minka34

We leave next week going the opposite direction, Santiago to Ft L. I'll try to get back here and give some thoughts afterwards or maybe live from the Polaris.

Thank you for your review. We often sit on floor 2 or 3 above the atrium if we want quiet to listen to the music. There are no guarantees, but it seems to be a more peaceful space to listen in comparison to right around the bar on the same floor as the musicians. We are heading for our first experience on an expedition ship in about 2 weeks. It won't be the usual familiar Ocean ship layout, but hope that we will find the same Viking quality that we have appreciated so much in the past. Excited to experience an expedition ship!

Now I am so jealous! It sounds like they will only be for your WC? Can't wait to hear about them and see photos!!! Thanks for sharing!

@CDR2001 or anyone else, when you forgo the free VA, do you receive any discount off the cost of the cruise (credit for the unused free air)?

😮 Wow! You take amazing photos!

Sorry - off topic here... @gma1 @Shinydiamond Did either of you review your cruise? We are going in March 2024 and I was hoping for a little advance info... weather, ports, included tours vs. optional, etc. There are many reviews of the southern trips but I didn't see any for the trip between Santiago and Ft Lauderdale (either direction). I suppose the weather will be different due to Oct vs. March but still would read a review if either/both of you decide to post one! 😉

I thought that I had seen this topic before. Did a search and post #8 on a thread from September seemed to have the definitive answer (usb not accessible on tvs) - trying to paste the link so you can read the thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2961175-do-tvs-have-usb-ports-for-the-firestick/?do=findComment&comment=66030486

Yes, as long as they are serving lunch, you can get complementary wine/beer/soda. As Linda272 said, the pool sometimes goes a little later, but I believe that lunch typically officially ends at 2:30.

@biggerbearmom I wasn't a huge fan of our cruise director either, but I met someone at the meet and greet that was simply tickled that she was our cruise director - it made her cruise. Funny how different we all are! I thought that she was an excellent singer at her show. @MikeyB @wine-wine-wine I didn't go to the lectures; for some reason I found the voice of one of the lecturers grating. It was unfortunate because my DH lives for the lectures and played all the ones he missed in our cabin on the TV (I did a lot of reading outside our cabin) 🙂 I don't expect too much from VO theater entertainment so I'm never that disappointed. I now wish that I had see Allan the guitarist... maybe next time. The atrium entertainment is always pleasant. Just my 2 cents. I found the service to be excellent on this cruise. Our room stewards... so wonderful. I'll say it again, the best we've had. They were D and D... I think Deka and David (or something like that - I apologize if I have the names wrong). I am amazed how they learned our schedule and seem to cater their service to our whims. Makes for a really great vacation.

That's it. We were on Jupiter and that's probably when we noticed the station in Aquavit area, and maybe saw it on the Orion too? We've been on Star and Sky but I didn't realize that it wasn't on those ships.

It's not that they don't have it on board, it's just not on the new Manfredi's menu. Ossobuco was my go-to at Manfredi's and I was so disappointed when they didn't have it on the menu anymore. I told our waiter that I came to Manfredi's especially for the Ossobuco. Hopefully, they are listening to the disappointment and will make the change fleetwide to bring it back. However, in my case, I found it on the menu in The Restaurant two days later and it was wonderful. The nice thing about having it as a menu item in The Restaurant is that you don't need reservations to go there. Manfredi's can be difficult to get into.

@wine-wine-wine great review! Indeed one of our best VO cruises as well. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed each course of the Mexican menu... which is why I just love the Chef's Table; it's an adventure in itself. We had a large Meet & Mingle and I'm sorry that I didn't actually meet more people. We got talking in a group and the time flew by. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be fun to try a speed dating type mingle where you (and any travel companion) get 5 min to chat with a small group then ding! move to the next area until everyone has met each other. I was hesitant to try a TA and I find that I REALLY like sea days! One of the best things for me was that it felt like I got an extra hour of vacation 8(?) times as we set our clocks back! Makes me want to book it again for next year already.

There was a section that looked like a door in the place where the Asian bar usually is. I just assumed that it was there behind the panel. It's really just a counter where they serve food as opposed to an actual room you go in. I thought that for the most part, all VO ships were the same (except for the ones with the observatory on them). I'd have to check but I don't think I've been on the Sky before - looks like all the others!

We just did the TA on board the VO Sky and the Asian bar was closed the entire 2-weeks (ended Nov 30th). I didn't ask why. Doubtful that there is a door problem on 2 VO ships at nearly the same time... ? ...conspiracy theory forming... LOL

@kag3120 Did you join your roll call for the cruise? Is there a Meet & Mingle set up? Maybe you can "get to know" some folks pre-cruise or at the M&M. I don't know about spa things but what about getting foot massages or other treatments? We did the Bali to Sydney and we did a Martini tasting which I found to be fun and interesting - and I'm not a Martini drinker usually. I'd probably start my birthday with waffle at Mamsen's. 🙂 ...and maybe a mimosa for dessert?

