Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers

[CharTrav]

18 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

Sorry for bringing this topic to top.  Didn't know about it last year.  Have 2nd V cruise booked, and am slowly reading topic in reverse order, to learn from more experienced V pax.  On MVJ, account, there is only a button to change password.  Booked through TA.  Is it only available when booking direct?  Thank you to all who posted such very useful info.

 

when you look at your account (top right when viewed from my mobile phone in Safari) and press on it with your thumb you’ll see a box saying profile. if you press on profile you’ll get the change password option. which isn’t what you want. instead press on the little down arrow that i’ve highlighted in yellow. when you do that, the option to request invoice will appear.

Btw - if took me a little while to figure this out too. Like you, i thought all i could do was change my password.  One day i decided to see what would happen if i treated it like any other drop down menu i’ve ever used (or configured in a GUI) and voila! it worked! so don’t fret. it’s neither obvious nor intuitive.😉

[Dauntless]

When booking your excursions, book your paid excursions first.  They are not yours until paid for and then go back for the included excursion booking.

[FetaCheese]

10 hours ago, CharTrav said:

when you look at your account (top right when viewed from my mobile phone in Safari) and press on it with your thumb you’ll see a box saying profile. if you press on profile you’ll get the change password option. which isn’t what you want. instead press on the little down arrow that i’ve highlighted in yellow. when you do that, the option to request invoice will appear.

Btw - if took me a little while to figure this out too. Like you, i thought all i could do was change my password.  One day i decided to see what would happen if i treated it like any other drop down menu i’ve ever used (or configured in a GUI) and voila! it worked! so don’t fret. it’s neither obvious nor intuitive.😉

Thank you.  I just tried it, I have the drop-down arrow, but only has profile showing.  Not a big deal, I received invoice from TA, after I made an air deviation.    BTW -- The updated invoice had a transfer to ship listed, which I thought you give up with air dev. (Arriving earlier).  I called V, to ask about it, and yes, you do lose transfer -- invoice was incorrect.  They issued another updated invoice, which the V agent e-mailed to me and TA.

 

[Haqdeluxe]

38 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

Thank you.  I just tried it, I have the drop-down arrow, but only has profile showing.  Not a big deal, I received invoice from TA, after I made an air deviation.    BTW -- The updated invoice had a transfer to ship listed, which I thought you give up with air dev. (Arriving earlier).  I called V, to ask about it, and yes, you do lose transfer -- invoice was incorrect.  They issued another updated invoice, which the V agent e-mailed to me and TA.

 

It is my understanding that this option is blocked/ missing when your trip is being handled by a TA. As we use a TA we have had to ask her to request a updated invoice.

 

Cheers 

[CharTrav]

12 minutes ago, Haqdeluxe said:

It is my understanding that this option is blocked/ missing when your trip is being handled by a TA. As we use a TA we have had to ask her to request a updated invoice.

 

Cheers 

Hmmmm. I work directly with a Viking TA. So..you don't receive any email directly from Viking? Everything comes through your third party TA?

[Clay Clayton]

48 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Hmmmm. I work directly with a Viking TA. So..you don't receive any email directly from Viking? Everything comes through your third party TA?

Our experience is that we usually get things twice. Once from Viking direct and then later (usually within the same day) from our TA. 
 

The luggage tags and such go to our TA who then forwards them on to us with some of the agency propaganda and usually a “gift”. Anyone need a padded case for their tablet?😂

Edited July 14, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[CharTrav]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Our experience is that we usually get things twice. Once from Viking direct and then later (usually within the same day) from our TA. 
 

The luggage tags and such go to our TA who then forwards them on to us with some of the agency propaganda and usually a “gift”. Anyone need a padded case for their tablet?😂

I've just never seen any advantage to working with a third party TA. I always work with the same Viking TA.  She and I also probably spend too much time gabbing on the phone about stuff completely unrelated to travel whenever she calls too! 😁

[Clay Clayton]

36 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

I've just never seen any advantage to working with a third party TA. I always work with the same Viking TA.  She and I also probably spend too much time gabbing on the phone about stuff completely unrelated to travel whenever she calls too! 😁

The only advantage imho is the shipboard credit ours provides.  I’m willing to give up the ability to talk directly to Viking in exchange for sufficient funds to pay for gratuities and most of our bar tab. YMMV! 😂

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

The luggage tags and such go to our TA who then forwards them on to us with some of the agency propaganda and usually a “gift”. Anyone need a padded case for their tablet?😂

 

However, you can arrange to have them sent directly to you.  I work with a TA but we have it set up so that the "cruise docs" aka "the luggage tag" come directly to us. Especially now that our TA lives in Florida (and with snail mail that is now living up to its name), it makes even more sense to do it that way.

 

Back in the days when the TAs had to check that everything on the vouchers that you needed to present at check in where correct, that made sense. But these days when there is nothing to check, why not send them directly to clients. It doesn't prevent TAs from sending a separate package with anything the agency wants to send.

[FetaCheese]

On 7/14/2022 at 11:53 AM, Clay Clayton said:

The only advantage imho is the shipboard credit ours provides.  I’m willing to give up the ability to talk directly to Viking in exchange for sufficient funds to pay for gratuities and most of our bar tab. YMMV! 😂

I have used a TA for both of my V bookings.  One can, and I have, talked with V directly about both cruises.  Rep added some details to my bookings, and seemed happy to help me.  Rep did not say I had to go thru TA.  Don't know if Rep would handle all issues, so I assume my requests were of the type that did not have to go through TA.

