Will there be any selection left for stateroom categories DV and V?

I note that on the Viking website the selection for reservations for specialty dining, excursions and spa are done chronologically from the highest category to the lowest veranda.

From the website

Shore Excursion Options:

Your My Viking Journey account gives you all the tools necessary to tailor and personalize your complete cruise experience. You have full access to browse all shore excursions and dining options from the moment you open your account. Booking opens for each based on your stateroom grade—see below. We will alert you when it’s your time to book.

Here's the excerpt from the FAQs:

• Owner's Suite—107 days from sail date
  
• Explorer Suites—97 days from sail date
  
• Penthouse Jr. Suites—87 days from sail date
  
• Penthouse Verandas—77 days from sail date
  
• Deluxe Verandas—67 days from sail date
  
• Verandas—60 days from sail date
  

Dining and Spa Options:

Your My Viking Journey account gives you all the tools necessary to tailor and personalize your complete cruise experience. You have full access to browse all shore excursions and dining options from the moment you open your account. Booking opens for each based on your stateroom grade—see below. We will alert you when it’s your time to book.

• Explorer Suites—90 days from sail date
  
• Penthouse Jr. Suites—80 days from sail date
  
• Penthouse Verandas—70 days from sail date
  
• Deluxe Verandas—60 days from sail date
  
• Verandas—No priority reservation
  

We are not worried about the spa reservations but I suspect this will not leave any desireable early times for dining and restrict the selection of excursions for those who have the lowest categories of staterooms such as the DV and the V.

Is my assumption correct?

Not entirely.

As for included tours, you might not get your preferred time slot but you since they are included in your cruise fare you are entitled to a spot.

For optional tours, most tours will still be available when your time comes to book. There are occasionally tours with limited seating to begin with and these maybe sold out before DV booking opens.

You can book dining in advance but it is just as easy to book when you get on board.

I did notice one problem with the description you posted. Tour descriptions are not available on MyVikingJourney until about 120 days before you sail, and sometimes even later than that. The only way to view the possible tours before that is on the Viking website on the itinerary page.

We are embarking on our first Viking cruise in a couple of weeks. We are in a DV cabin and didn’t have any problem getting the dining and excursion times and choices that we wanted.

The Main Dining Room is open seating so dining early for the most part will not be difficult. You only need reservations for the Specialty Restaurants.

In our experience, Specialty Resturants are most heavily booked in advance for sea days. I would not be surprised if you could not get a reservation on days with no port stop. Otherwise, it tends to work out well for everyone.

In our experience, Specialty Resturants are most heavily booked in advance for sea days. I would not be surprised if you could not get a reservation on days with no port stop. Otherwise, it tends to work out well for everyone.

You might have trouble securing a reservation of your choice at a specialty restaurant if you leave it til mid-week like we did on our first Viking cruise! We learned the hard way to book on boarding day. By the time we thought about a specialty restaurant all the primo spots had been booked days before. That was poor planning on our part. We ended up dining later than we'd have preferred.

What is people's idea of 'early' and 'late' dining? When are the most popular times?

What is people's idea of 'early' and 'late' dining? When are the most popular times?

Our idea here in Florida where many of us seniors live would be early dining as soon as the restaurants open and late dining around 2000 hours or later. We enjoyed the latter when we were young but since we go to bed much earlier now, the earlier the better. I would have to pass on the specialty restaurants if all that is available is late dining. :)

In our experience, Specialty Resturants are most heavily booked in advance for sea days. I would not be surprised if you could not get a reservation on days with no port stop. Otherwise, it tends to work out well for everyone.

Din929, we will be sure to mark our calendars and book the minute the reservations open up.

Excellent advice!

Thank you all!

Din929, we will be sure to mark our calendars and book the minute the reservations open up.

 

Excellent advice!

 

Thank you all!

Reservations open at midnight pacific time (3 am on the east coast).

We had a DV and booked our 1 res each ahead. Once on board, no problem changing days and times and adding an extra night at Manfredi. chef table does a 5 menu rotation changing every 3 days so basically you pick blind and then change to the menu you prefer once onboard (like right away for choices).

The included tours had many departures about 15 - 30 minutes apart. Less times with the optionals which we did not book. Book what you really want first, then sign out to confirm it. then sign in again and add the others. You are not confirmed until you sign out so others may be booking the same space as you are trying to get

We had a DV and booked our 1 res each ahead. Once on board, no problem changing days and times and adding an extra night at Manfredi. chef table does a 5 menu rotation changing every 3 days so basically you pick blind and then change to the menu you prefer once onboard (like right away for choices).

The included tours had many departures about 15 - 30 minutes apart. Less times with the optionals which we did not book. Book what you really want first, then sign out to confirm it. then sign in again and add the others. You are not confirmed until you sign out so others may be booking the same space as you are trying to get

Thank you, great info!

Our idea here in Florida where many of us seniors live would be early dining as soon as the restaurants open and late dining around 2000 hours or later. We enjoyed the latter when we were young but since we go to bed much earlier now, the earlier the better. I would have to pass on the specialty restaurants if all that is available is late dining. :)

Don’t give up too soon. Every trip is different and so are the passengers. I recommend you checking in and ask for availability. There was always an opening somewhere, sometime. We never had an issue getting a table early in the evening. Also check when the evening entertainment starts....always seemed to be a good time to get in.

We are in a DV6 cabin for the January 6-16, 2018 West Indies Explorer cruise on the Viking Sea.

We had no trouble signing up for included and extra excursions last week. We will book our specialty dining dates tomorrow.

Happy cruising,

Gary and Nancy Rooker

We are in a DV6 cabin for the January 6-16, 2018 West Indies Explorer cruise on the Viking Sea.

We had no trouble signing up for included and extra excursions last week. We will book our specialty dining dates tomorrow.

 

Happy cruising,

 

Gary and Nancy Rooker

That's encouraging for those of us in the DV and V categories. I wonder how passengers spefically in V cabins have fared recently, especially with the specialty dining reservations, which can't be made until you're on the ship?