Sunflower & The Scientist

We have done it both ways....and we think using a TA is the best thing for us. The key is finding a good TA. I don't think we are allowed to give specifics who we use, but we use an "insurance company" TA service. We've had the same agent now for years and are very pleased. We are very busy, both still working and fitting in vacations is tight on our schedules. Having someone who does all the leg work for us is super helpful. She reminds us when we need to do things on the timeline and keeps everything straight for us. Everything is printed out, packaged neatly, and handed to us. Also, when problems arise, she pitches in and helps get things resolved. It is clear from our experience that a TA has far more pull than we do when it comes to speaking with people and getting whatever issue resolved. 

Please keep updating us as you hear more information. I am not able to find anything online. 

21 hours ago, gr8-2travel said:

the Viking agent that booked us originally was addressing my concern to not be a noisy area.

We have not found a noisy area on Viking ocean....

Pre Covid we were on Orion NYE in New Zealand. We were in port in Auckland, and kind of expected to see some fireworks or something, but there wasn't anything notable. On board they had some festivities after dinner, but I'd say for that cruise, things were pretty low key, which was fine with us. We danced a bit, then headed to bed. 

11 hours ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

May in UK can be absolutely beautiful. Certainly here in Scotland it can be the best month of the year.

What about July? We will be there July 2023 and I've been wondering what to expect. 

9 hours ago, sugarside said:

Regarding sitting with feet up in public places on board ship.

My problem is that my dr has advised that I should always sit with my feet elevated as I suffer from very badly swollen ankles and legs.Not a look I would choose to go for if I could avoid it.

Any suggestions? eg put a cushion on any surface first?,sit sideways on a couch?

I sit sideways on the couch with my shoe off the couch because no one wants to sit where someone's dirty shoe was. 

I should have said the nuts are not mixed with the wasabi peas! My husband had the mixed nuts, I had the wasabi peas. Older Sister, feel free to pass yours to me anyway. 

I'll be asking from here out on oceans!! 

Have I missed that oceans has mixed nuts and wasabi peas on the living room, if you request them? We were so delighted on Octantis to have both of these. Now I'm wondering if we just missed this all along on oceans, or if this is an Octantis thing. 

14 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 ....but the guy didn't hesitate to say something about us talking and blocking his view of the ocean. 

 

 

On Octantis one evening we were going through a lock which everyone was excited to see. After dinner everyone began going outside and gathering along the railing to watch the process. It was a beautiful evening, people were chatting and having their after dinner coffee.  As I was standing there someone told me, if you stand in that spot the man in the Explorers Lounge is going to start pounding the window and yelling at you. That did not detour me, and sure enough he started the banging and yelling. I continued chatting and watching the event taking place. He finally quit. I wondered how many people had actually moved to accommodate this man who felt he owned that spot. Thinking back on it now, I wish I would have waved and smiled and yelled back, "Yes it is lovely isn't it!!" 

The funny thing is...from where he was sitting, he did not have a view of what was going on, even without anyone in his way.  You had to be standing outside along the railing to actually see what was happening. He's probably the same guy who puts his stuff on a chair by the pool at 6 AM and finally sits in it for 30 min. at 4 PM. 

15 hours ago, Catlover54 said:

 

Why on earth would FAs accuse a passenger complaining about a broken seat of deliberately breaking her seat with a shoe?  It makes no sense (unless the FA doing the accusing was mentally disturbed, or if pax on Virgin are awarded huge numbers of compensatory FF miles if their seat is broken).

I questioned the same thing, and was really shocked when they started accusing me of the shoe thing, especially when they could have taken a look to see I had both my shoes on! I was also surprised that they didn't try to accommodate  me during the lengthy time they expected me to stand while they worked on my seat. 

10 hours ago, zalusky said:

So question about this!  I thought you only had access to the Polaris lounge if you were in a Polaris seat or you had the Amex Platinum card.  Do Star Alliance people have access to the Polaris lounge such as Singapore Business Class?

Good question....We booked through Viking Air and our domestic flight was United, and my understanding was that it was all booked through United, but United used Viking Air to NZ. So business class was able to use the Polaris lounge. 

11 hours ago, tocruiseguy said:

 

 

 ...everyone is in bed by 9 pm and when you walk the ship everyone is reading a book on local history wearing their cardigans.  😀 

I beg to differ on this...I wear a hoodie and never read local history, I've always got a good biography. 😁😁

We flew out of SF on Air New Zealand on business class. SF was a breeze and their Polaris lounge was beautiful and very relaxing before we boarded the flight. Could not see doing it without business class. We flew overnight as most do. Air New Zealand had no hitches and great business class. Our return flight was Virgin Australia business class to LAX. There were hitches in that flight and although it was not a terrible experience, it did not have the class or go as smoothly as Air New Zealand. (My seat was broken, I had to stand for something like 45 min- 1 hour while they tried to accuse me of sticking one of my shoes in the seat to break it. I pointed to both shoes on my feet and they dropped it being my fault. My husband actually had me sit in his seat and he stood part of the time.) LAX was a zoo going through customs and a very long process pre COVID. 

