CDNPolar

We know people that are waiting for ships bigger than they are now. They love these massive ships and don't even leave the ship at ports. They are there only for the ship and the waterslides and other activities.

Good for you and thank you.

I am just happy that one, we are not sun lovers, and two we don't sit by the pool. If I had to deal with the folks that drop their stuff and not return for hours, I think I would lose my #@#$@. I have sat in a section of a Viking ship that is just off the pool area. I have watched the loungers along the side of the ship that look out the windows "occupied" for hours without anyone actually sitting in these chairs. I don't understand the mentality of people who think that they own that chair even if they are not using it.

I have been on the big or bigger ships and my complaint is that it is hard to find peace and quiet anywhere. We cruise on adult only lines and that does not always mean quiet, but there are always quiet places. The ships we cruise on hold 930 guests but look as though there are built for 1200+ because there are always seats at the pool, the spa, the restaurants... Very calm atmosphere. I know that this not what everyone is looking for however.

It is personal taste. We like smaller (1000 guests) and more intimate surroundings. We are not on a cruise for waterslides, casinos, and parties.

For anyone that is not experienced using a drone, they typically return to the GPS location where they launched. If the ship is moving that position is very likely an open area of ocean and yes, it would end up in the ocean. We only used our drone once on a River ship. We had permission from the Captain, the cruise line, and the country we were in. We used it while onboard only once and that was on the Douro River while we were in a lock. We wanted the arial view. When we reached the top of the lock, but not yet sailing again, we did one "buzz" around the ship for a 360 view. Immediately after this we had a complaint that we were invading the privacy of the guests but what turned out to be the case is the person doing the complaining was smoking on her balcony and she thought that she had been exposed. Of course smoking is not allowed on the balcony.

Oh, I am with you on this... There seems to be a Hal Monitor on every cruise.

Please no offence intended in this correction, but the SSBP is a per night charge, not per day. Per night changes the cost as often "days" adds at least one extra to the count of the cost. If you are calculating whether the cost is worth it, then you should be counting the nights you are on the ship.

Oh, and the pricing? That is a real range... We have paid upwards of $350 pp for some excursions. Depends on what and where and how.... Most however seem to be in the $50-$150 range pp.

Our experience has always been very good with Viking excursions, both included and optional (paid). I cannot say that we have not had the occasional guide that was boring in the way that they presented, but at the same time I could not fault their overall knowledge shared. Some guides just have a more "fun" personality in the way that they deliver. We have on occasion done our own arranged excursions, but not often. If I were to take a wild guess, I would say that it is a very small percentage of Viking guests that do the DIY thing on excursions. We have signed up for an included excursion and walked out to 10 busses for that same excursion. There are quite a few on CC that speak about DIY but I would expect as an actual percentage that number is very low. Single digits.

Do we actually know how old this "teen" is? The reporting only states a "teen" returned to the ship. I guess I question if the teen is a minor, but even possibly in a separate cabin to the parents, would the ship draw a line between the teen onboard and the parents not being onboard if the teen was a minor? I think that this is a Reddit story that to my knowledge has not been verified by anyone credible yet. This could be and most probably is "click-bait" as it has been reported in Apple News for 2 or 3 days now by various sources and all of them claim Reddit as the source.

The SSBP. Talked about a lot. The included wines on a River Cruise are somewhat dependent on where you are in Europe. The ship will bring on some local wines for sure. There are some in the Viking cruise family that don't like the included wines. Here is our experience: They have one red and one white and one sparkling, usually a Prosecco, that they circulate with. The Prosecco you will have to ask for, they don't have it as they move table to table, just the red and white. If for instance the white is a Chardonnay and you do not like Chardonnay, ask if they have an alternate. For us they have always come back with something different. We have bought the SSBP and we have not. More over now we are not mostly because we are reducing our alcohol intake considerably. We have always been satisfied with the included wines when we have not purchased the SSBP. BUT, remember that anything that they have on the ship is available to you at a cost even if you don't buy the SSBP. So you can choose most all wines off the list at a very reasonable per glass cost, or by the bottle for some. Where the SSBP will come in is for your cocktails. No spirits are included with meals. If you are having one before and one after dinner that is going to be 4 cocktails at approximately $8 each or $32 per night. The SSBP is going to cost you $50 per night (not day). If you would rather wines that are on the extended list and you are going to have 2 glasses each of wine with lunch and or dinner, then you are going to make the SSBP pay for itself. You can buy the SSBP one or two days in, but I do not know if they will pro-rate it for you for the number of nights left. It would make sense that they would, but, I am not sure if they will. If you are on the fence, you are probably with your cocktails and the occasional glass of wine off the extended menu very close to the cost per night of the SSBP, I would say go for it to see what you think. You will likely break even. Also however remember that if a circulating included wine is not to taste, ask if they have another option. We have always found that they do.

Further to what @Canal archive said about Port, we are not huge Port fans, but we grew an appreciation for White Port when on this cruise. I have recently read that a new drink that it challenging the Aperol Spritz is a dry white port and tonic. In any case, we loved the visits to the Port wineries while on the Douro.

Well, whether true of false People and other news outlets have picked up the story and are adding to the viral nature of the whole situation. People does quote Reddit.

We did the Douro on Viking - Rivers of Gold. We loved it. Of 14 cruises we have done, the best cruise for us outside of The Nile and Antarctica was the Douro River.

