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My DW and I are currently sailing on our first Viking Ocean cruise on the Sky. We embarked in Civitavecchia on October 6th and will disembark in Fort Lauderdale on November 30h. We have sailed on about 65 cruises on various lines. Our most recent experience before our current cruise was on Regent Splendor for 32 days in January and February of this year. The two lines are more similar than different. Some noticeable differences... Excursions: Viking offers one, sometimes two, included excursions in each port. Regent offers many more included excursions plus some requiring payment. Buffet: The World Cafe's buffet offers much more than the one in Regent's La Veranda. We sometimes enjoy dining casually in shorts after a day off the ship...most of the time we can't do that on Regent. Suite layout: Our room category on Viking is comparable to that on Regent. Although the interior square footage is about the same, Regent's balcony is much larger with much better furniture, including a large table for dining. Regent's bathroom is much larger with two sinks, a shower, and tub. There's also a large walkin closet. Although there is plenty of drawer space on Sky, closet space is much smaller. Laundry: Professional laundry service is free on Regent while available for a fee on Viking. Both offer self-service laundries. Entertainment: Regent provided excellent evening entertainment with only a few repeated performances over 32 nights, including off-ship entertainers. In a little over 16 days, entertainment on the Sky has been reduced to repeated on-ship entertainment. There was some excellent off-ship entertainment during the first week, but that has sadly disappeared. Alcoholic beverages: All Included except for super high end on Regent; Viking requires purchase of an upgraded package for coctails and better wines. Room service will provide a full bottle of wine or liquor for in-room use upon request at no charge. Both lines are excellent...we're enjoying our Med cruise very much. At this point we're leaning toward Regent, but that could change as this cruise progresses.

We're on the Sky cruising the Med and were charged $17US per night for gratuities for the first segment of the cruise. Billing is done in US dollars.

I responded to your follow up question regarding formal nights...not tipping. 🙄

Where...in Civitavecchia? That's a topic for your cruise line board or roll call.

I register all our European travel with STEP...

It's best to add your reply to the message you quote outside and below the quote box. If you add your response within the quote box, readers do not know where the quote ends and your response begins. 🙂

We arrived in Rome on October 1st. No request to see our COVID VAX cards.

Yes to both questions. They can ship wine from both their Rome and New York locations. You can subscribe to mailing lists at both locations to be kept up to date on availability.

We are currently on the Viking Sky which embarked in Civitavecchia Friday with a few port calls in Italy at the beginning of our itinerary. At each stop so far we have been warned to have our passports with us while off the ship. Yesterday, as we reboarded in Crotone, uniformed police requested to see our passports along with our cruise cards. I carry my passport beneath my pants in a hidden wallet and my DW carries hers in a reinforced crossbody bag. In a number of visits to Europe over the years we have not experienced an issue.

Oooops... Wrong forum.

@UKWildcatCruiser... We did the 8:00pm wine tasting at Rimessa Roscioli last night and it was excellent!! Highly recommended. There were twelve participants, six wines, along with some tasty food. We learned a lot about Italian wines. A very enjoyable evening. It's about a five minute walk from where we're staying, Hotel Smeraldo.

Cruise Critic is owned by TripAdvisor so you're good to go.

I believe it's pretty obvious...It has to do with returning from Italy or any foreign country. I'm sure others might find it useful. If you've never had to wait in the scan line I can understand why you think the app is not needed. I've waited while others in our party have sailed through CBP. If it speeds up the process I'm all for using the app.

Although the app currently works at just a few airports, more...including cruise ports...should become available. You can read about it here...

These two statements appear to contradict...

@cruisemom42... I'm with you! Have you ever used a site such as Fakespot? I started using it to evaluate reviews on Amazon, but am now using it with TripAdvisor and Yelp. It's results are eye opening for sure.

I understand now; however, why not inform those scheduled to book excursions or dining via email in advance. A workable option might be to schedule maintenance on weekends and access to excursions and dining on weekdays. A warning in advance via email would have been much better than the site not responding while attempting to complete bookings. With the website's booking process so slow anyway, it was difficult to determine whether it was its normal operation or something else.

Help me understand why maintenance could not be scheduled to be done overnight or our excursion booking date and time moved up or back a day or two? With notice, of course!!

@steamboats... I do have photos of our Passports, USA Global Entry Cards, and Drivers Licenses, in the Notes app on our iPhones and iPads if needed. I know they will not replace the actual documents, but may be of value if one or more were lost, stolen, or misplaced. As you can surmise, I'm a belt and suspenders guy... 🙄

We have used the common sense methods and heeded the recommendations you mention for traveling in Europe for many years and have never experienced a problem. Also knocking on wood as I write this. Carrying our passports in hidden travel belt wallets will keep them out of sight, safe and available if needed. As for obtaining a replacement passport, it's not the way I want to spend time on a trip. However, if it should ever be necessary we bring printed copies of our most recent passport applications when traveling internationally to facilitate the process.

This site claims to be official...

We've cruised out of South Florida many times and have never paid for a hotel. We always decline the included lodging and find picking our own and using a taxi or Uber much more convenient. We always stay at a Hyatt on points...transferring what we need from our Chase Sapphire Reserve account to Hyatt. Last winter we stayed three nights at Hyatt Centric Brickell Miami before boarding the Splendor and it worked out very well. We're doing the same again in January 2024.

Have an excellent cruise! We're doing this itinerary as well as the previous one next September / October on Splendor. She's a beautiful ship...enjoy. I would be interested whether you booked one of the chateau tours with dinner in Bordeaux and your opinion if you did. Thanks...

According to my new friend Perplexity AI... A US passport is not considered a national identification card. While the US passport can serve as identification, there is no official "national identity card" in the United States. The most common national photo identity documents in the US are the passport and passport card, which are issued by the US Department of State to US nationals upon voluntary application. By law, an unexpired US passport (or passport card) is conclusive proof of US nationality and has the same force and effect as proof of United States nationality as certificates of naturalization or of citizenship, if issued to a US citizen.

Welcome to Cruise Critic and the Viking board, @Antarctica24. Thank you for your contribution.