CCWineLover

You will not have an issue. Viking withholds 50-60 % of the tables at the specialty restaurants for booking on the ship. So on the day you board, immediately check availability and make the reservations you wish at Manfredi's and/or Chef's Table. Plus, then you will know what menu is on what day at CT, as well as have a better idea of your personal schedules. I would, however, not wait beyond the first few hours of being on board, as many of the veteran Viking Cruisers I know, including us, use this strategy.

We had a sailaway from Lofoten at 6 PM in July. It really was incredibly spectacular! But again it could depend on weather for you. If it rained, not so much. Sailing out, the best views were on the starboard side. We sat in the Explorers Lounge and watched, and then had a late (8 PM) dinner. Perhaps you wait until onboard and see which menu it is before you make any changes. And check the weather forecast as you get closer. That's what I would do. Keep your time for now and be flexible when you board.

Good question! I will ask the Excursion Manager in person when I seem him/her in a few weeks.

Agreed. In hindsight maybe the "legal" wording should have warned everyone. But sometimes we travelers have to take some initiative and do our own action. We live in a world these days where more and more people want everything told to them and don't think for themselves. Maybe I've been a seasoned traveler too long, but so many things just occur to me to ask and delve deeper when something like this occurs. And then I take the initiative. Sadly, Viking can't think of everything. At some point we travelers have to accept some responsibility to watch out for ourselves too. They try, but there are so many things and one-offs that come up. As I said, I was very happy that for us they took no action and let me decide. Some may say Viking should have called me and shame on them, but I don't agree. I was fine with contacting them.

Had this happen to us just last month. I never though got into the deep analysis that you have done 🙂 When they shifted excursions day 1 to day 2, that then overlapped with ones I had on day 2 - for us it showed double booked on the new day 2 on the calendar. I contacted Viking immediately and they said they rebooked us to the new day 2 and even though we already had some excursions that day, we kept everything. We wanted to give you the opportunity of cancelling or rescheduling any of the 2 you already had on day 2. I was quite pleased that they would give me that opportunity. So we just rescheduled/rebooked them to day 1.

I agree with you on taking cash rather than vouchers. However - you might want to ask now about the voucher splitting issue. We were able to split vouchers over $10,000 into two different cruises. Specifically we had $12K and did $6k against one cruise and the remaining against a different cruise. (pp so 2 x that for couple). I was surprised, but we were told that if the voucher is more than $10K you could do this. Perhaps that has changed now as that was 2 years ago. And yes, there is no refund, but you can apply the remainder to pre-paid gratuities, excursions, etc... Vouchers are all a bit different in rules so look closely. Some you have to completely use before boarding. We have an upcoming cruise where there's about $1.7K left to spend and that voucher's rules says it has to be spent before the cruise is completed (so good use it onboard as well). Vouchers are not created equally.

Just last month we had an Excursion Manager come on board in the middle of our B2B cruise. He was easily the most informative (and understandable) speaker at Port Talk/Excursion Talks. He really laid it out for people in detail on the amount of effort required on excursions. Telling us roughly how many steps to get to a bus, or to downtown, how many steps in the tour, what kind of grade we'd face, estimate of total steps on the tour, total time walking, total time standing, bathroom break times, minutes for shopping and when, and so much more. He also gave good limitation examples - for instance, if you cannot use the stairs to go from deck 4 to 5, then you shouldn't do this tour as their are no lifts, or if you cannot walk 1/4 mile on your own over cobblestones, you should consider other alternatives, or if you cannot make that first 2 foot step up into a bus, then bypass... and more like that. Very practical. Wish this was put into the Excursion descriptions when you purchase them however.

Wow - so totally agree. In fact, we usually don't do extensions but it was so highly recommended by OneSixtytoOne on CruiseCritic, that we did the Athens 4 day one just last March. It was SO good - and WELL worth the value. We stayed at the NVJ Athens Plaza right on Constitution Square - heart of the action. We also loved Mycenae but enjoyed Delphi even more. Lots to do in Athens on our free day so we didn't venture outside the city but some did. Highly recommend this 4 day extension for the value (unlike many other Viking extensions).

Amazing rendition and explanation. Well worth the popcorn! 🙂 Thank you so much. This should be required reading for the many people who continually complain about Viking Air choices and changes and blame Viking all the time.

