SempreMare

After disembarkation in Bergen, I'll go directly to Bergen Train Station for the Bergen to Oslo trip.

(not on an extension; on my own)

At 7:00am ish on a Monday, should I arrange for a taxi to Bergen train station in advance? 

Another vote for Major Marine - 

I researched it thoroughly before a 2020 planned Alaska trip and had decided on them for 2020 trip which never happened.

 One local kayak guide I’m still friends with from a 2019 trip vouched for them as having the best safety practices, conservative Go-NoGo decisions, and boat maintenance.  All very important in Alaska.

My personal Go-NoGo decision was

If the resurrection bay waves were > (what was it…) 7 feet?  Or 5 feet, I’d stay on land and go to the Seward aquarium

Can’t recall the website, but there’s a site you can check that morning

3 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

You can download specific city maps from Google Maps onto your phone, and then use them without using any data. I always do that for each port before we leave. First I research each port and use the Starred Places feature to mark restaurants and sights I might want to visit in the location. ( I just might do more research than the average person, but it helps the pass the time between cruises!)

I do same.

Yellow Stars for places to check out.

Green Flags for restaurants to check out.  

Red Hearts after I visit a place whether I like it or not, to remind myself of the itinerary by glancing at the map.

If I’m confident I’ll visit a place/ restaurant, I’ll take an extra 30 sec to add a custom label with the Open - Close times. 

On 3/11/2023 at 11:24 AM, amtatom said:

re: the Viking on-board app

" My biggest peeve was that dining times were not listed. If you can change the menu daily, why not the times? Why could I book a restaurant reservation but not a craft class reservation? Why could I book a shore excursion but not cancel one? One could only do these things by going down to the desk on Deck 1, which was always crowded. If Viking wants to attract younger guests, they need to update their technology."

Hallelujah and amen! 

I've written about this before here;  it's gotta be a felt friction point of almost all Viking cruisers. If my head is looking at 1 screen of details, don't make me find a different screen or physical location to find such closely related info.

What I literally thought was 

"Viking's IT team is asleep at the wheel.  

The other back office teams are doing all the heavy lifting in creating a great experience.  This is so obvious a need." 

On 3/7/2023 at 6:36 PM, oskidunker said:

Looks like mostly pate

Looks like Duxelles to me 

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

I believe their hours are 6am until midnight 

Would that make the deck 1 Living Room Bar the one that is open the most # of hours each day? 

Some are calling this good coffee spot "The Viking Bar" ?   Or is that a bar on a different floor? 

So many bars, so little time.

4 hours ago, Vagabond51 said:

If not for GOOD hot coffee and hot showers, I would seize up like an old engine. Thank you for the heads up on where to find it.

I loved the hot showers delivered with strong water pressure on the Viking Mars.  

Looks like you will be set.

Thank you for the living room, bar deck 1, coffee tip @Peregrina651

Would you happen to know what time they open and close?

20 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

You can always order dessert from room service.

You are saying that I could order, via room service, a dessert being served in The Restaurant ? 

I saw a dessert on The Preisman's fabulous website  that I would love to try.  However, for dinner, I would still prefer nibbling trying different main courses at World Cafe for dinner.

Is it possible to get a dessert to go from The Restaurant? 

ex: if I didn't eat the meal there, but spontaneously stopped by for one of the Restaurant desserts to go.

Edit:  Asking for a friend 😇 .

6 hours ago, flare3192 said:

I do purchase trip insurance but I do not always cover the total cost of the trip. 

That does not trigger some kind of ... rejection on covered expenses? 

Somehow I had the impression it was all or nothing, but you are probably right.

3 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

One more thing to add to this list, at least for Canadian coverage - if the brand of your medication changes, it can trigger a lack of "stability". 

 

Some years ago, there was a shortage of my normal BP medication, and the pharmacy was forced to fill it from another manufacturer. No change to the drug or dosage. When I checked with my insurer, they advised that because it was a different DIN number and not a "generic" substitution, it violated the stability rules.🥌

Oh for heaven's sake.

I guess there's a reason why the tallest building in a lot of cities are owned by insurance companies.

3 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

I found an insurer that sold full pre-existing coverage policies.🍺🥌

Please tell me it's Travel Insured, my current policy holder.

