CCWineLover

I hope you really truly are not "forcibly disembarked" and "ejected from the ship" ! 🙂 Interesting choice of words.

Too funny Lorna ! I do remember that early morning in the laundry!! Seriously though, we have seen recently too many in the WC with swimsuits (wet) and/or pajamas grabbing food and sitting down to eat. The one comment might be appropriate - people got used to dressing down while working at home and it is now just part of their mode of operation 🙂

Joe - well stated. I think you put it quite well - and better than I could. I do also think that pent up demand to travel has exasperated the existing conditions Post-COVID - and thus want to remain hopeful that over the years, the "new" behavior will subside. Trying to be positive.

Lots of talk on other threads about observed behavior patterns (such as reserving lounge chairs, etc). We had a number of cruises pre-COVID and thought the Viking passengers were on the whole quiet well-behaved, courteous, and respectful. Our observations are that after COVID, this has definitely changed. Whether there is a new crowd of people now traveling on Viking, or whether just many have changed after COVID is hard to tell. What used to be inappropriate, now seems to be accepted. On the past couple cruises, for example, we noticed quite a number of people who now sit in the Explorer's Lounge and put their bare feet on the food/drink tables. Never saw that before. And there are other examples (such as more occurances of larger loud groups in the restaurants, wearing wet swim suits to lunch at the WC and to Wintergarden tea , an more). Curious if others have felt the same . . Here's a shot I took while sitting in the comfy chairs at Explorers Lounge near the piano of what is more and more typical. . . 🙂

Very similar to River. They upgraded the head set quality in the post-COVID times, which was good.

Might be disconcerting, but likely logical with the prices of everything going up by the month. There was a huge increase in general on excursion prices post-COVID versus pre-COVID. I can't imagine Viking would want to commit to pricing 1.5 years ahead of time. Unfortunate, but that's the world these days. Sort of like fixing a price for a Thanksgiving Turkey dinner now good for a year from now. 🙂 On the other hand, now that people are being allowed by governments to do their own thing (like independent tours) - that is likely a very good avenue for some reasonable excursions. There have been lots of discussions on that. I would encourage you to go look at the various Roll Calls of itineraries similar to yours, as well as your specific Roll Call, and do a forum search.

Clay - I only remember learning about it on our cruise earlier this year (from another passenger). Seems they had about 4 or 5 of them. However, they had all sold out within hours of boarding. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember the price at $99. So yes they sell out quickly amongst those in the know. 🙂

Lorna - that is what we found also at Mamsen's. No Smoked herring. Still great! Making me anxious to get back on board! You too?

Welcome home safely, Clay!

Yep - same as our cruise. Very pricey. But then again, maybe Viking is trying to gauge what the market will bear. It was indeed $99 before COVID. Perhaps it they are unsold, they will do it differently.

Anne - they are indeed good (the herring at Mamsens) ! Room Service: On days with early excursions we do room service breakfast - always a real treat! We avoid anything toasted though, as by the time you get it, it's a bit soggy. The fruit is heavenly and they make omelettes to your choice. They give you only 2 check boxes for the omelettes on the order form, but we always "write-in" the ingredients we want, and they do a great job! We avoid the sausages as well. World Cafe - The good standby - except on days with many early excursions, when it gets quite busy/hectic. We enjoy it on sea days - pleasant, quiet, and relaxing. Lots of variety. Eggs made to order. Fantastic fruit and for us, perfect oatmeal (i.e. NOT runny or soupy), plus that baguette bread! On Orion, Jupiter, and Venus, they had a separate window by the Aquavit Bar, where you could order any kind of eggs, plus other goodies! And you have to often ask, but each morning they make delicious smoothies with different fruits. Sometimes they will walk them around but not often. You can also order the smoothies for room service! The Restaurant - Will never do this for breakfast. Poor service, cold food, takes forever. Can get the same things at World Cafe. Mamsens - Love all the choices! And it is NEVER crowded. Seems to be the undiscovered place. Attirum Bar The Pistachio buns and coffee! (Note: Clay is the one who brought this to our attention!). Fast Breakfast We go to the Attirum and get a pistachio bun to go and put it in a ziploc bag. Or hit World Cafe and put scones or baguette breads into a bag.

Lorna - it has been on every Viking Ocean cruise we've been on (10) including the most recent one on the Viking Venus this summer.

