Ship check out time (disembarkation) - refresh my memory or update me, please!

[roothy123]

For those who have traveled recently, if you were traveling independently and in no hurry to disembark, how long were you allowed to stay on the ship? Was there a set time by which you were required to leave so preparation for the next batch of cruisers could begin? I'm thinking it was 9:00 or possibly even 10 when we disembarked from Istanbul a year or so ago. Is that still the case? I know we'll need to be out of our stateroom by a particular time (maybe 8:00?) but I don't remember what actual "off the ship" time was. If it matters, we'll be disembarking in Bergen after spending the night there. Thanks.

[Peregrina651]

For those who have traveled recently, if you were traveling independently and in no hurry to disembark, how long were you allowed to stay on the ship? Was there a set time by which you were required to leave so preparation for the next batch of cruisers could begin? I'm thinking it was 9:00 or possibly even 10 when we disembarked from Istanbul a year or so ago. Is that still the case? I know we'll need to be out of our stateroom by a particular time (maybe 8:00?) but I don't remember what actual "off the ship" time was. If it matters, we'll be disembarking in Bergen after spending the night there. Thanks.

 

On our last cruise it was out of the cabin by 8 am and off the ship by 9:30 am.

[roothy123]

Thanks. That will work for us!

[CharTrav]

On our last cruise it was out of the cabin by 8 am and off the ship by 9:30 am.

 

 

I concur with the out of the cabin time. Don't know about the off the ship time. Do know that we were able to wait in the living room on deck 2 for our color code to be called (were one of the later ones cuz we were extending in Stockholm). They brought us coffee/tea/etc and other goodies while we waited. Croissants, etc. I tried to find our disembarkation letter but without success. You'd think given how we kept everything else (notebook and box to prove it) we would have kept that! But nope. Two physics grads. And missed something like that. Utterly hopeless. Anyway - here's a link to the Viking Daily from our last day last Summer. Would expect procedures to be the same overall: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tv0iesggefhj2ek/15%20-%2007Aug16%20-%20Stockholm.pdf?dl=0

 

 

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Edited March 30, 2017 by CharTrav

[Peregrina651]

I concur with the out of the cabin time. Don't know about the off the ship time. Do know that we were able to wait in the living room on deck 2 for our color code to be called (were one of the later ones cuz we were extending in Stockholm). They brought us coffee/tea/etc and other goodies while we waited. Croissants, etc. I tried to find our disembarkation letter but without success. You'd think given how we kept everything else (notebook and box to prove it) we would have kept that! But nope. Two physics grads. And missed something like that. Utterly hopeless. Anyway - here's a link to the Viking Daily from our last day last Summer. Would expect procedures to be the same overall: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tv0iesggefhj2ek/15%20-%2007Aug16%20-%20Stockholm.pdf?dl=0

 

 

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On our last cruise, they didn't even call group numbers over the loud speaker. Each group was assigned a time and we were told that we were responsible for getting to our buses at the assigned time. I have no idea if the plan worked or not since we took a cab to the airport, we just left when wanted (which was just after 7am).

[Fpacifico]

I chose an early direct flight from London so I'm assuming that for a 9:45 flight, we'll be leaving the ship by 6

[mhb1757]

Our flight out of Heathrow got changed to a 3:45pm departure. While I am thankful we don't have a super early flight I'm thinking we are going to be sitting at the airport for a long time... We are using Viking for transfer to airport. I'm assuming they will put us on the last bus out. Anyone know what time that will be??

[chlives60]

I can't quote Viking Ocean but on our Porto river cruise we had a 4pm flight and we stayed on board till 1:30pm with a few others and Viking offered us a light lunch and we could sit in the lounge till it was time to leave on the bus for the airport. We have an early flight out of Stockholm we booked on our own so we will be leaving early and booking a taxi for early.

[CharTrav]

So basically - Viking is flexible. They have a desired off the ship time but not so hard over on "the rules" to kick you off at the appointed hour of it's something that is simply out of your hands. Kudos to Viking!

