Vineyard View

It is THE main reason I have been looking at others. It certainly isn’t because we don’t both love Viking.

This is a great thread. A couple points really call out to me - Add varied/new ports to the Mediterranean itineraries, and soon. The bulk of the existing ports have been in play for several years, and as mentioned, there are so many that others go to which would really attract us. I would say this has been our biggest delay in booking- finding one that has enough ‘newness’. Included excursions - for most reasons mentioned, we often use these as a way to get into a place to DIY and let the guide know we are doing so - and yes, we tip that guide in all fairness. So the idea Deec brought up to have one active and one more leisure included in each port would be very attractive. Silver Spirits Wines - some massaging of these offerings would be more than attractive. And past due. I think that Viking has the opportunity to really expand their port offerings outside of the Mediterranean with all the new ships coming. It would be very compelling to see less standard offerings in various parts of the world, and not just the far Northern Hemisphere. Outside of the new expedition ships, many seem pretty generic.

Totally agree….thank you

Thank you. This is helpful and I appreciate your input. It is tempting. We have sailed in PV3 in the past so weighing out those two options.

Great video. Thank you. Would you say that the balcony was different than a side DV1 balcony in depth or width?

Thank you Peregrina. I appreciate this information. We have sailed on Viking B2B (not turn around) and experienced similar to what you are sharing. I wasn’t clear that what I meant by that statement that if on that middle day, we were not allowed to take shuttles to Venice (and you cannot simply walk off the ship and explore) until noon, that it could get chaotic (there is likely a much better adjective) waiting for that to occur and then getting on the shuttles without long wait times. Later that day, once in Venice, returning in the mix with new passengers, depending on your return time, or getting to the last shuttle by 8:30) could get quite busy waiting for shuttles. I think I am just trying to visualize with the uniqueness of Venice, what that whole experience would look and be like on a turn around in that port. How much quality time you would actually have in Venice with all this, and if the last shuttle is at 8:30. I know from experience that Viking is a class act, and works hard for their passengers, but the Venice rules are out of their hands and just being worked through. Yes, there would be way more quality time than if they docked in Vienna or Trieste as others do, but what does that look like?

Well, not ideal but thank you for sharing. While i can understand that on a turn around, there will be passengers leaving, I think that docking early AM and then being kept on the ship for 5 hours is the most concerning. The itinerary I have been attracted to is Italy, The Adriatic, and Greece which is actually a B2B. The first segment will arrive in Venice, but will then have an overnight. The following morning the passengers would depart, followed by new passengers arriving that afternoon, again with an overnight. So maybe that first day will be different, but that middle day might be chaotic. Third day would have no new pax and an early evening departure. I wonder how that all truly rolls. I will have to think about this for a bit. Being unable to get onto shuttles, in either direction, for the full day at your discretion might be a bit frustrating. I have tried to locate roll calls for this itinerary but they are not recent. I appreciate the feedback.

I/we continue to look at a 15 day itinerary with Venice as a turn around port. I am wondering, now that there are a few months of experience with the new arrangements, how this is all working? How difficult and time consuming is it to transfer from the ship to the city? I realize that time spent in Venice is better by actually staying pre or post, but I thought I would ask for any updated experiences. Thank you.

Ahhh. So it will be interesting to see how other more ‘luxury’ lines respond to this that are not owned by larger main cruise lines. Plus to your point, countries that still require vax.

Thank you for clarifying what I meant to say - in that Oceania is under NCL and likely to follow.

Solo travel for us. It would be the direction we would take. But that may not work for you. There are small group companies I have seen but I really do not know anything about them.

We have narrowed down choices for a trip next year based on itineraries. Two are with Viking - whom we know well and love - but one was on Oceania which we have never sailed on. A new thread started today about the possibility, and it appears to be strong one, that Oceania will start a no vaccine requirement. NCL is going this direction and has announced. There seems to be an assumption, or maybe strong feeling, that all cruise lines will head in this direction. I am so very hopeful that since Viking is family owned, that they will not follow suit on this concept……at least until they stand back and see how this all rolls out. It makes me a bit uncomfortable to book a cruise. I know we all have different feelings about this, but watching and waiting can sometimes be a very good path to take.

Could be that is true for a while. And that would be very sad.

When I am not on a ship I have more control in my environment and choices. For instance, I can choose to eat outdoors at restaurants, which I always do. I can walk in fresh air in parks. I can make decisions about the number of people I wish to be around by choosing the places/experiences I go. Just examples that obviously do not eliminate the possibility of becoming ill, and certainly knowing some people are not vaccinated. It’s just my way of reducing the opportunity. On a ship many of those choices are not there. It is a more enclosed environment, and i personally feel that the more safety measures to counteract or reduce chances of Covid, the better - including required vaccines. JMHO. If the cruise lines all choose to follow this path, we will likely sit it out for a bit, do land travel, and then make a better informed decision based on the outcomes of those actions/new and more lenient rules. Maybe the impact won’t be so great. I have no idea. I just know my own comfort zone.

You may be correct, but I sure hope not. Time will tell

Oceania has been on my radar for next year - along with two other lines. With this announcement they are now off my radar. I realize that my two person vote not to book won’t impact them one iota, and that I am not a long time Oceania cruiser but would rather be a first time, but I will not at this point cruise on a line that waives vax requirements. Thank you for letting us know n

On a ‘luxury’ cruise line one shouldn’t have to ‘buy’ decent wines. Premium okay, but decent, no. And that selection doesn’t meet the test at all IMHO. No disrespect intended

100% agree on the wine list. We’ve been seriously looking at SB and honestly expected a very different offering than this.

Wonder if there will be any July 4th special promos….

We stayed there as well several years ago. We highly recommend Electra Palace. Book a room with view and balcony. Well worth it.

So maybe whomever removed it might be able to chime in and enlighten us all on the why?

Viking just announced that there will be no more required testing on Oceans. I wonder if that will be the case for rivers.

notamermaid. Thank you. I appreciate your insights and honesty. I also really appreciate the current snapshot of Koblenz. Pretty busy. I agree that river cruising was simply delightful. It is why we are considering taking another. I am not stuck on just the one itinerary, but I do like that it is 15 days of actual cruising vs itineraries that include bus transportation mixed in with river cruises in order to make it a longer itinerary. We are absolutely not interested in that concept. Land touring is for us independent. Since we rarely take ship excursions that concept doesn’t work for us. That piece is in the decision mix for us. That said, all these responses have helped paint a more up to date picture on river cruising, so as was said, better to go in knowing than surprised.

Wow. I find these reports rather sad. We had a balcony previously and as said, only rafted twice in 15 days. Not being able to relax on the balcony when we wanted to would be a negative impact. Also would be if the rafting occurs outside of these towns and walking on your own - as we almost always did - would be impacted negatively. I can see how the locals might be weary of all this. Kind of a mini Venice or Dubrovnik situation which resulted in big changes. I would not want a negative experience with all this after having such positive in ‘14 , but that may be unavoidable. I pivoted back to rivers when one of their Ocean voyages, B2B Venice, got impacted negatively by those changes that we had on our radar. Now I am honestly not sure where we will land, but I appreciate all the honesty and feedback. It is truly helpful.

Wow. Thank you for that. I have to think that all these ships at once impacted the ports you were in from a crowds standpoint. I appreciate your update.