On 3/2/2023 at 5:57 AM, CDNPolar said:

Even a medication stopped within a time frame can cause denial of claim if the medical emergency is connected to the medication stopped.

!!   

Didn't know that.

Just so they know there's at least 1 person in addition to Clay who wants to experience the pistachio rolls :-).   Now n = 2 (n as in data points)

Tellus@vikingcruises.com

Dear Viking, 

Just to torture the addicted: 

https://www.thecabindiary.com/pistachio-cinnamon-rolls/

11 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Clay - we will do the same when we board Saturn June 7, re: pistachio rolls!

in response to

Clay >> I hope anyone who likes them or wants to try them will ask about them and request them from the Restaurant Manager and the Executive Chef.    

This is my plan when we board Saturn in July if they aren’t in the case waiting on me.

OK. The People Have Spoken.    

I just had a vision of all these bright happy faces picketing the outside of Viking Ocean headquarters with Placards that read, "Pistachio Rolls, a must!"   "Pistachio Rolls, or bust!" 

Sometimes, it really is the little things.  

@Heidi13  Do you have a god-level connection within the Viking C-suite we could send a Pistachio Roll petition to? 

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

But what's the beep?? 

Turning ON the bathroom light would trigger a loud beep.  My impression from the room steward via the maintenance people was it was normal / nothing could be done.

My best guess was Viking included it as a warning of the small step UP to get into the bathroom. 

But the good news for me from this thread:

It sounds like I will not have to deal with this loud beep on the Viking Jupiter when I turn on the bathroom light.  Yay! 

5 hours ago, Tallok2016 said:

Viking Ocean has a Nordic Bath technique with hot and cold, hard to describe, but works wonders for aches and pains and general arthritis. (Small heated pool, Ice room similar to cryotherapy use, and a water pail suspended from ceiling.)  Super after long trekking and walk. 

Your post reminded me - on the Viking Mars British Isles Explorer 15 day cruise, they twice offered a class focused on that in the evenigns.  Does anyone remember if Nordic Bath technique was the actual name of the class?    I want to remember to sign up for that. 

45 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 If it’s a document on your iPad, email it to yourself then log in from the ship’s computer.

Thanks for the answers everyone.

Challenge is I can't email a company-confidential doc to my personal email.  

Is it possible to print from my iPad directly to a Deck 1 printer without logging on via one of the nearby desktops? 

i.e., Does anyone know if those printers support Airplay?  Has anyone actually done this?   

On the Viking Mars, I saw the desktops, keyboards, and I believe a couple(?) printers in that area near Guest Services.

In case this is ship dependent, I will be on the Viking Jupiter in May for Viking Homelands, Stockholm to Bergen.  

On 8/27/2018 at 1:01 PM, Jim Avery said:

 On Viking room service was also always on time and nicely done. We sat at a low coffee table, not a full table on VS. This could easily be solved by putting a Hi-Lo table for the coffee table. Viking also has a good room service menu and allows ordering from the MDR or Manfredi's during their operating hours.

2 new-to-me things you mentioned here Jim:  

1) What is this Hi-Lo table?  You could request  a "Hi-Lo table" to replace your stateroom's coffee table? 

2) I could order to my stateroom from the MDR or Manfredi's 

when they are open?  Really? 

6 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Thread drift of the highest order....

Word.

On MyVikingJourney, when clicking on the Calendar tile,

is the Day 1 shown always Embarkation Day? 

4 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I believe that only happens once you have excursions booked. Right now, MVJ does not show the arrival / departure times on the day-by-day for me (ShoreEx not open yet).

 

Good that it at least does this, but I agree that it would be much more helpful when considering and booking ShoreEx. 🍺🥌

Exactly - When booking excursions I kept having to flip back and forth between screens, after remembering where to find my latest and greatest statement PDF to see the port times.  (And remembering - Did I already save the latest statement locally?  Should I look in email?  Which email*?  Etc)

I wish MyVikingJourney would show an "Anchor" picture with the words "Tender Port" at the top of the calendar page for a tender port.

-----

Re: Which email?

* for some reason, my personal gmail that I use for everything filters OUT Viking's emails with PDFs attached. I get a million other emails but not that one.  

29 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

Have you tried not using the "bathroom"?

?