 

 

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[Peregrina651]

So basically - Viking is flexible. They have a desired off the ship time but not so hard over on "the rules" to kick you off at the appointed hour of it's something that is simply out of your hands. Kudos to Viking!

 

 

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I would be afraid to draw that conclusion. It should not necessarily be concluded that because it was done on one particular river cruise that it can be or will be done on Viking Ocean. It would be a safer bet that Viking is strict about clearing the ship and plan accordingly -- and then be delighted if you find out that they will let you stay later than you had planned.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Many river cruise lines allow guests to stay for lunch and enjoy the lounge until closer to their flights. But I believe that ocean cruises have to be cleared by the port and immigration authorities and this therefore may not even be up to them to allow.

[CharTrav]

Good point. Didn't register that it was a river not ocean cruise. Also, easier to be flexible with 192 vice 960 (if I have the numbers correct).

 

 

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[garycarla]

On our last cruise it was out of the cabin by 8 am and off the ship by 9:30 am.

 

This was the process on our recent cruise. I would not compare what happens at other cruise lines - very dangerous.

[roothy123]

Well, I'm not making any hard and fast plans based on the 9:30 "off the ship" time that others have reported, so it's OK. I just wanted to get an idea of whether one of us could go out for a few hours that last morning and one of us could stay on until departure time. 9:30's pretty generous in my opinion, and sounds great to me. (Anyone know if a person can go out early in the morning on disembarkation day and come back on board to meet up with a traveling partner and check back out for good? Has anyone asked about or tried that?)

 

I have another question. I realized I have no idea what Viking Oceans or the ports require when people are staying on the ship for a second (or third or whatever) cruise (what many people call "back to back" cruise), but I've heard in some ports on some cruise lines, people are required to go off the ship for a while and re-board. Perhaps that's required because immigration officials want to board the ship for inspections? I really don't know, but as Jazzbeau hinted - some things are not up to the cruise line! Berth and anchorage assignments come to mind as well as ship clearance procedures.

[Peregrina651]

Well, I'm not making any hard and fast plans based on the 9:30 "off the ship" time that others have reported, so it's OK. I just wanted to get an idea of whether one of us could go out for a few hours that last morning and one of us could stay on until departure time. 9:30's pretty generous in my opinion, and sounds great to me. (Anyone know if a person can go out early in the morning on disembarkation day and come back on board to meet up with a traveling partner and check back out for good? Has anyone asked about or tried that?)

 

I have another question. I realized I have no idea what Viking Oceans or the ports require when people are staying on the ship for a second (or third or whatever) cruise (what many people call "back to back" cruise), but I've heard in some ports on some cruise lines, people are required to go off the ship for a while and re-board. Perhaps that's required because immigration officials want to board the ship for inspections? I really don't know, but as Jazzbeau hinted - some things are not up to the cruise line! Berth and anchorage assignments come to mind as well as ship clearance procedures.

 

Roothy, this sounds like a question for the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com.

[itchyfeetx2]

Roothy, this sounds like a question for the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com.

 

Would love to learn what you find out about the 'back to back' cruise rules---we are on the 6/17/2017 Midnight Sun Cruise from Greenwich to Bergen and then on the 7/1/2017 Baltic Jewels cruise from Bergen to Stockholm.

[roothy123]

Hhmm, maybe I'll give tellus@vikingcruises.com a try - if they'll respond to me. (I'm not doing a back to back. I was just curious, as I've heard experiences vary.) Itchy feet, was your pair of cruises marketed/titled/booked as one cruise from Greenwich to Stockholm, or two? That may make a difference.

[Peregrina651]

Would love to learn what you find out about the 'back to back' cruise rules---we are on the 6/17/2017 Midnight Sun Cruise from Greenwich to Bergen and then on the 7/1/2017 Baltic Jewels cruise from Bergen to Stockholm.

 

I think that a couple of people on the 2016 Midnight Sun were doing the published B2B "Baltic Jewels and the Midnight Sun." Why not stop by the old roll call and ask the question? Maybe someone is still subscribed and will see the post.

