Virgo61

Thanks for the answers. In the future I will wait to book the plus package until just before sailing or better yet on board.

I recently booked a cruise that includes Princess Plus. I am about to book insurance (private not Princess) and am wondering about cancellation. Let's say I have to cancel the cruise the day before. Would Princess refund the cost of the Princess Plus and only keep the cruise portion or would I forfeit the entire amount even though the Plus only comes into account if you are actually on the cruise?

To each his own.

It seems our back to back on the Apex for 2/1 and 2/8 are not currently affected. I was surprised to notice that the OBC offered is double what we were offered when our Beyond 9/24 Mediterranean cruise was cancelled.

We ate in Blu for our last 2 cruises. The first one in July of 2022 was on the Constellation and the food was MEH. We ordered from the MDR several nights. Our second one was on the Silly in Jan/Feb and the food in Blu was fantastic. Our next cruises are also in Blu on the Beyond then Luminae on the Ascent then the MDRs on the Apex. I'll be happy not to be planning, cooking and cleaning up our food and hope for the best.

We had just decided on the shore excursions that we wanted for our September 2024 cruise. We booked them yesterday during the sale and paid $432 less for our 7 excursions, than the original prices we had written down. I checked my 2024 Caribbean and my 2025 BtoB Caribbean and neither were on sale.

I would not say that we don’t like Viking but I believe we see them through realistic eyes. When I say that this will be our last Viking cruise it’s mainly because I don’t think we will do any more River cruises. If we change our minds, I would probably book through them. As for ocean cruises, their product is very good except for the shore excursion booking process. There are mainstream lines that we like just as much as Viking so we are more likely to book there.

We too booked a cruise for October 2025 on Viking. Our final payment date is 12/23 so also 22 months in advance. Our TA was not able to get anywhere with them. The only reason we agreed was we had over $1800 in vouchers which were set to expire if we didn't use them somewhere. I'm on some of the Viking Groups on social media and I can't believe how these people defend every egregious policy that Viking has. I've been on 2 of their river cruises and 1 ocean cruise and this 2025 will definitely be my last.

We’re affected too. We were doing Italy, Greece and Turkey in September 2024 on the Beyond. Waiting to hear from my TA.

Congratulations on your significant academic achievements!

Our first Viking Ocean cruise was in 2022, so after they reopened, but I did hear one passenger complaining that she was going to cancel her upcoming cruises due to cutbacks from her previous to Covid cruises. I'm guessing she changed her mind but it proved to me that Viking 2022 was not the same as Viking 2018. But no cruise line is the same. Also a side note about some of Viking's more egregious policies. I was booking a river cruise for October of 2025 and was told that final payment was due in December of 2023, 22months in advance!

I have to say that in all of my Celebrity cruises I have never gone to an art auction nor have I been bothered by children. We generally travel when school is in session. And my husband and I both enjoy spending 30-60 minutes in the casino, so that was something we missed on Viking. Viking's spa was very nice. As for photos, you are hard pressed to find a photographer on Celebrity these days. I was less bothered by the simple entertainment on Viking than I thought I would be but we always travel with friends. Clay mentioned TA ship board credit and that should indeed cover gratuities on Viking as ours did but our TA gives us so much credit on Celebrity that it often covers the price of the excursions, especially if you're in a suite.

Viking includes a lot but not everything. You mentioned that you stay in Royal Suites on Celebrity therefore you have had free specialty dining, the same as Viking. On Celebrity you would have the premium beverage package, on Viking for their silver spirits package you would pay $25 per person per day. Beer, wine and soft drinks are free with meals but not outside of meals unless you have the drinks package. I believe their free WiFi is for 2 devices per person versus one on Celebrity. Finally, Viking does not include gratuities in their price. As others have mentioned the included excursions are fairly basic. If you book a Penthouse Verandah or above you should have little trouble booking optional excursions but Deluxe Verandas and the basic verandas are often out of luck. On our Trade Routes cruise, our optional excursions added about $1600. The Viking ships are lovely and the service is excellent but possibly no more so than Celebrity. Finally food is very subjective and like everywhere else may depend on the specific ship and itinerary. I had a few fairly poor meals on our cruise and some that were wonderful. As others have stated paying a year or more in advance is annoying. I would recommend that you try Viking and decide for yourself.

In the past I’ve called Celebrity and added $500 in SBC and that worked fine. This year I paid $500 toward a future cruise booking, and received $175 back. We were really lucky because I’m the primary on the account and my husband is an authorized user. He got the $1000 offer and we got $350 back on his card.

Can you detail what was different? We are thinking about booking a suite on the Beyond.

The reason I was asking is because we can book onboard from 1/30 on.

Any travel agents out there know if the current promo is really ending? If so what's next.

We did this excursion with Celebrity but it was several years ago. I remember it being a fun evening and certainly nice for anyone with a sweet tooth.

My husband won a "free cruise". When he enquired it was a choice of 2 sailings. One was Caribbean in hurricane season, other was west coast (we live on the east coast). Inside cabin. We declined.

We did the same cruise as our the author but at the end of May on the Viking Mars. This was our first Viking Ocean cruise. Our opinions are almost identical to yours. Our cabin steward also did not introduce herself. We were in a Penthouse veranda and we loved the cabin and felt that the storage was more than adequate (and I'm an over packer). My opinion of the food mirrors yours-some excellent, some OK, some poor. I was very disappointed in the breakfast offerings and the buffet at lunch. One day we went to the restaurant for lunch and our friend ordered something from the menu and received a version that was nowhere like the description. I also agree about the music offerings in the lounges. I was pleasantly surprised by the entertainment in the theater because on a Viking River cruise it is virtually non existent. We did enjoy a few lectures. As for the included excursions, most were so so. We spent $1700 on optional excursions and that did not include The Alhambra because it wasn't offered. We set up a private tour with Spain Day tours through our roll call and we ended up with 22 people. We were split into 2 groups of 10 and 12 for the actual tour, with a private guide. The end of the tour was Granada on your own where you could eat if you wanted to. It was about half of the price that Viking charges when they offer the tour. Bottom line value for price wasn't there for us and we are also one and done.

We waited until we were onboard to book. There were 2 menus available to us and we had a vote and picked the one with the ravioli and skirt steak? It was excellent except for the dessert (matcha tea something). Several of our group had the alternate dessert. Much better than I anticipated. We would do it again with the other menu.

My party of 6 ate at Le Petite Chef on the Constellation 3 weeks ago. We did book it on board.

According to Travel and Leisure, as of 6/1 Italy will no longer require any testing before entering. I also read this on some Schengen zone site, only that said as of June 15th.

Update:We tested at 10:45am on 5/24. Viking never asked for it. The only person to look at it was the American Airlines person who checked us in.

CTLeeA, I noticed that too. My husband says I’m over thinking things. The test is for Viking, not Spain so if they think it’s too old, they can test us again, which they will when we get to the boat.