Viking Sineus - Ukraine

[mtbeales]

The point I made earlier about some Brits not having to pay gratuities is correct as they showed us their Viking brochure which stated that 'gratuities are included'. Can't get more accurate than that. They weren't offered free or reduced airfare as part of the Viking advertisement but DID receive 'included gratuities' which they verified with reception. It is what it is.

[pontac]

14 minutes ago, mtbeales said:

The point I made earlier about some Brits not having to pay gratuities is correct as they showed us their Viking brochure which stated that 'gratuities are included'. Can't get more accurate than that. They weren't offered free or reduced airfare as part of the Viking advertisement but DID receive 'included gratuities' which they verified with reception. It is what it is.

 

I'm English and book with Viking UK. I've been travelling with Viking since 2012 and return air fares from London have always been included in the cost. This month's trip had business class airfare included (and very nice it was too to have choice of a hot meal and a glass (or three) of Champagne.)

 

New for trips this year  'On board Gratuities' have been included on all cruises. As I read it, 'On board Gratuities' isn't all gratuities, i.e. doesn't include guides/drivers or for any included hotel nights (none this year on Ukraine trip, but will be nights in Bucharest from next year)

 

Each country is treated differently because Viking are competing with other companies in each market. Also national differences; from my experience America is more of a tipping culture than others.

 

(Personally, we've had perfect service on board with which we have always been happy to tip, but some local guides in the past have been so bad I haven't tipped them anything. With the old Quietvoxes one could sometimes retune to a better guide with another group, but that's not possible with the latest model.....)

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, pontac said:

 

Thanks for that info @pogo50. Surprised it doesn't say so in the Cruise documents which suggests the $2/$1 per day I put in my post. Did they tell you on board at  the start of the cruise?

 

Sounds like edits to the standard text have not caught up with what is actually happening on board. So much of the booklet is boiler plate.

[Nanna Fru]

Is there anyone on here going on the Viking Sineus Ukraine ( Kiev to Odessa) on September 14th 2019? We are travelling from Australia, have done Viking River Cruise before and looking forward to it. I've read a lot of helpful information in this chain, which I thank fellow travellers for posting.  Would love to contact any other fellow travellers prior to the journey.

[Peregrina651]

19 hours ago, Frances Gorringe said:

Is there anyone on here going on the Viking Sineus Ukraine ( Kiev to Odessa) on September 14th 2019? We are travelling from Australia, have done Viking River Cruise before and looking forward to it. I've read a lot of helpful information in this chain, which I thank fellow travellers for posting.  Would love to contact any other fellow travellers prior to the journey.

 

It looks like you already got the answer to your question  in the Viking River Roll Calls forum.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Peregrina651

[Horsedds]

Hi Pontac and anyone else on this board who will be on the July 6 sailing!!  Please come find me and say hello!!  I am Ival McDermott and my husband is Joel Storm. We are heading to Vienna on Wednesday for the brief extension, then on to Odessa!  I am not new to Viking, but my husband is. His only other cruise was with me on CroisiEurope on the Danube. Hopefully this one will be as good!!  Ok see you in Odessa!!

[Nanna Fru]

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

It looks like you already got the answer to your question  in the Viking River Roll Calls forum.

Hi, I am new to this site, I can't work out how to find the answer in the River Roll Calls forum? Whats the best way to search for it? Thanks in advance for any help.

[pontac]

3 hours ago, Frances Gorringe said:

Hi, I am new to this site, I can't work out how to find the answer in the River Roll Calls forum? Whats the best way to search for it? Thanks in advance for any help. 

 

It can be confusing, but you did post a new thread about your trip in the Roll Call forum on Saturday 29 June. I answered with a link this thread which has a lot of information on this cruise and which is being used as a roll call for all dates.

 

So I think you are in the right place. I'm not sure this thread is tho' 🙂

[pontac]

7 hours ago, Horsedds said:

Hi Pontac and anyone else on this board who will be on the July 6 sailing!!

 

Hi Ival

 

I'll look out for you and Joel.

 

We are flying next Saturday ( 6th) from London via Warsaw to Odessa and thence to the Sineas - if LOT Airlines make the connection. (it's this connection that has caused Viking to change the trip so from next year it'll be Kiev-Bucharest because there are more direct flights to Bucharest.

 

And if our baggage arrives with us you'll recognise me in the dining room in the evenings because I'll be wearing a bow tie and a jacket*

 

From what others have posted above, it seems this won't be a typical Viking cruise but we are laid back about it. It's an opportunity to see a different part of the world without much effort

 

 

*and trousers too, I hasten to add.

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, Frances Gorringe said:

Hi, I am new to this site, I can't work out how to find the answer in the River Roll Calls forum? Whats the best way to search for it? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

 

The various areas of on CC can be found at the top of the hierarchy on a page called Categories.:

Categories shows all the major areas that make up Cruise Critic message boards. Viking is the only river cruise line that has its own sub-forum.