Totally agree!! Actually our favorite lobster is Lobster Rolls from James Hooke's in Boston. Yum Yum !!

I'd agree, Dee, with one exception we had (the last cruise). We didn't mesh. He wasn't a used car salesman. He was an order taker and didn't volunteer any information. I had to know the questions I wanted to ask and maybe he might answer them. It was like pulling teeth! And he kept looking at his watch - and then finally said - well are you going to buy or not (i.e. please leave it you aren't)... but that was only once!

Nice set of cruises are awaiting you in the future!

Yes - very itinerary driven. We've been on enough Viking cruises to experience pool nights, if any, and all different days. A lot depends on weather, other events already scheduled, and whether there are sea days or not and how many. So many things are scheduled these days with Viking that their schedulers onboard have quite a bit of flexibility. Some events are indeed standard (like the CD solo evening at Star Theatre), but some occur sometimes and not other cruises.

Dee - we've had the same thing happen to us recently. You have to be careful about what you gain/lose when transferring. In our experience, Viking is NOT being more flexible these days as someone had said earlier. And we have an outstanding TA who battles hard for us. Looking at the IPO notes, it would appear Viking has very high occupancy rates in the industry and has a large percentage of 2024 and into 25 booked. So perhaps they are lenient more on the very future bookings rather than 2024.

Kotor is an unbelievable place! Glad you are going. As you've do doubt read in this thread, everyone has a different opinion - either like or dislike the beds. Sort of like everything in life these days. That is why seeking people's opinions on things doesn't mean as much anymore. 🙂

Agree - it was a big disappointment. Can't for the life of me figure out why all the hoopla and fuss about lobster night. People cancel other reservations to attend and line up early even. Good news is that it frees up reservations to Manfredi's or CT on that night - you can walk up with no reservations on Lobster Night 🙂

Thanks Joe, I will take a look. And I had sent Dee the Roll Call link as well.

In our experience (16 Viking cruises), the beds have been the same on every ship we've been on - which is great for us! Never noticed a difference in Ocean versus River mattresses. We look forward to the Viking beds and always sleep well!

Thank you as well. Excellent points. We love all kinds of wine and are definitely not wine snobs. Part of our traveling is trying new wines from different ports we visit, as well as different foods. What's the point of traveling if you just try to replicate what you have at home? Yes, sometimes the wines haven't been the best, or the pricing mechanism isn't the greatest, but those are very minor things. And when it is important to us, we'll bring some bottles onboard at ports. It's been fun to talk with the wine stewards about them as they open them at dinner for us. My guess is that we may hear lots of complaints but social media gives a distorted view of how many people like/dislike things, including cruising, food, and wine. The great silent majority certainly must enjoy it. I believe Viking makes changes or tweaks only if a vast number of passengers are requesting some kind of change. Until then, I would guess the wine situation stays the same, which is OK.

Funny you mention hips. Love the beds ALSO because my hip pains go away on a Viking cruise amazingly enough. And the hip pain comes back on soft beds.

OK Linda - couldn't resist. Your pictures brought back fond memories of our week stay in Sorrento apartment ahead of our Viking Saturn cruise to Athens. The view from our VRBO balcony of Mt Vesuvius. The whole area is breathtaking and so easy to walk miles everywhere!

We absolutely love the beds. We think they are just the way we like them. Like anything else, there are people who say they are too hard, and some that say they are too soft. So it probably is totally a personal thing. Sort of like asking people if the rooms are too hot or too cold. Everyone has a different opinion. My guess is that the majority of the people we've spoken with do like the beds. Viking can't please everyone so they have IMHO tried to go the middle ground. On ocean ships, there is space underneath as well like river, to accommodate luggage.

Just saw this in an email. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/04/windstar-cruises-welcomes-two-new-ships-to-fleet/ Windstar has two new ships coming, with 224 guests each. Maybe one will be in Tahiti.

When do you go? (Note - we also got a better deal with ESE24 than future guest promo)

Exactly! Trying lots of different things became our nightly adventure! And especially for my wife, it was SO much quieter in the World Cafe compared to the din in the restaurants, particularly if you go to the World Cafe at 7:30 or later, after the 6:00 PM "feeding frenzy" 🙂