Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers

[PlanoTim]

Fitness Center opens at 6am.

 

Barista magic begins at 6:30 am in the Living Room on Deck 1 and the Explorers Lounge on Deck 7. All coffee, tea and hot chocolate is free except those that contain alcohol.

 

Water: Bottled water as you depart the ship for the day and may still be available there as you return to the ship. There are carafes in the cabins of filtered water, plain, sparkling or both, refilled twice daily. Water at the bars and at meals is served by the glass. The mini-fridge stock does not include bottled water so you should ask Viking directly if it can be done (tellus@vikingcruises.com).

We just left the Viking Sea this past Monday. We had a good cabin steward team. When we were shown around our room (DV3) upon arrival the assistant steward confirmed with us a time that we wanted the ice refreshed in our cabin and asked if we wanted water bottles at that time also. We said “yes, please” and they made sure two bottles were present each day - in addition to the carafe. I have no idea if this is standard, but we thought it was nice.

[Cyber Kat]

We just left the Viking Sea this past Monday. We had a good cabin steward team. When we were shown around our room (DV3) upon arrival the assistant steward confirmed with us a time that we wanted the ice refreshed in our cabin and asked if we wanted water bottles at that time also. We said “yes, please” and they made sure two bottles were present each day - in addition to the carafe. I have no idea if this is standard, but we thought it was nice.

 

We will be sailing on the Viking Sea next month - good to know. We will probably be fine with the carafe, but we like having ice.

 

How was the food? Did you do the West Indies Explorer? If so, how were the ports? I can't wait for our cruise!

[PlanoTim]

We will be sailing on the Viking Sea next month - good to know. We will probably be fine with the carafe, but we like having ice.

 

How was the food? Did you do the West Indies Explorer? If so, how were the ports? I can't wait for our cruise!

Yes, we did the West Indies Explorer and had a great time. We thought the food was pretty good, but the evening meals in The Restaurant as well as Chef’s Table and the Italian restaurant took a long time (2.5+ hours). Maybe it was because we were part of a party of 8 traveling together. I enjoyed the World Café for breakfast and lunch. I liked how the food always seemed to be freshly-prepared in fairly small batches. The items they would cook-to-order were a nice touch as well. The Pool Grill was also good.

 

The Chef’s table was okay (we did 2 different menus – a West Indies-themed menu and one called Asian Panorama), but we didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the Chef’s Table experiences on Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Manfredi's was tasty, but took a long time.

 

The northern ports, of course, showed more damage - but the port areas were mostly fit and ready for business. The damage showed more inland, I think. St. Croix was substituted for Tortola and we didn’t do much there but walk around town on our own. The excursion we had planned in St. Maarten (America’s Cup 12-Meter Regatta) was cancelled since their boats were put out of commission by the storms. We had done this about 24 years ago and really wanted to experience it again. Maybe another time. We did a couple of the included excursions (Guadeloupe & Barbados) and sail/snorkel type excursions at many of the other ports. The Nevis Sail Away Excursion on St. Kitts and the Catamaran Cruise & Lobster Lunch on Antigua were well done and a lot of fun.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise.

[roothy123]

Regarding the fitness center: Someone on another thread recently reported that the center never closes.

[Rawmac]

It is our habit over many cruises (>500 nights afloat) to carry small change to tip the tour guides and drivers (provided they did well, of course) and give a word of thanks as they stood at the front door of the coach at the end of excursions, normally 2 or 3 Euros, but up to 5 if the excursion was long or the guide was exceptionally good.

 

However, in our experience, a significant number of pax in ALL excursions did not tip, either by totally ignoring the guide as he/she stood at the coach front door, or by sneaking out the back door of the coach, thus able to give the guide a wide berth. I have even seen pax from the back door heading round the back of the coach so that they would not be seen! Here, "significant" means over 50%. Maybe even 75%. (Having spotted these people, it was interesting to observe their behaviour on other occasions, which was usually predictable, unedifying and allowed us to compose an impression (very general, sweeping and probably wrong?) of the behaviour of various nationalities. Funny how these folks always seem to pop up at the most unexpected moments! ! !)

