CCWineLover

15 hours ago, rjp50 said:

Thanks.  I was a bit surprised how many of the reservations were already taken.  We have a PV so have priority over most of the ship and on the first day that the reservation window opened and within the first half hour, there were some nights that nothing was available in either specialty restaurant until 8 or 8:30.  With that being the case I wonder if there will be any options available if we wait until we are onboard and just a few days away from the night that we want.  Is it possible that they hold a batch of tables each night for reservations made while onboard?

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.

1 hour ago, rjp50 said:

We will be on the Into The Midnight Sun itinerary this summer.  I recently made dinner reservations for the specialty restaurants that include a 6 PM time for the Chef's Table on the evening that we are scheduled to sail away from the Lofoten Islands at the same time.  After making the reservations it occurred to me that perhaps we would be missing some great scenery as we leave port.  Can anyone comment on what we will be missing?  Would we be better off changing the reservation to 7 or 7:30 or perhaps a different night?

 

Secondly, if a change is recommended, how do I go about doing it?  I know I can go into the reservation system and cancel my existing reservation, but, until I do so I can't see what my options are.  I'm afraid of canceling the reservation and then find no suitable replacement time and then not being able to go back and reestablish the original reservation.  Is this something that customer service would be able to do for me?

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.

1 minute ago, Breckski said:

I'm really not upset and not concerned about the double-booking as I easily identified the issue.

 

But any thoughts as to why they don't let folks apply funds from cancelled excursions to their account?  They already have a system to track credits to your account.  

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

Just now, Peregrina651 said:

I think you have posed one of those 'damned if they do, damned if they don't scenarios.  No matter how they handle it, there will be complaints.  

 

Still, perhaps they should have suggested that folks double-check their schedules for conflicts and that otherwise, no action was necessary.

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.

23 minutes ago, Breckski said:

Got a question about a Viking policy simply out of curiosity.

 

Here's the background.  This week I got an email from Viking stating that an excursion had been moved from one day to the subsequent day due to the excursion operator not being able provide the service on the original date.  The email also stated:  "Your schedule has been automatically adjusted and there is no action required on your end."  Not exactly true as the shifting of the excursion created two timing conflicts with excursions already booked on the second day.  I called Viking, and the rep said I had to cancel the ones on the second day and re-book them on the first day if I wanted to keep those excursions.  One could easily criticize the email stating no action required but I simply write that off to volume and the fact Viking can't adjust schedules on their own.  But I would word the email differently.

 

Here's the question though.  Why doesn't Viking give one the option of applying funds for cancelled excursions to their account - like having a self-funded OBC?  To me this would be simpler than what I ended up having to do which was cancel two excursions (and wait for Viking to refund into my bank account) and rebook (and immediately pay) for the same excursions on a different date.  I really don't think this happens enough for Viking to have this policy for float/interest income.

 

Any thoughts?  I find the current method inefficient and not customer friendly.  Wonder if I'm missing a legitimate reason for the policy.

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.

On 4/16/2024 at 2:29 AM, CDNPolar said:

 

No, they will not refund the difference.  Viking vouchers have no cash value.  You also cannot divide the voucher over two cruises.

 

You either have to upgrade your cabin, buy all the optional tours, or spend the money on Spa services, or alcohol or on the gratuities. 

 

We will only take cash back refund regardless of the voucher offer.

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.

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I think that 15K steps in 3 hours even on flat surface would be a lot for many people and a real workout.

 

It would be interesting if Viking would consider putting "Step Counts" into their excursions.  This might help many folks to understand the demand from a walking perspective.

 

That is a fair workout for 3 hours.

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.

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We took the same extension and 100% agree. It was a terrific experience. Here is my writeup:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2906353-almost-live-viking-sky-journey-to-antiquities-jan-2023/

 

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).

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

Those aren't "Viking price changes".  They are a result of dynamic inventory availability and pricing.

 

First key is to remember that what you have available through Viking (or any cruiseline) is merely a subset of the overall inventory and pricing available from the airline directly.  As such, it may be many different forms of inventory (and of pricing).  A not-so-brief explainer coming up.

 

The first type may be a "hard block".  This is a fixed number of seats, sold by the carrier to the cruiseline.  It's now up to the cruiseline to determine their retail price, given that they have already purchased the seats for their resale.

 

It could be a "soft block", where the cruiseline agrees to a certain number of seats, but has the ability to return all or part of any unsold inventory back to the airline under pre-agreed terms.

 

Another form is "moving block", where the inventory block may vary depending on pre-negotiated conditions.  As inventory systems become more and more dynamic, this is becoming more prevalent in the airline industry.  Inventory may be added, or removed, due to conditions of the overall yield management of a specific flight or flights.

 

An airline may also give the cruiseline "free sale" or "open sale", which means that they have full rights to sell all seats and all inventory.  This is usually at the spot market price for tickets, and tends to fill out the gaps when contract blocks become unavailable (usually because the agreed upon block has been sold).  There may be contract provisions where the airline can stop or limit this type of sale.

 

Since the specifics of airline contracts is a trade secret of both parties, one can only make informed guesses as to what's happening behind the scenes.

 

I'm going to guess that you got into a moving block situation - tickets were available, then they were available at a lower price, then they weren't, then they were, at still a different price.  Highly indicative of changes in inventory.  Which can be because of ticket sales through Viking or because of yield management calculations by the airline, or both.

 

Also, it's important to remember....airline tickets are not like the box of cereal on the grocery shelf.  They have different fare rules, are associated with different fare buckets, and have dynamically variable quantities available at any given time.  Trying to compare them with products that are not dynamically priced is a waste of time.

 

So, to the OP:  Congratulations.  This time the system worked out for you.  You lost out on inventory, found it again, and had the price be lower than what you would have paid originally.
 

