May B

When traveling with another couple, I get the other couple on speakerphone and we look, and book, together, each doing our own.

Then follow instructions above to be sure you are on the same bus, in post #5. As soon as you get together on embarkation day, compare tour tickets, to be sure you are booked at same times. 

28 minutes ago, ropomo said:

As referenced above, and to clarify, only EXPEDITION ships require reservations in the restaurant.

I agree, we can never say this too often, when the topic of dinners is discussed.

Before our Octantis in summer of 2022, I don’t think I had eaten more than one dinner at a buffet on a cruise ship, and that was b/c we wanted to go out to Tivoli Gardens after dinner. On Octantis, we dined twice in Manfredi’s, I think only twice in The Restaurant, and the other four at the World Cafe. After I got over the hurdle, I found, as do many Viking cruisers, that I could have a fine dinner at the World Cafe, and not feel deprived of good service.

We also on occasion get some cold seafood at the WC to go with our own private happy hour. Best location is by the pool! Second best, aft outside.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t tell you how much we enjoyed the fish at The Restaurant. Mr. B had halibut three times, snapper once and Chilean sea bass once. I had Dover sole and many other wonderful things.
 

We were extremely happy with our food, and the service, on the ship. Except the first night’s wait staff at The Restaurant. We avoided them, very easily, after that. Luckily the team we got on the second night was outstanding!

Don’t forget to check out the pool grill for lunch. Burgers made to order are great but also a wonderful ahi tuna grilled to order. And two versions of hot dogs. IYKYK. Also a salad bar similar to what’s offered at the World Cafe.

Bon voyage, jondfk!

Here’s one recent live thread. 

Call for pricing and availability. That’s the only way I know.

White night is an evening activity, in the Crystal Cove, actually in place of the evening activity.

Cruisers sometimes post menus, which of course are subject to change, although not very often. Cruisers have also posted photos and even video clips from white night. I’ll find a thread to post you a great link.

20 hours ago, historylivestoday said:

Hi All - This is Carol responding, because at this very moment Jay is onstage lecturing, and I figured this board entry needed an immediate response. We are still cruising, and for those times when we’re not at sea, Jay has just joined the faculty of Florida Gulf Coast University. He’ll do occasional guest lectures there, by popular demand. I’m kept busy just keeping his schedule up-to date. But my favorite activity these days is fostering kittens for the Humane Society of Naples. We miss our Crystal friends very much.

Carol, thank you for replying!

From 2015 when we first heard Jay, you lived in Naples, and perhaps even longer than that.

Enjoy the kitties when you get home!

Wow, Dwight. I’m sure you don’t need us to say, be careful! 
 

Thank you for the public venues report!

8 minutes ago, Critically Cruising said:

 

Sure seemed that way from the posts complaining about refunds.  

Perhaps looks can be deceiving. But I guess now I know who it is, without looking.

4 hours ago, seasack said:

Ok I figured I try to upload the reflections and the menu for the day. 
 

Let me know if it worked and if people still want to see them?

441FE4C8-CC2C-4AB5-A0E3-2E9848C674B3.pdf 67.34 kB · 33 downloads 71BE74FC-51C2-4F98-9393-AC6BC0CB1683.pdf 733.38 kB · 34 downloads

The part of ryndam will be played by seasack. This is wonderful, and I, for one, love you for it.

Mr B keeps saying, they have beef carpaccio every day. Of course he’s wrong. But yellow fin! That’s even better than octopus!

Another difficult choice for me for the main, but I’ll let Mr B have the cioppino and I’ll have the liver. Maybe I’ll special order the redfish on another night.

Bon voyage, seasack and Dwight et. al.

4 hours ago, History&Wine said:

Rough seas yesterday!  Still rough this morning.  We were told today would be better.  I am in one of the forward solo rooms.  I had to escape to the Cove to be able to focus on my iPad and write this.

 

Best wishes to those in California dealing with this weather.

 

Dwight

 

Dwght, thank you for this new thread. Glad you went to the Cove, lower and more midship, wise! And such a pleasant place to sit.

14 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

In Australia, you are prohibited from bringing food from the ship onto shore:

https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/can-you-bring-it-in/list-of-items#

 

In New Zealand, you must declare any food items, and in my experience you will likely lose them:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/personal/prohibited-and-restricted-items/agricultural-items/

 

Both countries take food imports very seriously - people trying to circumvent the rules are dealt with severely, as in high fines and sometimes detainment. Don't even think about it in those two spots ... 🍺🥌

When we disembarked in Auckland (end of a cruise), a dog and his handler found an apple in a person’s carry-on and confiscated it.

We don’t have a sad button we can use to agree with you, Rob. Thanks for the absolutely wonderful reporting. Safe travels home to you both!

Bon voyage, CruisePfan! 
 

My brother lives in Rowayton.

16 hours ago, ryndam said:

I have no issue naming names. He was Perry Grant. Ladies of a certain age loved him. Not so much anyone else. He’s gone bye-bye.

 

Rob

I beg your pardon! Rob!!! I cannot tell Mr B what you said about Perry, as Mr B is every bit as much a Perry fan as I am. I was surprised when Mr B happily assumed positions, and he thoroughly enjoyed the whole shtick. He continues to quote Perry to this day, several years after we’ve been in the Avenue, or any place else, with Perry.

Perry actually is a beautiful performer when he imparts sad news to us. Heartfelt and touching.

5 hours ago, Cruiserbunny199 said:

Is anyone familiar with this suite please and has any comments on noise from midship elevators or restricted view please?