Happy that you are seeing reductions in price and that you have that option to contact someone and get the reduction. The cruise line we sail, we tend to only see increases in cabin prices. If you are using a Travel Agent that is separate from the cruise line then they are getting a commission for your booking. This is part of their job to manage your booking, so if you want that price reduction, contact them and ask them to get it for you if they can.

We take a lot of included excursions with Viking. I have read many saying that these are no more than a drive around in a bus with someone talking and an occasional picture stop. Not our opinion or experience at all. We know that some excursions - optional - are overpriced compared to other tour companies direct, but in many cases I see a lot of the optionals as how I feel about "Swimming with the Dolphins" on a Caribbean cruise. To me swimming with anything is not about the culture and food of the city/country. I find many optionals as not offering value to me for the price quoted either through the cruise line or privately. We have rarely had any issue with an included tour, and mostly really enjoy them because we have someone educating us on the city/country that we are walking through. We have, but don't regularly book with outside tour companies just because it is easier to book through the cruise line. We don't want the hassle of finding a meeting place if they won't pick up at the cruise port, we don't want the hassle - and this has happened more than once - where the tour company cancels last minute.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. This is a very unfortunate situation for sure and I am sorry that you are losing money. Unfortunately the reality is that Hurtigruten does not have any obligation to you for this since you did not book through them. For future reference, please take this advice in the helpful way that it is intended. We never book hotels for any trip where we have to pay in advance and are not refundable. Our experience is that anything can happen at anytime and often things end up in the situation you are in. We book only hotels that can be paid at the hotel itself and generally have a cancellation of 24-48 hours prior to the booking - for any reason. In the off chance that we have to pay in advance, we ensure that we have selected a room that has a cancellation and full refund within a certain window of time. We have done this only recently with hotels for a post-cruise stay in Mumbai that we are booking on our own. We have no option but to pay in advance, but there is a full refund if we cancel 72 hours in advance of the booking check-in date. Again, sorry to hear about this and it is for sure an unfortunate situation because in our opinion, Hurtigruten are a very good cruise line and we very much enjoyed sailing Hurtigruten.

Many annual plans you can "top up" per trip if the max coverage does not cover all. We combine our annual, with credit card, and know that in some cases we would lose a bit but that is in most cases only in the final 60 days before travel. Before that with cruise line cancel penalties not being 100% we will make it out okay. We have three trips this year. To cover each individually I priced it to about $3,600.00 for the two of us. For the annual, we paid $1,300.00 for the two of us. We feel with this + the credit card, our risk is low to lose anything.

There can be reasons why one will be let in and another will not. One cabin may be waiting on delayed luggage and not have any other clothes. This would be noted on the cabin and hosts would not deny entry for that reason. We never know why one is let in and another is not. I would assume that shorts in the evening will depend on the style and type and would be an individual decision.

The silicone ones for me were a game changer.

Compared to Viking Ocean - I have never done Viking Expedition - the buffet breakfast and lunch is very comparable. Dinner only has three options per night and they are basic. You don't sail Hurtigruten for the food, you sail for the expedition and the experience. Viking food, in my opinion is much better and would be too on Viking Expedition ships. Consider also that on an expedition like this no matter what cruise line you go on, any food must be loaded at embarkation. There is not restock anywhere along the way. We noticed certain things start to disappear as the days went on probably because there was more demand than expected for certain items. There is only one main restaurant on Hurtigruten and one kind of small burger joint. There is a specialty restaurant for the Suite Guests. You can book that if not in a suite, but we did not see the value as it was extra money and appeared to be only a slightly elevated product. One person commented that there is nothing to do for children, especially during the Drake Passage. Hurtigruten had children's programs in the Science Centre at that time for those that were not sick in the cabin. You also want to be careful that you are not on a really large ship as they may not offer landings. Many larger ships sail through and around the Continent but don't do landings. I would however only suggest taking children if they were really either science or nature focused as there is really nothing else for them. If they are not going to get excited to see penguins up close or a whale cresting the surface, then this is not for them.

Ahhh....! That is great, but with the 14 fewer cabins and the 28 fewer people, if the lounge and dining areas are roughly the same dimensions, then there is just that much more room. I feel crowded on a Viking River cruise.

Also depending on the ages of the children, Hurtigruten had projects and seminars specifically for the kids in the Science Centre.

Your dress code question about black jeans is open for debate. There are those that I have read here on CC that have been turned away, but this seems to be ship and crew specific. I don't think that anyone can give you a answer that is 100% reliable. No offence, but your definition of "nice black jeans" is subjective to the person looking at them. Sometimes there is no dress code compliance in the dining room at night and other times people are asked to change or denied entry. This right from the Viking Ocean website: During the day, dress is casual including shorts (if the season is warm), slacks or jeans and comfortable shoes for walking tours. Swimsuits, swim shorts, cover-ups and exercise attire should be reserved for the Fitness Center, pool areas and Sports Deck. There are no “formal nights” in the evening; evening dress is “elegant casual” for all dining venues, performances and special events. On these occasions, required attire for ladies includes a dress, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse; for gentlemen, trousers and a collared shirt. A tie and jacket are optional; jeans are not permitted. The evening dress excludes World Café where the dress remains casual after 6:00 PM.