pinotlover

Jackets are not required, mostly end of story.

However, where I do differ from ordestrapal is in the blanket use of the word "most". I would agree that in the GDR, Toscana, and Red Ginger ( it's so dark in the restaurant it's hard to tell what people wear!) that most of the patrons are not in jackets. However, don't be surprised if you go to Jacques, Polo Grill, or La Reserve and find most of the men in jackets. So the answer typically lies in where one is dining.;)

My wife and I are primarily wine drinkers, fwiw, but drink a wide variety of other spirits.. However, incredible European wines, in Europe, can be procured for prices at some times less than half of the US retail prices. Take away transportation and all the horrid excise, sin, and sales taxes along with a gouging three tier distribution system prevalent in the US and the deals are everywhere. It always ticks me off, upon returning home, to find bottle of wine that I paid about $30 per bottle for in Europe cost $80 when I get back to the States! :mad: I can drink gin and tonics anytime at home, why drink them there with all the other great local wine possibilities? :)

Our September cruise will start in Burgundy, go through the Cote du Rhone wine area, and then to Chat de Pape. Many of the greatest wines, both white and red, in the world come from those areas. It is far more economical for us to buy these incredible wines locally and drink them on board than to have simple mixed cocktails from the vessel. Many of the river cruises, except Russia, go through wonderful wine areas, ie Rhine (Germany), Duoro (Portugfal), Rhone (France), Danube (Austria). If we purchase anything other than wine to consume, it will probably be a great cognac for after dinner.

Visa and Mastercard has cut off at least seven (7) russian banks. If you were planning on booking through SPB tours, or some of the other local tour companies, things may have just gotten more difficult. Oceania may be the only game in town for tours in ST. Pete, if they still go.

Let me give you an example. On the Baltic Tour, Oceania lists Gdansk, Poland as one of the stops. The ship actually docks in Gdynia, which is about 25 miles away. One can walk into the small town of Gydnia from the docks, but must pay for a tour or a taxi to go to Gdansk.

In closing on this conversation, I guess I disagree with milling73's context. Having previously lived in Europe for four years, I learned the best lesson is : When in Rome, do as the Romans. If I ever do a river cruise in SoCal or Florida, I will keep in mind what the above posters from those locales define as evening casual. However, since Viking is a European flagged and owned cruise line, and I'm primarily cruising those waters, I typically look at how the Europeans, particularily those in my age bracket, in those countries visited, dress when they go out to a very nice upscale restaurant. I never ask myself "How would someone from LA dress when attending any event in Europe.

I agree with every thing Hawaiidan said with one exception, and that may be per individual TA Agency contract. I believe the (at least some)TA's do get the regular cut on the selling the Premium Drinks Package.

But to the OP question, they get nothing for all the work the do on air deviations.

Julie;

When the ship tells you that the appropriate attire is Evening casual and one shows up in blue jeans or caro shorts and a T, that does constitute arrogant behavior in my definition. If you don't like the ship rules, find another cruise line that meets your needs. The Ugly American flips the bird and shows up how they please, which may as you suggest also include overly skimpy attire.

Much like the blue jeans on the more senior guests versus the 20 something, would someone please tell all the 35-40+ year old women that Spandex is not Evening Casual! For most it shouldn't be part of the wardrobe!! :eek::eek:

Barrheadlass;

That same guy would probably swear his attire was country club casual and insist upon being seated in any dining venue. Plus he'd want to wear his cap during the meal! :eek:

People that wake up in the morning and self proclaim that clothing typically viewed as scruffies/tackies are hereforeth "country club casual". Then they put up a huge scene when they are not allowed into a venue because of their dress. It becomes particularily annoying when they do it every day of the cruise. :mad:

Just because they identified one country club located in the bowels of SoCal with no dress codes, doesn't transform that clothing into ccc!:(

We're at least ten years away, imo. Will probably only be a one day stop on a Carribe tour of other ho-hum Carribe ports. Havana is old and mostly ran down. Will probably only have short term interest.

Some will be excited, while many will get off the ship walk around the dock, say "Yep, I've been in Cuba, add that to my list of countries visited" and get back on the boat.

Let me rephrase what Robinlynn just said:

There is a great difference in how a slim younger lady in a pair of stylish designer jeans is viewed versus a 55+ year old, 25+ pound overweight male in a pair of Wranglers. It is what iit is.

Some people will under dress for every occasion. Some passengers will wear cargo shorts, tee shirts, and flip flops the entire cruise. Some choose to show up in sweatpants.

I have been on three prior Viking cruises. The official code is casual, as pointed out above. Most don't care to push the situation when those, primarily American, choose to dress down. Some relish in pushing casual, particularily at dinner, down a level or two.

Most of the gentlemen wear slacks and a collared shirt for dinner, very rarely a jacket. Some treat going to dinner, on ship, like going to a Denny's. You get to choose which of those groups you choose to be in. Enjoy the cruise.

Bonbeak;

How bad where the seas when you did make the sail and how rough was it?

