First time Viking Questions

[xwchristy]

We booked our Viking ocean cruise for next summer (Venice, Adriatic and Greece) after our wedding as a honeymoon. We used to cruise with Oceania and this is our first time with Viking and have some questions.

 

1. Drink policy confuses and disappoints us. Soft drink is complementary with Oceania all the time. But just noice with Viking only complementary with lunch and dinner. My question is how about breakfast? Do we just get coffee and tea at breakfast? Are juices offered as well? Do we have to pay for juice or soft drink at breakfast?

 

2. What is the excursion hours? I’m wondering if we do excursion during lunch time, when we get back to the ship, it’s outside lunch time, but we need to eat and drink, then do we have to pay for the drink? This is unlike Oceania, I can’t believe we need to pay for a coke at poolside?

 

3. Our stateroom is Deck 4, DV1 room 4122 at the rear of the ship, in between 2 Suites, Viking recommended us to take this DV1 on deck 4 instead of DV2 on deck6 because it’s at the rear of ship with great view on both sides. I’m wondering if this stateroom is a good one or it will feel big motion when the ship moves?

 

4. How is the food quality?

 

5. How are the excursions? How does it work? Does Viking offer same excursion every day just with different time windows? So if we want to have breakfast, we can choose an excursion before lunch. Would be nice if we dont have to get up early every day.

 

That’s my questions so far. Thanks everyone!

 

[Dauntless]

27 minutes ago, xwchristy said:

We booked our Viking ocean cruise for next summer (Venice, Adriatic and Greece) after our wedding as a honeymoon. We used to cruise with Oceania and this is our first time with Viking and have some questions.

 

1. Drink policy confuses and disappoints us. Soft drink is complementary with Oceania all the time. But just noice with Viking only complementary with lunch and dinner. My question is how about breakfast? Do we just get coffee and tea at breakfast? Are juices offered as well? Do we have to pay for juice or soft drink at breakfast?

 

2. What is the excursion hours? I’m wondering if we do excursion during lunch time, when we get back to the ship, it’s outside lunch time, but we need to eat and drink, then do we have to pay for the drink? This is unlike Oceania, I can’t believe we need to pay for a coke at poolside?

 

3. Our stateroom is Deck 4, DV1 room 4122 at the rear of the ship, in between 2 Suites, Viking recommended us to take this DV1 on deck 4 instead of DV2 on deck6 because it’s at the rear of ship with great view on both sides. I’m wondering if this stateroom is a good one or it will feel big motion when the ship moves?

 

4. How is the food quality?

 

5. How are the excursions? How does it work? Does Viking offer same excursion every day just with different time windows? So if we want to have breakfast, we can choose an excursion before lunch. Would be nice if we dont have to get up early every day.

 

That’s my questions so far. Thanks everyone!

 

 

This is not Oceania.  Different line and different policy.

 

1.  You have the correct info about soft drinks for a blanket statement.  When you board you will have soft drinks in the fridge.  They can be exchanged for what you want.  Depending upon your cabin they might be replaced throughout the cruise.  If not, you can always pick up extras at the World Cafe and take them back to the cabin.  When you go poolside, if you don't want to be charged, take them with you.  You'll probably leave from you room anyway to go to the pool and if you go to the bar or your cabin attendant I'm sure you can get ice and a glass.  Juices and drinks are available at breakfast in the World Cafe. Not sure about Restaurant when it comes to there being a charge.  I always had juice or smoothies.

 

2. The excursion hours vary by cruise and port.  The included excursion will be offered at several times.  At each of those times, there will be several groups for each time so everyone can be accommidated .  If you are in certain cabins you might have wine or alcohol stocked in your fridge.  If you are at a venue and it;s not during lunch foe that venue(available in the Daily) you will be charged.  Of course if you don't want to do that then get the Silver Spirits package and anything up to $15 is covered.  It runs about $20 a day so you do the math and see if that's a better way to go.  But let me be clear, I know the drinks are not nearly the cost of most major cruise lines.

