Fieldofdreams

2 hours ago, katlew said:

Well, we are the cruise to nowhere now. Australia won’t let us get the hull cleaned at port in Adelaide, we have to do it off shore & can’t go into port… so another sea day. We’ll be at sea for 6 & 1/2 days straight. They say we will get calls about compensation when we get home.

katlew - So sorry to hear about your experience, we are on the Mars end of Feb. Sydney to Auckland so following your thread closely. In addition to partial reimbursement through Viking, not sure if you might have coverage through any Travel Insurance. I realize that it is not a substitute for missing the ports and experiences you spent so much time planning, but thought I would share just in case it might help. Sounds like Viking should have been well aware of this issue for this itinerary and taken presumptive measures. I do hope that you can enjoy the remainder of your trip.

7 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Have really appreciated some of the sage words of advice from other's experiences.   So just wanted to share my dining reservation experience that just happened.   

 

While dining reservations were supposed to open at 8pm Pacific time which is 11pm here in Toronto, for fun, I went on MJV and the reservations were open!!  It is only about 1:30 pm here.  

 

Anyway, tables for 2 were open, but times were varied.   One Manfredi reservation I got was at 6:30, another 8pm.   No surprise there. 

 

While Chef's Table times had good options for earlier diners, many of the dates that I had wanted only had late dining.   

 

Glad I checked and will definitely go on the app once we board in March.   We do want to see the Chef's Table menus to book accordingly.

 

Thanks Mimiya

9 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Is anyone trying to book using the Viking Voyager App?  We have gone to the dining room and not been successful in getting a time, but then gone to the App and booked a time.

 

Also this past June - could be different now - the Chef's Table was never more than half full and we were at Chef's Table 5 or 6 times in the 12 day cruise.  We did eat either 6:30pm or 7:00pm, but even when we were leaving, there were many empty tables.  ??

 

We wondered if they were limiting capacity because of staffing issues in the kitchen?

 

I see these threads with many experiencing challenges booking but it has - to this point - never been our experience.

 

Manfredi's is a bit different as it is clearly more popular, but we are in the minority that prefer Chef's Table to Manfredi's anyway.  Frankly we prefer The Restaurant to Manfredi's.

Thanks for adding this additional info. 

10 hours ago, harbourside said:

Didn't get any bookings, as only 9.00pm available .  Days 1-8 did not show at all. 

Sorry, have you tried calling Viking directly, think they may have access to more inventory

7 hours ago, harbourside said:

We are on this cruise.  The days available started at day 9 (what happened to day 1-8) and only 9.00pm times available.  My booking time stated 8.00pm Sydney time which  would have been 10.00pm NZ time this evening.  After seeming your post, I went and checked.

How did your bookings for your reservations go? Interesting, wonder if days 1-8 were completely booked?

9 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Tables for two and tables for four as we were travelling with another couple but did not always eat together.  We have never on Viking been presented with a shared table.

Our upcoming cruise in February are reservations for just the four of us

9 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Did you confirm if these were tables for two or on a shared table? The reason I ask is that we did this and were surprised when we boarded to discover that the reservations were on shared tables. However we did then manage to change the bookings to tables for two at a later time on same evenings.

We are traveling with another couple so reservations are for four. We were asked if a table of 6 was available would we be willing to share, we declined and they were able to find reservations for the four of us. I will say you have to be somewhat flexible on reservation time.

20 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Would you mind if I ask when this cruise was?

My perception, both from personal experience and anecdotal evidence, is that on board reservations are becoming noticeably more difficult to obtain as time goes on.

Our cruise, a 15 day Australia/New Zealand cruise embarks Feb. 21st 2023

40 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

This has been discussed many times before.

 

We book the lowest level cabin for many reasons other than price, but also realize that we get NO pre-booking of the specialty restaurants.

 

We board the ship, immediately connect to the ship wifi and then open the Viking Voyager app.  We are able to get reservations when and where we want them without any issue.  

