CCWineLover

Maybe so, Jim. I've seen that happen to so many companies over the years. Some succeed and some do not.

We asked the Head Chef on a recent cruise about this "shrinkflation". Whether true or not, his response was . . . Viking has had SO many comments/feedback that the portions sizes were TOO big and there was too much waster. People predominately said they wanted smaller portions and the big eaters could just order more. Interesting, but I'm sure there's truth to that. In the old days I do remember people complaining that the portions were too large! Can't please everyone. We stopped having the steak in Manfredi's. Instead, we get the Steak to order in the World Cafe. Nice size - always cooked to my liking!

IMHO, you didn't miss anything in the Planetarium. It was worthless (well, not totally, but definitely a 3 on a scale of 10). Would be nice if they took the 2 of them (with Jupiter) out of the 8th floor and opened it up again.

an interesting comment . . . we are exploring other products, such as safaris and land tours, that would allow our guests to explore more of the world in Viking comfort.'"

We definitely think alike! Have enjoyed your posts. Hoping we get to travel on the same cruise together sometime in the future!

Pigin - my apologies! I mistakenly should have looked more carefully as I see you were not the person who said they didn't get action until they got rude. So sorry!

We had this happen to us. It had been ordered by our Travel Agent (who knew we had an anniversary coming up). And yes, we also saw it on the invoice so mentioned it to our TA, where we learned what happened. For us, it didn't spoil any surprise. It was just nice that the TA thought of us at all!

I also have been amazed at the large large number of men (I've witnessed it!) who don't wash their hands after being in the bathroom (next to the World Cafe) and then just walk in and start grabbing the serving tongs.... We made a habbit of getting our food at World Cafe back to the table and then going and washing our hands again. Rinse and repeat everytime we went up for more food. You aren't going to stop the large amount of ignorant behavior so all you can do is protect yourselves.

Too funny! We want photos!!

This sounded pretty good, unitl I read the fine print about paying really early . . . A limited-time $25 per person deposit is due at time of booking for select 2024–2026 itineraries; remaining deposit is due with final payment (excludes World Cruise itineraries); call for details. 2024–2026: Book and deposit by March 31, 2024. 2024: Pay in full by April 30, 2024 or at 120 days prior to departure (whichever comes first).

I am also surprised! Sounds like the OP is saying you have be "Rude" to get anywhere with the onboard Viking people. We've had our share of issues and NEVER encountered that. I always approached Viking with a smile, being courteous and polite, but firm and stating things in a business and facts sort of way. I've always had good responses and fixes to the issues without ever having to be "rude". Perhaps you had a very isolated incident. I haven't hear the need to be rude so much. Certainly many passengers are rude onboard to the Viking people, but Viking staff seems to handle it well. We always say that to work on Viking you must have thick skin!!

We've been on all the Ocean ships (not counting Sun). The 9 (not counting Sun) Viking Ocean Ships currently sailing are the "Star" class. They are all nearly identical with some slight differences. Viking made changes to improve things as they moved from each group of three - 1st group: Star, Sea, Sky 2nd group: Orion, Jupiter, Venus 3rd group: Mars, Neptune, Saturn There are some differences between the ships you mention Sea and Orion. Orion is really not that much younger than Sea. However, Orion was the first that has a Planetarium on Deck 8 of Explorer's Lounge (Jupiter is the only other one with it. It was cancelled on future ships). Orion also was the first to implement a food "station" in the World Cafe that you walk up to. (Around the corner from the Gelato area and across from the Aquavit Bar in the back). Now it serves Asian dishes Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Quite popular. The first group (Sea included) also did not have drawers in the closets for DV and V rooms - just shelves. They were added on the later groups. As for showing wear, people who've been on VERY recently would have to answer that. Between these two I'm not sure I'd be too worried, but no doubt there will be strong opinions one way or the other from folks.

This is who Steve Dassios put us onto in 2024. They are offering some good plans now as you discovered (Travel Insured International FlexiPax). One big benefit is they are good up to 3 years out and you can transfer from the original cruise to a new one at no charge as long as the new one is 3 years or less from the date you put the insurance deposit down. Flexible is right!

Fyi One “sparkling” is part on the included wines but not advertised. we dislike sweet sparkling but like the include / not too sweet not too dry.

Sadly we’ve seen some trifectas on our recent cruise.

You are right! Always get a chair somewhere. The chairs/lounges by the windows however, on our past cruises, were "booked" really early (like before breakfast), by a newer crowd that "reserves" them by putting towels and personal items on them, and then don't show up til much later if at all. Like placeholders just in case they want to come by. I see this behavior increasing over the past years since COVID.

Yes thanks for your wonderful reports and taking all that time to inform us of your wonderful adventures! We do appreciate it. And glad you got to meet Dobie as well. Where and when's the next big adventure?

We've used tripinsured.com before but over the past 4 years, we've gone with Steve Dassios at TheTripInsuranceStore. Linda posted the details a couple posts ahead of me (#4).

Here here! Love my wines (witness my CruiseCritic handle, where by the way, CC stands for "Central Coast", not CruiseCritic). I envy your job! Great samples would be a plus! Would be fun to get a group of wine lovers together who also enjoy traveling like we all do.

I just asked our TA and they said that OBC's can be put on the account from a TA whenever the TA requests it. Many agencies apparently have a policy of automatically getting that on right away when final payment is handled, and others handle it on an individual case. So yes, it all depends on your agent and your agency. We like them on early and DO see them on the Viking invoice (around page 3 or 4 I believe), where it summarizes vouchers, SBC's, and OBC's and what's available and what's used. We also see it on MyVikingJourney under payment. When on early, if you buy excursions, it will take it from the credits (if allowable) unless you override that.

mwike - we totally agree. We also prefer the World Cafe (which is the quietest of the 4 restaurants to have dinner, other than room service 🙂) And those 2 tops right close together seems to be the style these days. With that tiny gap in between barely enough to squeeze yourself through, it definitely promotes interaction. And if you happen to get seated in the middle seat of the 737 configuration at The Restaurant, watch out then! I hope this is just a trial, but a friend on the Jupiter posted a picture that they just changed the World Cafe seating by separating the 4 some tables into two tables with that tiny gap in between. Apparently there have been complaints of too many twosomes taking up a foursome table (so as to have a more private dinner - guilty as charged). Not a good sign if they don't offer alternatives.

We've had that exact experience. Whether World Cafe or Manfredi's or The Restaurant, most people seem to want to join your dinner conversation. Even if they are well meaning, not everyone wishes that.

We also enjoyed our one river cruise - except we agree with several people. It will be one and done for us. We now have 15 Ocean Cruises from Viking under our belt and will continue. Main reason: Dining. At least on Ocean you can find a quiet place for a more private dinner. On River it basically does not exist. And it did remind me of those cruise dinners you were forced to do back in the 80's and 90's. Each night at 7:00 reminded us of a big wedding dinner reception. And for some that's great, but for some it isn't. At least Ocean gives a choice.

Yeah - hard to hire good help these days, even in foreign countries!!

5091 has a slider. We stayed in 5089 and I personally mapped the Doors and Sliders visually for the end of deck 5 for PV's.