Live from Viking Sky on Mediterannean & Adriatic Sojourn

[Azulann]

Dr.Koob, loved your  experience in Barcelona. I have been there three times, using  local private guides who were all outstanding.

I have so enjoyed your live trip report, and your observations about Viking ship, service and food. I am looking forward to my 4th Viking cruise in June 2023 , Scenic Scandinavia on board the Viking Jupiter.

Thank you again for taking time out of your vacation for this thread. 

[DrKoob]

Expectations Not Met but That's OK

 

It was interesting to me that when we got our post-cruise survey from Viking, they had everything listed by expectations. For instance, a question might say, "Food in the main dining room: A) Exceeded expectations  B) Met expectations C) Did not meet expectations." When I thought back on it, that was my problem with Viking. After listening to friends talk about how much they love Viking, reading a FaceBook group of Viking fans, and knowing that Viking clients are incredibly loyal, I was expecting an almost perfect experience. That was my problem and not Vikings. (Viking—do your surveys online. You are doing yourself a disservice because I truly believe you get more info that way. When I only have a tiny, multiple-choice survey with little space for comments, that's all I give you.)

 

I also realized in retrospect that so much of what I knew I would love about Viking (I did a blog post about why we were moving to Viking, and you can read it here.) is things it does not have: kids, smoking (Ok, there is a tiny area outside, on deck 7 but Viking says "No Smoking" in their marketing), casino, ship's photographers, art auctions and more. As little things went wrong along the way, I was thinking about those things, not the things that weren't there that I loved them for. All those things were great; I just didn't think about them because they weren't there. But they really improved our cruise experience.

 

Since we got home, I have also been telling people who ask about the trip that "Now we know how long a vacation is too long." A month is too long. Three weeks on a ship is too long. Especially when you are sick and quarantined or are self-quarantining. But if we were going to do three weeks, Viking is the cruise line I would do it on. So, without further ado, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of what w loved and what we didn't.

 

What we loved

 

• Our stateroom. It was the largest non-suite stateroom we have ever had. 338 beautiful square feet. With so much storage. How much storage? So much so that we had an empty drawer and a junk drawer—on a ship. Here are some pics of one of the best staterooms we have ever been in. 
   
• The mini-bar. On every single one of our previous cruises (except Celebrity Flora), one of the first things we would ask our room steward to do was to remove everything in the mini-bar. On Viking, we left it all in there. Why? Because it was all free. And it got completely refreshed every day. And if there were something you would rather have in there that wasn't, all you had to do was ask. For instance, it was full of Sprite and Diet Coke—neither of which we drink. But we do love the Schweppes Bitter Lemon they served in the bar. So we asked if we could swap out the two we didn't like for Bitter Lemon. Well, they didn't regularly stock it, but they ordered it up from the bar at no cost to us.
   
• All the upstairs food on the 7th deck. That means that we found some of the best food we have ever had on a cruise in The World Cafe buffet, Mamsens and the Pool Grille. I can count on my fingers the number of times in 30+ cruises we have eaten dinner in the buffet. We usually just do the buffet for breakfast or lunch but hardly ever for dinner. On Sky, we did. Almost every night because the food was amazing. I have never eaten so much outstanding seafood.
   
• The service in the buffet is amazing. One of my complaints about the buffet on other ships is the absence of trays. Not because I like trays but because I only have two hands. One for a salad and one for the main course. Now, how do I hold the drink(s) that I want as well? So, I go and set my food on the table, and I run back to get the drinks, and by the time I am back, my food is cold. This never happened on Sky. Ninety percent of the time, within seconds of sitting down at the table with my salad and my entrée, someone was asking me what I would like to drink. The buffet also worked like a well-oiled machine. The managers were always coming by to ask how things were. Once I told one of the managers that the veal I had just grabbed was dry and tough. He immediately turned around, went to one of the chefs and told him to remove it and get new. That was impressive. I really felt like they cared what I had to say.
   