We're doing the Rhone River trip this fall, which starts in Burgundy. Where we usually buy the ship's premium drinks packages, we won't for this trip. Since we are primarily wine people anyway, our plan is to buy the local Burgs and Rhones and drink them onboard. Our only other alcohol might be a cognac or brandy either from the ship's bar or purchased ashore!

One of the things I like about Viking is the requirement to pay upon, or soon thereafter, of booking. If people aren't really serious about booking the trip, they don't. That means the cabin availabilites shown at booking are realitively true. On many cruises, people will pre-book, thus reserve their cabin, making it unavailable for others, then cancel when the real money has to be put down. Then people are left to playing this game of trying to flip flop into better cabins as they become available.

So there is two sides to this payment schedule!

If one is worried about not getting enough M&G time, there is always the Captains reception for repeat cruisers. On many cruises the repeat customers end up being more than half the ship's passenger! :eek:

One has plenty of opportunities to meet as many of their fellow cruisers that one has the desire to do so on any of the cruises. Not attending this or that M&G will not stifle anyone's social opportunities.:rolleyes:

Ron and Donna Jean;

I could basically care less what you do on the internet. However, the portal is only so large on a ship. I believe the system should reject massive file uploads and downloads from any users. Checking emails and reading the hometown paper is one thing. Sitting down and trying to upload the 100 pictures you took the day before and send them to Grandma is ridiculous, imo. It hogs available bankwidth and brings the system for everyone down to a crawl. This is especially the case when you have a dozen or so passengers all trying to do the same thing at the same time.:mad:

We were advised about the "issues" there from other travelers. Seems we're taking the best option and starting the cruise in Sydney. Then if one wants the B2B to the Pacific isles, they do it on the back end from Auckland.

I agree with HawaiiDan on the issue. Doing a M&G with everyone that ever made a post on a Rool Call Forum doesn't generate a lot of excitement for many.

However, I saved the Day for a fellow cruiser on our first day in St. Pete once. He and his wife were late and slow getting through customs. So late that the STP guide was departing without them. As we were pulling away, I caught a glimpse of his face desperately trying to find us, and got the van stopped. Had we not meet in our small tour group M&G, and I recognize his face, they would have been left at the dock. In St. Pete. that really limits one's options!

I've often wonder what the ship's capacity for internet is.:confused: I guessing everything is being bounced off a series of satellites somewhere. I know that in some locations, one could get messages back and forth by carrier pigeon faster than the ship's system, while other locales things work smoother.

I do know that mornings are often a terrible time to attempt to use the on board internet. I don't go on vacation to surf the internet, and I'm one of those that does my research before I leave home, so my needs for the service aren't great. However, I just wonder how many passengers the onboard service can accomodate at any time with reasonable speeds.

Another issue is why people onboard want to destroy bandwith, for all, by downloading large camera files to the cloud. :mad: We bring along a finger drive and put them all there and then move them to the cloud after we get home if we so desire to do so.

The issue is very cruise specific. If your cruise hits many exciting ports, then on port days, the subject is rarely an issue. It then only becomes an issue on days at sea. Also the issue comes up much more with the Carribe bound snowbirds where sun searching is the major goal of the cruise. Fighting over deck lounges rarely happens on many of the northern bound cruisess.

When the pool deck is full, we often use our verranda.

Another tip! Since we book Concierge and above, we have unlimited access to the Spa on the top deck. The lounges up there, by the whirlpool, are rarely all taken and the scenary is often just as good. ;)

M&Gs could be a thread on it's own! A lot of them we don't make!

JIm and Stan's post was correct however. For the coordinatior, it's very hard getting all the people in the group to meet at one time. We normally eat by 7ish, and would prefer the M&G before that. It's amazing the number of people that won't come out of their rooms until 7-7:30 for drinks and then eat at 8:30-9:00. Each to their own, and it's a good thing everyone isn't wanting to hit the dining facilities at the same time. However, it makes it difficult scheduling a M& G.

So back to the OP, I think you understand your options a bit better now on day of embarkment! :D

Lynn;

Those are reasonable hours for the M&G, and we typically will attend those. However the ones I have trouble with are the 6:30 to 8:00 starting ones.

Always staying Concierge and above, I make my specialty reservations X days in advance, when the option opens up. My experience has been that it is almost always several weeks later before the M&Gs are planned.

My comment was to only point out to the OP that if attending the M&Gs is something they may want to do, they are probably best off not scheduling a specialty the first night out. Or, if they do so, make it a late reservation. :)

A bit of an issue, slightly off thread. Many groups want to plan meet and greets the first evening on board. I've never been a fan of that, but it is what it is. I often schedule a specialty the first night to relax and get away from the commotion and crowds. Doing so typically means I miss the M&G's.

What that then requires, especially if the M&G is of a group that I will be doing tours/land excursions with, starting the next day, is that I make arrangements to meet at least one of that Party during the evening so to have a familiar face.

Something to think about!;)

A small practice we learned years back. We carry the Oceania baggage tags with us. When we collect our bags at the last final airport, or get ready to go to the ship for embarkment, we then put the O tags on our bags. ;)

The flimsy O provided tags are vulnerable on extended airflights and boucing around hotels pre cruise.