 

3. The stateroom is good for the view.  The amount of motion you feel depends on your inner workings.  Since you have cruised before you probably know how that usually effects you

 

4.  Never been on Oceania but I hear their food is one of their main advantages and people who have compared the two seem to rank it higher.   This category is subjective on your experience, expectations and your palate.  Just know it will be different. 

 

 

 

 

[xwchristy]

Thanks very much Dauntless! Did you have smoothies at World Cafe or the Resturant? Is smoothies free at breakfast?

[Mich3554]

42 minutes ago, xwchristy said:

Thanks very much Dauntless! Did you have smoothies at World Cafe or the Resturant? Is smoothies free at breakfast?

 

They serve the smoothies during breakfast at World Cafe.  I don’t know if they serve them at the Restaurant, as I never had one there.  However, I imagine if you ask, they’ll probably get you one.  It seems that they have a different flavor each day they bring around, but they aren’t my thing.   

 

They do not charge for smoothies.   They do not charge for juices or sodas in The Restaurant during meals.  Also, I have found that you can get a soda refill at lunch and take it with you to the pool.  I don’t remember being charged for any sodas that I have ordered in Explorer Lounge until around 2-3 or so.  We tend not to buy the Silver Spirits package, and just order whatever we want (but we are not heavy drinkers....usually no more than 2-3 drinks).  We just got off Trade Routes last week and our bar bill for the 15 days was about $160.  

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Dauntless said:

Not sure about Restaurant when it comes to there being a charge.  I always had juice or smoothies.

 

No charge for soft drinks in MDR at meal times.

 

Tea/hot chocolate/any coffee except those with alcohol are all free 24/7, even if you get them at the bar. Best coffee is in the Living Room Bar Deck 1.

 

3 hours ago, Dauntless said:

What is the excursion hours? I’m wondering if we do excursion during lunch time, when we get back to the ship, it’s outside lunch time, but we need to eat and drink, then do we have to pay for the drink?

 

Technically, soft drinks, and the house beer and wine are free during "lunch hour" but the definition of lunch hour is fluid, so the answer here is "maybe." Ask the server.

 

 

4 hours ago, xwchristy said:

5. How are the excursions? How does it work? Does Viking offer same excursion every day just with different time windows? So if we want to have breakfast, we can choose an excursion before lunch. Would be nice if we dont have to get up early every day.

 

Just like any other ship, some are great and other are not. Tours are only as good as what is available through the contractors in the port.

 

If you wish to sleep in, choose the latest time available for the tour you are interested in taking. Note that only one tour in each port is marked as included; the rest are paid optional tours. Half day tours leave early so that they can get you back to the ship for lunch; some like to book two tours in a day and Viking likes to leave time for lunch between the two.

 

As for breakfast, room service is free 24/7.

 

Also, check out this thread

Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers

[Mich3554]

We got back from one of our excursions well after 3 pm, missing lunch in World Cafe.  We wound up eating a late lunch at the Pool Grill that day.  Drinks were provided during lunch without charge.  I think I grabbed a soda on the way out too.  

 

We could have also ordered room service, but preferred to be out in the sun.  The pool roof was open that day.

[lovingUT]

Have you spent time on the Viking website? It's easy to navigate and very thorough. It will probably answer all of your questions.

If you go to My Trips on your Viking account it will give a detailed list of both included and optional excursions for each day in port, with times.

As other posters suggested, you can always take a soda from your refrigerator or from the soda machine in the world cafe.

The website will also give you good information on the dining options, which we found to be fresh, numerous types of venues, locations and always choices available 24/7. We don't pick a cruise for the food, but do love to eat and enjoyed the variety. The wine and beer selections included with lunch and dinner changed throughout the cruise and were good. Of course, it all goes back to personal preference, but we weren't bored with the food choices after 22 days and are looking forward to another 3 week Viking cruise this Nov.

Your itinerary sounds wonderful. Have a great time.

[Liz Masterson]

Hmmm...

So... if you order a coke with a burger at 3:48pm from room service... do you pay for the coke or not? 