 

So tipping at the end of excursions is a personal choice. Guides are always grateful, and most (not all) are worthy of what amounts to less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Or perhaps cups of coffee are more precious in some parts of the world!

[roothy123]

Well, on other ocean cruise lines I've used, people generally didn't tip after taking ship excursions. I guess when you're paying more for a ship excursion that costs less if arranged by yourself, you assume the tip is included in the ship's excursion price. It's definitely different when you take a third party excursion (i.e., private or shared excursion not arranged by the cruise line). I've never been with anybody on one of those who didn't tip.

 

Some of the people who went out the back door may have been embarrassed because they forgot cash (I seldom travel with much, especially if I'm with someone else), were very hungry, or wanted to beat the rest of the crowd back to the ship and x-ray line. You just never know.

[jiminyC_fan]

It is our habit over many cruises (>500 nights afloat) to carry small change to tip the tour guides and drivers (provided they did well, of course) and give a word of thanks as they stood at the front door of the coach at the end of excursions, normally 2 or 3 Euros, but up to 5 if the excursion was long or the guide was exceptionally good.

 

However, in our experience, a significant number of pax in ALL excursions did not tip, either by totally ignoring the guide as he/she stood at the coach front door, or by sneaking out the back door of the coach, thus able to give the guide a wide berth. I have even seen pax from the back door heading round the back of the coach so that they would not be seen! Here, "significant" means over 50%. Maybe even 75%. (Having spotted these people, it was interesting to observe their behaviour on other occasions, which was usually predictable, unedifying and allowed us to compose an impression (very general, sweeping and probably wrong?) of the behaviour of various nationalities. Funny how these folks always seem to pop up at the most unexpected moments! ! !)

 

So tipping at the end of excursions is a personal choice. Guides are always grateful, and most (not all) are worthy of what amounts to less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Or perhaps cups of coffee are more precious in some parts of the world!

 

How funny. We've noticed the same thing. It is quite obvious when they are skirting around the bus and not making eye contact with the guide. Some used us a barrier in order to avoid the guides all together.

 

 

In all honesty, Viking does have tipping guidelines in their paperwork so it should not be a surprise to anyone. Excuses are just that, excuses.

[Rawmac]

"Some of the people who went out the back door may have been embarrassed because they forgot cash (I seldom travel with much, especially if I'm with someone else), were very hungry, or wanted to beat the rest of the crowd back to the ship and x-ray line. You just never know."

Aye. Right!!!

[sewsalot]

re: tipping

We have 5 adult kids, once each was able to drive & go out to eat with friends, I sat him or her down for some advice ...."You are not ready to eat out until you can afford to give the waitstaff a fair/decent tip." The two youngest sons spent a lot of hours working in restaurants, and have always grown up to be generous tippers. They also understand the value of working for tips- - & delivering good service. Personally, I like to tip...and to reinforce what we enjoyed on our tour. It should be easy to determine how much tip money we need since we have to register for all of our excursions (in advance).

[jiminyC_fan]

re: tipping

We have 5 adult kids, once each was able to drive & go out to eat with friends, I sat him or her down for some advice ...."You are not ready to eat out until you can afford to give the waitstaff a fair/decent tip." The two youngest sons spent a lot of hours working in restaurants, and have always grown up to be generous tippers. They also understand the value of working for tips- - & delivering good service. Personally, I like to tip...and to reinforce what we enjoyed on our tour. It should be easy to determine how much tip money we need since we have to register for all of our excursions (in advance).

 

I wish cruise critic had a "like" button.

[CharTrav]

I wish cruise critic had a "like" button.

 

 

Do your own. [emoji1360]

 

 

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[jiminyC_fan]

Do your own. [emoji1360]

 

 

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(y);):D

[WAPAVO]

The nightlight is to the right of the door on all their ships. I sailed on the Star in DV and the Sky in PV. I always have duct tape and scotch tape on my cruises. Just tape a piece of paper over the light leaving just a little of the light exposed. If you don't have tape, ask the room stewart for some.

Have a great cruise.