 

We love the Chef's Table, and we book every 3-4 days when the menu changes and get the time and table size we want every time.  Last cruise we ate all 5 menus of the Chef's Table.

 

Manfreidi's can be more difficult - it is clearly more popular than Chef's Table, but we have never had an issue getting reservations.

 

Our first couple of cruises, we booked higher cabin levels with pre-booking options and went through all the frustration that you have been experiencing.

 

 

Thanks for that information. The Viking representative shared the same info with us about the Viking Voyager app. Great info.

In  earlier posts I mentioned that I would provide an update on booking dining reservations at the two specialty restaurants Manfredi's and Chefs Table. 

My Experience: Reservations for our cruise were supposed to open 8:00pm Pacific Time 11:00 P.M. Eastern Time today (12/23/2022). Received notifications on MyVikingJourney last night that reservations were open for booking however when I went to make an actual reservation for each restaurant it stated that reservations were not yet open. When I got up this morning to check, most reservations were taken, all Sea Days were booked and no availability with times on any days before 8:30 pm. I did call Viking and explained the situation and the first representative was not at all helpful. I called back and was able to get a great person who was able to book days and times that worked for us including two Sea Days, and yes obviously some reservation inventory is held back. When I explained what happened to the second agent there were no surprises, they are receiving lots of calls regarding booking at Manfredi's and the Chefs Table. My learning experience and advice is the check 24 hours in advance and keep checking even throughout the evening. Folks on CC have been so helpful and generous with their experiences, thought I would take the time to share and help others out as well.

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

In 2020 it was called the Royal Peninsula Tour, but the itinerary you posted sounds familiar. We found this tour to be the most comprehensive of all available ship and private tours.

 

Rather than steaming down to Dunedin, most cruise ships dock at Port Chalmers, which has a terminal building between the 2 normal cruise ship berths. We talked into the terminal and quickly found the vendor - who either had a desk or sign. Once the group arrived our guide walked us to the car and we set-off.

Thanks Heidi - Just had some email exchanges with Chris the owner. Tour name changed but all else seems the same, and yes meeting location at cruise terminal is a 3-4 minute walk from ship. About to book. Thanks for sharing, incredibly helpful. 

59 minutes ago, deec said:

We missed Napier on the WC2018

Heidi - Did you go on one of the Back to Nature tours in Dunedin, Now looking at the Otago Peninsula Tour based upon your suggestion. It is a 9:45 - 4:45 tour. Currently booked with the Viking on their Great Houses tour.  Itineraries for both are below. Recognize that they are entirely two different tours but would like your opinion (and others on CC) for which one to take. Seems to me that we would miss out on the beauty of the Otago peninsula if we did not take the Back to Nature tour. One consideration is how easy it is to get to pick up location for Back to Nature. Have an email in to Back to Nature to see if they pick up at port, otherwise a 20 -25 min taxi ride? Thoughts/Opinions/Comments all welcome.

Itinerary for Great Houses:

• City Highlights
  The notable architecture of the historical buildings is equally as impressive as the natural beauty found along the coastline in Dunedin. This tour allows you to admire both!

  Dunedin was once the leading industrial and commercial centre of New Zealand and has retained many of its early buildings. Our tour begins with a scenic drive into the city to admire the largest collection of Edwardian and Victorian structures. We also visit Baldwin Street, the ‘steepest street in the world’; the University of Otago, New Zealand’s oldest university; and the Historic Dunedin Railway Station. Before heading farther along the bay, enjoy the city’s central plaza with its octagonal layout.

  Otago Peninsula
  The journey continues out onto the Otago Peninsula, where the southern rollers pound our coastline and rare wildlife comes ashore regularly throughout the year.

  We visit Larnach Castle gardens, where a unique collection of specialised gardens can be explored and some of the finest views of the Otago Harbour can be seen. Please note that lunch is not included; however, you will have the opportunity to purchase something from the Larnach Castle Ballroom Café or later on during the tour. If you have any dietary requirements, please let your guide know on the day of the tour.

