Just Back ... British Isles ... Some Comments

We are just back from our British Isles Explorer cruise. I am taking a break from the loads of laundry to make a few comments about the trip … will try to get to a proper review soon.

This was our third Viking Oceans cruise. Both of our previous trips were on the Star but this time we had an opportunity to see and experience Viking Sky. Essentially they are the same ship but some small changes have been made on the newer ships. The workout facility was decidedly larger on the Sky which meant that the spa/salon facility was smaller. I suppose some might prefer the space in the “gym” but didn’t notice much going on there and we could not schedule our “traditional” mother/daughter pedicures this trip as there is now only one chair in the new, smaller salon. Not a big deal … just different ... and it did save us some money!. We also noticed some small decorative details were changed and/or added here and there but again, it is essentially the same ship.

The biggest difference we noted was a lacking in the very organized manner In which things ran. On our two previous cruises we found that shore excursions were very well organized; efficient, and on time. Almost all of our excursions this time started just a little bit late and ended even later. We missed lunch twice because the excursion got us back significantly later than scheduled and others missed excursions they had booked for the afternoon.

We had a mix of included and optional excursions booked and noticed that the included ones really had a “cattle call” feel to them … much more so than on previous trips. The included excursion to Glasgow was four and a half hours during which we spent the better part of an hour in a cathedral then went to an art museum where we had agrand total of 20 minutes to “tour”. We later discovered that they held us up in the cathedral as the museum didn't open until later on that particular day of the week. Glasgow was not originally supposed to be a stop but Liverpool was not possible so Glasgow was the replacement. A few people on our bus commented that they felt “doubly screwed” as the Glasgow stop seemed thrown together without much thought or care. The optional excursions, although often late,went much better.

Communication was an issue on several occasions.

- Our bags were delayed getting to the ship at the start of the cruise. We had been on the extensionin Edinburgh before and had been travelling since 3:30 in the morning to get to Heathrow (that’s another story!). At any rate, we were exhausted by the time we got to the ship and really wanted nothing more than to have lunch, shower, enjoy a dinner at the Chef’s Table and make an earlynight of it. One bag arrived within an hour of our arrival but the others didn’t arrive until after 8:00 in the evening. We cancelled our dining reservation … we were in need of showers and wouldn’t have met the dress code requirements anyway. Apparently (and wewould have figured it out earlier had we been more coherent) as Greenwich is a tender port the bags had to be tendered as well. They were loaded onto a barge of sorts then unloaded, run through a security scanner they loaded onto carts to be rolled onto the ship. This of course took significantly longer than the amount of time it would take at a non-tender port but they did not suggest this during any of the several inquiries we and other passengers made about the delay of the bags. Additionally there was apparently some sort of hold up of the final barge full of baggage that delayed things even further. Sharing this information might have alleviated some of the aggravation. When I inquired at guest services I was told that it could sometimes take as long as 3 to 4 hours. When I stated that it was, in fact almost six hours since we boarded she shrugged and said that there “must be a delay”.

- We received our disembarkation information letter a few daysbefore the end of the cruise. We weredoing a post-extension so we knew our information might differ from that ofother passengers. Sure enough the letterstated that our bags were to be out in the hallway before 8:30 PM the nightbefore. The night before we receivedanother disembarkation notice that stated that all bags were to be out in thecorridors before 10:00 PM. Not sureexactly what this meant I called guest services for clarification. The gentleman there was confused as to wherewe got the idea we were supposed to have our bags out at 8:30. He suggested that I might be confused as wewere to vacate our cabin by 8:00 AM … maybe that was what I was thinking about. I read him the original letter word for word and he said he would check into it for me. It was 8:15 by this time and our bags were ready but we didn’t want to jam up the hallways if the bags didn’t have to be out until 10:00. Several minutes later he called and said I was right. We were on an extension and our bags had to be out no later than 8:00. This was a little disconcerting as it was now close to 8:30! I opened our door and our adorable cabin steward was there to help us get the bags out and he assured us that he would make sure they got where they needed to be. All was well, but that sort of potential snafu is not what we have come to expect from Viking!

- We had signed up for the meet and mingle but either it didnot take place or our invitation got “lost in the mail”. We watched for it but when it didn’t come bythe third day I stopped by guest services to ask. The girl there was as nice as could be buthad no idea what I was talking about. She had of course heard of Cruise Critic but couldn’t imagine where Igot the idea there was any sort of CC event scheduled on the ship. No big deal either way really but it wouldhave been fun to meet everyone!

All in all it was a wonderful trip and the few issues we experienced were not really significant and did not affect our great time … just some hiccoughs here and there are part and parcel of travel … just noteworthy in that it is not what we have experienced before with Viking. We considered the fact that it is a new itinerary and that might have affected efficiency to some extent.

I did request that they consider revamping that multi-page feedback form they give us at the end of every trip. This was our 11th Viking cruise and the 11th time I have completed that very same form. It really isn’t useful for giving true and authentic feedback as it is very restrictive in format. T here is very little room for comments.

This has gone on long enough … will again write a properreview soon! :)

Thank you mollymoo. Somewhat disappointing. The Star ran like clockwork on our first VO. We are booked next on the Sky. I hope the bugs are out by January!

molymoo

Thanks for this -- very unexpected and disconcerting. Especially those occasions when Viking personnel have no idea what you're talking about.

We had the same experience with the Meet & Mingle in July. No invitation, and my husband was the starter of the roll call for our cruise (and first to sign up for the M & M). We had met some other couples on the ship and one group texted the invitation to our small group. We did go, but only 8 of us were there. The crew/staff outnumbered us by far. Very nice drinks & hors doerves!

We had better luck with our “luggage tendering” experience in Greenwich, but it did take a couple hours for our luggage to arrive in our room. I’m sure they hold the luggage barge until they have a significant load of luggage — presumably to lessen the number of barge trips they have to pay for. I was a little surprised that smaller batches of bags couldn’t go on the tenders taking passengers to the ship, but I’m sure that’s a contractual issue. Below is a picture of the barge with our luggage aboard. They could have used a few more folks to help with the unloading! [emoji846]

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A great place to be moored!!

So I guess the passenger moral to the story is: pack something suitable for dinner in your carry-on if you're embarking in Greenwich. And the lesson for Viking is, relax the dress code when embarkation is in a port where luggage is tendered.

So I guess the passenger moral to the story is: pack something suitable for dinner in your carry-on if you're embarking in Greenwich. And the lesson for Viking is, relax the dress code when embarkation is in a port where luggage is tendered.

We ate at The Restaurant on our first day in Greenwich and several people did not have their luggage in time to change for dinner. The management at the desk never said a word to them when some walked in wearing shorts. The dress code was not enforced for this meal.

We ate at The Restaurant on our first day in Greenwich and several people did not have their luggage in time to change for dinner. The management at the desk never said a word to them when some walked in wearing shorts. The dress code was not enforced for this meal.

This has been our experience on all previous cruises. The dress code is relaxed on the first evening (especially those lines that have a 1st seating), as many have not yet received their cases.

If our cases have arrived we will always change, but if no cases, we will be dressed how we boarded.