Venus British Isles Review

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

·        We booked Viking Air. It has gone well for us before, not so much this time.  I’m not sure we could have done any better because the problem was with the airlines. Our flight was cancelled the day we were to fly out on Air Canada and rescheduled by Air Canada for 24 hours later. Not Vikings fault. We called the Emergency Travel number they gave us and were disappointed in the individual who we spoke with, we really didn’t receive any help. Later that day we were called by someone at Viking Air, and she was wonderful. She got us rebooked for later that same day. At the gate we were cancelled again. We played this game for the next 24 hours; we rebooked and would get cancelled. When we attempted to reach the Viking Air person who had been so helpful, the Emergency Travel guy would not let us speak with her. She had said to contact her but when the office was closed all we could do is call the emergency travel number. We gave up and went to an airport hotel for the night. The next morning first thing we started up with Viking Emergency Travel. It was nothing but frustrating. The guy left to go home and said his supervisor would finish making the arrangements. It was a nightmare. Finally, after more cancelled flights, he booked us on a less than desirable flight but told us we could get a good flight the next day. Since we were going to miss half of our pre in Oslo, we were fine with going straight to Bergen the next day. He then informed us they would charge us $5000 each for that flight. We took the lousy flight on Iceland Air….so much for our comfy first-class dreams. We definitely have questions regarding the Emergency Travel number Viking sends you just prior to leaving. It appears to me that this is not Viking in California, but something from somewhere else as none of them spoke good English and were difficult to understand.

 

·        We finally arrived in Oslo but my husband’s luggage did not. (Yes he had a carryon bag with important essentials, but it gets a little old with only one change of clothes, and for those saying just to do carry on, that is fine if you haven’t broken your back twice, so no need to tell us we should just do carry on. ) That began the luggage nightmare. After a grueling time at the airport getting paperwork filed, Viking onboard did not follow through. Days later after multiple calls, they told us we were working with the wrong person. Why we were not given the right person, we’ll never know. However, when we did get to the right person onboard, she was great. Unfortunately, the lost luggage situation was extensive. They had the most lost luggage of any Viking cruise. During the cruise 17 out of 34 received their luggage. My husband’s luggage eventually was supposed to be returned to our home address. We have yet to see the luggage and last we heard it is now lost and they do not have any idea where it is. Might I add here, the process with Iceland Air regarding luggage reimbursement is not easy. It’s been pretty much two full days and we aren’t done yet. The information we were given regarding IcelandAir’s luggage reimbursement, and what is on their website, is not what it is. They only allow you to list 9 items lost in the luggage. We haven’t even gotten to filing trip insurance yet, we will begin that today.

 

·        Spending port time between excursions finding clothing became our goal. From port to port when the luggage did not show up, we searched for a few more things. Yes, we got free laundry, but when you have such a limited supply of clothes, waiting 24 hours to get them back just isn’t practical, so I did laundry, a lot of laundry. (And in the event the lady who took my wet laundry out of the dryer because she wanted to use it reads this, I don’t think highly of you. My husband was waiting in our room for something to wear!)

 

 

·        British Isles is a port intensive cruise. Even the cruise director told us he was tired. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just something to be prepared for. I heard many people expressing thankfulness for the one sea day. We needed it.

 

·        Entertainment I really can’t comment on, we were doing laundry after dinner.

 

 

·        Food was fine. Our last cruise was on Octantis which has amazing food, so we did miss that a bit, but it wasn’t an issue. Manfredi’s was great the first night we went. The second night it was not good. We sat and watched as people were seated, ordered, ate, had dessert and we were still waiting for our dinner. After asking if there was an issue with our dinners, they realized they had lost our order in the shuffle. I ordered the same thing I had ordered the first night because it was really good, but the second time it was terrible. We mostly eat in the World Café and have no complaints.

 

·        The balcony smoker got caught which we were thankful for as our balcony was too smokey to enjoy the first day.