  Portobello & Tidal Inlets
  After your Larnach Castle experience, we follow the winding gravel roads towards Portobello, the main township on the Otago Peninsula. On the way, we visit the Tidal Inlets and learn about this fascinating ecosystem and the waders and waterfowl that rely on it. View native birds of New Zealand feeding on rich mudflats and see some of the finest scenery along this rugged coastline.

  Yellow-Eyed Penguin Reserve
  Continuing on, we spend the afternoon viewing the unique and treasured penguins and other native wildlife that call the coasts of New Zealand home. We take an adventurous journey through a series of tunnels and hides to get unrivaled viewing of the ‘critically endangered’ yellow-eyed penguin. We also see little blue penguins, NZ sea lions and NZ fur seals who come ashore regularly. Grab your cameras — you can expect to see at least two of these species during the afternoon!

  This Dunedin penguin tour provides you with fantastic photographic opportunities and introduces you to arguably the rarest penguin in the world. The 90 steps to climb and 600 meters to trek take approximately 90 minutes, and the rewards are immeasurable.

  Taiaroa Head

  Our final stop is at Taiaroa Head, where the Northern Royal Albatross can often be seen gliding around the headland. Our guide will tell you the story of a truly amazing bird that spends most of his life at sea and chooses the tip of the Otago Peninsula to breed. The surrounding area is also full of interest, and it’s a perfect way to finish the day before taking the low road back to Port Chalmers.

On 10/17/2022 at 7:18 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

Sydney:

 - Opera House - I suggest booking the behind the scenes tour. Starts at 06:45 and includes brekky

 - The Rocks - easy to do on your own, or you can book a guide

 - Parramatta - catch a ferry from Circular Quay for a round trip up river. You can also explore Parramatta before the return.

 - Hunter Valley - full day tour to wine country

 - Blue Mountains - full day tour, suggest using Anderson Tours

 - Darling Harbour - walk around, lots of attractions, cafes and restaurants

 

Melbourne: a spectacular city to visit

 - Investigating the CBD on your own is easy. Assuming you dock at Station Pier and not Geelong, the local trains have a station at the end of the pier. You can take the train to the CBD, where local trams are free. Lots of cafes and restaurants along the river.

 - Yarra River cruise and downtown drive is a great overview, especially if it is your first visit

 - Koalas & Kangaroos - this is planned for our next visit

 - Trains, Wine & Wildlife sounds interesting

 - For private tours, I would consider a full day tour to the great ocean road with Eco Platypus Tours (https://daytourmelbourne.com.au/1-day-great-ocean-road-tour/. They also have a Yarra Valley Wine Tour. Shore Trips & Tours also have wine tours

 

Hobart

 - Another great port for just wandering around the harbour, with a number of cafes and restaurants. Also has a craft brewery across the road from where the ship docks.

 - The included tour is good, giving you an overview.

 - To go further afield, I suggest Tasmanian Sojourn or Historic Tasmania, Countryside & Winery

 

Dunedin

 I suggest a private tour with Back to Nature Tours – https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/

The Royal Peninsula Tour - https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/tour/royal-peninsula/ was more comprehensive than anything Viking offers

 

Christchurch

We did the punting on the Avon

 

Wellington

The dock is a fair distance from the downtown, but Viking do operate a shuttle bus. The included tour is good for an overview.

 

We were considering the Seal Watching, then  getting a taxi to visit a few craft breweries

 

Tauranga

Rotorua is definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately our preferred vendor retired, so we would have to research another option, or use Viking

 

Auckland

An easy city to walk around or take the local harbour ferries.