[itchyfeetx2]

I was absolutely amazed when I got a phone call from Andre about 90 min after I submitted questions to the 'tellus@vikingcruises.com'! My cruise is considered a 'combo tour', which means I don't have to disembark in Bergen (between Midnight Sun & Baltic Jewels). He gave me some very useful tips re: how to make my shore excursion & dinner reservations as well as answered a bunch of other nit-picky questions.

 

Btw, the suggestion to check the 2016 roll calls others who did back-to-back and ask questions is one I am definitely going to do

[roothy123]

Any useful tips on the dining and shore excursion booking process you can share with us? This will be our second Viking Ocean cruise, so I pretty much know the deal - I think, anyway - but who knows, maybe there's something I might find useful.

 

Actually, if anyone has traveled with other guests and wanted to dine together in Chef's Table and Manfredi's, I could use some information on how that works. Does the system ask if you want to dine with others? Do you need to enter booking number for others? Next year we're traveling with another couple so might as well learn now!

[Peregrina651]

Any useful tips on the dining and shore excursion booking process you can share with us? This will be our second Viking Ocean cruise, so I pretty much know the deal - I think, anyway - but who knows, maybe there's something I might find useful.

 

Actually, if anyone has traveled with other guests and wanted to dine together in Chef's Table and Manfredi's, I could use some information on how that works. Does the system ask if you want to dine with others? Do you need to enter booking number for others? Next year we're traveling with another couple so might as well learn now!

 

The system does not ask if you want to sit with others and you can only make reservations for yourself.

 

 

IMHO, at this time, the easiest way is to make reservations separately, trying for the same time and then when you get on board, go to the maitre d's desk either in the World Cafe or Chef's Table and ask them to join the reservations and seat you together. At that time, you can also make any adjustments in time and check out the Chef's Table menus (which are not available in advance). You can also at that time make additional reservations.

[garycarla]

...Actually, if anyone has traveled with other guests and wanted to dine together in Chef's Table and Manfredi's, I could use some information on how that works. Does the system ask if you want to dine with others? Do you need to enter booking number for others? Next year we're traveling with another couple so might as well learn now!

 

They need to also make reservations. When you get onboard, you can just check with the desk to get seats together. Seats are not assigned until you show up, pretty much like a regular restaurant.

 

Personally we thought the Italian was fine but not outstanding. Then again, we were very impressed with the buffet.

[Peregrina651]

My cruise is considered a 'combo tour', which means I don't have to disembark in Bergen (between Midnight Sun & Baltic Jewels). He gave me some very useful tips re: how to make my shore excursion & dinner reservations as well as answered a bunch of other nit-picky questions.

 

Viking has a number of combo cruises. Except for the World Cruise, which is not being offered in segments, most the cruises that you see offered that are more than two weeks are combo cruises and on the overview page, it will tell you which itineraries are part of the package.

 

 

 

Btw, the suggestion to check the 2016 roll calls others who did back-to-back and ask questions is one I am definitely going to do

 

Okay. Hopefully, I am not the only person still following that roll call because I can't answer your question.

[Dauntless]

Any useful tips on the dining and shore excursion booking process you can share with us? This will be our second Viking Ocean cruise, so I pretty much know the deal - I think, anyway - but who knows, maybe there's something I might find useful.

 

Actually, if anyone has traveled with other guests and wanted to dine together in Chef's Table and Manfredi's, I could use some information on how that works. Does the system ask if you want to dine with others? Do you need to enter booking number for others? Next year we're traveling with another couple so might as well learn now!

 

When we were on board, someone was celebrating a birthday on our sea day and wanted to celebrate at Manfredi's. we were staying in 3 different levels of cabins so everyone's experience varied, here is ours. We were in V cabin so we could not book until on board. The host was in DV and made reservations and informed Viking about the plans. They sent out the time they had booked. When we boarded, we told then of our plans and were able to book and the reservations were combined at that time. The time was moved twice before we dined and everybody was moved on the schedule and the other reservations were cancelled as need be. Since it was a sea day no one had any trouble with the adjustments and their shore activities.

[Vineyard View]

We were on a 'back to back' or two segment cruise. We did not have to disembark or do anything specific at that mid point. It was seamless.