rjp50

So, it sounds like each ship may have a different policy. I guess we will be taking the card with us.

That's why I would prefer not to take yet another card. We always travel with multiple credit cards as well as debit cards linked to separate accounts so that we have lots of redundancy. However, all of our regular travel cards do not have foreign transaction fees. The one that we want to use for onboard charges (which will be primarily the gratuity fee) does incur foreign transaction fees so we would not use it for any other land-based purchases. We are using this card for the gratuities since we need to meet a minimum spend requirement to get the bonus points for "free" airline travel.

When I list a credit card for my onboard charges to be charged to, do I need to present the card at any point on the cruise. I would prefer to leave the card home since on any other foreign purchases it incurs foreign transaction fees.

A lot of the ports on the Midnight Sun cruise have private operators who do not require you to find others to help defray the costs. You just sign up as a couple or whatever and the tour operator takes responsibility for filling the remaining seats. Of course there is usually a minimum number of passengers required to have the tour operate that day. If the minimum is not reached your money/deposit is refunded so it's good to have a back-up plan. The tour mentioned above operated by Lofoton Lights is one such tour. We opted for this instead of the included tour by Viking since we will spend two or three times the amount of time in an area that hopefully will be the highlight of the trip.

To answer part of my own question after a bit of Googling - The taxi fare with Bergen Taxi appears to be a fixed rate to the airport of 580 NOK during "normal" hours - a bit more for weekends and before 6 AM. The Flybussen is 169 NOK per person during "normal" hours. The Flybussen stop would be a fairly long walk from the ship when pulling luggage although there looks like there may be a tram line that takes you near the Radisson Blu in Bryggen. Uber also appears to work, but their quoted rate on their App was more than the flat taxi fare. I'll check on board what the Viking transfer would cost.

When flying on your own, I see 4 alternatives: taxi, Flybussen, tram and Viking transfer. What are the estimated costs for each of these? For the Flybussen and tram, how far from the ship is the walk to get to the stop for each?

I'll be following this. We leave a week from now on the same itinerary on the Saturn. Would love to hear your opinions/recommendations on the excursions (both Viking as well as third party) as well as any on your own touring that you do. Glad to hear that the beds are good on the Venus. Hope the same holds true for the Saturn.

What deck and what category are these on

Carnival??? Did you mean Norwegian?

Too bad about the lack of any noticeable changes to the concierge cabins. Would be interested if you can find a PH cabin to see how it's been modified. How about the public areas? Any noticeable changes there?

If anyone will be on the Marina after this retrofit I'd appreciate any observations or photos about what has been changed - especially in the PH staterooms. I've seen YouTubes from the Riviera after its updates and they look very nice. Hoping that Marina is comparable.

I found a separate thread that mentioned in passing that the PH2 cabins on deck 7 of Marina and Riviera were equipped with lounge chairs rather than the normal straight chairs. This is an important consideration to us. Can anyone confirm that this is the case? (I realize that the PH1 cabins with the wrap around balcony on deck 7 have both straight chairs and lounge chairs)

We plan to book a PH2 and are wondering what functions the butler on O performs. Our only previous experiences with butlers were three times on the Yacht Club with MSC. Here are examples of what the butler did for us in the Yacht Club and I wonder whether the O butler performs similar functions or possibly more: 1) We were met at the embarkation point and escorted by a butler to a special area with drinks and snacks for the final embarkation process; then were escorted directly to our cabins. 2) Our butler would deliver a paper copy of the daily newspaper of our preference every morning. 3) Our butler or the concierge would handle any reservations that we needed 4) He facilitated bringing a special chair to our room that was easier for my wife to get out of 5) When we wanted to take a desert back to the room to eat later, they insisted that we should not have to carry this through the ship to our room and had the butler come and deliver it. 6) When my wife raved about the wine that she had at dinner, when we got back to the room a little later we found a full bottle of it on ice, delivered by the butler (all drinks in the yacht club were included). 7) For shore excursions we were escorted by the butler off the ship to either the head of the line to get on tenders or directly to the bus. 8 Upon returning from a a day on shore they would meet us for priority reboarding 9) On my wife's birthday, without even being told about it, he decorated our cabin with balloons and banners wishing her a happy birthday 10) Upon disembarkation, he escorted us off the ship with our bags to the taxi stand and told the driver where we were heading I'm sure I am forgetting some of the other services that were provided and frankly some of what was done was a bit over the top. So, is this comparable to what we should expect from a butler on O?

No, August of 2025. Unfortunately both PH1 cabins on deck 7 are already booked.

