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Live! Viking Sea: Iberia to West Indies 11/29/21 - 12/13/21

JeriGail

By JeriGail,
in Viking Ocean

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LindaS272 "Live from...." Rare

LindaS272

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I almost forgot—a question I want to ask now that you’re onboard. What’s the situation with the thermal spa? I know appointments must be booked onboard, but are they limiting you as to number you can book per cruise or per week? I believe someone reported that on a Welcome Back cruise.

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MikeyB

MikeyB

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Comments about cruise so far.....

The CD is very low  energy.   A magician  and not a singer.  Had him previously for my Malta cruise.  He is forgettable. 

Lecturers are great.

Main bartenders  in atrium and explorers  are  not Viking quality.

Asked for Hendricks and tonic and received club soda. Why?  Because it was not stocked in bar yet so they went creative with me.

It has been said already, that they are keeping a Bahamian  time schedule as to arrival  and departures.

We have new vocalists on board and they needed and extra day od rehearsals for the Beatles  songbook.  Now who can't  sing every Beatle song?

 

Hope this  journey  gets better!

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CCWineLover "Live from...." Rare

CCWineLover

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680 passengers.  Heard this from 2 different sources (head steward and head restaurant).

 

The ship definitely has a different vibe than what we are used to.  Just a couple days in, so remains to be seen!   They carry the wine we like so we're happy.  Skipping the Star Theatre performances - just repeats from past cruises.   Chef's Table and Manfredi's excellent so far, as it was from Rome to Barcelona.   Big crew changeover in Barcelona.  Lots of crew we got to know in bars and restaurants have gone home after 6 month contract.  Lots of new crew now.  Several crew were asked to extend just when they thought they were going home!  Cant' blame them for the obvious letdown.

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TayanaLorna

TayanaLorna

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1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

Comments about cruise so far.....

The CD is very low  energy.   A magician  and not a singer.  Had him previously for my Malta cruise.  He is forgettable. 

Lecturers are great.

Main bartenders  in atrium and explorers  are  not Viking quality.

Asked for Hendricks and tonic and received club soda. Why?  Because it was not stocked in bar yet so they went creative with me.

It has been said already, that they are keeping a Bahamian  time schedule as to arrival  and departures.

We have new vocalists on board and they needed and extra day od rehearsals for the Beatles  songbook.  Now who can't  sing every Beatle song?

 

Hope this  journey  gets better!

I have noticed that a lot of the crew is not with the program yet.  Morning 1, I asked the bar tender for a cappuccino and he had to get another fellow to show him how.  Granted it was early AM.  Heard there was a lot of turnover in the crew as their contracts were up.  Even have a new Captain.  However everyone is cheery, polite and trying.

 

Had David Peterson as CD on Jupiter SA 2020 and thought he was a funny guy.

 

Having fun no matter what!

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albertamom

albertamom

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2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

680 passengers.  Heard this from 2 different sources (head steward and head restaurant).

 

The ship definitely has a different vibe than what we are used to.  Just a couple days in, so remains to be seen!   They carry the wine we like so we're happy.  Skipping the Star Theatre performances - just repeats from past cruises.   Chef's Table and Manfredi's excellent so far, as it was from Rome to Barcelona.   Big crew changeover in Barcelona.  Lots of crew we got to know in bars and restaurants have gone home after 6 month contract.  Lots of new crew now.  Several crew were asked to extend just when they thought they were going home!  Cant' blame them for the obvious letdown.

That’s too bad about the Theatre performances. Great to hear about the restaurants, though. Hope the rest of your cruise goes well! 😃

 

Sherri

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MikeyB

MikeyB

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Spent  2 hours in the gym today  as it was a Sea day.  No cleaning of machines.  And when I just left the gym now, there was no wipes to clean the machines.

And there was no enforcement of social  distancing at the bars.  I complained to Guest Services.  Will see what happens.

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bbtondo "Live from...." Rare

bbtondo

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On 12/1/2021 at 8:53 AM, CCWineLover said:

680 passengers.  Heard this from 2 different sources (head steward and head restaurant).

 

The ship definitely has a different vibe than what we are used to.  Just a couple days in, so remains to be seen!   They carry the wine we like so we're happy.  Skipping the Star Theatre performances - just repeats from past cruises.   Chef's Table and Manfredi's excellent so far, as it was from Rome to Barcelona.   Big crew changeover in Barcelona.  Lots of crew we got to know in bars and restaurants have gone home after 6 month contract.  Lots of new crew now.  Several crew were asked to extend just when they thought they were going home!  Cant' blame them for the obvious letdown.

Regarding the recent big changeover of the crew in Barcelona:  On my Viking Sea cruise Nov 1 BCN to Rome I didn't get the impression that the crew was very experienced.  Some yes, but a lot of crew obviously were new.  Specifically, in the World Cafe some servers and a lot of the cooks behind the main food display and by the crab legs and shrimp display.  Bartender in The Restaurant had a difficult time with me ordering a Cosmo.  Was not crowded at all there, and watched the bar from my table and saw the difficulty that the bartender was having.  

 

However, our cabin stewards were off the chart incredible!  

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MikeyB

MikeyB

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21 hours ago, DaveSJ711 said:

Do you ever enjoy cruises?

Dave...Dave...Dave....

The answer is yes.  Surprised?

This cruise is not the typical Viking cruise you or Linda would be happy with if you had not cancelled.

Continuing the voyage  tradition...we were late getting off the ship in Cadiz.

This is my 4th Viking Ocean This year.  I was on the Sea in Malta this year.  A night and day difference because of a change  in crew.  My fellow passengers at the bar, tell me it's  their first and likely last.

Not me.  I like the Viking product.

I hope that answers you question.

 

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Urum

Urum

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On 12/1/2021 at 8:03 AM, MikeyB said:

have new vocalists on board

Any entertainment, live music after the shows? I remember we had a nice band playing in Torshavn deck 2 late after 9 pm. Enjoy your cruise!

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TayanaLorna

TayanaLorna

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4 hours ago, Urum said:

Any entertainment, live music after the shows? I remember we had a nice band playing in Torshavn deck 2 late after 9 pm. Enjoy your cruise!

The Viking Band is not bad.  Guitarist is good.  Drummer sounds like a drum machine.  Vocalists are decent.  

 

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Urum

Urum

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23 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Viking Band is not bad.  Guitarist is good.

Thank you. Are they playing anywhere after 9 pm like it used to be in the good old times? Or the ship is dead after the evening show since large gatherings are not welcomed.

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TayanaLorna

TayanaLorna

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9 hours ago, Urum said:

Thank you. Are they playing anywhere after 9 pm like it used to be in the good old times? Or the ship is dead after the evening show since large gatherings are not welcomed.

If they are not part of the Star theatre show they play in Torshaven at 9, is they are in the main show then they play at 10:15-10:30 or so in Torshaven.

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JeriGail

JeriGail

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Although we had 6:30 Manfredi's reservations, I wanted to try a couple of items from the Taste of the Caribbean in the World Cafe, so I arrived right before 6:00 and was able to see the beautiful sushi and fruit displays before anyone else had arrived.  I also had a chance to speak the executive chef and the sous chef and told them how much I've been enjoying the food.

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