downsmead

As you say, we are mainly co-incidental listeners though we did go, whilst recently on the sea, to hear the guitarist’s ‘reggae’ session. Not what you would usually expect, and obviously not out and out reggae, but pleasant back ground music and an example of Viking not being afraid to introduce some new music genre’s into the repertoire.

@photopro2 Interesting, though the earliest booking I could get was 8pm, which we don’t mind but I am aware many people prefer earlier dining. Us getting a table may be more to do with releasing the later inventory then, but these were still only available as a shared table.

Sailing 19th February, reservations in both Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. As above, we couldn’t book anything when reservations first opened, but near to the sail date, shared tables became available. It didn’t indicate how many people per table but I booked once for each. We were DV.

On our recent sailing on the Sea, we could only get shared reservations but discovered that each time we were put on a table for two!

I haven’t seen this on any of our cruises but feel that leaving an envelope is tantamount to expecting an additional tip. We tip our cabin steward extra, just leave the money on the top with a little thank you note. No need to be ‘prompted’ by an envelope.

We had Xiang last night which was good. Got a table for 2 as expected with no problems. Not sure what our first one was called as I cannot call up past menus. It wasn’t the one with lamb chops, but my husband had them at breakfast the other day and thoroughly enjoyed them.

We were only able to book a shared table in advance. Once on board, it showed as a table for 4. However when we went to Manfredi’s, we were given a table for two. At the Chefs Table tonight we are allocated a table for 4 but since it is over half empty each night, I suspect we will get a table for 2. We were not that impressed with the meal we had there earlier in the cruise, so will see how this one is.

We are currently on the Viking Sea and have seen no unacceptable behaviour on board. The food has been good, apart from the Chefs Table, like others we have cancelled a second visit. We haven’t encountered any problems with drinks, but that all depends on what you are drinking! We did not have a package this time but did notice that the premium wines offered on SSP, are not what we would consider premium wines - some are less than £10 a bottle in our local supermarkets! We have some very good guest lecturers on board and have enjoyed the lectures we attended.

We are most likely on the same cruise. VeriFly was very straightforward- we have digital Covid passes in the U.K. and uploaded an existing photo from files for each of us. Compared to other flight / entry requirements for various countries, this was a doddle!

Thought another post indicated the cocktails had gone up to $9 something 🤷‍♀️

A tip we were given was to look how far it was from the take off point to the glacier in order to get the longest helicopter ride.

I read that too. One thing though, how do they count 8 restaurants?

We are there this April and are planning on visiting the Lladro museum as I love their pieces.

Thinking of you and your family. Hope your future cruises will bring back the lovely memories of all the ones you shared together.

This is the issue! It will be interesting to see what Viking offers. We have missed ports before on Viking and have been given some OBC but this is completely different.

It also seems that you can no longer just buy a package for one person in a stateroom - have to buy for both people

We are out in India at present, though not on a cruise this time. E-visas did not apply to cruises at that time when we called in from a cruise (visited Mumbai, Goa and Cochin). The form to complete is a different one to the e-visa one. You need to upload a photo to this form, and then having submitted it, you can the apply for an appointment at the visa centre. You can check in advance how long it will take to get an appointment. Depending where you live, it is worth checking a few different centres if you can travel. Some have a lesser waiting time than others. It took us 4.5 hours at the centre; waiting! Our appointment was at 11.30 and we didn’t get to the counter to be seen until 3.30. You need copies of everything plus a photo to attach to your application form, although you have already submitted one! We were lucky in that the guy that dealt with us at the centre was helpful, but like above, not all are so helpful and will send you away for the smallest incorrect detail. As said, your passports take about two weeks to come back. There is also another form to fill in online if you are flying, not sure if this applies to cruises to. Our two visas cost us £350.

Yes there was one recently of someone ‘bumped down’ from a guaranteed suite class who found out en route to the cruise. They, and their TA kicked up a storm and ‘magically’ their sky suite was restored.

Messaging Celebrity on FB often gets results and is far quicker than trying to call them

That is unusual, often it is limited to the USA / Canada. Hopefully it will be released to yourselves soon.

Usually yes, as you are in the USA

We fell foul of this during the covid cancellations right at the end when sailings had started up again. The money had not been paid to the the cruise line by the TA. The cruise line that cancelled the cruise (a transatlantic) were refunding in 14 days. We had to wait 90 days for the agency to refund our money.

If you link your iPhone and iPad, they then share iCloud storage and you can call your photos up on either device. No moving pictures from one device to the other.

Not working on my iPad or Chrome on my laptop but OK with Firefox on the laptop.

Whatever you do, don’t try to delete and reinstall the app whilst on board. The WiFi is not good enough to be able to do this!🤦‍♀️😞.