[Hunding]

48 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

Hmmm...

So... if you order a coke with a burger at 3:48pm from room service... do you pay for the coke or not? 

 

Nah, don't worry about it!  If they charge you for the Coke, lemme know and I'll pay for it!

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Liz Masterson said:

Hmmm...

So... if you order a coke with a burger at 3:48pm from room service... do you pay for the coke or not? 

 

I presume you would but unless you have consumed all of the cans in the mini-bar, why would you? Just request a glass with ice.

 

BTW, you can order drinks from the bar through room service, too. It will be charged to your account.

[idonthaveahobby]

I think the other questions have been answered, so I am going to give a little bit more info on your question about drinks. 

 

In a DV cabin, your room mini fridge will be restocked so everyday you start with 2 cokes, 2 diet cokes, and 2 sprites. If you need a coke not during lunch or dinner hours, you will still have those options for free. You will be able to have tea and coffee 24 hours a day in the world cafe. 

 

In our experience, lunch is approximately 11:30-2pm. Dinner 5:30-9:30pm. You can drink as much coke, beer and wine during that time as you want. The beer is draft and closer to 20 ounces. They have 3 different kinds. A lager, an amber and a dark beer.  The wines rotate by region of the world but there is a variety. I have asked them to refill me with glasses of beers/wine/cokes to go  and it is never an issue.  I have found that the pool bar is a little more liberal with the time frame and does a good job about alerting you to last call.  I think it is because the pool grill is still open until 4pm, so they seem to be willing to keep serving a little bit after lunch in the World Cafe is over.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by idonthaveahobby
clarification

[Cienfuegos]

On our recent Trade Routes cruise, the in-room ice bucket was refreshed twice daily.   At our request, extra Diet Coke was left on the desk to supplement that in the fridge.

[philw1776]

14 hours ago, idonthaveahobby said:

I think the other questions have been answered, so I am going to give a little bit more info on your question about drinks. 

 

In a DV cabin, your room mini fridge will be restocked so everyday you start with 2 cokes, 2 diet cokes, and 2 sprites. If you need a coke not during lunch or dinner hours, you will still have those options for free. You will be able to have tea and coffee 24 hours a day in the world cafe. 

 

In our experience, lunch is approximately 11:30-2pm. Dinner 5:30-9:30pm. You can drink as much coke, beer and wine during that time as you want. The beer is draft and closer to 20 ounces. They have 3 different kinds. A lager, an amber and a dark beer.  The wines rotate by region of the world but there is a variety. I have asked them to refill me with glasses of beers/wine/cokes to go  and it is never an issue.  I have found that the pool bar is a little more liberal with the time frame and does a good job about alerting you to last call.  I think it is because the pool grill is still open until 4pm, so they seem to be willing to keep serving a little bit after lunch in the World Cafe is over.

 

 

Your Pool Bar statements match our experience.  Good point.

[NordicPrince]

We were recently on the Majestic Fjords and Vibrant Cities cruise which is 14 days. Compared to other cruise lines where a drink package for this period of time would be well over $400 per person x 2 because each person in a cabin

had to purchase it, the Silver Spirits package is a relative bargain at about $20

per person per day. This gives you an upgrade on a list of wine choices all day,

a list of extra beer choices and almost all of your mixed drinks (champagne choices were extra). It was well worth it to just be able to order what you want when you want it and not think about it. This included all the soft drinks you would want. The servers are pouring juices for you at breakfast and lunch in the lido. 

We're not big big drinkers but on a typical day we had a drink, wine, beer or 2 before dinner, wine of choice at dinner, a drink at the night show and then 2 drinks up in the Observation at night. So relaxing not to worry about your tab.

Our cabin did not come with re-stock of soda but you could get a soda at the bars with the SS package.

Just an idea to consider.

Enjoy your cruising days.

[theduffys]

We were in that cabin last year and loved it! DH asked to have only cans of coke in the room fridge so, always six cans refilled daily.

[xwchristy]

Thanks very much everyone for such valuable info. Feel much more comfortable.