 

Pontac answered your question in a thread you started in the Viking River Roll Call. To find that thread, assuming that you are using a desktop, scroll to the top of this page and there is a series of tabs across the tops, choose the one marked Activity. On the bar that appears, chose MY ACTIVITY and from that list choose CONTENT I STARTED. 

[kentchris]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Pontac answered your question in a thread you started in the Viking River Roll Call. 

That may lead to more confusion, not less: 'Frances' created two threads here in River Cruising, including the one to which Pontac replied, both of which were subsequently moved to the roll call forum.

[Peregrina651]

17 minutes ago, kentchris said:

That may lead to more confusion, not less: 'Frances' created two threads here in River Cruising, including the one to which Pontac replied, both of which were subsequently moved to the roll call forum.

 

This place has a steep learning curve.

[Horsedds]

Pontac, hope your flights are fine!!  One reason we are doing the Vienna extension is that my husband does not enjoy flying and does enjoy being in Vienna, so I thought it would break the trip up a bit for him!!

 

ok I will look for a bow tie and trousers!!!

[jpalbny]

Have a great trip all! Chris and I just spent a week in Ukraine in May and we had a fantastic time. Already thinking about when we can go back... We spent 3 days in Kyiv and the rest of our time in the West (a smaller city called Lviv). Highly recommended. Kyiv was surprisingly beautiful, and way more than I expected.

 

Most people in touristy areas spoke enough English to get by but my ace in the hole was that Chris is completely fluent in Ukrainian. So she was perfectly fine wherever she went, except for the occasional person who spoke only Russian. I tagged along, kept my mouth shut, and enjoyed having a great tour guide! We took the Metro, buses, trams, etc and never used a guide.

 

So, there is plenty to do in Kyiv for 3 days. If anyone has questions I'd be happy to provide more details about what we did, and how to do it on your own. I just need to know where the ship is docked so I can re-orient myself to a new starting point, as we always started our forays from our hotel on the edge of the Old Town.

[pontac]

15 hours ago, Horsedds said:

One reason we are doing the Vienna extension is that my husband does not enjoy flying and does enjoy being in Vienna, so I thought it would break the trip up a bit for him!!

 

He'll enjoy Vienna. We've been there three times on different Viking cruises.

 

For me, I prefer going straight to/straight from boat thus unpacking/packing only once. On our June trip we had two nights pre-boat in Budapest and one night post in Bucharest. Mrs P. thought it would be good to have a longer holiday, but she admitted that she felt  Budapest was  just marking time till the real holiday started.

 

We have never taken an extension, but then the circumstances are very different. If you're going to fly the Atlantic then it makes little sense to do it just for the a  cruise. However, for us these cities are a short inexpensive flight away. Earlier this year my son and his fiancée had a long weekend in Budapest.

 

No doubt when Viking are finally allowed to operate river cruises in the USA we will take extensions there 🙂

[Horsedds]

Are you in Great Britain?  I was there a few weeks ago for the first time and had a lovely trip!!  I visited a friend (met several years ago on a Viking trip!) in Wiltshire. What a beautiful area!!  We went together with her husband and cousin on the ferry to Cherbourg and on to the Normandy Beach area where we visited the grave of her father. That was my first time in France also!!

 

[pontac]

2 hours ago, Horsedds said:

Are you in Great Britain?

 

Yup, hence 'London' in the place where CC shows 'New Jersey' for you.

 

A few weeks ago was the D-Day ceremonies. Your friend's father died liberating France?

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, pontac said:

Yup, hence 'London' in the place where CC shows 'New Jersey' for you.

 

 

 

Don't blame horsedds for asking. Sadly, these badges don't show on all platforms. I don't see them on my mobile phone even though I use a browser; I only see them when I am working from my PC. My guess is that mobile platforms don't see them.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, pontac said:

 

Yup, hence 'London' in the place where CC shows 'New Jersey' for you.

 

Note that you don't see locations when viewing on a phone.

[Horsedds]

Thanks to all defending my honor/ ignorance!!  Actually I view Cruise Critic on an iPad and London is right there, just never noticed it!

Yes, my friends’ father/uncle died on Utah Beach two days into the DDay invasion. The cemetery and surrounding landscape were tremendously awe-inspiring and impressive!!  The shallowness of the Channel, narrowness of the beach, and total vertical steepness of the cliff they scaled makes it almost impossible to believe that they could have done it at all!!!  I prepared for going by reading some accounts of the preparations made by both sides, but the actual accounts of the fighting, and the suggested video documentations and movie depictions were too painful to watch. It was the first time I ever really thought about the reality of the actual fighting of that war.  I was born in 1944 and my father, being crippled with polio, did not go to fight.  By the time I was old enough to understand discussions, it was no longer being discussed. 

Certainly gives one perspective about entering into some somewhat casually discussed modern wars....

