New Person Questions

[RetiredandTravel]

Hello   We have never cruised on Viking and are considering a 30 day Australian cruise.  I've looked around but cant find answers to these questions.  Anyone's help is greatly appreciated.

 

1) Main Restaurant - Dinner Main Course Menus - The pictures I've seen quite often show three selections.  Are there other main course choices?  How often does the menu change?

 

2) On a 30 day cruise in a Veranda Suite how often do I get specialty restaurant reservations and how are they allocated?

 

3) Does anyone have examples of the wine lists - Included, Silver Spirits & Connoisseur? 

 

Thanks Again.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by RetiredandTravel

[JM0115]

10 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Hello   We have never cruised on Viking and are considering a 30 day Australian cruise.  I've looked around but cant find answers to these questions.  Anyone's help is greatly appreciated.

 

1) Main Restaurant - Dinner Main Course Menus - The pictures I've seen quite often show three selections.  Are there other main course choices?  How often does the menu change?

 

2) On a 30 day cruise in a Veranda Suite how often do I get specialty restaurant reservations and how are they allocated?

 

3) Does anyone have examples of the wine lists - Included, Silver Spirits & Connoisseur? 

 

Thanks Again.

 

 

On #2, I believe you can book either 1 or 2 specialty (Manfredi's and at Chef's Table) in advance. Once you are on board you can make reservations at either or both of the restaurants as many times as you like. Once on board everyone is treated equally - no difference no matter what cabin you are in.

[RetiredandTravel]

1 minute ago, JM0115 said:

On #2, I believe you can book either 1 or 2 specialty (Manfredi's and at Chef's Table) in advance. Once you are on board you can make reservations at either or both of the restaurants as many times as you like. Once on board everyone is treated equally - no difference no matter what cabin you are in.

 

 

Many thanks.  So there is usually a decent amount of availability once you get on board?

[TayanaLorna]

18 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Hello   We have never cruised on Viking and are considering a 30 day Australian cruise.  I've looked around but cant find answers to these questions.  Anyone's help is greatly appreciated.

 

1) Main Restaurant - Dinner Main Course Menus - The pictures I've seen quite often show three selections.  Are there other main course choices?  How often does the menu change?

 

2) On a 30 day cruise in a Veranda Suite how often do I get specialty restaurant reservations and how are they allocated?

 

3) Does anyone have examples of the wine lists - Included, Silver Spirits & Connoisseur? 

 

Thanks Again.

 

 

In the MDR, the left side of the menu is Always Available, the right side of the menu are daily specials in all categories - appetizer/salads/soup, main course, vegetarian,  dessert.  

 

Veranda suites cannot reserve specialty restaurants in advance but once on board, you may reserve as many as you wish.  If you like early evening dining times (6-7:30), reserve as soon as you can.

 

There are a number of wine lists floating around on CC so maybe someone will post or tell you where to find them.  The wines can change with region and cruise ship.  By the glass is $8 and those bottles are $30.  There are a number of only by the bottle wines starting at $35.  The SS package only includes the wines offered by the glass.  However one gets a 15% discount if you wish to purchase a higher end bottle.

 

[pete_coach]

Sorry for tagging on to this thread but we are new to Viking as well (new as in trying to determine if to book or not).

I see things that are included and the information about not being able to reserve specialty dining rooms is interesting.

Also, what is NOT included? TIps? Fees? Gratuities??

Drinks (coffee, waters, soft drinks, alcohol included only during lunch and dinner? Do we have to pay for coffee, tea,  or sodas in between meals?

[RetiredandTravel]

24 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

In the MDR, the left side of the menu is Always Available, the right side of the menu are daily specials in all categories - appetizer/salads/soup, main course, vegetarian,  dessert.  

 

Veranda suites cannot reserve specialty restaurants in advance but once on board, you may reserve as many as you wish.  If you like early evening dining times (6-7:30), reserve as soon as you can.

 

There are a number of wine lists floating around on CC so maybe someone will post or tell you where to find them.  The wines can change with region and cruise ship.  By the glass is $8 and those bottles are $30.  There are a number of only by the bottle wines starting at $35.  The SS package only includes the wines offered by the glass.  However one gets a 15% discount if you wish to purchase a higher end bottle.

 

 

Thanks.  I know this is a tough question.  If you had to guess how many reservations at Manfredi's would I be able to get on a 30 day cruise.  That is if I were willing to eat there every night (just for arguments sake).

 

We like a bottle of wine with dinner so going with the bottle of wine looks like it makes sense.  I saw a list that must be a little older but it had several nice selections for $25.

[OneSixtyToOne]

43 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

Sorry for tagging on to this thread but we are new to Viking as well (new as in trying to determine if to book or not).

I see things that are included and the information about not being able to reserve specialty dining rooms is interesting.

Also, what is NOT included? TIps? Fees? Gratuities??

Drinks (coffee, waters, soft drinks, alcohol included only during lunch and dinner? Do we have to pay for coffee, tea,  or sodas in between meals?

Veranda cannot make ADVANCED reservations. Above Veranda, x advanced reservations can be made. When on board you can make as many as you like, times permitting.

 

Gratuities are included on all drinks, so there is no tipping on board, but many people will personally tip their favorite staff members at the end of the voyage. Depending of your country of booking, other gratuities may be included (UK). For US pax a gratuity is charged per person and is billed when onboard. You can pre-pay but most people don’t because onboard credits can be used for this. If you book another cruise while onboard you’ll get an onboard credit for the current cruise. If you book through a TA or have the booking transferred to them, they may be able to issue an OBC.

Other than spa and salon services, there are no other charges. Using the spa facilities is free BTW. 
 

Coffee and tea are available 24/7 in the World Cafe. Room service is also 24/7 at no additional charge. Every room has a fridge stocked with soft drinks and mixers, which you can ask the steward to customize to your liking. Above V class they are replenished daily. Higher class rooms also have liquor replenished daily. Also you can BYOB and there is no corking charge.

 

Without the SSP, beer and wine is available without additional charge at meals. You can always top off your glass and take it with you to one of the many lounges.

Edited February 12, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[duquephart]

It should be noted that "gratuities" can be adjusted or eliminated altogether once aboard.

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Hello   We have never cruised on Viking and are considering a 30 day Australian cruise.  I've looked around but cant find answers to these questions.  Anyone's help is greatly appreciated.

 

1) Main Restaurant - Dinner Main Course Menus - The pictures I've seen quite often show three selections.  Are there other main course choices?  How often does the menu change?

 

2) On a 30 day cruise in a Veranda Suite how often do I get specialty restaurant reservations and how are they allocated?

 

3) Does anyone have examples of the wine lists - Included, Silver Spirits & Connoisseur? 

 

Thanks Again.

 

 

 

There was a long thread on Viking dining issues that is still going strong.  This was the response that I posted that might answer some of your questions.

 

It is beyond understanding why everyone is finding it so complicated with dining arrangements.  It is absurdly simple.  

 

1. There are 4 restaurants on board.  Two of them (the buffet and the main restaurant) are available every night  w/o reservations.  You just walk in and they seat you.  You might have to wait a few minutes if you are at a busy period such as when the restaurant just opens but this happens on any ship.  We typically ate between 7 and 8 PM and there was never any wait.  

 

2. There are 2 by-reservation restaurants - Manfredi's which an Italian restaurant and the Chef's table which does 4 rotating menus over several nights of the cruise.  The menu is usually available for 2 or 3  nights.  When we did our Caribbean cruise we did 3 of the 4 fixed menus - Xiang which is Chinese, Asian Panorama and California cuisine.   The by-reservation system is the one that some people appear not do to understand although it appears on this thread that some also have difficulty with the buffet and main restaurant arrangements.  Depending upon your status you can make a reservation or reservations at Manfredi's and one of the Chef's table restaurants before you board.  We had no problems getting advance reservations at the restaurant of our on the day that reservations for our cabin class opened although we did not get our preferred time.  This does not mean that you will only be able to dine at Manfredi's once or at one of the Chef's Table however that you will be stuck with the time of your pre cruise reservation.

 

3. Once you get on board they open up additional reservations that you can book w/o problems and we did not have to rush to the dinner reservation desk as soon as we got on board to get restaurant spots.  We reserved for 2 additional days when we got on board and could have gotten additional days if we wished.   Again we did not get the exact times for our dinners although they were close.  On the day of the dinner we appeared at the restaurant at the time we really wanted and never had any time getting seated early.

 

To summarize.  Four restaurants - 2 walking w/o reservations and 2 with reservations needed.  Two reservations can be made before you board - Manfredi's and 2 Chef's table.  Additional reservations can easily be made on board.

 

The actual thread if you want to go through it is https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2868248-dining-reservations-no-longer-guaranteed/.  

 

 

DON

[TayanaLorna]

21 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

Thanks.  I know this is a tough question.  If you had to guess how many reservations at Manfredi's would I be able to get on a 30 day cruise.  That is if I were willing to eat there every night (just for arguments sake).

 

We like a bottle of wine with dinner so going with the bottle of wine looks like it makes sense.  I saw a list that must be a little older but it had several nice selections for $25.

Manfredi's is the more popular of the 2 Specialty Restaurants and one time we were not able to get a single reservation there during a 7 day cruise within our desired dining window times.  If you want to eat there every day at 8:30 or 9:00 pm you will probably get in.  On a 15 day cruise we were able to enjoy each of the 5 Chefs Table menus with 6 to 7 pm dining times.

 

The by the glass charge until just recently was $6 and $25 for bottle of same.  Silver Spirits package was $20.00 per day back then.  Now SSP is $25 per day and the per drink cost has increased also.

[Iloveketo]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

In the MDR, the left side of the menu is Always Available, the right side of the menu are daily specials in all categories - appetizer/salads/soup, main course, vegetarian,  dessert.  

 

Veranda suites cannot reserve specialty restaurants in advance but once on board, you may reserve as many as you wish.  If you like early evening dining times (6-7:30), reserve as soon as you can.

 

There are a number of wine lists floating around on CC so maybe someone will post or tell you where to find them.  The wines can change with region and cruise ship.  By the glass is $8 and those bottles are $30.  There are a number of only by the bottle wines starting at $35.  The SS package only includes the wines offered by the glass.  However one gets a 15% discount if you wish to purchase a higher end bottle.

 

Though we usually could book more than one time at each specialty dining… on our last cruise we were not allowed to book a second time at the Chef’s table. They said try again. I tried multiple days. No luck. We were in a Deluxe Veranda.  The cruise wasn’t 30 days. It was maybe only 10 days - 2 weeks, the Panama and Central America cruise. It was a full ship, so maybe that was the issue. Some people ahead of us were able to book 3 times at each, but I assumed that they were probably in a suite. 

[LindaS272]

53 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

For US pax a gratuity is charged per person and is billed when onboard. You can pre-pay but most people don’t because onboard credits can be used for this.

Not required to pay these gratuities but must settle up your account before end of cruise if you wish to avoid them.

 

Soda not free in between meals, but as mentioned, you can get what you want in your mini bar. For V only cabin which is not restocked, you can just ask for a can of something at meal time to take to your room.

[RetiredandTravel]

32 minutes ago, Iloveketo said:

Though we usually could book more than one time at each specialty dining… on our last cruise we were not allowed to book a second time at the Chef’s table. They said try again. I tried multiple days. No luck. We were in a Deluxe Veranda.  The cruise wasn’t 30 days. It was maybe only 10 days - 2 weeks, the Panama and Central America cruise. It was a full ship, so maybe that was the issue. Some people ahead of us were able to book 3 times at each, but I assumed that they were probably in a suite. 

 

 

I'm sure it works but the specialty reservation process seems too random.  I would think some pre boarding priority system with a least one reso per room would be better.  Then fill it out on the ship but I'm sure they have their reasons.

 

My Aunt & Uncle lived in Skaneatles, but that was a long time ago.

 

 

[Frenchberet]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

There was a long thread on Viking dining issues that is still going strong.  This was the response that I posted that might answer some of your questions.

 

It is beyond understanding why everyone is finding it so complicated with dining arrangements.  It is absurdly simple.  

 

1. There are 4 restaurants on board.  Two of them (the buffet and the main restaurant) are available every night  w/o reservations.  You just walk in and they seat you.  You might have to wait a few minutes if you are at a busy period such as when the restaurant just opens but this happens on any ship.  We typically ate between 7 and 8 PM and there was never any wait.  

 

2. There are 2 by-reservation restaurants - Manfredi's which an Italian restaurant and the Chef's table which does 4 rotating menus over several nights of the cruise.  The menu is usually available for 2 or 3  nights.  When we did our Caribbean cruise we did 3 of the 4 fixed menus - Xiang which is Chinese, Asian Panorama and California cuisine.   The by-reservation system is the one that some people appear not do to understand although it appears on this thread that some also have difficulty with the buffet and main restaurant arrangements.  Depending upon your status you can make a reservation or reservations at Manfredi's and one of the Chef's table restaurants before you board.  We had no problems getting advance reservations at the restaurant of our on the day that reservations for our cabin class opened although we did not get our preferred time.  This does not mean that you will only be able to dine at Manfredi's once or at one of the Chef's Table however that you will be stuck with the time of your pre cruise reservation.

 

3. Once you get on board they open up additional reservations that you can book w/o problems and we did not have to rush to the dinner reservation desk as soon as we got on board to get restaurant spots.  We reserved for 2 additional days when we got on board and could have gotten additional days if we wished.   Again we did not get the exact times for our dinners although they were close.  On the day of the dinner we appeared at the restaurant at the time we really wanted and never had any time getting seated early.

 

To summarize.  Four restaurants - 2 walking w/o reservations and 2 with reservations needed.  Two reservations can be made before you board - Manfredi's and 2 Chef's table.  Additional reservations can easily be made on board.

 

The actual thread if you want to go through it is https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2868248-dining-reservations-no-longer-guaranteed/.  

 

 

DON

Hi Don, our last Viking Ocean cruise was pre Covid and our experiences were exactly as you described.  For our upcoming 2023 cruise we were able to make 1 advance reservation for the main dining room.  Is it still just walk-in and stand in line once on board?

[Iloveketo]

22 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

 

I'm sure it works but the specialty reservation process seems too random.  I would think some pre boarding priority system with a least one reso per room would be better.  Then fill it out on the ship but I'm sure they have their reasons.

 

My Aunt & Uncle lived in Skaneatles, but that was a long time ago.

 

 

Dining is always very nice even if we don’t get everything we want!

Skaneateles is a beautiful village not that far from us. 

[Iloveketo]

19 minutes ago, Frenchberet said:

Hi Don, our last Viking Ocean cruise was pre Covid and our experiences were exactly as you described.  For our upcoming 2023 cruise we were able to make 1 advance reservation for the main dining room.  Is it still just walk-in and stand in line once on board?

Not Don, but we have taken 5 post COVID cruises with Viking and the Main Dining Room/Restaurant are just go and stand in line. The only thing we could book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. We did the Caribbean on the Sea, French Polynesia on the Orion, Octantis on the Great Lakes (may have needed to book on this one), the Sky in the Mediterranean, and the Star for Panama and Central America. Our next cruise in 3 weeks is on the Venus for the Northern Lights cruise and only dining to book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. Hope this helps. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Iloveketo

[donaldsc]

3 minutes ago, Iloveketo said:

Not Don, but we have taken 5 post COVID cruises with Viking and the Main Dining Room/Restaurant are just go and stand in line. The only thing we could book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. We did the Caribbean on the Sea, French Polynesia on the Orion, Octantis on the Great Lakes (may have needed to book on this one), the Sky in the Mediterranean, and the Star for Panama and Central America. Our next cruise in 3 weeks is on the Venus for the Northern Lights cruise and inly dining to book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. Hope this helps. 

 

A bit of a change of subject but we have booked on the Northern Lights cruise for 2024.  When you get back please post your thoughts on the cruise and also on which excursions you took.

 

DON

[Iloveketo]

Just now, donaldsc said:

 

A bit of a change of subject but we have booked on the Northern Lights cruise for 2024.  When you get back please post your thoughts on the cruise and also on which excursions you took.

 

DON

Gladly. ☺️

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Veranda suites cannot reserve specialty restaurants in advance but once on board, you may reserve as many as you wish.  If you like early evening dining times (6-7:30), reserve as soon as you can.

 

There is some confusion here.  There is no category called Veranda Suite. Cabin categories most expensive to least are: 

 

Owners' Suite (4)

Explorer Suite (3)

Penthouse Junior Suite (3)

Penthouse Veranda Stateroom (2)

Deluxe Veranda Stateroom (1)

Veranda Stateroom (0)

 

All suites are true suites with a separate bedroom.  All accommodations have balconies.  

 

All categories except the lowest  have advanced reservations for each specialty restaurant.

 

 

[RetiredandTravel]

33 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

There is some confusion here.  There is no category called Veranda Suite. Cabin categories most expensive to least are: 

 

Owners' Suite (4)

Explorer Suite (3)

Penthouse Junior Suite (3)

Penthouse Veranda Stateroom (2)

Deluxe Veranda Stateroom (1)

Veranda Stateroom (0)

 

All suites are true suites with a separate bedroom.  All accommodations have balconies.  

 

All categories except the lowest  have advanced reservations for each specialty restaurant.

 

 

 

OK thanks.  Do 30 day cruises get any more in Deluxe Veranda?

[Frenchberet]

4 hours ago, Iloveketo said:

Not Don, but we have taken 5 post COVID cruises with Viking and the Main Dining Room/Restaurant are just go and stand in line. The only thing we could book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. We did the Caribbean on the Sea, French Polynesia on the Orion, Octantis on the Great Lakes (may have needed to book on this one), the Sky in the Mediterranean, and the Star for Panama and Central America. Our next cruise in 3 weeks is on the Venus for the Northern Lights cruise and only dining to book online was Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. Hope this helps. 

Thank you for the info.  We’re sailing Octantis to Antarctica.  Read that World Cafe is great on the expedition ships but we are hoping to have dinner in the main dining room more than once.  Guess we’ll find out once on board!

[Peregrina651]

16 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

OK thanks.  Do 30 day cruises get any more in Deluxe Veranda?

 

No category gets any additional (or fewer) 'guaranteed priority reservations' based on the length of the cruise. The scheme is set in stone.

 

 

[Peregrina651]

14 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

Read that World Cafe is great on the expedition ships but we are hoping to have dinner in the main dining room more than once

 

You can eat in the MDR every night. No reservations are necessary; guests are seated first come, first served.

 

Reservations for the MDR was only a thing in the first months of the post-pandemic restart.

[LindaS272]

44 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

You can eat in the MDR every night. No reservations are necessary; guests are seated first come, first served.

 

Reservations for the MDR was only a thing in the first months of the post-pandemic restart.

I believe you DO have to make reservations for the MDR on the expedition ships. That’s what @Frenchberet was referring to. Octantis to Antarctica.

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

OK thanks.  Do 30 day cruises get any more in Deluxe Veranda?

 

Negative, even on 100+ night World Cruises, you get the same number of reservations as on a 7-night cruise. Doesn't bother us, since we never make advance reservations.