Heidi - As we get closer to cruise time and re-visit our options in ports this is great information that you provided. Thank you

On 10/17/2022 at 12:55 PM, katlew said:

We are on the New Zealand to Australia cruise in December this year & have just booked our excursions. They run anywhere from $89 for the 4 hours tour to the Richmond & Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary to $2000 for a helicopter tour. Most of the excursions seemed to be between $140 and $300, there are a few $99 tours.  Golfing trips were in the $500's. The most expensive one we booked was the Train, Wine, & Wildlife in Melbourne which is 8hrs for $289. We also booked a few tours on our own, for example Zealandia in Wellington cost $99 through Viking, but you can get a ticket on your own for $35 if you a comfortable getting yourself there. If there are any specific excursions you'd like to know about in in NZ/Aus let me know.

Katlew - Just wanted to provide an update to you and everyone else in CC community. We were able to book all of the excursions we wanted except for one. Pricing was the same that you mentioned in you 10/17/2022 post. Actually less stressful a process than I thought it would be. Next up booking restaurant reservations on Dec. 23rd. Will let everyone know how that process goes. Enjoy your cruise if you are currently on the ship.

Thought I would provide some feedback to the CC community since so many on CC have been helpful in navigating the Shore excursion booking process on MyVikingjourney. We are in a DV4 cabin on a 15 day Australia/New Zealand cruise late February 2023 so we were able to book excursions 67 days out from the cruise. Many folks on CC suggested we prioritize the excursions with associated fees,  pay for each and move on to the next. After the excursions with charges, then tackle the free excursions. That approach seemed to work out rather well. Of the excursions with charges that we wanted to go on, there was only one that was not available. When we went back to book the free excursions, some of the time slots were gone but that was ok because our priority was on the excursions that had an associated fee. Hope this helps others trying to navigate this process. Next up in a few weeks, the specialty restaurants, which I will provide feed back on.

4 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Well, I used to get up and book at 1 am when they opened at midnight Pacific time.  And now that they open at noon, it’s easy to book at 1pm, but then I’m retired!  Our next cruise, Med. Antiquities, is sold out.  I still had no problem getting everything.  And I just looked at the listed excursions and although all the DV cabins got to select today, there are still only about five things marked sold out—and they all involve food!  So maybe the cruise also influences things.  I think Viking is able to get a lot more excursions in the Mediterranean then, perhaps, in other places where tourism is still struggling.  

Thank you for providing helpful insight

5 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

I think the way you go about this depends a bit on cabin category.  The DV and V cabins seem to have been having problems with shore ex selling out before they could check out.  We always book a PV cabin, and I have never done anything other than choose all my excursions, included and optional,  put them in my cart, and then just check out and pay once. I have always gotten everything.  However, if you are going to use a credit card, registering the card on MVJ will not pull that card up for payment of your cart items.  You will have to enter all the information.  However, if you want to pay by bank draft, and save 3.3%, register the bank routing number ahead of time, and when selecting that form of payment upon check out it WILL put in that number for you.  At least this is how it worked for me two weeks ago.  

Thank you

5 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

You are going to want to make your selection and pay one at a time. Start with the optional excursion you want the most and go from there. If you wait until all are in your cart, some will very likely be sold out. There are about ten gazillion posts in the Viking CC forum to that effect. Don’t forget to sign up for the included excursions, too, but you can do that at the end of the paid ones. If those are full already, Viking will add more capacity.

Thank you, that is what I understood but your confirmation is great to know in advance.

On 11/18/2022 at 6:56 PM, OneSixtyToOne said:

Excursions opened exactly at the stated time (noon PST). I was able to book everything I wanted. A few sold out within the hour.

 

We have another cruise booked and that one opens in the middle of this extension. I hope the hotel has good wi-fi and there is no problem booking from abroad.

Question - when you booked your excursions through My Viking did you enter your credit card into My Viking, make all of your selections then pay through the My Viking website with the associated credit card or did you make each selection and pay for each and move on to the next selection. Any advice from folks that have been through this process would be greatly appreciated.