• The room service was outstanding. Again, before this cruise, I could count on one hand the number of times we had done room service on our other cruises but because of our quarantine situation with Kathleen's food poisoning. We loved room service, especially breakfast. The order was always right, delivered hot, and except for one small hiccup with a pepper shaker, it was all outstanding. I do wish their non-breakfast menu had more variety, but everything we had was great.
   
• The wonderful quiet places on the ship. I did an entire post on this subject a few days ago and I posted pics. Just click that link to read it. Suffice it to say; there were so many great places to sit and work on my photos and write posts. Or for Kathleen to go and read but still see the sights out the front of the ship or just someplace to have a quiet conversation.
   
• Television choices. They were awesome. I know, who watches television on a cruise? People who are quarantined. People who are feeling sick. People who are exhausted from being in a port and touring every single day. And we got to choose from quite a variety of shows, an excellent interactive map of our itinerary, old TV shows we love and more.
   
• Embarkation and disembarkation. Not the transport from the pre-extension or back to the post-extension. But getting on the ship was a piece of cake. Viking under-promised and massively over-delivered. When we were checking in we were told that our stateroom would be ready no later than 3:00 pm. So we headed up to the buffet for lunch (lots of tables available) and just as we were finishing up, our cruise director announced on the PA that all staterooms were ready—about two hours early. Under-promise, over-deliver. Both getting on and off the ship was about as easy as we have ever had in all our cruising.
   
• Size of the ship. We loved it. It never felt crowded (except one night in the dining room). You could walk from one end of the ship to the other in no time. With only 9 decks and us on deck 5 we could get anywhere on the stairs, although we didn't have to because the elevators were easily accessible. Kathleen hardly ever had to wait for elevators. But even though the ship is smaller than what we are used to, we never felt that much motion which we thought we would.
   
• Fewer people. With only 928 total passengers, we never felt crowded.
   
•  Laundry and pressing. In 30+ cruises, we have only sailed on one ship that had a self-service laundry. It was super to have clean clothes whenever we wanted them. And it was so great being able to not worry about it when we did laundry. I would go and toss stuff in a washing machine, set a timer with Siri and then go back when she went off. Same with the dryer. And since we were in a PV-class stateroom, we also got free pressing. So I would wash and dry my shirts and send them off to be pressed, and they would come back the next day looking perfect.
   
• The included WiFi. This was excellent. Very few glitches. No, I could not watch a Netflix movie, but I was able to upload all my pics, post to this blog, FaceTime twice with our grandkids and even watch Seattle Mariner highlights on YouTube. All for free. And it was only out on very rare occasions and never for that long.
   

What we didn't love

 

• The entire food poisoning incident. I have written about it pretty thoroughly here. I personally was not happy with the way Kathleen was treated. It comes down to not listening to women when medical treatment is involved as well as jumping to conclusions. Everything worked out in the end, but it just should never have happened to the extent and in the way that it did. Kathleen had to miss at least three places that we had never been to before.
   
