Gnoelj

We are on the Star now and thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Tonight was the Captain's Reception at the theatre. We're not going to Trapani as originally planned but Palermo. Thrilled at this change of fortune! Captain Eric did a great job in explaining why the change of plans (high winds) so we are satisfied and happy that they pulled together new excursions for us on the PDQ.

 

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You won't miss anything by not going to Trapani. We were on the Viking Star about 2 weeks ago. Trapani looked like some kind of a "backwater" town. It is certainly not as interesting as Catania nor Taormina. We would have preferred to go to Palermo rather than Trapani if we had a choice.

Doing 2 weeks Barcelona to Barcelona booked as 2 separate cruises because when we booked they hadn't started offering the two-week combined itinerary.

Glad you are on board. You were one of the first people who help with my queries before my first cruise on Viking.

D'you know something, a lot of things I read in the comments from members on CruiseCritic before my cruise seem to be true. Initially, I had thought they were not right, but they are.

It is time to start a thread dedicated to Viking's cruises in the Western Med--tips on the ports, comments on the shorex, etc.

 

Hopefully, many people will join the conversation, asking questions, answering questions, commenting on the various tours that are offered.

Hi

Did you board the cruise in Barcelona on 28th Dec.? Had thought you going to board the Viking Star at Civitavecchia on Jan 4th.

My travelling partner, went to listen to some tunes playedby the house pianist (on the Viking Star) the evening before last . After the pianist finished playing, my friend saw him speak to some otherpassengers, and then he gave them a CD .He then chatted to my friend, and heshook his hand and gave him a CD also as he had done to the other couple. My companion did not really want it but he was too polite to say “no” especially whenhe thought it was a gift and it would be rude to refuse. A few moments later, however, the pianist said, "The price is 35 euros, but there's no hurry, you can pay melater"- or words to that effect.

My companion was embarrassed and felt he was being takenadvantage of , but he was unsure what to do. When he discussed it with me, Isuggested that he just hand the CD to the receptionist at the Explorer’sDesk to give it back to the pianist. Hedid that the following day. The receptionist expressed concern and took the CD,and she said she would deal with the matter.

We are mentioning this in case any other passenger(s) comeacross something like this in the future on any cruise ship and would not knowwhat to do.

For those taking the later sailings of this itinerary: the included Naples tour would be much better if you buy a copy of Rick Steves Italy and follow his Naples walking tour after they leave you off. It will also let you prioritize the sights in Rome to better plan your day there.

Thanks for the information.

By the way, are you the MODERATOR FOR THIS VIKING thread? There is an earlier Viking thread related to this one which I started. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2574444

When that thread was put on, only the Viking Star Dec 21st cruise was affected (stopovers in Tunisia and Algeria cancelled). However, since then , at least 2 other Viking Cruises (Jan 4th and Jan 18th) are affected. Could you please change the title to something more appropriate to the current situation? If you could, that would be appreciated. Perhaps, it could be amended to FLASH NEWS! VIKING STAR DEC & JAN CRUISES - STOPOVER IN TUNIS (LA GOULETTE) & ALGIERS CANCELLED. Thank you.

Thanks Gnoelj.

 

Go to post #1 in the thread (your original post). In the top right hand corner of the post, right next to the post number, there is a small blue triangle with an exclamation point. Click that, and it will bring up another window for you to type in a short message to the moderator.

 

As for posting pictures, unfortunately I am not an expert. I have read that you need to have your picture stored on a third party hosting site, such as Flickr, and then link to that in your post here on CC. Perhaps someone else with more experience will comment further.

Isn't that (clicking the small blue triangle with exclamation mark) just to report something the reader finds to be offensive and wanted that message to be deleted, rather than changing the Thread Heading?

Gnoelj, first of all, thank you for alerting us all about these changes.

 

This is our first VO cruise, and after reading all the glowing reports about this line, I am dumbfounded at the manner in which they are handling this situation.

 

Gnoelj, a favor. Would you consider asking the moderators to amend the title of this thread so that it refers to "multiple sailings" rather than just the December 21st sailing? Guests on the other sailings are trying to get information on these changes where ever they can. There is current information on some of the roll calls, but some of the roll call participants are not keen for others to be carrying on discussions on their RC thread if one is not sailing on that particular cruise. If you are willing to do this, hit the blue triangle icon on your first post, and ask the moderator to make the change. Thanks!

Hi

I would be pleased to do that but how do I do that? I am afraid I am not so savvy on this board, but if you can tell me how I can contact the moderator, I would do so .(And if the moderator is reading this, perhaps , he or she will do it.).

Actually, I would also be interested to find out how to upload pictures on the board.