 

 

·        Ports were interesting but different than we were expecting at times. I think we were not prepared to see some things we saw. We aren’t upset to have seen areas where people are living hard lives as it is reality, but at times it was emotionally difficult to see. In Belfast, Holyhead, and London there were places we saw some sad things. We also experienced some real beauty and were so thankful for great weather (just a little rain which wasn’t a problem at all) so we did not miss any ports. Shetland was wonderful! We found that the quality of excursions depended on the abilities of the guide. Some guides were excellent, others were not. The young woman guide who stood in front of a local pub and pointed out that she had one too many the night before, was not a good experience and we ended up leaving the excursion after three stoned young adult men approached us and yelled at us. The drug deal we had to step around appeared to be the norm.

 

·        There were some great fellow cruisers and we very much enjoyed making new friends. I was impressed with the kindness of some of the cruisers when a woman was separated from her excursion group and was lost. When she was found, people in the group kept her right by their side and protected her from getting lost again. There are always a few old grouches onboard, but we commented that on this cruise people really seemed to enjoy being together.

 

·        We realize that people do not want to miss out on anything after paying for a cruise, but it was very frustrating to have people who were visibly ill sitting close to you coughing uncontrollably. We got up and moved a few times in the World Cafe. One woman on a few hour bus tour was ill and too ill to get off the bus at stops. She coughed constantly and it wasn’t long until all the seats around her had been vacated!  Another couple sat near us on an excursion wearing masks at times but were also very ill. There was a lot of uncovered coughing.

 

·        As always the staff worked very hard and were mostly sweet and helpful. We noted that it was difficult to get water poured for us at lunch and dinner. We mostly had to go get it ourselves. At breakfast they did a great job.

 

We love Viking and have two more cruises booked. Were there glitches, yes, but we are still fans and will continue to enjoy the clean, well designed ships.

[sheneka]

I applaud you for your great attitude thru this trying cruise.  We had several bad experiences on a Mediteranean  cruise we took a year ago, but always tried to make the best of it.  I hope your lost luggage issue gets resolved and there are happier sailings ahead of you.

[Catlover54]

Thank you for taking the time for your detailed and balanced post, which I find quite useful in my planning.  

It seems almost all cruise lines (we mix and match) are struggling with inability to deliver good customer service relating to flight arrangements (though of course some people are happy and/or lucky), so for now I am going to maintain control of our own flight arrangements, despite the higher risks and sometimes higher costs.  We will also continue to have good travel insurance, to cover potential gaps and surprises (which are increasingly common when traveling). 

We also more than understand the additional struggles that health problems create when trying to follow the cheerful but generic Rick Steeves type advice to only travel with  carry-ons (it just doesn't work for us and many others, with all the stuff we need to have, especially  on longer trips).  

We can also relate to your justifiable annoyance with people who board excursion buses while ill, with or without "masks".

 

I hope your next Viking cruise runs a bit more smoothly, and wish you well.

[SantaFe1]

9 hours ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

·        We booked Viking Air. It has gone well for us before, not so much this time.  I’m not sure we could have done any better because the problem was with the airlines. Our flight was cancelled the day we were to fly out on Air Canada and rescheduled by Air Canada for 24 hours later. Not Vikings fault. We called the Emergency Travel number they gave us and were disappointed in the individual who we spoke with, we really didn’t receive any help. Later that day we were called by someone at Viking Air, and she was wonderful. She got us rebooked for later that same day. At the gate we were cancelled again. We played this game for the next 24 hours; we rebooked and would get cancelled. When we attempted to reach the Viking Air person who had been so helpful, the Emergency Travel guy would not let us speak with her. She had said to contact her but when the office was closed all we could do is call the emergency travel number. We gave up and went to an airport hotel for the night. The next morning first thing we started up with Viking Emergency Travel. It was nothing but frustrating. The guy left to go home and said his supervisor would finish making the arrangements. It was a nightmare. Finally, after more cancelled flights, he booked us on a less than desirable flight but told us we could get a good flight the next day. Since we were going to miss half of our pre in Oslo, we were fine with going straight to Bergen the next day. He then informed us they would charge us $5000 each for that flight. We took the lousy flight on Iceland Air….so much for our comfy first-class dreams. We definitely have questions regarding the Emergency Travel number Viking sends you just prior to leaving. It appears to me that this is not Viking in California, but something from somewhere else as none of them spoke good English and were difficult to understand.

 

·        We finally arrived in Oslo but my husband’s luggage did not. (Yes he had a carryon bag with important essentials, but it gets a little old with only one change of clothes, and for those saying just to do carry on, that is fine if you haven’t broken your back twice, so no need to tell us we should just do carry on. ) That began the luggage nightmare. After a grueling time at the airport getting paperwork filed, Viking onboard did not follow through. Days later after multiple calls, they told us we were working with the wrong person. Why we were not given the right person, we’ll never know. However, when we did get to the right person onboard, she was great. Unfortunately, the lost luggage situation was extensive. They had the most lost luggage of any Viking cruise. During the cruise 17 out of 34 received their luggage. My husband’s luggage eventually was supposed to be returned to our home address. We have yet to see the luggage and last we heard it is now lost and they do not have any idea where it is. Might I add here, the process with Iceland Air regarding luggage reimbursement is not easy. It’s been pretty much two full days and we aren’t done yet. The information we were given regarding IcelandAir’s luggage reimbursement, and what is on their website, is not what it is. They only allow you to list 9 items lost in the luggage. We haven’t even gotten to filing trip insurance yet, we will begin that today.

 

·        Spending port time between excursions finding clothing became our goal. From port to port when the luggage did not show up, we searched for a few more things. Yes, we got free laundry, but when you have such a limited supply of clothes, waiting 24 hours to get them back just isn’t practical, so I did laundry, a lot of laundry. (And in the event the lady who took my wet laundry out of the dryer because she wanted to use it reads this, I don’t think highly of you. My husband was waiting in our room for something to wear!)

 

 

·        British Isles is a port intensive cruise. Even the cruise director told us he was tired. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just something to be prepared for. I heard many people expressing thankfulness for the one sea day. We needed it.

 

·        Entertainment I really can’t comment on, we were doing laundry after dinner.

 

 

·        Food was fine. Our last cruise was on Octantis which has amazing food, so we did miss that a bit, but it wasn’t an issue. Manfredi’s was great the first night we went. The second night it was not good. We sat and watched as people were seated, ordered, ate, had dessert and we were still waiting for our dinner. After asking if there was an issue with our dinners, they realized they had lost our order in the shuffle. I ordered the same thing I had ordered the first night because it was really good, but the second time it was terrible. We mostly eat in the World Café and have no complaints.

 

·        The balcony smoker got caught which we were thankful for as our balcony was too smokey to enjoy the first day.

 

 

·        Ports were interesting but different than we were expecting at times. I think we were not prepared to see some things we saw. We aren’t upset to have seen areas where people are living hard lives as it is reality, but at times it was emotionally difficult to see. In Belfast, Holyhead, and London there were places we saw some sad things. We also experienced some real beauty and were so thankful for great weather (just a little rain which wasn’t a problem at all) so we did not miss any ports. Shetland was wonderful! We found that the quality of excursions depended on the abilities of the guide. Some guides were excellent, others were not. The young woman guide who stood in front of a local pub and pointed out that she had one too many the night before, was not a good experience and we ended up leaving the excursion after three stoned young adult men approached us and yelled at us. The drug deal we had to step around appeared to be the norm.

 

·        There were some great fellow cruisers and we very much enjoyed making new friends. I was impressed with the kindness of some of the cruisers when a woman was separated from her excursion group and was lost. When she was found, people in the group kept her right by their side and protected her from getting lost again. There are always a few old grouches onboard, but we commented that on this cruise people really seemed to enjoy being together.

 

·        We realize that people do not want to miss out on anything after paying for a cruise, but it was very frustrating to have people who were visibly ill sitting close to you coughing uncontrollably. We got up and moved a few times in the World Cafe. One woman on a few hour bus tour was ill and too ill to get off the bus at stops. She coughed constantly and it wasn’t long until all the seats around her had been vacated!  Another couple sat near us on an excursion wearing masks at times but were also very ill. There was a lot of uncovered coughing.

 

·        As always the staff worked very hard and were mostly sweet and helpful. We noted that it was difficult to get water poured for us at lunch and dinner. We mostly had to go get it ourselves. At breakfast they did a great job.

 

We love Viking and have two more cruises booked. Were there glitches, yes, but we are still fans and will continue to enjoy the clean, well designed ships.