[Nanna Fru]

On 7/1/2019 at 8:10 PM, pontac said:

 

It can be confusing, but you did post a new thread about your trip in the Roll Call forum on Saturday 29 June. I answered with a link this thread which has a lot of information on this cruise and which is being used as a roll call for all dates.

 

So I think you are in the right place. I'm not sure this thread is tho' 🙂

It is confusing indeed. I thought that the Roll Calls were for specific sailing dates, not "all dates on a particular vessel". So, if I'm on the right track,  you answered my question ( thanks) and referred me to this thread, and I have to trawl through all comments to find details?

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, Frances Gorringe said:

It is confusing indeed. I thought that the Roll Calls were for specific sailing dates, not "all dates on a particular vessel". So, if I'm on the right track,  you answered my question ( thanks) and referred me to this thread, and I have to trawl through all comments to find details?

 

On ocean voyages, roll calls are for a specific sail date on a specific ship. This works for ocean ships because there are usually enough participants to sustain a conversation (and roll calls are about conversation and finding people to share independent tours). Viking ships are smaller and sustaining a conversation can be harder; therefore, people will visit roll all roll calls for their itinerary to try to learn as much as they can. Rolls calls are also the only place where we are permitted to organize tour shares and ask for participants.

 

River ships are even smaller and it is very hard to sustain a roll call if you are the only member. Therefore, members started creating roll calls by year and itinerary (which on Viking can be done by multiple ships). This at least sustains conversation even if we don't necessarily find people who will be sailing with us. The fewer sailings of an itinerary, the harder it is to find people to participate. In general, you will find that about one to two percent of passengers know about and participate in roll calls. On a ship with 200 people, that is one cabin.

 

Sometimes, people will move the conversation to this forum, the River Cruising forum, in search of more people to draw into the conversation, especially people who have done the itinerary in the past. Like you, they are in search of information and have questions to ask about the itinerary.

 

Viking Sineus is being discussed in a couple of places but mostly it is being discussed in this thread.

 

There are also attempts to discuss it in roll calls but most of them are a complete fizzle because they are by date. Look in

Viking River Roll Calls  to find them. The best way is to eyeball the list. Using the search function will not get you to what you are looking for.

 

I'm happy to try to answer questions but I did this cruise in 2012--and my information is as stale as last year's Christmas cakes.

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by Peregrina651
sorry about the bold. blame it on Cruise Critic formatting

[pontac]

20 hours ago, Horsedds said:

Yes, my friends’ father/uncle died on Utah Beach two days into the DDay invasion.

 

We owe those young soldiers so much. It must have been a very moving trip.

 

BTB, I hope you did not feel I was 'blaming you'. That wasn't my intention and I can't see blame in my post, just confirmation.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, pontac said:

BTB, I hope you did not feel I was 'blaming you'. That wasn't my intention and I can't see blame in my post, just confirmation.

 

Sorry, pontac. I'm the one who first used/misused the word. 

 

[Nanna Fru]

18 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

On ocean voyages, roll calls are for a specific sail date on a specific ship. This works for ocean ships because there are usually enough participants to sustain a conversation (and roll calls are about conversation and finding people to share independent tours). Viking ships are smaller and sustaining a conversation can be harder; therefore, people will visit roll all roll calls for their itinerary to try to learn as much as they can. Rolls calls are also the only place where we are permitted to organize tour shares and ask for participants.

 

River ships are even smaller and it is very hard to sustain a roll call if you are the only member. Therefore, members started creating roll calls by year and itinerary (which on Viking can be done by multiple ships). This at least sustains conversation even if we don't necessarily find people who will be sailing with us. The fewer sailings of an itinerary, the harder it is to find people to participate. In general, you will find that about one to two percent of passengers know about and participate in roll calls. On a ship with 200 people, that is one cabin.

 

Sometimes, people will move the conversation to this forum, the River Cruising forum, in search of more people to draw into the conversation, especially people who have done the itinerary in the past. Like you, they are in search of information and have questions to ask about the itinerary.

 

Viking Sineus is being discussed in a couple of places but mostly it is being discussed in this thread.

 

There are also attempts to discuss it in roll calls but most of them are a complete fizzle because they are by date. Look in

Viking River Roll Calls  to find them. The best way is to eyeball the list. Using the search function will not get you to what you are looking for.

 

I'm happy to try to answer questions but I did this cruise in 2012--and my information is as stale as last year's Christmas cakes.

 

Thank you very much for all that information - it really helps make sense of the River Cruise Roll Calls vs the Ocean Cruise Roll Calls. And the Viking Sineus thread has been very helpful.  There is a lot of information in them. We are not newbys to River Cruising, but as we are doing the Ukraine Cruise immediately followed by the Waterways of the Tsars in Russia we are very curious as to what to expect, never having travelled to those countries before - and I always like to be aware of possible pitfalls and potential for unusual or interesting places to visit.