Sorry but I have to defend my former profession - former because I’m retired. The webmaster is the person in charge of the server - a technician. The web developer is in charge of the back end programming that controls the function and operation, and sometimes the appearance of the front end - though that is usually done by a web designer/front end coder.

 

None of these people are responsible for content - correct or incorrect. That’s the responsibility of others, except in the case of a tiny one person operation - which I’m sure Viking isn’t.

 

Please don’t malign them [emoji22] - they get beat up enough by management [emoji15][emoji12]

 

 

 

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Well, someone in Viking should be responsible for the webpages.

Whether it is the webmaster, the web "developer" or whoever, I am not in the web design business, so I cannot differentiate the different people in the team, I only used the term "webmaster" generally meaning those responsible for the website.

Even if the person who did not upkeep the content in the Viking website is not within Viking, he or she is still employed by or paid by Viking, and so it is up to the webpage manager within Viking that he or she is doing his/her job.

Just trying to excuse someone saying "Oh, it is not me, but someone else's" or worse indicating web professionals are "getting beaten up" not the right way to approach it. The better way is for them to see how they can work together to improve the standard of the web page.

Are you suggesting that if there is some area within Viking like the issues in the webiste which could be improved, we should keep quiet about it and pretend everything is alright?

It is hoped that Viking management, if they read this, will take it as a constructive criticism, so that these issues can be corrected (and they can be, it is not rocket science).

I like Oceania and Viking equally and hope to cruise on both lines again. I like that all ships are smaller than the RCL, HAL, etc etc lines. I would wish all lines that want to expand would do it on smaller ships rather than larger ones. OTOH, many popular ports in Europe in particular in the summer have too many ships in port already on ocean cruises. The river cruises are worse on all lines on these popular itineraries. Even though I love the Marina, I hated the Baltic Cruise in summer when every port even St Petersberg had multiple ships in port and too many people touring for comfort. Too many people enjoy cruising and enjoy the same itineraries so we get more and more ships and not many different itineraries.

 

I do want to say a couple things about the negatives on Viking. We took our first Viking River cruise in 2007 (China, their best) and paid only 90 days in advance (maybe we booked late). Ever after on both their river and ocean cruises, we just tell them we will only pay the balance 90 days in advance and it usually works.

 

I also was surprised at the statement that they cannot accommodate disabled passengers since that would put many off disabled or not. I looked up the policy just now. They are not encouraging but what they say is that wheel chair cruisers might have problems using the elevators and going on their walking tours over cobbled streets. They do prohibit those motorized vehicles on international itineraries for some reason but do allow seeing eye and therapy dogs. I do not remember if there were disabled people on our ocean cruise but I have seen them on river cruises. Even after an announcement that we would have to climb a steep icy hill on a Seine stop, one passenger insisted on coming with the aid of two canes. He was not stopped. If not encouraging, they were not mean. Of course, this was a liability issue and Oceania also does not like to see cruisers fall in any way while touring or have trouble moving about the boat. I was surprised kitty9 above was spoken to so rudely by Viking and hope she complained. I did not see an emphasis on "active lifestyle" on my cruise unless that means negotiating the cobblestone streets.

Dear @tvmovielover, reading the comments here, some on the Oceania thread gave me the impression that they are quite biased against Viking, perhaps even edging towards the point of dislike or dare I say, uh, almost "hatred"???!!! However, if you compare them with comments on the Viking thread, most, if not all, seem to be like yourself , they like both Oceania and Viking, and they are quite happy to cruise with both cruise lines. They have good words for the two rival companies and seldom favour one cruise line over the other. In fact, it appears quite a number of Viking cruisers are also Oceania cruisers. Interesting, isn't it?

Deleted

I'm in the UK, sailing from Rome tomorrow.

 

Regarding gratuities...

 

If you book direct with Viking or an agency and aren't getting any free extras you will have to pay gratuities, both the general gratuities and the bar gratuities, they are not included in the cost of the cruise.

 

 

If your travel agent is offering free incentives you may not need to pay them. My agent is offering free gratuities, free Silver Spirit package and some free on board spend (not a lot). Flights are included in the cost of the cruise. You need to shop around agents for the best deal.

 

See you all tomorrow.

 

PS It's actually warmer in the UK today than in Rome - hope it improves.

 

Lorna

Thanks for the information but we knew that when we confirmed with our travel agent.

Our point is, the website has lots of room for improvement, and it does not live up to "Viking's High Standards". The information on the Viking website did not always correlate with what Viking telephone customer service or our travel agent told us.

For example in the FAQ, it gave the impression that we have may have to get visas for the visit to Algeria, but it did not say usually Viking would arrange their excursions to include visa for its guests.