@OneSixtyToOne Awesome review and I did pick up a lot of helpful tips. We did a similar itinerary to yours on an NCL ship a while back, which is why we chose the Santiago north to Ft Lauderdale itinerary. Now I am thinking that we might need to do Ushuaia to Santiago again with VE! Did you eat in The Restaurant or Manfredi's on your trip at all? I was wondering if they were also quite casual or like VO?

We are headed for our first Expedition ship experience in March. It is a repositioning cruise so not really an expedition itinerary. On VO, I usually dress for dinner - nothing too fancy but some nights I might wear a dress (gasp!). Would you say that the dress for dinner is generally more casual on an Expedition ship in comparison to VO or similar?

Some nights we get packed in at the restaurant and some nights we were lucky enough to have a window 2-top with a large unoccupied round next to us... that was very nice 🙂 We are quiet people but we try to just roll with it. If we get some friendly neighbors, we will respond. One cruise we were at a 2-top between 2 other 2-tops in The Restaurant. Since we all sat down at different times, we had separate conversations going with each side... one side was adamant that the food on VO was the best, much better than Oceana... and you guessed it the other side was saying that the food on VO just wasn't nearly as good as Oceana. That was fun. LOL We like VO food but we have never been on Oceana... and we still don't know which is better 😄

I wish that there were walking intensive tours (or perhaps "less walking intensive") offered as an included tour option. The river cruise tours that we took with Viking were usually very walking intensive but they often had a less mobile group option where it was tailored to be a better experience for all.

Is wifi free on Royal Carib? If not, could it be that there are fewer people trying to use it at the same time? On NCL, we never pay for extra wifi minutes. Since we have a limited number of wifi minutes, we "save our minutes" for when we REALLY need them. Then we end up having to use them all while we are waiting to get off the ship because we saved them for too long. 🙄

Our first VO was when we were 55 and 51. We felt like we were on the young side of the demographic on board, and even got questions like "what are you doing here?" We took it tongue-in-cheek, but felt a little like outsiders. Five years later, we still get the question (people are curious in a friendly way) and we still really enjoy Viking. It doesn't really matter what ship we are on, we usually do the same things which are all fairly quiet activities so on the large lines we are in the minority as well but for different reasons. The bonus on Viking is that you have a beautiful and quiet ship with lots of common areas to read or just look out the window. The ships have a walking or jogging track, a nice fitness center, and spa. We love the lectures by experts on board and the pool areas that do not have music blasting. It's nice to be able to read without all the distraction, and if you want music at the pool, you can use earbuds and play your own. We also like that there are not constant announcements about art auctions, contests, and shopping opportunities... blech. The ships are relaxed and comfortable. We dress for dinner, but nothing fancy. Some folks are less fancy than others and it's OK. If you ok with a non-casino, no pool slides, no climbing wall,...etc, adults only atmosphere, I think you will find Viking to be a nice change. We used to sail NCL a lot which has the "Haven". I feel like the entire Viking ship is a Haven. Give it a try! I just saw your excursion question. If you want an active excursion, you will likely need to skip the included one which is often a bus ride to site see. We are active people usually, but always seem to take the included tours; we usually learn something about the area from the guide. If there is time, we might try other activities on shore. In Iceland we joined the CC role call and found others wanting to join together to book an excursion with an outside provider. We joined them and were happy with that decision. As with other lines, you likely can save money and do a very similar excursion with an outside provider.

Update - We had been wondering about whether or not any of the exploration toys would be deployed on our itinerary. From our booking documents it sounds like there is that possibility. Here is the statement from our docs: "Itinerary Information Submarine Dive: Please note, the destinations you will be visiting on your itinerary will not allow us to deploy our submarines. However, we will still be able to offer our extensive shore excursion program and other expedition activities-including the special operations boats, zodiacs and kayaks in select ports along your voyage."

thanks for all the quick replies! I think we're going to book it.

Hi CC friends - trying to decide on this TODAY. There are no zodiac adventures or kayaking listed as activities. Wondering if anyone can report first hand experience from last year spring on Polaris or Octantis and is it a good itinerary? Is the ship lacking anything (besides the CHEF TABLE! 😞 ) for doing a non-polar type trip? We need to pay in full today so any experiences or thoughts to help us would be appreciated! We've been on 6 VO and 3 VRs so we are familiar with Viking - just not the VE ships. Thanks in advance!

The only way that I know of to find out the CT menu in advance is if someone on the ship is posting from the cruise before yours. You can check for a roll call if you know the itinerary prior. Sometimes a passenger will post a "Live from..." ongoing review on the general Viking Ocean forum. Generally, the menu is the same for 3 days and then changes. However, this cruise, (Trans Atlantic from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale on the Sky) one menu was only for 2 days; this might have been due to the Thanksgiving holiday since it seemed to coincide but not sure why that should matter as the CT menu was not a Thanksgiving theme.