 

Just wondering for lunch and dinner,  those non alcoholic mock tail like pinna colada, are they complementary as well?

 

Also want to ask what are the included excursions like? I read some postings and reviews sounds like most of them are just a bus ride to town center or a walking tour. Can anyone give more insights?

 

Thanks!

[idonthaveahobby]

1 hour ago, xwchristy said:

Thanks very much everyone for such valuable info. Feel much more comfortable.

 

Just wondering for lunch and dinner,  those non alcoholic mock tail like pinna colada, are they complementary as well?

 

Also want to ask what are the included excursions like? I read some postings and reviews sounds like most of them are just a bus ride to town center or a walking tour. Can anyone give more insights?

 

Thanks!

I don't believe there is complementary mocktails offered.  I believe the website says only beer, wine and soft drinks are complementary.  I would imagine that since they have to mix each one individually, regardless of whether they have alcohol in them, that they would be a charged item,  unless you purchased the Silver Spirits package. 

 

If you go to the Viking Ocean website and click on the city for each day, the tours are listed.  You can see the description of the included tour for each day as well as the optional ones. I did a similar itinerary to you this year.  Yes, on your cruise most of the included tours will be walking tours.  Some of them have a part of the tour that is a a bus tour.

[Peregrina651]

Included tours tend to be short so that you have time to yourself to do other things on your own. They can be walking tours or bus tours or a combination of both.  Only one tour per port is marked as the included tour; the rest of the tours are paid optional tours.

 

As to the quality of the tours, that is harder to comment on. First, quality is a matter of opinion. Second, Viking uses contractors in each port and tours are only as good as what can be had in each port. Some guides will be better than others; some ports will be better than others.

[pacruise804]

I'm another first time Viking cruiser with a few questions. 

 

I see on the Viking website and have seen others mention on these boards that a lack of casino, art auctions, photographers, etc are positives.  Many of these I can understand (lack of children, included dining experiences, many included drinks), but a few of the others - even though I don't use them on other ships - don't really bother me just that they exist. On a ship with a good layout I can easily avoid the casino (not all ships have a good layout) and art auction, but I know some really enjoy the gaming as part of their vacation and figure both are revenue streams that help keep other lines costs down.  I also saw no umbrella drinks, which makes sense on a cooler climate cruise but we will be on a Southern Caribbean itinerary.  Are there really no fun frozen drinks?  I don't need one, but they can be nice on a hot afternoon.  Are there also no photographers at all?  While I generally find them an annoyance (blocking stairways, crowding hallways, or interrupting dinner), we have gotten a few nice pictures over the years.  Again, probably mostly a positive but a little surprised there isn't a discreet, out of the way photography option.

 

I also am curious about sea days on Viking.  I think I am good with evening dress, and port days shouldn't be an issue since we will dress for the day's activities and change to evening wear once back on board.  I have searched dress code threads but they seem to focus on evening wear.  This is from Viking's FAQ:

During the day, dress is casual including shorts (if the season is warm), slacks or jeans and comfortable shoes for walking tours. Swimsuits, brief shorts, cover-ups and exercise attire should be reserved for the Fitness Center, pool areas and Sports Deck. 

I would usually wear capris or long skirts with a nice blouse (and probably light sweater) regardless of if I was on the sports deck, at a lecture, or relaxing with a book or game in the living room.  My husband prefers spending the day in athletic clothes (clean and fresh, not the same ones he worked out in 😉 ) and would prefer to wear basketball style shorts with t-shirts rather than Bermuda shorts with polos on a relaxing day.  Does he need to change if we are going to a lecture or would he be fine in "comfy" clothes?

 

What parts of the spa/sauna are coed and what parts are same gender?  It was a little difficult to tell from the 360 video although it looked like parts must be each.  Are there instructions/guidelines for those who are new to Nordic spas? 