 

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.

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Lobster is good, no doubt, but I don't know that it is that amazing to me to get all excited about.  I would be just as happy with any well cooked meal.

 

For me lobster is a feast where you are not just having a tail cut in half, but you have a plastic tub of whole lobsters on a paper lined table, crackers, picks and all the tools, put on a bib and get down to business.

Totally agree!!

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

1 hour ago, deec said:

We have always been very happy with the cruise consultant and found their suggestions valuable plus the OBC is always useful to use toward our gratuities.  Not the consultant's fault that Viking would NOT honor the double pass passenger credit  😞

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!

On 4/15/2024 at 3:52 PM, CDNPolar said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic and to Viking!  

 

As formernuke has mentioned... here is a screen shot of the drop down from your name at the top right.  Go to add a booking number

 

Nice set of cruises are awaiting you in the future!

15 hours ago, May B said:

Iirc, our pool party was not at or near the end of the cruise. It’s perhaps itinerary-driven.

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.

3 minutes ago, deec said:

we moved the date of our Zurich to Paris that we had booked in January while onboard the Octantis and LOST the $400/pp past passenger discount...Viking would not budge on it!  It can be soooo frustrating. 

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.

1 hour ago, CROSBY said:

Currently on the Viking Star at Dubrovnik....soon to sail to Motor Montenegro.

First Viking experience.

For me ...yes the mattress is too firm...also had to ask for a third pillow as too flat for me. Mattress on Celebrity much better for me.

Apart from that loving this cruise. Staff amazing,trips excellent,food very,very good. Croatia really beautiful... can't recommend enough . Weather has been changeable....very warm and now raining...but am enjoying.

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.  🙂

18 hours ago, duquephart said:

"Lobster Night" on a Viking cruise is no big deal - unless one thinks frozen lobster of unknown orign is a big deal.

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 🙂

23 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Maybe this will help.

14 award winning Japanese wines:

https://cluboenologique.com/review/best-japanese-wine/

 

@deec Will you be on the Far Eastern Horizons? Here is the role call:

 

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

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Interesting - I also have a Casper at home and this has been the best mattress I have had in my life, but I love the Viking beds.  
 

I have a question... I come from the hotel industry originally - from way back.  Most often hotels claim that the mattress is part of their experience and they pride themselves on that mattress and use it chain wide.  Some hotels sell their mattresses.

 

Do Viking use the same mattress on all ships?  On River and Ocean?

 

I see some say that they dislike the Ocean mattress but like the River mattress?

 

Just curious.

 

If they potentially use the same mattress, then perhaps it is age of mattress that is causing some grief?

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!

3 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

Next month we will be on our first Viking cruise,  While we were on the fence about the drink package and wine, we took it for no reason other than convienance. 

 

As CDNPolar and others have mentioned, we are going in with an open mind.  My wife and some of our friends (while not exactly oenophiles or winesnobs), do enjoy some of the more expensive or finer wines,  That being said, their "drink now" favorites run anywhere between $20 and $40 a bottle.  Most people we know (can't speak for ones we don't) get used to a profile or grape and then judge other wines in comparison.  A lot forget that when you go to Italy, wines are different than France, those are different from Chile, and those are different from Australia (let alone the sub-regions).  We try to keep an open mind.  Worst possible scenario while aboard Viking is that we don't like their wines and we buy some on port days.

 

Last thought - every year as a birthday present for my wife I purchase five or six bottles of the same varietal, all different price points, and do a blind tasting for her and friends.  I really try to find a cheaper $10-$15 dollar bottle, a couple in the $20-$25 range, one in the $30's, one in the $40-$50 or higher.  In every case, with only one exception (and we have been doing this for at least 20 years), my wife and DIL will always identify the cheapest and the most expensive wines.  Not that the most expensive is the one they like, but they can identify it.  As for the others doing the taste test, it has always been a mixed bag of which wines people like - other than most won't like the cheapest (although once a friend really liked the $12 bottle and we don't let him forget it).  At the same time, the majority also don't like the most expensive one, likely since they are not used to the complexity.

 

Of course as CDNPolar said, add in food - bland, spicy, sweet, etc and everything changes again.  I can't stand icewine until you have some sort of sweet first.

 

I'll provide our thoughts on the Viking wines once we get home.

 

In the meantime, enjoy whatever makes YOU happy.  

 

 

 

 

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.

5 minutes ago, katlew said:

I love the beds! I have found I don't get any of the hip pains that I do on softer beds. I want to get something similar for home!

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!

15 minutes ago, Deb922 said:

I was watching a YouTube. The couple hated the beds on Viking! They said they were the only drawback to their cruise. They had the attendant put 3 feather toppers but still had trouble sleeping. 
 

What do you think of the beds? Are they similar to the beds on the river cruises? Our first cruise, I thought the bed was very comfortable, the second not so much. I had the attendant put a blanket underneath and that helped. 
 

I know on a river cruise, the mattress is pretty thin so to accommodate luggage underneath. 
 

thanks 

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.

15 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

April’s future guest promo is the same as March‘s. This week we booked Iceland’s Majestic Landscapes cruise and the agent ran the numbers with the future guest promotion and the ESE24 promotion. The latter was a far better deal.

 

When do you go?

(Note - we also got a better deal with ESE24 than future guest promo)

1 minute ago, WanderingBrit said:

We took all our meals at World Cafe except for one Manfredi's and one Chef's Table on our last cruise. We found the environment to be quieter than The Restaurant, and enjoyed the opportunity to "name our own adventure" by selecting only the items and quantities that we wanted. Comparing to the menu for The Restaurant it looked as if both were serving largely the same dishes each day.

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"  🙂