And then, on gratuities in the FAQ, it gave the impression that gratuities are not included for all guests. It did not mention that in certain markets, gratuities are frequently included in the fares for guests.

So when we read the information on the FAQ, it really confused us.

Or sometimes, the website was slow to catch up with current updates and news.

And then, with the news on the current amendment to the cruise itinerary which finally came up several days after we have got the news from Viking telephone customer service or via our travel agent, which you will probably see in your MVJ page (as you are on the Dec 21st cruise), it was dated as January 1, 0001 ! Did the webmaster not know that we are in December 2017?

So, the website might look "glossy", but if you scratch the glossiness a bit, you would find there are so many glaring issues it made us wonder who is the webmaster doing that . Just what is he playing at, does he/she not check his own work? That is the Viking website, not a website for some company from a Banana Republic.

This is one of those times when I want an e-mail or a phone call letting me know of the change. Once I have booked my dinner reservations, I really have no reasons to log in to MVJ and had that been Viking's way of notifying us of major changes to our itinerary, I would not have found out until we boarded.

Did Viking not send you an email, or phone you either directly or asked the travel agent to contact you about the change?

The Viking website is one of the things that does not live up to the high expectations we have of Viking. It gives "mixed messages" and slow in keeping up-to-date with the news. I remember having issues with the website giving information about visas in Algeria and about gratuities in their FAQ. And now this. I am certainly NOT IMPRESSED with VIking Ocean's website. It might look up-market, but the lack of attention to detail and slow in updating information lets it down.

I just tried your link but it took me to my own MVJ homepage, where there is as of yet no mention of the change of itinerary.

Really? Looks like the webmaster is a bit slow in catching up with current situations.

I only noticed to see the news today. I did not remember seeing it before on MVJ, it must be recently added. In fact, I was looking for it several days ago but it did not seem to show up then.

Just saw the "news" after logging into MyVikingJourney about the cancelled stops and the amended itinerary

. https://www.myvikingjourney.com/latestnews

However, the news was dated as:

January 1, 0001

Isn't 0001 A.D. just about 2017 years behind time???? LOL.

The webmaster should really be more careful what he put. It would help if he could check or proof read what he wrote before uploading it on the web. As mentioned before, there was other information on the Viking website which was confusing. This is not the first time.

My personal wish list would be a Western Mediterranean itinerary to include: Catania, Sicily (for Taormina) ,Trapani, Sicily ( for Erice), and Valetta, Malta. Also, Palma de Mallorca. I am open to suggestions on how to fill in the trip. I wouldn't mind a stop in Naples (to see Pompeii), so maybe start in Rome? Would like to get back to Valencia, so maybe end in Barcelona?

 

How about Rome to Naples to Catania to Trapani to Palma de Mallorca to Valencia to Barcelona? Perhaps my ideal trip should be ten days long.Can anyone help finish my plan?

 

Does anyone wish to share their imaginary dream Viking cruise?

 

Viking, are you listening? Any hints about what might be on the drawing board?

Actually, when the Viking Star 21st December cruise on the Southern Med recently cancelled its stops in Algiers and Tunis (La Goulette), its amended schedule is very close to your ideal cruise:

VIKING STAR 21st DEC 2017 ORIGINAL ROUTE;

Rome/Civitavecchia-->Trapani --->Port Goulette (Tunis)---->Cagliari---->Algiers ----> Valencia ---> Barcelona.

VIKING STAR 21st DEC 2017 AMENDED ROUTING

Rome/Civitavecchia-->Naples --->Trapani --->Cagliari---> Palma de Mallorca ---> Valencia ---> Barcelona. The only stop it is missing compared to your "wished for" idea cruise route is Catania, and granted, this cruise is only 7 nights long, not 10 nights.

But still, isn't the similarity just curious????!!!!

For us, we would like Viking to have a cruise from US West Coast to Hawaii , visiting a couple of US cities/ports as well as the main stops in the Hawaiian islands.

San Francisco (overnight)---> Nawiliwili---> Honolulu (overnight)--->Lahaina---->Kona----> Hilo---> Seattle---> Portland---> San Francisco

You raise valid points but as to your comment about Oceania the one difference is that Oceania ships come in two sizes the 4 "R" ships (their refurbished ships from other lines which we really don't care for while other Oceania cruisers adore them) and the two "O" class ships which were built specifically to Oceania's standards (which we adore as their passenger capacity is just a little larger than the Viking design).

Yes, we are aware of Oceania having two types of ships, the "R" class (Gross Tonnage of 30,277 each ) which they have four of them, and the "O" class (Gross Tonnage 66,084 each), which they have two.