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

I logged onto My Viking 10 seconds after my reservation period opened and the site said that "dining reservations are not available at this time".  I kept on checking over several days and kept on seeing the same thing.  I then called Viking customer service to complain and they told me that although no on line spots were available they could give me my 2 reservations over the phone.  Problem solved. Good customer service.  Hope this helps others who are having the same problem that I had.

 

DON

Thanks - this does help

Thank you for the follow up. The September cruise is already completely sold out except for Owners Suite. Think we will stay with our current status. Our agent did mention that when we get back he will apply the welcome back credit, thank you for confirming this.

8 hours ago, Squawkman said:

I forgot to add that the Welcome Back discount is available after disembarking any Viking cruise. So if you’re on a river cruise, you can purchase $200 for $100 certificates and use them with the Welcome Back discount. For those not familiar, these certificates can be used one per person on newly booked cruises with no effect on any other discounts.

Hi - Wonder if I could get some additional info/clarification. We are currently booked and fully paid for a VO15 day Australian/New Zealand cruise at the end of Feb. 2023. We also booked a VO 15day cruise Italy/The Adriatic/Mediterranean for September 2023. We currently only have a deposit on The Adriatic cruise and I was going to ask onboard our February Australian cruise if we could get any additional discounts for our September cruise, particularly the Welcome back discount. How would the certificates/vouchers play into any of this and is there a maximum amount for the certificates/vouchers one can purchase? Thanks to anyone who can help on this.

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I so attest! 

 

However, not all of the allergies are covered (but gluten free definitely is covered) and I have to make sure that I check in with Guest Services or the Maitre'D when we board to spell out what I can't eat. After that, it is smooth sailing.

 

Every night at dinner,  the "problem eaters" are given a menu for the following night and asked to choose their meal; the kitchen will then prepare the items you have chosen without the offending ingredients. Sometimes, when I am in doubt that a dish can be done with my restrictions, I will mark a second choice.  At breakfast and lunch there is always someone who can help you figure out what you can't eat and to offer to make you something that you can; take them up on the offer! They love the challenge and they love making sure that we are well fed and happy with our meals.

 

As for CT, if you want to maximize the number of menus you can sample, book for the first night on board and then every third night if you have more than one advanced reservation (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 etc). The only time we will skip a menu is if neither of like the main course or we don't like a majority of the courses (neither of us enjoy duck, so we skip that menu).

 

 

 

Perigrina651... Thanks so much

11 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Note that there’s a place in MVJ to tell Viking of your allergies. Peregrina can attest that once documented Viking will have your requirements in their system and will give you alternatives based on the meal plan of the day.

Thanks Linda

6 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Have done 10 Ocean Cruises.  It usually changes every 3 days, but it can be 2 or 4 occasionally.  When you book, you will not know what the menus are on any given day.  The ship doesn't even know.  We learned that they plan out the menus one month ahead of time, and even then, they can change slightly, although once the cruise starts, they usually stay what they are published.

We generally learn the menus and the schedule when we board.  We then make reservations or change ones to the days we wish.  There are a large number of possible menus that have been served, but it seems that lately there are some common ones that seem to appear on every ship (Asian Panorama, Mexican, Routes des Indes, Xiang, etc.).  Do a forum search on Viking Ocean threads for menus.  You'll see quite a number of moderately recent posts with all kinds of information.  Many have even taken pictures of their menus.  On MyVikingJourney you can see sample menus (not necessarily ones that you might get but possibly).

There is one or more menus with seared Ahi (Tuna).  Please note that even if there is something you will not eat, don't avoid the CT just because of that.  Viking is more than happy to substitute something for you.  I for example, don't care for lamb, so they always give me a nice NY Steak or a Salmon steak instead.   I'm sure you'll find many items on the menus that you DO like so enjoy!

 CCWineLover.... Based upon your experience have you found the CT flexible enough to accommodate one who has allergies to gluten and fish? We will ask once onboard, but would like to hear your opinion.

Thanks