So sorry to hear this.  We do BIE in May, and hope to  skirt the curse. But I guess if you travel a lot, you have a horror story, although yours seems over the top!   We had a similar story going to a Lisbon.  Just terrible.  And then Lisbon was canceled twice during the pandemic.  I don’t think we will ever get to spend quality time there.  

Edited July 27, 2023 by SantaFe1

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, SantaFe1 said:

So sorry to hear this.  We do BIE in May, and hope to  skirt the curse. But I guess if you travel a lot, you have a horror story, although yours seems over the top!   We had a similar story going to a Lisbon.  Just terrible.  And then Lisbon was canceled twice during the pandemic.  I don’t think we will ever get to spend quality time there.  

We are in Lisbon in December ahead of our TA to FLL.  Cancelled before.  Hopefully it will be OK.  I totally hear everyone's frustration with people who cruise these days.  It seems to be a whole new breed of people since COVID - those who don't really consider their fellow passengers.  We just got off our Viking cruise in Iceland.  SO many people hacking, coughing, ignoring sanitary standards and just plain being oblivious to anything healthwise.  Maybe it is the reaction to post-COVID - just going to to do I want to do attitude...

In any case, we were extremely careful, one of a few who wore masks, and somehow managed to get home without catching anything.  But - it was a risk we took for the chance to get out and travel - and I think that now will always be there.  I don't see it going back to before the way it was.

[Catlover54]

2 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

So sorry to hear this.  We do BIE in May, and hope to  skirt the curse.  We had a similar story going to a Lisbon.  Just terrible.  And then Lisbon was canceled twice during the pandemic.  I don’t think we will ever get to spend quality time there.  

For strikingly interesting European towns, it may be worth booking a private land trip, and off season -- perhaps a week in LIsbon in late fall or winter.  The crowds are gone, the wind is changing, and the imagery is striking.

[GoNavyFamily]

We did this cruise in April with the pre in Oslo. We booked our own air in Business Class which made the travel easy and no issues with flights. Because we were on the pre land tour, Viking transferred us from airport to hotel. We paid a very reasonable fee for Viking to arrange a transfer from Tilbury to Heathrow on disembarkation day and ended up with a private car because we had an early flight out. Very nice!

Some points of your experience were the same as ours - primarily the food service and food quality were not as good as our previous Viking experience.  Like you, we ended up in the World Cafe most meals. We had to get our own drinks and coffee, it was rare to be offered refills, and dirty dishes piled up in the table despite us asking them to be cleared. Also like you, people were coughing and hacking everywhere. I ended up at urgent care the day after we returned with a diagnosis of bronchitis. But that is not on Viking at all, just something that happens being around lots of people on planes, trains, busses and ship. 

 

Regarding excursions, we either went on the included knowing these are usually bus overviews, or in 3 ports I arranged private excursions for 4 people and through social media, found another couple to join us in each port. We arranged to meet them once on board before that port day. Those private excursions were the best and we were able to discuss with the driver what we wanted to see and do. 

 

The ship was beautiful and well maintained (my retired Navy husband really pays attention to that aspect). We saw the very friendly Captain almost daily in passing. Guest relations personnel were very helpful the few times we approached their desks. Tender ports were organized and efficient in getting us off the ship. And we made every port which was just lucky.

 

Overall we were happy, but disappointed in the quality of food and service which for us, is an important part of the cruise experience. 

 

[SantaFe1]

7 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

For strikingly interesting European towns, it may be worth booking a private land trip, and off season -- perhaps a week in LIsbon in late fall or winter.  The crowds are gone, the wind is changing, and the imagery is striking.

This is an excellent idea!  I have been thinking we might just go someplace, take a house, and stay for a week or two.  Last year we did the Italian Lakes and had a great time.  But, if your flight is canceled, your luggage lost, and your husband’s after shaves explodes in his carry on so he has NO clean clothes, then…well, at least he knows where to go to buy new clothes in Lisbon!

[SantaFe1]

Oh, we are such cruisers!  I spent some time this morning looking for places to rent in Lisbon next fall.  I finally gave up and booked Viking Rivers Douro cruise with a pre-cruise extension in Lisbon for fall 2024. They only had a suite left, so I just grabbed it.  $25 down and I won’t look back.