 

I forgot to say " when the bathroom is on the left as you enter the room"

[Peregrina651]

The nightlight is to the right of the door on all their ships. I sailed on the Star in DV and the Sky in PV. I always have duct tape and scotch tape on my cruises. Just tape a piece of paper over the light leaving just a little of the light exposed. If you don't have tape, ask the room stewart for some.

Have a great cruise.

 

Too much hassle for me. There is no need to keep the night-light on all night. There is a light switch right by the bed. When I have to get up, I turn on the light and then turn it off again when I get back into bed. If it too bright I just close my eyes a bit.

[philw1776]

An engineering improvement suggestion to Viking would be for dimmers on such lighting.

[CharTrav]

Too much hassle for me. There is no need to keep the night-light on all night. There is a light switch right by the bed. When I have to get up, I turn on the light and then turn it off again when I get back into bed. If it too bright I just close my eyes a bit.

 

Ditto for me. Which is why no doubt it's near at hand by each side of the bed.

 

 

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[BruceLovesSailing]

I left the light on in the bathroom and l closed the door part way. There is a position on the latch that doesn’t close the door all the way. This let enough light into the cabin to see but not blind you at night.

[Capt_BJ]

WOW

 

the night light is the biggest issue ya'll can come up with? Or if drinks are refreshed in your MINI bar altho the 'book' explains it CLEARLY

 

.........

 

I was looking forward to cruising with folks like us ...... not nutts

[newcruiser1956]

My daughter and I will be traveling to Rome in December. We are coming in 2 days early and do have Viking transfers.

I understand the first day they will pick us up to bring us to the ship. We would like to be going to Florence that day. Is it possible for us to send our bags and make our own way to the ship? We are in port over night, does it matter what time we arrive to check in?

[moatenote]

Someone asked about salads in the World Cafe a few pages back. They have a salad station where they will custom-make a Caesar salad for you and I loved it!!

[dln929]

WOW

 

the night light is the biggest issue ya'll can come up with? Or if drinks are refreshed in your MINI bar altho the 'book' explains it CLEARLY

 

.........

 

I was looking forward to cruising with folks like us ...... not nutts

 

Now now Captain BJ, after 8000+ posts on CC you know you're going to get all kinds of questions, answers, and discussions ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. Surely no topic surprises you anymore. ;)

[CharTrav]

WOW

 

the night light is the biggest issue ya'll can come up with? Or if drinks are refreshed in your MINI bar altho the 'book' explains it CLEARLY

 

.........

 

I was looking forward to cruising with folks like us ...... not nutts

 

Oh dear. Let's chill. [emoji3]

 

 

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[Host Jazzbeau]

WOW

 

the night light is the biggest issue ya'll can come up with? Or if drinks are refreshed in your MINI bar altho the 'book' explains it CLEARLY

.........

I was looking forward to cruising with folks like us ...... not nutts

 

While your glass is obviously half-empty on this point, mine is half-[or completely-]full: if these are indeed the only criticisms of Viking Ocean, my cruise in August is shaping up to be WONDERFUL!!!

[azdrydock]

While your glass is obviously half-empty on this point, mine is half-[or completely-]full: if these are indeed the only criticisms of Viking Ocean, my cruise in August is shaping up to be WONDERFUL!!!

 

 

Hi Jazzbeau

Last we saw you we were inline on the Quest with about 700 others trying to figure out

the Costa Rican immigration process.

 

A bigger concern on the Viking is some times the heated floors in the bathroom are a little to warm:cool:! The TV remote is also a little sluggish when you scan through the 30 or so free movies:cool:.I think it was Copenhagen when they were very slow opening the pool roof:cool:.

Get the point..... some can nit pic anything and everything

BTW we usually carry a small 1x1 LED light for the bathroom. We might upgrade to LED candles (I think 5 for a dollar at IKEA) next time we get a suite..

[Cyber Kat]

WOW

 

the night light is the biggest issue ya'll can come up with? Or if drinks are refreshed in your MINI bar altho the 'book' explains it CLEARLY

 

.........

 

I was looking forward to cruising with folks like us ...... not nutts

 

 

 

The feeling is mutual. I’m quite happy not to be cruising with you.

 

 

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