I am so sorry for you. One of the great things about Cruise Critic is that this topic has been discussed at length on various threads and that is where I learned about the voucher-no value issue. As such, I use Steve at The Trip Insurance Store to buy insurance to cover the voucher portion of trips I have upcoming that have vouchers on them. Debating whether vouchers should have value or not is of little use. It is what it is, and at least most of us are aware of that now, after 2 years of COVID cancellations and vouchers. Everyone has to make their own decisions regarding vouchers. I'm so sorry you did not know this ahead of time - as you likely would have insured the extra portion of your cruise covered by vouchers.

It is offered on our Dec Panama Canal cruise. Mexican Kitchen Table. I think we'd be interested in ones in European cities when they finally are offered again. (especially Italy and Greece!)

It goes both ways with Viking (credits or not for missed ports) and I don't know how they determine that. Seems one of our experts posted a bit ago that missing a port doesn't really save Viking much at all (he had good reasoning and credibility). We skipped Antigua in the Caribbean on one cruise and no credits. We substituted Barcelona for Tarragona Spain in a straight swap. We substituted Casablanca for Gibraltar in a straight swap. We are skipping Key West on our Dec cruise and we are credited $150 pp. No Rhyme or Reason. Personally, even though sometimes disappointed, I have no problem with Viking as they obviously are not doing the changes to spite us or make us unhappy. I also like that the port fees are buried in the price. It is part of the "no Nickel and Diming" aspect that I enjoy vis a vis other lines.

Might be time for those people to switch to Azamara then. All lines have pluses and minuses and it’s up to individuals to decide if the minuses (like this inflexibility) outweigh the pluses.

CDNPolar - very well stated! (Obviously I agree with all you say).

We spent 5 days in Oslo in August after our Midnight Sun cruise, staying at the Thon Rosenkrantz. We loved the city so much and the people we met. This sign is totally not representative of anything we saw. You could probably look at any city in the USA and there would be some poster that is full of hate as well. I would take it with a grain of salt. Not relevant. The people in Norway were so gracious, friendly, helpful, and kind hearted - and this was in all the cruise ports as well. All it shows is Norway is like anywhere else - you have extremists who don't hesitate to express their views. I have learned to ignore the noise and go with the general overall flow of foreign cities and enjoy life!

Me neither! In fact, compared to most buffets I've been to (on other cruise ships and hotels, etc) it struck me how good the bacon serving was - just the right crispness for the most part!! I guess each to his own. On our cruises it certainly was a popular place for people to fill up so to speak! So I'd say the majority like it.

Agree, Linda. If there was a problem, better to contact the chef or restaurant manager. As for the bacon, maybe we were lucky or have different tastes. We found the bacon to be perfect for us. Yes there were some overcooked crumbly pieces (not many) and some undercooked (not many), but most were absolutely perfectly done. Had it every morning - with delight! As for toast, I often had the person behind the counter cut some of their bread into pieces that could be put in the rolling toaster - especially the fresh long baguettes. Good point though - they should have multigrain bread. Sometimes they had multigrain rolls, which I cut and toasted though. Food definitely is an individual taste! If Viking catered though to every person's specific preferences, there wouldn't be room to serve enough varieties of items and cooking temps. Also, if you do ask them, you can pretty much get anything done the way you want (for example, eggs cooked to order rather than dishing out of the pan).

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You are probably correct. It was crowded between 9 and 11 AM often and also 3-5 PM on sea days and 3-5 PM on excursion (port) days. And it varies as to demographics you are correct. These were observed on Panama Canal cruise and 2 cruises in/to Norway this year.

There is no restricted entry now to the spa area on the Ocean Ships. From our observation on several cruises this year, that has its pros and cons. Pros - you don't have to plan for it by making a reservation and be restricted to just that. Cons - sometimes we found there were so many people there, it wasn't fun. People tend to get loud in the spa (like they do in hot tubs) - the chaos and cacophony is not relaxing. Sometimes too there were not lockers available either due to the volume of people. There didn't seem to be a pattern on when they were busy. Some cruises the early morning was packed, others it was after lunch.

Thank you for your well-written review, and the add-on regarding entertainment. As you said, some things like food and entertainment, are definitely different preferences for different people. For us though - there is such a variety in those aspects, that we feel there is something for everyone. Thank you for highlighting the things that we like the best - the absolute top of the line service and attitude of the Viking Cruise staff, and the comfy feel of the ship, exemplified by the number of little spots you can explore and get away from it all and have some quiet time! Hoping you have a wonderful cruise next September!

Perhaps take 2 taxis? Or get a Uber with Van?