If comparing in terms of gross tonnage, when Viking Ocean have 10 of their ships (Gross Tonnage of 47,000 each), their total gross tonnage will be 470,000.....compared to Oceania Cruise's total GT of 253,276 ....or thereabouts. So, Viking will be a "larger" fleet in terms of GT (470,000 vs 253,276) and also even in terms of the number of ships in its fleet (10 vs 6) by 20203.

Of course, Oceania might even have its own plans for more fleet expansion by then? Who knows? Time will tell.

Like yourselves, on Oceania , we also prefer the "O" class ships to the smaller "R" class ships, but even the "O" ships can get a bit crowded eg on disembarkation days! No doubt about it, Oceania is a good cruise line, but the trouble with it is, from our view, most of their senior officers and their GMs seem to be so "cold" and ignore passengers eventhough their junior staff are usually nice and friendly (although they - the junior staff - sometimes seemed to look a bit strained/tired by working so hard and having to follow Oceania's strict(?) rules). Some guests do not care , but for us, friendly senior staff and a more relaxed environment (for staff too) does improve and affect the ambiance of the ship.

We have yet to go on Viking but we are booked to cruise with them, so, the jury's still out as far as we are concerned on how good Viking is compared to Oceania. We believe we read others comment that staff on Viking tend to be more relaxed (in a nice way) and the staff have more freedom to solve issues, if that's the case, that would help cruisers feel more relaxed too - it certainly would for us!

I, too, prefer keeping the ships the same. I agree with Peregrina's entire post

If the ships are well-designed, we feel perhaps the majority views here are correct in that it would be preferable to keep them the same.

However, what is more of concern to cruisers like us is, with all these relatively huge expansion, will Viking be able to maintain its standards (or even raise that further) and NOT let that drop? After all, Viking Ocean started with only ONE ship, and by 2023, it will have TEN ships. That's quite fast growth for a period of only about 8 years. (See https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/viking-ocean-cruises-orders-four-more-cruise-ships ) . It would probably become even larger in fleet size than its keenest rival Oceania Cruises, which have 6 ships (and no new orders to date, as far as we are aware).

The other concern for the company is that the possibility of a "glut" in this part of the luxury cruise market. Remember, Viking is not the only cruise line in this market. It might take time for the market to absorb the greater increase in capacity. If there is a glut, in the short term, it would actually be beneficial for customers because fares might be pressured to come down, but it might mean the profits for the company could do so as well . This could in turn lead to cut-backs and fall in service quality, and that would not be good for cruisers. And Viking cruisers might "defect" to other cruise lines because of that. So, Viking Ocean Cruises have to be very careful in its expansion.

Seems like interesting times ahead.

There are a couple of reasons why Viking would make changes at the last minute and they usually have to do with the health and safety of the passengers.

Dear Peregrina651, we see from the Viking Star roll call you are joining the ship in Barcelona on December 28, and taking the B2B cruise, returning back to Barcelona two weeks later.

That means, you are scheduled to visit Tunis and Algiers, two weeks after our cancelled scheduled stops at these two cities.

You might like to check with Viking to see what the situation is for your Southern Med part of the cruise . As you are probably one of the most informative (and helpful) Viking cruisers on CruiseCritic, no doubt you would know exactly what to do. ( If you don't , no one else would ! )

Hopefully, you will have more luck than we have and your stopovers at these two places will not be cancelled, they will turn out to be enjoyable visits.

Gnoeij,

LOL, we must have different first pages on our MVJ.

Anyone for the UK have a different front page?

 

After I enter the site with my password, this is what I see on the front page of MY Viking Journey:

Menu(upper left had corner) My Calendar News Shopping Cart Welcome Patricia ( with arrow)

You are probably right, we must have different first pages on our MVJ.

However, on the top bar on top of the main Viking Ocean

homepage (for UK) and if you click the "Why Viking" header, there is a drop down menu with "News" on it.

OR Just follow this link:

https://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/why-viking/news/index.html ,

We clicked "News" but the latest "news" was September 2nd, 2017, and not December 15th, 2017. And nothing mentioned about the cancellation of the two stops for the December 21st cruise. Not exactly that very up-to-date news there, is it?

Very disappointed to see this development, particularly for those impacted by the very last minute change. We are also booked on this itinerary early next year, and as others have expressed, these ports were a major reason that we booked this sailing.

Yes, we are quite disappointed about the cancellations especially with only one week to go. As for one of the "replacement" stops, Palma de Mallorca, been there earlier this year, seen and done what we wanted to do there, and are not that keen to visit it again so soon. It would have been better if the replacement stop was a port in Corsica, or even Ibiza.