 

Thank you for helping me to know what to expect 🙂 

[philw1776]

Clean athletic clothes is what I and others wear around the ship during the day.  Shorts & Ts. Including at lectures.  Jeans if it's cooler.
Coed spa except for the locker rooms.  You can wear the Viking bathrobe to & from your room.

No photographers, however guides and associated Viking personnel are happy to shoot you in photos using your camera.

Edited October 31, 2019 by philw1776

[pacruise804]

Thank you so much!

 

Possibly a dumb question, but since the spa is coed does everyone keep a swimsuit on?  We had a spa balcony on a NCL Western Caribbean and everyone did, but that is also a more mainstream line.  Assuming swimsuit use is acceptable I will likely wear a cover-up instead of a robe.

 

I've seen YouTube videos from a lady in Denmark who goes bathing each day with a group of friends and she explains that in cold months you need to skinny dip because wet fabric can cause issues in the extreme cold.  I figure the pools are warm and the snow grotto isn't that cold 😉 

[knoxclone]

My husband wore athletic style shorts or "cargo" shorts during the days w either "nicer" t short or polo to all daytime activities and then khakis or casual slacks in evenings for dinner.

 

 I normally wore capris w T shirts (think Chicos type) or leggings with a tunic during the day. 

 

Re spa, I believe swimsuits are required -  robes and slippers are provided available to change into while in spa if you prefer not to bring a coverup and/or use the robes from your cabin. 

 

I love the no photographers on board , and yes the crew is always happy to take a photo for you.

[travel09]

Like most cruises, different people wear and do different things, don't over think it, simply be comfortable.Viking is a relaxed,beautiful way to cruise, I doubt if you can find better. The things they have removed, they have done so for a reason, careful study makes them unique, in lots of ways. The included excursions we found, were good and many were not just a bus and a walk,in town . Many choices..[ Sydney to Greenwich March 19],which included South Africa, so an in -depth lengthy time of knowing how Viking operates.If you look at Hygge, and its meaning, this is Viking, beautiful spaces, food and staff...Generous with wine and beer at meal times..also many special occasions around the Pool, with wonderful food and drinks included.

Lots of cruising over many years,with many lines,and we have loved every one, but Viking it seems to us, is just a step up from all the rest.So much is included. Enjoy..

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, pacruise804 said:

Possibly a dumb question, but since the spa is coed does everyone keep a swimsuit on? 

 

Co-ed or not, the spa is not "clothing optional."  There are a lot of things Viking can ignore -- photographers, casinos, art auctions. etc. -- but the American sense of modesty is not one of them. And before someone complains about my singling out the Americans, we do make up over 75% of Viking market/audience and Viking is going to pay attention to our preference over other smaller segments of its niche.

 

There are locker rooms with showers at the spa and unless it is your preference to change in your cabin, anyone can change in and out of their bathing suits at the spa.

 

Back to the photographers. You may see professional photographers and videographers on board but they are not there to take our pictures; they are working for the marketing department.

 

2 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Clean athletic clothes is what I and others wear around the ship during the day.  Shorts & Ts. Including at lectures.  Jeans if it's cooler.

 

For cool and cold weather cruisers, shorts are rare even on sea days even though the interior of the ship is climate controlled--unless you are from Minnesota or one of those other border states.

 

But as travel09 said, " don't over think it, simply be comfortable." 

[pacruise804]

Thank you knoxclone, travel09, and Peregrina651 - I am probably overthinking things 🙂 We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next year and wanted to do something really special but still in our comfort zone.  A Southern Caribbean itinerary on Viking seems like a match for us on many levels.  We are younger (47 and 48 at time of sailing) so an ultra premium line can be a little intimidating.  We want to be comfortable on our cruise but not make others uncomfortable either or be rude to our host by misunderstanding what is appropriate.

 

Most pictures and videos I've seen I think are for the cooler climates, but we are expecting warm temperatures in the Southern Caribbean 😎I'm relieved to know (and DH will be too) that the spas are not clothing optional.  

 

We are really looking forward to this cruise, including all that Viking does offer and the peace of not having the things they don't offer 😉 (although I might miss Karaoke a little😱)