Packman1000

Thank you all for the info. Viking told me no bar soap, even though we had some on our river cruise last year. And they didn't say the umbrellas were in the staterooms, which makes sense as I couldn't imagine 900 umbrellas at the departure door (where I found them on our river cruise). My DW liked the info about sandals. I think we're ready to go!

We sail in a week on our first Viking ocean cruise, though we have been on many other lines. I have tried to ask Viking customer service these questions but I wasn't too sure of the answers I got so I'll ask the experts here. 1. Is there bar soap in the bathrooms? I don't like the shower gel stuff so I need to know if I should pack some. 2. I know Viking has umbrellas on board, but do they have enough for every passenger? CS said they do, but 900 umbrellas is a lot! 3. I think I know the clothing rules for the evening dining rooms, but just the "no" stuff - no jeans, no bb hats, no shorts, no tee shirts. So is just a short sleeve collared shirt and long trousers acceptable? And are all the dining venues (except the WC) the same in the evening? Thanks for your help.

Great. I'm getting on the Neptune in 12 days. Hope they clean the ship thoroughly.

I wonder if leap year messes up there flight plan?😆

I'm not sure what "final documents" are, but when we took a selfie on the Viking app and uploaded it, we got an email with our boarding passes. We're almost 4 weeks out from our cruise. We got our luggage tags a couple of weeks ago in the mail. Should we be receiving something else?

I agree with Jim. Would like a nice Sea of Cotez and Mexico. Maybe a two week round trip from LA or San Diego.

Why would it be necessary, or beneficial, to transfer to a TA after booking? I'm still trying to decide if booking with a TA or directly with Viking is better. Seems like a TA would provide OBC where Viking doesn't. But would a TA give OBC after booking?

My DW and I will be on our first Viking ocean cruise in July. We did a Viking river cruise last summer and have done more than 30 ocean cruises, mostly on Princess but also HAL, Celebrity and RCL. Since Viking would be considered a premium line compared to our other ocean cruises (certainly a premium price), I am wondering what others think about why Viking can command that premium. I know from our river cruise that Viking on-board customer service is better. Though we are not foodies, we didn't think the food was 'that' much better than the others. Is it simply the smaller ships and better service that warrant the higher costs? I'm interested in your opinions and looking forward to our cruise in July to experience ourselves. Thanks.

Because it never cost extra in the past.

On Princess' website, it looks like they are charging extra ($300 pp on a 15 day Hawaii cruise) to select your own cabin as opposed to letting them select your cabin. Is this a new policy that Princess has added?

Very helpful! Thank you so much. We'll walk to Gastown and get tickets there (and cheesecake). We don't need to store bags as Vancouver is just a one day stop on out San Francisco r/t cruise.

We will be in Vancouver in early May. We'll be prepared for any rain, but just wanted to know if anyone had experience with buying the HOHO tickets at Canada Place.

I'm trying to decide on the purchase of HOHO tickets in Vancouver. Are the lines long to simply purchase tickets at Canada Place? I know I can buy them in advance but would rather wait until in port to see the weather.

Good points about Uber at this port, since it's not the end of the cruise.

We are a party of 4 adults arriving at pier 10 in Honolulu on a Monday. We need to get to Pearl Harbor in the morning, then we are going to Waikiki Beach, then back to pier 10 in the evening. I'm looking for advice on which type of transportation would work best for us - taxi, Uber, or The Bus. I estimated that a taxi on all three legs would be over $120 + tip, which isn't terrible but wanted to know about less expensive options. Does The Bus have an express version, or is it normal city bus with many stops? Is Uber readily available at each of our destinations (in the past we've found that getting an Uber shortly after the ship docks is difficult)? We can also use different transportation options for each leg of our trip if that would work better. Thanks for any advice.

We are in port from 8 to 5 in October. However, I am just looking for something to do in the range of 4 hours.

We are docking at Kahalui. I will look into Kanaha beach. I'll also try to search for tour vendors, but I have to admit that the search function on these boards is not very helpful. I'll keep trying. Thanks

Any ideas on what we can do in Maui for about a half day? Can we find a tour at the port that is reliable? Are there tour companies that would pick us up at the port and do an island tour? We don't want to do any ship excursion and also don't particularly want to rent a car. Are there any beaches that are close enough to walk to or a short taxi ride? Thanks