Also, on MVJ, I don't see a "News" header. Perhaps this only appears if an itinerary change has been made on one's particular sailing.

We logged into MVJ, seen the itinerary changed but still could not find the "News" Header. Did anyone else manage to find it?

A friendly constructive criticism perhaps is that Viking could improve their communications with their clients, would you not think that is reasonable comment?

As to the comments in their FAQ giving the information about tips and gratuities not being included - the Viking webmaster could just add an asterisk (*) to note that certain fares in certain regions of the world already include gratuities, so the above information would not include these guests. Simples. Why did s/he not just do that?

Did you look at the News link at the top of your MVJ? Check it out and see if there is a notice of the change.

I am on a Transatlantic in late March. On NOV 30 they changed one port of call from Casablanca to Tangiers, Morocco. There is a notice under the NEWS link on my MVK. It also includes phone numbers for various customer service depts, depending of your which country you booked your cruise.

When you go to the Viking updates on current sailing, it appears as

" Updated Itineraries

All Viking itineraries are currently sailing on schedule."

Unless we missed it, we could not find any news there to say that the Dec 21st cruise has cancelled stops in Algeria and in Tunisia.

However, when we logged in into "My Viking Journey", it showed that the schedule has indeed changed, and NOT identical to the original schedule. So how can they say that all itineraries are currently sailing on schedule?

It seems like the webmaster on the Viking website needs to improve the information.

This is not the first time where the information there is somewhat confusing.

In the FAQ on gratuities and tips, it indicates and give the impression that gratuities on board are not included for everybody. What they did not say is that for most/all (?) customers who are UK residents, gratuities are included in the fares, but for US residents , they are not included. Why did they not just be more clear about that? Now does that not lead to more confusion?

However, we did call Viking directly and spoke to their rep. and were informed that the two stops has indeed been cancelled.

FLASH NEWS !!!!

Just received information from travel agent that there's been some changes to the cruise schedule for Viking Star cruise Dec 21st. - both stops in Tunisia and Algeria have been cancelled. However, this cruise will now stopover in Naples and Palma de Mallorca.

The schedule is as follows: Civitavecchia -> Naples, ->Tripani-> Cagliari-> Palma de Mallorca->Valencia-> Barcelona. That means you arrive in Tripani one day later than originally scheduled.

Those going on the B2B cruise from Barcelona back to Civitavecchia, that sector seems to be unchanged.

Please contact Viking, or your travel agent, for up-to-date information and to confirm details.

The Green Line metro stop at Drassanes is closest to the Cruise Port.

 

You can take the Green Line to Lesseps for Parc Guell.

 

For Sagada Familia, take the Green Line to Diagonal, transfer to the Blue Line and get off at Sagrada Familia.

Thanks for your information.

@Gnoelj

 

1.) As mentioned, there are a number of reference points on the ground floor ("planta baixa" in Catalan, the local language) that you can easily pre-agree.

 

2.) FYI: coming down from the towers is ON FOOT, by the stairwell, in any of the two towers. The elevator is only to go up.

 

3.) Since you mention that you intend to visit Park Güell as well... I would strongly suggest a different arrangement altogether and start in the park then visit the basilica. Sagrada Família is at 2,5km on a gentle downhill slope from Park Güell, so say, a 40' pleasant (descent) walk if going directly. Having said that, I always advise to detour a bit and visit the neighbourhood of Gràcia, a quirky little bohemian neighbourhood, have lunch there and then head to Sagrada Família for an early afternoon visit, say 3:30-4:00 when it's (or might be) slightly less crowded. For further info re:Gràcia check my answer to @JJ2579 and check for my suggestion on WED 16: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k7350676-First_Timers_Help_With_5_Day_Itinerary-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#57433425 and the map I mention is this one: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1XGEeOOmF2vlKPEkIKKXE7JuEZ1M&ll=41.405213208837786%2C2.1633088500000213&z=15

 

Enjoy!

Thank you to Enricm and others for providing the answers to our queries.

Yes, it is certainly a very good "tip" to advise going to Park Guell first , and then going to the Sagrada Familia.

The Map link is also very helpful.

Can also we ask please, what are the best ways to get to Park Guell from the Barcelona Cruise Port? Is possible to go by Metro, Tram or the Bus? Which (metro, tram or bus) stop(s) do you get off before walking to the Park (Guell)?

Parc Guell has limited entry by time slot. Make sure you buy a ticket before you go out there and know your entry time.

We are aware of that. All the same, thanks for letting us know. Just like for the Sagrada Familia, we intend to purchase the tickets for Park Guell beforehand.