Thanks for this. Are the two reservation regardless of cruise length? We will be on a 22 day cruise that is composed of a 10 and 12 day segment merged together.

We will be sailing on the Marina and are considering the two PH2 suites on deck 7 because of the larger balcony. I know that the two corner, PH1 suites are slightly smaller than normal penthouse suites (but have the wrap around veranda), but are the two adjacent, non-corner cabins normal size or are they smaller? Another question that I have for them is, do they suffer from slower/inadequate butler service than the normal upper deck penthouse suites due to the fact that there are only 4 suites all together in a far-removed section of the ship from the other suites in this category? One other generic question concerning the PH category - I know you get "priority" reservations in the specialty restaurants, but does that mean that you will be able to eat in them more than just the one each that is guaranteed to everyone?

We have sailed a lot on the various mass market ships and I typically book everything myself with no assistance. However, we are now considering an Oceania cruise and have a lot of questions that I feel a good TA with Oceania expertise could help with. I know that people on this forum are not allowed to name specific TAs, but I was wondering if there are specific terms that I could use in a Google search that would lead me to a TA with the right knowledge as well as ability to offer additional perks. This board has been very helpful but after many hours of reading posts I feel it's time to bring in a professional.

I am also interested in this topic along with any of the other small (under approx 100 pax) lines that serve Croatia).

Thanks. I was a bit surprised how many of the reservations were already taken. We have a PV so have priority over most of the ship and on the first day that the reservation window opened and within the first half hour, there were some nights that nothing was available in either specialty restaurant until 8 or 8:30. With that being the case I wonder if there will be any options available if we wait until we are onboard and just a few days away from the night that we want. Is it possible that they hold a batch of tables each night for reservations made while onboard?

We will be on the Into The Midnight Sun itinerary this summer. I recently made dinner reservations for the specialty restaurants that include a 6 PM time for the Chef's Table on the evening that we are scheduled to sail away from the Lofoten Islands at the same time. After making the reservations it occurred to me that perhaps we would be missing some great scenery as we leave port. Can anyone comment on what we will be missing? Would we be better off changing the reservation to 7 or 7:30 or perhaps a different night? Secondly, if a change is recommended, how do I go about doing it? I know I can go into the reservation system and cancel my existing reservation, but, until I do so I can't see what my options are. I'm afraid of canceling the reservation and then find no suitable replacement time and then not being able to go back and reestablish the original reservation. Is this something that customer service would be able to do for me?

We will be on the Saturn for the "Into the Midnight Sun" itinerary this summer. On most of our non-Viking cruises there is usually one night toward the end of the cruise that they "up" the menu with things like lobster tails. Does Viking do something similar and if so would it likely be on the last sea day before disembarkation? We are trying to determine which nights to reserve for specialty dining and don't want to miss the special night in the MDR if Viking has one.

It will be interesting to see if they maintain a primarily Western clientele for the Chinese market. If not, it will then be interesting to see if they are able to maintain a smoke-free environment. We were on a cruise up the Yangtze on a ship that was primarily Chinese tourists. While there was an official no smoking policy, it was totally ignored and the hallways were always filled with smoke.

We rely on our Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card for our basic cancellation/interruption coverage. They cover up to $10,000 per person. The price of the card seems expensive at $550 per year. However, they rebate $300 each year for travel-related expenses so the net cost is only $250. This saves us thousands each year in travel insurance costs. On top of that it comes with Priority Pass lounge access which makes airport waits much more comfortable and with free food and drinks saves even more money. Add that to the free air travel that comes with the points that accumulate quite fast, it makes the $250 charge a no-brainer. Their medical and evacuation coverage is not overly generous, but we buy a supplemental policy usually from Insuremytrip.com that has zero trip cancellation/interruption coverage but offers plenty of medical and evacuation coverage. This supplemental policy is dirt cheap since most of the cost of a full coverage policy is in the cancellation and interruption component.

I was surprised that our "Into the Midnight Sun" cruise for late June that some of the included tours are completely "sold out". Viking makes a big deal about having included tours in each port, yet anyone booking now will apparently not have included tours available in several ports. Or, do they routinely add tours so that they can make good on their advertised claims?

I should have been more explicit in my question. We have sailed much of the Mediterranean on the larger ships and visited many ports more than once - to the point that we are somewhat "done" with the Mediterranean - at least those ports that can deal with the larger ships. What I am wondering now that we are opening up to sailing with Viking, what specific ports does Viking either visit that can't be visited by the larger ships or where Viking has a distinct advantage of either being being docked in the center of town versus a commercial port or can be docked versus tendered? In other words, what specific itineraries of Viking are there that would give us a new perspective of Mediterranean or European, in general, travel?