WanderingBrit

This was our experience last summer also - that there simply were not seats available once onboard, unless one wished to dine on a large table or at 8:30pm. Changes in reality don't appear to have stopped the advice from being endlessly repeated.

You won't be able to learn until boarding, and even then they often have conflicting information. Once on board you can book to visit Chef's Table as often as they have availability, there are no limits.

Great to hear of your positive experience - my last renewal took 18 days expedited. When I recently renewed my UK passport it was back in Illinois in 11 days!

Consumer computing devices are indeed obsolete at 12 years of age. That's simply the reality of advances in hardware that require changes in software to exploit them - at some point it isn't viable to make everything backwards compatible.

Our experience with VV sold excursions was terrible, where the actual excursion simply did not match the description in key factual areas. In several dining venues the menus are so limited that you've basically tried everything with one visit - Pink Agave for example. The Galley got so busy we couldn't find anywhere to sit and lines at every serving station were so bad we just grabbed to-go boxes and ate in our cabin. In several areas service was just so-so. We sat a long time at The Dock and eventually had to flag a server down to place an order. Service at Richard's Rooftop was really a case oof going to the bar and ordering, as the servers seldom seemed to check in on us. Generally Virgin does what they do well, but what they do just wasn't for us. We're more about the destinations and less about the onboard party.

Precisely this is why the "early" payment in full date is irrelevant. We have bookings in 2025 and 2026, and I'll throw the dice and book something for 2028 once they're offered just to have a placeholder - at $50 for the two of us, why not?

Depending on where you're flying in to, and from, and how far the Port is from the airport, you might not have all that much time to kill.

There are lots of Youtube videos that will show you what it's like onboard. What do you value when cruising? If it's casinos, Broadway quality shows, and a photographer capturing you and the family on a waterslide, then Viking won't be for you 🙂

We had good internet connectivity on that cruise last year - as long as I used my VPN 🙂

Last year when sailing to The Faroe Islands, Jitter dropped from 60ms to 10ms, and Ping from 128ms to 60ms just by enabling my Internet VPN. I couldn't upload photos to Cruise Critic AT ALL unless my Internet VPN was engaged - timeouts, failed to post, etc. The issue isn't bandwidth so much as it's poor traffic management within Starlink's infrastructure before it gets to the Internet - at least that's my hypothesis!

Head to their respective websites and price comparable itineraries?

This is a question that is asked with some regularity, and I'd summarize the answers as: no one can predict whether you will be too warm, or too chilly, on any specific day, in any specific venue, of any specific ship. There is no across-the-board generalization such as "all areas of all Viking ships are cold" or "all areas of all Viking ships are stuffy".

We absolutely love the PV Stateroom, and actually enjoyed it more than an ES2 which seemed to have space where we didn't especially value it.

I think they're somewhat commoditized, so look for a good deal perhaps? I use Private Internet Access (PIA), but lots of Youtubers have offers for SurfShark

Edinburgh is our favorite city - we were married at the Royal Botanic Gardens. We too stayed in an AirBNB (back when that was easier in Edinburgh) on the Royal Mile - during Fringe! It was a wonderful type of functional chaos, and our VIP seats at The Tattoo were a milestone experience. I was surprised how busy Edinburgh was when we were just there at the end of May, perhaps that's thew new normal. On our Iceland/Norway cruise last year - significantly further North - I found Starlink worked fine when I had my Internet VPN service active, but was terrible otherwise. The problem wasn't so much bandwidth as it was packet latency, something to do with the way that Starlink handles IP address abstraction I suspect. CC was unusable until I flipped on my VPN, and then immediately everything was perfectly normal. I could upload many photographs on a post without any issue at all.

The advice to insist on a genuine licensed London Taxi also applies to Edinburgh, where The Knowledge is if anything even more demanding. You'll have acres of space in a purpose built taxi, driven by a licensed driver who is deeply knowledgeable about the area, generally for the same price as some rando in an Uber, and all managed and paid for through their app - that was our experience with City Cabs Edinburgh.

Bergen is a wonderfully easy and chill airport to navigate, and the Viking transfer service feels "white glove" all the way. They have buses leaving very early in the morning for flights earlier than yours. We flew Bergen - Copenhagen - Reykjavik - Chicago O'Hare last year and it was all easy, until we got to O'Hare|

It does not show on MVJ, but it will be on your Guest Statement/Invoice

We've booked Empires of The Mediterranean for 2025 in part because so many of the ports are "right in town"

I'll add my observations: As has been stated, the SOP when there are allergies or sensitivities is for the catering department to track you down each day and provide menus which you can review to understand which best meets your needs - and track you down they will! At Chef's Table there is a vegetarian option, but not a range of vegetarian options - and not options that you can customize. We found several aspects of food and service lacking on our last Viking Ocean cruise, and once we had brought it to the attention of the GM we were overwhelmed by the resulting attention. A full court press of Service Managers and Chef's to hear our feedback and promise better moving forward. In the World Cafe we were told to speak directly to anyone in a Chef's coat if we had a special request or concern. We had a vegetarian Indian meal scheduled and prepared just for us, and there was a "secret tub" of Rum & Raisin ice cream made for me and kept in the storage freezer at the Gelato station. While that ensured that service was excellent, and food was well prepared, it didn't change the fundamentally cautious nature of Viking offerings. Most things were well made, but few were exciting - unlike our recent experience on Virgin Voyages where we had multiple dishes, in multiple venues, that were exceptional.

It's really easy not to be subject to any variable interpretation of the "no jeans" rule, don't wear jeans.

"All inclusive" is certainly subjective, and Viking don't present themselves as a "luxury" cruise line. If it's not for you, it's not for you.

Yes, Yes, and Yes. Many included excursions will be a bus ride to local sights, with commentary by a guide and stops for photos or exploration. In some ports, especially where the ship is able to dock close to the historic center of town, there will be walking tours with a guide - and these are very much our preference. We have tried to focus on itineraries where, much like river cruising, the town around the port is the focus rather than a launch point to somewhere 3 hours away by bus.

Part of your struggle seems self-inflicted because you want only a carry on. Just check a full size bag and your problems are greatly reduced, plus you won't be struggling to find overhead space. On our last cruise we had two flights that were delayed pushing back because passengers stubbornly insisted that space be found for their carry-ons where none existed, before eventually accepting the inevitable and gate checking their bags.

All the staff who would be needed if it was a cargo rather than passenger vessel are employed by a 3rd party contracted by Viking, and only those staff associated with the passenger operations are Viking employees.