First Day/Embarking Day

[bellemere]

1. If you arrive before the time on your documents, can you board the ship?

2. If so and your room is not ready, what do you do with your luggage?

3. I know from Viking River cruises that a light lunch is provided on the first day. Is this true with Viking Ocean?

4. Also on Viking River cruises, they do a walking tour on the first day if you want to join them. On Viking Ocean, are there any onshore activities on embarking day?

Thanks for the help.

[deec]

From last April experience:

yes you can board the ship before your"time" and they took our luggage

there was lunch being served in the world cafe but I am not sure of the hours

there were no organized tours that first day

 

each cruise may be a little different depending on WHERE the ship is docked

[the2ofus]

"4. Also on Viking River cruises, they do a walking tour on the first day if you want to join them. On Viking Ocean, are there any onshore activities on embarking day?

Thanks for the help."

 

It appears our ship will be docked below the Old City where many cruise ships dock. There is a pleasant paved promenade all along the sea wall there with some small vendors and interesting sights to see. It is not a long distance (uphill) to the shopping streets in the Old Town and some historic sites if you are willing to walk.

[CharTrav]

1. If you arrive before the time on your documents, can you board the ship?

 

2. If so and your room is not ready, what do you do with your luggage?

 

3. I know from Viking River cruises that a light lunch is provided on the first day. Is this true with Viking Ocean?

 

4. Also on Viking River cruises, they do a walking tour on the first day if you want to join them. On Viking Ocean, are there any onshore activities on embarking day?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

1. There's a hard and fast boarding time which is different from when you can use your cabin. Am looking at the FAQs btw. Embarkation starts at 11. Stateroom availability depends on your cabin class, ES & PVS, PV, DV, and V are: 11am, 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm respectively.

2. If you arrive earlier than 11, you can leave your luggage with them in the terminal. But make sure you're back 2 hrs before sail away.

3. I believe you can graze in the World Cafe on the 7th deck. Won't be a full menu. And they won't let you serve yourself. They will also watch you like a hawk to make sure you wash or sanitize your hands as you enter the cafe. Thus will hold true for the first two days. But you may know this from VR.

4. No. Nothing on embarkation day. The crew is fully engaged getting 930 (vice less than 200) passengers off the ship and preparing for the onslaught of the same number. Just relax and enjoy. It's a big ship. [emoji41]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[OnTheWater50]

FYI - We arrived for our January 2017 cruise at around 6am (Viking booked the air) and no one would take our luggage. Our group of around 15 piled our stuff up outside the fence (not secured) and kind of took turns watching/checking on the luggage pile. Embarkation was at 11 - my understanding is that as San Juan is an American port, the ship must be completely cleared before embarkation can begin (no overlap between passengers from the outgoing/incoming cruises). Thing may have changed but I doubt it. (BTW, we were told ahead of time we would be able to board early and wait for our stateroom to be ready by our TA and Viking but this was not true)

My advice would be to plan on arriving at the ship at 11am or later. You will get right on and have a lovely lunch while waiting for your stateroom.

The rest of the cruise was fantastic!

[bellemere]

Thank you for the responses. Still not clear on where or what to do with the luggage if room is not ready.

[Pyroforyou]

Viking takes care of your luggage as soon as you hand it to them at the airport till you find your luggage in your room. Your carry on luggage can be left on deck 1 as soon as you arrive on the ship. People wait for their rooms all over the ship, including pool area, all seating areas and world cafe (which opens at 11 with a regular menu). Some cruises are part of a longer cruise so there will be some passengers on your ship already as part of another longer cruise. On our second Viking ocean cruise in Feb it will be part of 4 other longer cruises.

[CharTrav]

FYI - We arrived for our January 2017 cruise at around 6am (Viking booked the air) and no one would take our luggage. Our group of around 15 piled our stuff up outside the fence (not secured) and kind of took turns watching/checking on the luggage pile. Embarkation was at 11 - my understanding is that as San Juan is an American port, the ship must be completely cleared before embarkation can begin (no overlap between passengers from the outgoing/incoming cruises). Thing may have changed but I doubt it. (BTW, we were told ahead of time we would be able to board early and wait for our stateroom to be ready by our TA and Viking but this was not true)

My advice would be to plan on arriving at the ship at 11am or later. You will get right on and have a lovely lunch while waiting for your stateroom.

The rest of the cruise was fantastic!

 

 

Weren't you allowed in the ship's terminal? Even if you couldn't board the ship proper, per their FAQs, they specifically state that if you arrive before 11 (and you didn't arrive by air and met by Viking agents), you can at least enter the terminal to leave your bags in their safekeeping. Not so? Or did San Juan not have a working terminal, such as for example we saw in Bergen? Which was HUGE.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Fpacifico]

We have overnight reservations at the Sheraton old San Juan, according to them, they will hold our luggage. But I figured that we will walk over to the terminal after 11.

[Peregrina651]

Weren't you allowed in the ship's terminal? Even if you couldn't board the ship proper, per their FAQs, they specifically state that if you arrive before 11 (and you didn't arrive by air and met by Viking agents), you can at least enter the terminal to leave your bags in their safekeeping. Not so? Or did San Juan not have a working terminal, such as for example we saw in Bergen? Which was HUGE.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Char, the problem is that each terminal operates differently and the FAQ does not account for that fact. It is time to update the FAQ.

[CharTrav]

Char, the problem is that each terminal operates differently and the FAQ does not account for that fact. It is time to update the FAQ.

 

Hmmmm. Agree. Perhaps a breakdown by groups of terminals that can and cannot be entered for the purpose of baggage drop-off before 11. Or something as simple (depending on the length of the list) as which terminals are the exception.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[OnTheWater50]

We did arrive by air booked by Viking, were met by Viking agents, and were dropped off outside of the working San Juan terminal at about 6:30 am. We (and our luggage) were NOT allowed inside the terminal until embarkation time of 11 am.

It was a mess - to be fair, this was back in January of 2017 and Viking followed up with us rather extensively post-cruise. Hopefully, the kinks have been ironed out for early arrivals.

Would love to hear more recent Caribbean early arrival experiences...

[CharTrav]

We did arrive by air booked by Viking, were met by Viking agents, and were dropped off outside of the working San Juan terminal at about 6:30 am. We (and our luggage) were NOT allowed inside the terminal until embarkation time of 11 am.

 

It was a mess - to be fair, this was back in January of 2017 and Viking followed up with us rather extensively post-cruise. Hopefully, the kinks have been ironed out for early arrivals.

 

Would love to hear more recent Caribbean early arrival experiences...

 

 

Will share what we discover when we arrive at ~9am in Miami this January.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums