whitbob

We did this trip end of Aug 2022, and our train departure was closer to 9:30 arriving Bergen after 5pm. We overnighted in Bergen. There were several morning departures. From reading the roll calls for previous trips, it appeared that Viking doesn’t always book the same train/time. Other trains last summer and spring were earlier. We assumed they book closer to departure and take the train with the number of seats needed. We were already assigned seats when checking into the Viking Desk at the Hotel so we sat on the left side. We debated the views out both sides of the train, and the first few hours the views were better on the right, but felt the lakes and glacier to the left were excellent once out in the countryside. As was pointed out, if you are interested in photographing the trip, you can move to the luggage car.

We arrived at the Greenwich dock Between 2 and 3pm. This was mid Sept. The boat Moors in the river, rather than docking, so it is like a tender operation to get off of the boat. In our case, Viking tours were 4pm, and we assumed given they tender off with Large Thames river boats, we would be able to squeeze in, and be able to get to several museums in Greenwich and the market on our own before closing. We were not able to leave the ship until 5:30, and we politely pushed our way onto the last boat full of Viking tour guests. I believe the mooring process took longer than they expected, which delayed clearing the ships tours. The included Viking walking tours were also only sights outside of the municipal buildings, as they were closed. We had been to London And Greenwich numerous times and we spent two more days in the city, so we were not missing a bucket list chance to see London. We did provide feedback to Viking that advertising ALL Bergen to London BIE cruises as being able to see London was misleading. The only 2 options they offered for seeing much was the night tour of Tower of London or A clipper night cruise. This picture gives you idea about mooring, as you are still in the middle of the river. The white building is the dock.

Day. This was about 10:30 am and we were just entering the river. Dover isn’t that far but we seemed to coast along all night in the channel so the Trip up the Thames was part of the experience.

We did this trip August/Sept 2022. 1. The pre-cruise trip included a 4 hour tour on Day 2. We started with a guided bus tour driving past city sights: Fortress, Cathedral, up Karl Johans gate, past the palace, City Hall, Nobel Peace center. The first stop was Frogner Park for a guided walking tour of the Vigeland Sculpture garden. Next stop was the Maritime Museum, with a talk by ship builders, time to tour the museum, and enjoy the views of Oslo Harbour. The bus then returns to the hotel. About half of the folks asked to be dropped off near city center, so they could spend the afternoon touring independently. 2. Where are you porting in Edinburgh? We overnighted here because of a port cancellation of the Highlands, so we DOCKED in Rosyth, rather than anchoring closer to the city. Viking/Rosyth had shuttle buses to Dunfermline NOT Edinburgh. Guest relations had a typed out set of instructions explaining how to take the train from there into Edinburgh. If you end up in Rosyth they did have locals at the port to help with transportation. In addition to the shuttles, they could call you a taxi, and we noticed an occasional taxi would pull up hoping to pick up a fare, but it was not a true taxi stand with cars waiting. We took a taxi into Edinburgh to have more time in town rather than on shuttles and trains. 3. Dun Loaghaire is a tender port. Viking had shuttles running into Dublin. The tendering operation for Viking was very efficient and the Dart station an easy walk from the port. We had been to Dublin before so we skipped going into the city because of the time to travel back and forth (45 min plus waiting to board, etc) . Last summer BIE seemed to have a reduced number of excursions available at many of the ports, as compared to this summer, probably due to limited vendors available. We would book a Viking Excursion or private tour with port pick up if we were doing this again. 4. We did an afternoon tour in Dover, but they had free shuttles running into town. The castle is a 1/2 to 1 mile walk uphill from town. The shuttles were VERY busy. We attempted to go into town in the morning, but missed a shuttle, and waited for about 20 minutes before we gave up and went back to the ship for lunch outside and wonderful views of the cliffs. There were 3 ships in Dover that day, and the shuttles were dedicated to the separate cruise ships. It looked like they had more trips from the Disney ship which was much bigger than Viking. 5. We moored in Greenwich, so I cannot answer your question about Tilbury. Enjoy your trip.

Thank you RobInMN and Second seating for the quick responses. I will be checking out Radius Tours next as your tours look great. We will have 2 days, so we can spend one in Munich, and focus on a longer tour outside the city for the second day. We have been very impressed with AMA. This is our 4th cruise with them. AMAMagna looks to be a fine ship which we hope to try in the future. Enjoy your next cruise. Thanks again.

RobInMN, hello! We are booked on this cruise for May. We are also starting a few days early in Munich. We have been on Rhine and Danube river cruises, so we wanted to visit some different areas this time. A few questions if you do not mind. What did you do in Munich that was a must see? How did you get to Nuremberg? We are taking the train to Prague for the pre cruise tour, so I am interested in learning firsthand how easy the experience is to board and transfer trains. What was your opinion of the cruise? Any tours that you felt were better, or things that are not to miss on the cruise? Thank you in advance for your thoughts, Whitbob

We also took this train independently. There was a shuttle from the port into Dunedin. Locally run and as I recall, for a small fee. We booked the Seasider train in advance. Took a few hours to walk around Dunedin. There was a farmers market at the train station and the station is a must see. The interior is Royal Doulton tiles. The train ride passes the port And hugs the coast for a scenic ride. It turns around and stops at the port on the return, so you may exit there. It was an easy downhill walk back to the ship. We ended up missing the Speights Brewery doing this, but they sold the beer on the train, so we did get to taste it. Enjoy your trip.

In MVJ there is a Transfer Request Form under the Manage my Air link. As for cost it was $49. pp for a one way transfer. That happened to be LAX to port, so I am not sure if the amount changes based upon location. Our Travel agent handled the booking for us with Viking. As outlined by CDNpolar, Viking will tell you they limit the service to ONLY traveling at the same time (day of Embark/debark), so typically they would not be set up with busses and a team to transfer you when arriving another day. We did arrive in Oslo (independently) 2 days before our pre cruise excursion, and Viking had 5-6 people in the airport to help you to the busses. Had we booked with them, they would have transferred us, they said, however Viking local employees are known for bending over backwards to help you. I am not sure Viking corporate would have allowed the transfer if not on Viking Pre excursion. It might be worth checking. Good luck.

We haven’t been in Retreat on E class, but specifically chose retreat on Millie for Alaska in May. It was lovely. Not crowded, staff was there offering drinks. Plenty of places to curl up on a lounger with blankets and see the inside passage without standing behind 4 other people at the railing. We had lunch outside At The Retreat space twice. Never more than a few others around, so it was like a private hideaway. We did cruise Iceland on Silhouette, and managed to have dinner at Lawn Club Grill while sailing away. It wasn’t too windy or cold, as we have a favorable memory of sitting outside that night. Of course, all weather dependent. Enjoy your trip, Iceland/Ireland are amazing.

Oca, As others have replied, The Restaurant does not make reservations. We were on Mars in September, and had dinner there multiple times. The ship was close to full, around 900 pax, and we would arrive between 6:30 to 7:30, and never had to wait. There might have been 2-3 couples/groups waiting to check in, but they had multiple staff showing people to tables, so it was a few minutes to be seated. We were in a DV but were unable to secure advanced reservations through MVJ. We checked in at Manfredi’s and Chefs Table once on the ship, and made reservations for both for the nights we wanted to dine in each. Enjoy your vacation.

This is very good advice. If planning this cruise, I would not want to have an independent tour planned in Ullapool that is non-refundable. We were on the previous Mars BIE cruise, and skipped the port due to wind, and I believe the cruise sailing before ours also missed the port due to wind.

We did this excursion with Viking on August 30, last month, and were on the 10:25 train. We were probably on the ship by 5:30ish. It was before 6 pm. We had 3 groups spread across 3 train cars, so we had to walk off the train to the buses, for a quick ride to the port in Bergen. It was faster than we expected. I was expecting to take the earlier train but the train time wasn’t provided until we Checked into the hotel in Oslo, I must have made that assumption from reading something here on CC. Perhaps Viking books the train time based upon train capacity at the time they finalize the pre trips.

This is the pricing from Viking Mars, Sept 2022

The water dispenser is on the other side of the spa area we’re you enter from the women’s locker room. The white box and embedded filter thing is on the side of the room coming from the men’s locker.

We just finished a 15 day cruise on Viking Mars as a first time Viking customer. I would suggest you search here on CC for more posts about booking excursions and dining for information from experienced VOC cruisers. It was helpful for us. I stalked MVJ leading up to the timing on reservation bookings. At 2 am EST the day before they were due to open, I was able to book. We were in a DV2 and the earliest reservation for Manfredi’s was 8:30 on the 10th night, so I booked it, with no intention of eating that late. We went to the restaurant after boarding, and the reservation didn’t even exist. They booked us the next night, at 8pm but told us to show up when we wanted to dine. We did at 7:30 and were shown right in and seated at a window table. Same experience eating at Chefs Table and again at Manfreidi’s while onboard. The top excursion we wanted for the trip was sold out as well. Upon boarding, we wait listed with guest relations, has 2 tickets appeared on our bed the next day. I am assuming they limit all prebooked reservations to enable the guest relations and restaurant staff an opportunity to make things happen.

We just got off Mars. Ask Rico. He is the very nice man that was always around the inside spa area. He adjusted and maintained the grotto, steam room, etc. Swim suit spinners were inside the locker rooms, not the spa area.

We are on Mars now, and the Restaurant and World Cafe menus are listed through the the rest of the cruise. I didn’t pay that close attention to previous menus to say if they were accurate in the app to what was actually served. We dined in the restaurant tonight, the the current menu on the app looks like what was on the dining room menu.

We used the COR in May to embark from Vancouver. It was very efficient, but they did call someone (a title like medical document specialist?) over to our check in line to review our papers. She read/scanned the letter from the physician, touching the dates, signature, address, etc. Then asked for and reviewed the lab test, again looking for the key facts like date, lab provider, results. She then waited while the rep snapped a picture of both docs, into the hand held computers they used to check us in. She even checked to see that they were legible on the screen. In our case, we used the same physician group/hospital lab for the PCRs but the results were faxed to us directly. We had to email copies to our physician. Do you have access to the lab that handled your test? Is there a chance you can go directly to them for copies of the results? Going ahead with the with a proctored antigen test might be less stressful. We wanted to board using the COR, as we were going to be gone for two weeks, and were concerned about still testing positive on a PCR if by chance we were exposed on a tour and asked to test. Whatever you decide, enjoy your vacation.

GUC is a Global Upgrade Certificate. Delta gives them to Diamond Medallion (highest loyalty level) customers. Enables you to upgrade right when you purchase the ticket, but are restricted by class of ticket you purchase. Which is probably not going to work with the type up bulk fares Viking is using.

Liz, Thank you for sharing your experiences. We will be on the Oslo to Bergen extension next month. We have not been to Oslo, so we are coming in a few days early and are trying to plan our time in hopes of not duplicating what the Viking tour on Day 2 covers. You have been very helpful. Enjoy your trip.