• Any dining on decks one or two. This includes the main dining room (AKA The Restaurant), Manfredi's and The Chef's table. I want to look at them individually and tell you why we did not love them. None of these restaurants passed what I now call the "Steve Standard." My brother Steve wrote this in his review of our May cruise on Celebrity Millenium, and I have stolen it from him because I think it is the best way to describe and evaluate a cruise ship restaurant. Here's the "Steve Standard": If this restaurant were in your neighborhood and you ate there, would you pay to go back? Pretty simple. And the answer for us for all three restaurants is no. They did not pass the "Steve Standard." Upstairs, the World Cafe, Mamsens and the Pool Grille all passed. I would pay to go to any of them.
  • The Restaurant. On every other cruise we have ever been on, we have eaten 95% of our dinners in the main dining room. On this 21-night cruise, we ate exactly three dinners in the main dining room. Now I will give you that part of the reasons this happened was Kathleen's quarantine when we ordered room service and long days onshore when we were just too tired and not at all motivated to get dressed to go to the dining room. But the times we did go, we were not pleased. Two of those times we felt the service was just weird. We are used to having the same servers for our dinners, but not only did we not get the same servers on these two nights, but we also had different servers for every course. And it seemed none of them really wanted to wait on us. Both dinners took more than 2.5 hours. That's too long. We would be seated and then wait 20 minutes to get water or bread. Then another 10  to get our orders taken, then another 10 until the appetizers came, and it went on like this. And things would be missing from orders, or they would be cooked differently than asked. We were never offered a wine list, and when we would ask for one, it would take 15 minutes to get it. In the meantime, another server would just come around with the bottles of the evening's included wines and start pouring those. We gave up. The third time we went to The Restaurant, we joined our new friends Corky and Larry, who told us they had cultivated a relationship with an outstanding server...and they had. He was amazing, and the wine steward showed up immediately to ask us about other wines. It was the kind of service we loved. And the food was great that night. But the noise level was deafening. We were sitting at a small table for four and could not hear each other talk. I still have no idea what half the conversation was about. I got tired of asking the other three to repeat what they said, so after a while, I just gave up and nodded my head. All in all, we just weren't happy with The Restaurant.
     
  • Manfredi's. One of the things we loved about Viking was that the specialty restaurants were free. On most ships, you pay extra for those. A lot extra in some cases. For instance, on Holland America, we went to Rudi's, the seafood restaurant on board and paid $50 per person to go. So when we heard that we could get into Manfredi's for $0.00, we were thrilled until we ate there. We went twice. The first time was the same sporadic service as The Restaurant. That got fixed the second time, but the food was never up to snuff. This is supposed to be Italian. I am an Italian-American, and I LOVE to cook Italian. I have lots of Italian restaurants I love. This is not a good Italian restaurant. Example: On Celebrity cruise line ships, there is an Italian restaurant called the Tuscan Grille. I love their calamari. I have been known to have it as an appetizer and an entrée at the same meal. I looked forward to that on Sky, but it was horrible. Reminded me of eating those old snack food, Bugles. Remember those? And their ribeye steaks (which are supposed to be amazing) were some of the thinnest ribeyes I have ever eaten. And my brother (who is a steak person) ordered one and got an entirely different steak. The only thing I had that I liked was a risotto with escargot. I might get that take-out from a restaurant at home. Suffice it to say that Manfredi's was better than Olive Garden, but not by much.
     
  • The Chef's Table. This is a matter of personal choice. The Chef's table has a fixed menu that rotates every three days. We had four reservations there, but due to quarantines, we lost our first one. Then the second and fourth time, they were doing a menu that had nothing on it that Kathleen could eat. She is allergic to shellfish (two courses) and duck (the entrée). So that was out. The one time we went was on a night that they were featuring California food. She had one course she could not eat (crab cakes) and they brought her a very nice cheese plate. And the food they did serve was pretty good...for what it was. But as I said, this is a matter of personal choice and at home I would never go to a fixed menu restaurant if I could avoid it. While I thought that dinner was fine, there was not a single thing on that night's menu that I would have ordered in a regular restaurant. The menu for two nights later looked good but we could never make it work with our reservations.
     
• The included excursions. Another thing that drew us to Viking was that they included an excursion in every port. But those excursions just did not work for us. Either they were too long, the guides were incredibly boring and talked as if they were being paid by the word, or they just weren't our cup of tea. I did love that Viking provided free shuttle busses in every port where we weren't anchored right in the center of the city (Kotor), but the included excursions were just not up to par. I wish that Viking would give you a credit for excursions if you don't use them.
   
• The optional excursions. Out of 21 days in ports, we booked an optional excursion seven times. Only two of them would I do again (Dubrovnik and Messina). Two of them were pretty good for half of the tour (Naples and Bari) , and one was good for about a quarter of the tour (Olympia ). One was just "fine" (Kotor), and one was downright horrid (Monaco) because it was way too long, had the worst guide of the trip and included way too much crapola (like shopping). Our buddy Corky said that Viking should offer tours that were listed as "shopping or no shopping." I totally agree. When you compare these to the pre-cruise tour we did in Athens with George of Tours By Locals, the post-cruise tour we did in Barcelona with Olga, also of Tours By Locals and the Cinque Terre tour we did with the amazing Luigi, there is no contest—there were all bad. I will give you that they were less expensive than the tours we booked ourselves, but I would gladly have paid more for better tours.
   
• The weird weeks of this cruise. Our friends Corky and Larry, who are long-time Viking cruisers, told us that our 21-day cruise (and their 28-day cruise—they started a week before us in Instanbul) was NOT like any other Viking cruise they had been on because it wasn't really one cruise. It was (for them) four one-week cruises, and for us, it was three one-week cruises. Did this matter? It kind of did. For instance, we could not see, book or change our shore excursions until the next week's cruise started. Or the number of people getting off and on really was strange. Our first two weeks were primarily with a great crowd of travelers in our age group, and it worked well for us. Most were doing two-week cruises. But when many of them got off in Rome, the new group that got on was louder, ruder and generally younger. They were only doing a one-week cruise, and that meant they wanted to get all their partying in right away. We preferred the older, travel-oriented folks we had with us from Athens to Venice. Corky tells me that this particular cruise on Viking Sky is one of the few where Viking does this. We hope to avoid that in the future.
   

That about covers all of it. So what's the final verdict? Well, we booked another Viking Ocean cruise while on board. So I guess that says it all. We have booked a 14-night cruise in 2024 from London up to the Norwegian fjords and ending in Bergen, Norway. We have never done this itinerary before, and it will give us a chance to compare a regular itinerary with this three-week mess.
 

I hope you have enjoyed following along on our journey. I also hope if this was the first time you have read the blog, that you would both subscribe for future journeys and go back and read about some of what we have done in the past. I have been doing this since before the pandemic, and there are a bunch of other trips you can read about. I will be back in a couple of days with my promised treatise on how I do my photography.

•  

[DrKoob]

My brother reminded me to add this:

 

• The chocolate desserts. My brother just reminded me that I raved and raved about every single dessert that was chocolate. I am NOT a chocolate person. I prefer my desserts to have fruit in them or as the main taste profile (think lemon-polenta cake), but when we went to Manfredi's, I had the best chocolate dessert I have ever had. From that point on, I made a point to try everything chocolate and almost every single thing was just as good. If you love chocolate, it might be worth going on a Viking Sky cruise just to eat it.

[Piaa]

5 hours ago, DrKoob said:

didn't.

 

What we loved

 

• Our stateroom. It was the largest non-suite stateroom we have ever had. 338 beautiful square feet. With so much storage. How much storage? So much so that we had an empty drawer and a junk drawer—on a ship. Here are some pics of one of the best staterooms we have ever been in. 
•  

 

Thanks for taking us along - what cabin category were you in please (and cabin number)  

[DrKoob]

7 minutes ago, Piaa said:

 

Thanks for taking us along - what cabin category were you in please (and cabin number)  

A Penthouse verandah. 5029. Loved it.

[Piaa]

2 hours ago, DrKoob said:

A Penthouse verandah. 5029. Loved it.

Thank you so much 

 

[Older Sister]

Thanks, Dr. Koob, for the excellent summation of your trip.  We're doing our first Viking Ocean cruise in December, and your review has given me a lot of good information and things to think about.  We're also in a Penthouse Veranda stateroom on deck 5 and I'm very happy to hear how pleased you were with yours.  

 

I'm hopeful that at, at the end of our cruise, we will be satisfied enough to book another Viking cruise while onboard, as you did.  

[janetcbl]

14 hours ago, DrKoob said:

A Penthouse verandah. 5029. Loved it.

We have been in  PV and a PS. The only differences, IMO, a slightly larger cabin, double sinks in the bathroom and “free” laundry in the PS, not enough difference for the much greater cost.  We will go back to the PV for future cruises.

[lackcreativity]

DrKoob,

 

Thanks for your very honest evaluation of your three one-week cruises with Viking. While I don't agree with many of your evaluations, I do agree that most of those disagreements are over matters of personal opinion (absolutely love Viking beds, and food issues are always up for debate). I think that your booking of another cruise while on board says it all. With a new set of expectations (and hopefully without food poisoning!), you may enjoy your future cruise even more.

 

While you may never change your mind about dining venues that we love, I do suggest you consider giving another try on a different ship. Each cruise can have its own personality, and some crowds are more boisterous than others.

 

I also wish that your first Viking experience had been pre-Covid. When we cruised in April, we had a wonderful time on the Barcelona to "Venice" portion of your trip. However, we recognized that some issues were still being impacted by the aftermath of the pandemic. The staff is still #1 on our list of things we love about Viking, but they were not fully staffed and many of the crew are still new.

 

Shore excursions are still facing similar problems: there are fewer to choose from and some guides were definitely better than others. We had a fabulous guide in Barcelona on the included excursion, but had a poor experience with the guide on the optional excursion to Montpellier. All the rest were satisfactory. The all-day optional excursion from Monaco that you found a disappointment was one of our favorite of the trip. Personal opinion and expectations again. We knew that visiting three stops in one day would be a whirlwind, but we wanted to see all three since we may never get another chance. The view from the Jardin Exotique at the top of Eze was worth the cost of the trip for me. It provided many nice photos even if take on the run, so to speak!

 

Thanks again for your photos and commentary. Hope your next trip will be even better!

[PasadenaDave]

Doc, thanks for  all your postings and wrap up.  We agree on fancy dining, but that isn’t why we cruise as we have great local restaurants.  People have to remember what one person dislikes another enjoys.  I compared our Viking cruise last spring to other lines, Princess and HAL and there was simply no comparison Viking stood head and shoulders above others for most of the same reasons you listed.

 We also agree that some journeys are too long.  We found Istanbul to Venice about 1-2 days too long for us, although we would cut nothing out.  Simply some of us just don’t like being away so long…….and that is ok.

[DrKoob]

6 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

DrKoob,

 

Thanks for your very honest evaluation of your three one-week cruises with Viking. 

You know it would have been fine if they had told us this in advance. We were sold this cruise as a single three-week cruise. Had no idea until reservations for dining and excursions opened up.

 

Shore excursions are still facing similar problems: there are fewer to choose from and some guides were definitely better than others. We had a fabulous guide in Barcelona on the included excursion, but had a poor experience with the guide on the optional excursion to Montpellier. All the rest were satisfactory. The all-day optional excursion from Monaco that you found a disappointment was one of our favorite of the trip. Personal opinion and expectations again. We knew that visiting three stops in one day would be a whirlwind, but we wanted to see all three since we may never get another chance. The view from the Jardin Exotique at the top of Eze was worth the cost of the trip for me. It provided many nice photos even if take on the run, so to speak!

I loved that excursion as well until we go to Monaco at 4:15 pm (after leaving the ship at 8:30) and were told, now you have an hour to shop or whatever you want to do. This was in the Monte Carlo side of Monaco (not the old city) Only places to shop were places like Dolce and Cabana, etc.We just wanted to go back to the ship. We were supposed to be back on the ship by 5:00. We got back at 5:30. All the tours in the cities were by Trumpy Tours (hard to forget that name) and just not well done.

 

6 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

 

A couple of notes above in Bold.

Edited October 1, 2022 by DrKoob

[lackcreativity]

       From Dr. Koob:

I loved that excursion as well until we go to Monaco at 4:15 pm (after leaving the ship at 8:30) and were told, now you have an hour to shop or whatever you want to do. This was in the Monte Carlo side of Monaco (not the old city) Only places to shop were places like Dolce and Cabana, etc.We just wanted to go back to the ship. 

 

That was unfortunate. We were given a break for lunch in Monaco's Old Town, after touring that area. We found a nice outdoor cafe for a glass of wine and a Salad Nicoise, so we got a second wind. There was some free time in Monte Carlo, but we spent that looking at all the fancy cars parked out front of the casino and watching (through the fence) part of a Monte-Carlo Masters tennis match. On our way back to the ship, we saw the grandstands for the Grand Prix being finished up for the big race. April was a very nice time to visit there.

[MikeyB]

I completely agree with lackcreativity and PasadenaDave.

Tell me if I'm wrong here-

DocKoob, who was so critical of Viking's beds, buses, restaurants, fellow guests, etc etc, ended up booking another punishing Viking cruise because of the booking on board discount and shall I say a hefty future cruise voucher because of a food poisoning issue?

[MVPinBoynton]

7 hours ago, MikeyB said:

I completely agree with lackcreativity and PasadenaDave.

Tell me if I'm wrong here-

DocKoob, who was so critical of Viking's beds, buses, restaurants, fellow guests, etc etc, ended up booking another punishing Viking cruise because of the booking on board discount and shall I say a hefty future cruise voucher because of a food poisoning issue?

Mikey, you obviously don’t know Jim & Kathleen.  I know them very well and can assure you that no amount of discount would encourage them to go on a line they don’t like.  They wouldn’t get on a free cruise on some lines.  They had some valid issues with this particular cruise that were disappointing; but could see that the line was a step above other lines they have been on. 

[lackcreativity]

4 hours ago, MVPinBoynton said:

Mikey, you obviously don’t know Jim & Kathleen.  I know them very well and can assure you that no amount of discount would encourage them to go on a line they don’t like.  They wouldn’t get on a free cruise on some lines.  They had some valid issues with this particular cruise that were disappointing; but could see that the line was a step above other lines they have been on. 

MVP,

I don't know DrKoob at all, except to the degree that we sometimes recognize those who post here regularly. When I commented that I thought his booking of another cruise while on board said it all, it honestly never crossed my mind that a discount or future cruise credit played a part in that decision. It seemed obvious to me that in spite of the things he disliked about Viking, he found enough things that he really liked to want to go again. While I don't personally share some of his feelings about the issues he found problematic, I think his honest evaluation will allow him to enjoy his future cruise even more. 

[DrKoob]

22 hours ago, MikeyB said:

I completely agree with lackcreativity and PasadenaDave.

Tell me if I'm wrong here-

DocKoob, who was so critical of Viking's beds, buses, restaurants, fellow guests, etc etc, ended up booking another punishing Viking cruise because of the booking on board discount and shall I say a hefty future cruise voucher because of a food poisoning issue?

 

Why is it that everyone thinks that just because you have some things you don't like about a particualr cruise you would never want to go back to that cruise line. We have had lousy cruises before in our 30+ cruises but the next one on the same line is excellent.

 

And my good friend Mike is correct. There are some cruise lines you could not pay me to cruise on. And if I really hated it, do you think a stupid $200 OBC on this cruise is enough for me to let Viking hold $1000 for three years? And Viking (post-cruise) did offer us some future OBC and we turned them down. I told the person I talked to that I didn't want their money, just wanted to help them improve.

 

Were the matresses  bad? Yes they were. How am I sure of that? Because the day we disembarked they were replacing them all. I asked a crew member about it and he said it had been more than three years since they had been replaced. So yeah, I guess there were bad. 

 

I can solve the bus thing easily. Just book my own excursions like we did in Cinque Terre and pre and post cruise in Athens and Barcelona. I do wish that VIking would allow us to choose something else to replace us not using those excursions (like Oceania does).

 

I had no problem with fellow guests. I liked everyone I met. Where did that comment come from?

 

And strangely you have etc., etc., etc. If you read my final review you should see that there were more things I liked than I didn't. 

 

The bottom line is, we enjoyed our cruise. And stop being so darned cynical. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by DrKoob

[Liz Masterson]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

Were the matresses  bad? Yes they were. How am I sure of that? Because the day we disembarked they were replacing them all. I asked a crew member about it and he said it had been more than three years since they had been replaced. So yeah, I guess there were bad. 

Fabulous news! So they should be terrific in January when I sail. Hey… no jumping on the beds between now and then! Especially in Cabin 4044!

[CurlerRob]

17 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

Fabulous news! So they should be terrific in January when I sail. Hey… no jumping on the beds between now and then! Especially in Cabin 4044!

 

At the risk of being a wet blanket (no pun intended), @DrKoob found the beds harder than he liked. Usually, mattresses soften with use over time, so if they are being replaced due to age ("more than three years"), the possibility exists that they will be even more firm - which I hope is what you meant by "terrific"! 🍺🥌

[Vineyard View]

I have to agree on the excursions deal. The included ones offered by Viking are generally a bus ride or walking behind a lollipop with static common on vox. We have tried several and recognize that this ‘included free offer’ really contains no value for us, although I know that it may for others. It would be great if there was a financial option to opt out, but i highly doubt that will happen. That said, we are not fans of most cruise ship excursions regardless of line. We generally DIY or private. 

[Twitchly]

When we cruised on Sky four years ago, our impressions of the restaurants closely mirrored DrKoob’s. We ended up eating most meals at the World Cafe. 
 

So we were very pleasantly surprised at how good the restaurants were last month on Mars. The service was great, too. 
 

As for the beds, we’ve been underwhelmed both times. On Sky, the bed was hard and barreled in the middle so we fell into each other. On Mars, the mattress was so firm we woke up stiff and sore every day. We were relieved when we checked into our post-cruise hotel in Bergen and the bed felt like sleeping on a cloud. And this is from two people who prefer firm beds! 
 

Interesting to see how passenger groups differ from one cruise to the next. Our recent cruise (British Isles) definitely skewed older, and many people were traveling with groups. Very friendly.

[SantaFe1]

You know, we never liked the Restaurant much from Cruise #1.  It almost kept us from doing our 2019 World Cruise.   But we did, and I think in 128 days we ate in the restaurant fewer than 10 dinners.  It’s not much fun to have to get dressed up, sit around waiting for service, etc. etc every night for over four months.  So, we treated the two specialty restaurants as our going out nights, and ate in the WC the rest of the time.  We did enjoy some nice breakfasts in the restaurants when we have many, many sea days crossing oceans.  
as for the beds, I hated them, my husband loved the firm mattresses.  As everyone says, to each their own.  We are on Med. Antiquities next in Feb-March and can’t wait, mattresses aside!!

[Twitchly]

On 9/7/2022 at 11:32 PM, LeanneK200 said:

I am sorry to hear what has been happening.   It’s unfortunate that Viking would have someone in a position of authority in their medical center that doesn’t have the ability to communicate clearly or to be understood clearly.

Same problem on Mars last month. The nurse was extremely difficult to understand, and she got quite impatient with passengers who couldn’t respond because they had no idea what she was saying.

 

When I fell and sprained my knee, I hobbled to the clinic to get checked out. The nurse looked me over, then mumbled something to the doctor as he passed by, then came back and said I didn’t need to see the doctor. “When you fall, it hurt.” OK then. She gave me some Tylenol. I asked for an ice pack and a compression bandage. That was it.
 

Thankfully DH was able to wrap the knee for me, and I made my own ice packs each day after that with room ice and a ziplock bag I’d brought. 
 

Lesson for next time: Bring my own first aid kit and avoid the ship’s clinic unless I’m bleeding copiously.

 

(Sorry for the late response; we just got back from our own cruise and I just discovered this thread.)

[DrKoob]

9 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Same problem on Mars last month. The nurse was extremely difficult to understand, and she got quite impatient with passengers who couldn’t respond because they had no idea what she was saying.

 

When I fell and sprained my knee, I hobbled to the clinic to get checked out. The nurse looked me over, then mumbled something to the doctor as he passed by, then came back and said I didn’t need to see the doctor. “When you fall, it hurt.” OK then. She gave me some Tylenol. I asked for an ice pack and a compression bandage. That was it.
 

Thankfully DH was able to wrap the knee for me, and I made my own ice packs each day after that with room ice and a ziplock bag I’d brought. 
 

Lesson for next time: Bring my own first aid kit and avoid the ship’s clinic unless I’m bleeding copiously.

 

(Sorry for the late response; we just got back from our own cruise and I just discovered this thread.)

No problem on the late response. Never apologize for being on a cruise 😁. At least they didn't quarantine you for falling. 😜

[TayanaLorna]

10 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Same problem on Mars last month. The nurse was extremely difficult to understand, and she got quite impatient with passengers who couldn’t respond because they had no idea what she was saying.

 

When I fell and sprained my knee, I hobbled to the clinic to get checked out. The nurse looked me over, then mumbled something to the doctor as he passed by, then came back and said I didn’t need to see the doctor. “When you fall, it hurt.” OK then. She gave me some Tylenol. I asked for an ice pack and a compression bandage. That was it.
 

Thankfully DH was able to wrap the knee for me, and I made my own ice packs each day after that with room ice and a ziplock bag I’d brought. 
 

Lesson for next time: Bring my own first aid kit and avoid the ship’s clinic unless I’m bleeding copiously.

 

(Sorry for the late response; we just got back from our own cruise and I just discovered this thread.)

So that is 2 Viking Ocean ships with a nurse who cannot be understood.  I hope you complained to Viking about the communication problem.  When we are sick or injured we are already stressed and we do not need the additional problem of not understanding a medical professional.  Since I am an English speaker in a Spanish speaking country, i know what its like.  I speak some Spanish but when in pain or injured, i need the medical details in English as i can't process the translation or know all the medical terms.

[CCWineLover]

Thank you for taking the time to write a very honest, detailed, and long review, and for making it so well organized by various topics.   Very impressive.  

Again, I only know you from you many helpful previous posts on Cruise Critic and your knowledge of travel ins and outs and tips.

 

We've been on 4 Ocean Cruises pre-COVID and 6 post-COVID.  And there certainly is a large difference.  Some good and some not so good.  I for one appreciated the fact that, like myself, you can enjoy a cruise line and even a specific cruise for many aspects, but do have some that you wished were different or were improved.  As you said it is all about expectations.   

 

I think you will enjoy the London-Bergen cruise, which we just finished, as it likely will be completely different from what you encountered.  (Particularly as it is not the Back To Back to Back variety.  We have been on those and do agree with you vis a vis the different groups and personalities that get on board).

 

Also appreciate that you discovered the World Cafe for dinner - we feel the same as you regarding it versus The Restaurant.  And the views are spectacular.  Remember that when you go to the Fjords!  Just a tip - we would always go sit down first (before getting food), order some drinks, and then get the food.  Also, as I'm sure you may have noticed, there are certain main dishes (such as NY Steak) that you can order at the counter, and they will bring them, along with side dishes, right to your table - steaming hot!  We learned to appreciate that!   And also not having 2.5 hour meals!   

I like too, your description of comparing restaurants to ones at home and would you go back.  We do feel that way about Manfredi's (would not return).   So sorry regarding the allergies for you at Chef's Table.  That restaurant, which we enjoy sometimes, is definitely different.  Seems people either really like it or really don't like it.  My impression is that it was fantastic pre-COVD and has gone downhill and a bit tired post-COVID.  I'm wary of it now.

 

All in all - one of the best reviews I've seen written. 

Thank you again!  (from an ex-Seattleite - near UW).