 

many thanks.

Welcome to cruise critic!

My staterooms of choice are by the midship elevators. It’s as quiet as church and such a great location.

31 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I don't know that this indicates undersold, as much as a sales closing technique.  I have taught sales most of my career and we would always follow up someone who puts something on or in their shopping cart but does not complete the sale.

 

This is a personal touch instead of an email that you get from an online shopping site where you put something in the cart, but did not check out.  Then you get the email asking if you "forgot something"?

All true, but in post #7, Hanoi mentions the number of staterooms still available. I think in my mind I was answering that comment.

10 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Not sure that I completely understand, but I think you are asking this:

 

If you hold a booking and make a deposit TODAY, can you then cancel and book something new if in two days February offers come out and there is a better deal?

 

Yes, but in cancelling the booking you would lose the deposit based on the rules for cancelling.  And you may lose the cabin that you chose.

 

The other thing to do is if you book TODAY, and then February offers are cheaper, then you can call Viking and ask to modify your booking (keep the same booking number and deposit) and move to new dates with the new offer.

 

You may still have to in effect cancel and rebook, but we did this with a cruise that after paying the deposit, we saw sometime later that they offered same price cabin but with free air.

 

We had to call Viking but they forced us to modify the dates of our sailing to get the free air but we did not lose anything and we kept the same booking number.

 

So, in essence, yes you can do what you want to do... but it may be a hassle and you may also get different information from different Viking phone agents.

I think OP meant making a booking but not putting the deposit down until Feb. 1st will or won’t show a more favorable offer. 
 

3 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Perhaps it is undersold. I just received a call and an email from a Viking agent who noted I started to book on the website. He's not who we've dealt with before - I think the two agents we previously dealt with are no longer with Viking.

 

I still plan to have my TA handle all this.

That does sound undersold. 
 

I think you’re doing your best. It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Feb. 1st.

I have never been aware of a period of time prior to the travel date, only prior to the day trip insurance coverage is purchased.

The quote given by tool worker doesn’t include the one I’ve seen in other policies, something about, or which might have caused a reasonable person to seek medical care. 

12 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

 

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-plans-coverages/pre-existing-conditions/

 

pre-existing means "existing before purchasing the insurance". A new condition that develops between purchasing the insurance and traveling is normally covered. Also most insurance without the pre-existing waiver still only looks back for a specified period prior to purchasing the insurance, between 60 and 180 days depending upon the insurer. If during that window of time there are no medical treatments / medications for the condition, then your insurance will also normally cover such conditions if they flare up again.

 

But if you have an ongoing condition with continuing treatment (incl using medication), and the condition could flare up and prevent you from traveling, then you need the waiver which usually means buying insurance promptly after the FIRST travel payment you make.

 

I've been learning a lot about travel insurance in a very short amount of time. What a mess. 8-)

Controlled on medication is fine, I think; but changing your medication dose (even changing to a lower one) during the lookback period can be a trigger for the insurance to deny coverage. 
 

Mr B often says, the devil is in the details.

5 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

Actually the real OP had no concerns about trip insurance. LOL! This thread has gone off the track a little bit. They were upset about the price of their cruise dropping since they booked it awhile ago.

Oh! I wasn’t paying close attention, that’s for sure!

FYI, I believe at least one of the popular trip insurance companies has a policy that will cover pre-existing, if you purchase coverage at time of final payment. The one unknown is, in between making your $25 deposit and making your final payment, what if a new pre-existing condition happens to you?!

I believe the minimum you can cover is $500 pp. Sometimes I do that, at deposit time, and add the rest of the coverage later. I believe keeping the $500 pp coverage and not adding any more is kind of like self-insuring most of your trip costs, but having the benefit of the medical evacuation coverage, which I feel is a very important component, hardly ever needed but so nice to have, just in case. Also you have some travel delay and baggage protection.

For the scenario the OP was so concerned about, I’m glad there was a workable solution. 
 

Oops, thx, kctwinmommy, it wasn’t the OP!

1 hour ago, FoggyEthan said:

I had a chat with a Viking rep, and I just wanted to clarify one thing that I think was uncertain earlier: the single supplement is at the rate you originally booked. You are not repriced to current rates. But everything else is as stated.

 

I guess I just have to hope that my friend doesn't have any issues that force her to cancel. Because of the way travel insurance works, it would push me to choose to cancel my own cruise too, even if I'm already at the dock when I find out she's not coming. If I cancel because she can't make it, I get paid out a full refund via insurance. If I pay the single supplement and sail without her, I get nothing.

Your insurance will cover your cancellation FOR A COVERED REASON of your travel companion.

3 minutes ago, Roland4 said:

One of these things we as passengers/guests never think about when it is necessary to make major changes to an itinerary;

 

"Considerations such as adjusting ship provisions and the impact on containers in transit, adapting travel plans (including visas) for our dedicated crew members," 

 

I’m so pleased to see you single out this sentence. 

51 minutes ago, boatbob said:

Luggage forward picks up my luggage tomorrow - am excited!!  Board a week from Saturday - am dure that I have forgotten many things  - Nervous!😇

Bon voyage!

11 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

Mayb we have a new bridge instructor for our second cruise, her name is Brenda Montague.

Thx! Please tell her Muriel of Muriel and Phil fame says hello. We’ve played on a team with her at least once.

Plus, she was the bridge person on one Crystal we were on, also on Symphony (although I don’t recall the itinerary!).