We'd fly Air New Zealand again and consider it a vacation on it's own....

3 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Mmmm... so am I chair hog?  We put our stuff down, go to breakfast or lunch and come right back?

Our first Viking cruise will be in March, guess all cruise lines are the same in this regard.  Sigh....    

 

Here is my take on this...we don't "reserve" anything, personally it seems so self centered.  Why do people think it is acceptable to keep seats for their own use, when others would like to sit down also. We all paid for the cruise.  If we had a couple seats we did not want to give up and wanted to eat, one of us would go at a time and get our food and bring it back to where we were sitting and eat. We've done that with bathroom breaks....one of us stays and the other one goes and comes RIGHT back. 

So if you had reservations at one of the restaurants and were seated, then decided you wanted to go see a show first, would you put your glasses and sweater down across your seats and come back later? 

Sorry...I've just never seen this as being anything but people who feel entitled. 

We are planning on doing the farm in Bergen....glad to hear it was good. 

CCWineLover....have you found smoked herring at Mansons? I have only seen it on Octantis in WC and I'd love to know I can find it at Mansons, I hadn't looked there.  

We also travel with a good supply of all sizes of ziplocks. 

It is a tender port. The tender takes you to the start of a little town area you can walk around. There is a lovely boardwalk that takes you along the lake then up to a rose garden. 

Octantis smoked herring on freshly baked bread from the bakery......

Here again I'd say, as I have before on Cruise Critic, reviews are very subjective, and expectations are very different from person to person. We were on Toronto to Milwaukee in August. Octantis is new....the itinerary is new, we kept that in perspective when going on this cruise. Was it perfect, no, there were glitches here and there as we expected. We'd have loved for everyone to have the opportunity to go on the sub, but it was not Vikings fault that they are not allowed to do it in US waters. Some of the ports were not very exciting, but Viking did the best they could do with what this route could offer them.

As far as the crew, I am really surprised to hear anyone say they had to teach the crew! Personally that kind of hits me wrong...I've never considered myself to be in a position of teaching the crew how to do their jobs. We did not come across any crew that weren't doing an outstanding job. Daily I saw crew being supervised making sure they were doing an excellent job. We have not experienced the level of personal involvement with the crew as we did on Octantis. The crew mingles with the passengers throughout the day. We had a lovely chat with the CFO as we sipped our tea, and I saw this happening all the time all over the ship. I do not recall a time when our room attendants weren't somewhere in the hall checking to make sure we had everything we needed. I popped in to grab something in my room one day when they were cleaning. I would have loved to hire them to do my house! They were deep cleaning, not just spiffing up. 

We are wondering how soon we can book another one of the Great Lakes cruises. Yes they are expensive, and they don't have the world's best ports....but post pandemic, we'd jump back onboard in a second. 

You could travel with the most exceptional luxury cruise line, and you will hear complaints! Everything that you mentioned you want in a cruise, is what Viking offers. Will there be inconsistencies from ship to ship, sailing to sailing, yes. You are sailing with a bunch of imperfect humans and it is quite possible something could not be as you expect, but that is the case in any situation. 

I have heard someone yelling at an officer because they expected Viking to do something Viking clearly states they cannot do. This person came on the cruise expecting that Viking would change their rules and provide the service they wanted, and it was totally unreasonable. You are going to read bad reviews from this individual as well as others who have unrealistic expectations. 

So much written is personal preference. Someone stated above that they did not enjoy expeditions as much as ocean. We loved expeditions even more than oceans! Everything is so subjective. It's like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.....bed's too soft, bed's too hard! 

Go on the cruise. Enjoy. 

Yes, I totally understand if you do not book Viking Air or transfers, you would be on your own. It just sounded a little extreme to be dumped and I didn't know if they meant everyone or just those not having transfers. We typically do Viking Air just because it is easier. 

We are on Bergen to London July 2023. travelijkkk's post makes me concerned, did you have Viking Air or were you on your own? Also, can someone clarify, is travelijkkk's experience typical? 

Let Me Travel......A big thanks for your information! 

JerryInIL........THANKS so much for taking the time to post the excursions!  Anything you post after your cruise will be greatly appreciated.  

On 8/19/2022 at 1:17 PM, TayanaLorna said:

We always carried the little sanitizer bottle found in our stateroom and used it after every time we returned from the buffet.  I carried it on my person most of the time because i liked to use the stairs but must hold on to the rail.  I would use the stairs, open the doors, find my seat wherever then sit and use the sanitizer. Does Viking still provide bottles in the room?

 

This is our first cruise since Viking dropped the Covid protocols so we are a bit uneasy and planning ahead of time how to protect ourselves.

Yes, just returned and they had the sanitizer sprays in the rooms.