to do but lectures.

"The strong points for Viking for us is the all-inclusive cruise package - wine with meals, generally decent cuisine, included gratuities, included excursions, smart cabins and friendly staff."

Included gratuities??

I would like to see them make some changes to the way that excursions are managed and booked.

1. I would like to see the cruise specific availability posted earlier and opened earlier for booking for the established routes at a minimum

2. I, personally, do not agree with the concept that the ability to book excursions should be based on cabin category. I have no problem with those that pay more getting better rooms, earlier access to specialty dining or any other on board amenity.

3. If the current system continues, I think that there needs to be more availability so that everyone has a chance to book by at least 60 days out. I do not agree with the current model that puts any passenger in a situation that they cannot book an included tour at a reasonable hour or have a reasonable selection of optional tours at 60 days out.

4. I do not agree with the concept that people feel the need to get up at 3AM (or other hours in the middle of the night)to try to get the tours that they want.

5. If the size of the ships are too large to manage the included tours, I would prefer to see the cruise fare reduced and reasonably priced optional tours that are readily available to all passengers.

 

Today I received my cruise documents. The booklet consists mostly of lists of excursions for our cruise. At least 1/3 of those are not available and at the moment 2 of the included tours are not available for booking. I would hope that Viking can figure out a better way to manage this as they seem to have an otherwise excellent product.

 

I am not putting this out for debate. It should just stand as one person's thoughts.

Have you seen the huge difference in the prices of some of the "upper suites"? (5 to 10 times higher!) They NEED to offer additional perks for those suites to justify the price.

That is just horrible. You should not have felt compelled to check it out yourself. You should have been able to trust Celebrity. That's the reason you pay the extra money for an excursion as opposed to do-it-yourself. I too would have been very upset. And I agree. It looks disgusting.

Qsine is our favorite restaurant. I hope this is only an experiment.

On our last 3 cruises (all in 2017) there were no raffles at the Meet and Mingles. So with that aspect gone I imagine that's why the attendance is down. On our last M & M, people were walking in and then realizing that they weren't giving out raffle tickets, turned around and walked out.

Ya, 10 days doesn't seem long enough to do major refurbishing. But who knows. :)

My husband and I had a private tour in St. Petersburg (just the two of us, our guide, and the driver) and the visa was included in the price. As long as you book with a registered tour operator, they will handle the visa. No additional cost. You only need to get a visa yourself if you are going on your own without a guide.

 

We used Anastasia Tours and were thrilled from start to finish with their service. They are currently running a 40% off promo for bookings made through Jan. 10 (you can take the tour any time) so now is a great time to score a private tour for close to the price of a group tour.

I don't see anything abiut a 40% off promo on their website. Maybe I have the wrong website? Where did you see the promo?

I will weigh in on Qsine. After initially only going there with a group of 6 or more we actually have realized that it is our FAVORITE place for just the 2 of us. By now we have tried everything on the menu and we know what our favorite dishes are and we just order those. It's like having a tapas dinner with ALL of your favorites. So yes, maybe for a 1st time visit it's better with more people because you usually try a lot more dishes but we love it for just the 2 of us.

Also, the food at Murano is delicious, the service is terrible! It seems like everytime we go there we just get ignored.

Next to Qsine, Lawn Grill is our favorite restaurant but it's not on every ship.

I wish there were more options for specialty dining.

Yorkshire-Pudding, I totally agree with you (in all areas). We have been booking only RS & PS not just for the space, because there are usually just 2 of us, (although we DO love it) but primarily for the special treatment received in Michaels Club. MC used to be very private but now with all of the SS included it is very crowded. On our last cruise we often couldn't find seats and even if we did it took a very long time to get our drinks. None of the other perks really matter to us. I can buy all the bottles of liquor & all the specialty restaurant dinners on my own for much much less. We have now decided to only book SS on Celebrity. And we are going to another cruise line for our big suite options.

McDonalds has also been a savior to us in numerous countries trying to get our (fountain) Diet Coke fixes! :D

Thanks for the great feedback!

We sail Celebrity more than any other cruise line but have been looking at an itinerary that steers us towards one of the new Viking Ocean cruise ships. I am posting this on the Celebrity threads because I'm afraid the Viking thread might be a little "tainted". When I read the Viking ocean cruise reviews (as opposed to river cruises) I noticed they were almost all 5 stars however, I also noticed that all the 5 star reviews were written by brand new members to cruise critic and they were all 1st time reviews. A warning went off in my head. I was wondering, did Viking offer some kind of perk to passengers if they wrote them a 5 star review so a bunch of people just signed up for cruise critic to write that review? Regardless, I was wondering if anyone has been on an ocean cruise with Viking and could compare their experience with a Celebrity cruise.

Just for the record, Qsine is one of our favorites! But it's really only fun with a group. I wouldn't go there as a couple. We like to meet people onboard and have a group dinner toward the end of the cruise.

Thanks. I apparently jumped in mid-thread and didn't realize it.

 

I agree with you about the pianos. Space wasters. More chairs would be a much better use of the space since you tend to entertain more in the penthouse.

 

Think I still like the M class PH better. Love that huge butler's pantry with full-size refrigerator and microwave. And that HUGE deck on the rear of the ship is hard to beat.

I'm with you Happy Cruiser, the M Class Penthouse Suite is the best at sea on any cruise line!

Allana also look at Hotel Artimede. They are within walking distance to most sites except the Vatican which you would need a taxi. Staff was most helpful. Loved our stay with them the end of September.

We (my husband and 23yr daughter) also stayed at Hotel Artemide. We had a triple room. Not a large room but none of them are in Europe. The hotel was nice, the breakfast was very good and the location was great. We arranged a private tour in Rome and couldn't have been happier. The Vatican Museums were great but I really loved the Colisseum! Take the time inside to read the displays they have explaining everything.

I highly recommend a private tour. It is too important of a place to take a large group tour. We used American D-Day Tours and he was fabulous! So incredibly knowledgeable! We rented out his 8 person van for just the 2 of us because we were only in port for a short period of time and needed a customized tour.