 

[duquephart]

On 7/14/2022 at 10:53 AM, Clay Clayton said:

The only advantage imho is the shipboard credit ours provides.  I’m willing to give up the ability to talk directly to Viking in exchange for sufficient funds to pay for gratuities and most of our bar tab. YMMV! 😂

 Why wouldn't the Viking rep extend some OBC? They are saving commissions.

[DrKoob]

7 hours ago, duquephart said:

 Why wouldn't the Viking rep extend some OBC? They are saving commissions.

Because they don't have that ability on their own unless there has been a problem. They are not able to do that because it is Tor's money, not theirs. They are paid a wage and a slight commission. If they give anyone OBC, they have to have it approved by a supervisor and a darned good reason to do it. 

 

One of the reasons any cruise line pays commissions is that so they don't have to answer all the questions from every guest. The TA can do that. If you work with a TA, make sure it is someone who knows Viking and has booked a bunch of Viking cruises and is easy to get a hold of.

[Clay Clayton]

9 hours ago, duquephart said:

 Why wouldn't the Viking rep extend some OBC? They are saving commissions.

No idea. Another mystery of Viking’s business model. 

[Steerpike58]

Forgive me if this isn't the correct place for my first post.  We booked our first ever Viking cruise for October.  We note that Covid-testing is no longer a requirement. Are the ships operating at full capacity (circa 930) or have they carved out a section of rooms for isolation / quarantine? Thanks! 

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, Steerpike58 said:

Forgive me if this isn't the correct place for my first post.  We booked our first ever Viking cruise for October.  We note that Covid-testing is no longer a requirement. Are the ships operating at full capacity (circa 930) or have they carved out a section of rooms for isolation / quarantine? Thanks! 

Anecdotal evidence is that they are setting aside some of the staterooms on Deck 3 forward. To my knowledge I’ve seen nothing official from Viking on these or other social media platforms. There have been some reports that due to the number of passengers falling ill, that on occasion people are isolating in their original staterooms. 

[Peregrina651]

8 hours ago, Steerpike58 said:

Forgive me if this isn't the correct place for my first post.  We booked our first ever Viking cruise for October.  We note that Covid-testing is no longer a requirement. Are the ships operating at full capacity (circa 930) or have they carved out a section of rooms for isolation / quarantine? Thanks! 

 

Welcome.

 

This will do for a first post but there are a couple of other threads that you might want to read as well:

 

Does Anyone Know How Full Ships are Since the Loosening of Covid Restricticions?

Covid isolation after testing discontinued

 

 

That said, ships don't just have to worry about the spread of disease on board the ship but, in determining the number of pax they can book on a given itinerary, they also have to consider if there are enough guides and bus drivers available to serve the number of passengers on board -- and that can be more more of a determining factor than anything.

 

 

[Nidec]

On 11/10/2021 at 2:29 PM, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Agree with this 100%, although we've never used our phones on the ship to communicate, as we just go looking for each other if we need to communicate.  But the fjords in Norway was the only place we found WiFi sketchy, as TayanaLorna indicated.  When there, it might have helped to have gone to the area where the computers are located on Viking ships, but perhaps not enough.  Those mountains are high!

 

We've used WhatsApp on our basic android phone a few times to communicate with someone overseas.  It's pretty easy and helpful as long as you have WiFi.    Just be aware that (unless things have changed since 2019) both parties need to have it loaded to be able to use it. 

Weve used both WhatsApp and WeChat to make free calls and video calls to family. Just make sure they have the app downloaded as well

[Steerpike58]

Another newbie question - I'm not a big sit-down breakfast eater, but I do like a good latte (espresso plus steamed milk).  Is there somewhere I can go to pick one up and bring back to my room? Or can I do room service with some degree of punctuality for something as simple as a latte?  (I tend to prefer to go off and get such things, if possible, rather than wait for room service).

[duquephart]

Living Room.

[sugarside]

Room service very prompt and reliable.

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, duquephart said:

Living Room.

 

DITTO!

Deck 1 in the Atrium, open 6am to Midnight. Continental breakfast until 11 am, cookies and other delights for the reminder of the day.

 

Beans fresh ground. Commercial espresso machine. Etc.

[Clay Clayton]

9 hours ago, Steerpike58 said:

Another newbie question - I'm not a big sit-down breakfast eater, but I do like a good latte (espresso plus steamed milk).  Is there somewhere I can go to pick one up and bring back to my room? Or can I do room service with some degree of punctuality for something as simple as a latte?  (I tend to prefer to go off and get such things, if possible, rather than wait for room service).

Definitely the Living Room and I usually have to get a pistachio raisin roll too!

 

My husband isn’t a big breakfast guy either but he loves going to The Restaurant for breakfast because they have lamb chops which he says means it’s more like brunch.  
 

The picture below is from the Restaurant and shows my breakfast there including the aforementioned roll that I picked up at the Living Room. 

[MamaFej]

We sailed past the Viking Jupiter whist on a fjord cruise today. I look forward to one of those raisin pistachio rolls when we board in a couple of days. 

[linda_22003]

We will be on the Viking Jupiter from Chile to Argentina in December.  We have lots of cruise experience but this is our first with Viking.

 

Can anyone advise on the advantage to "AirChoice"?  My understanding that the $100 fee gets you confirmed flight reservations farther out than the usual 60ish days.

 

Is it worth it?  Compared to the rest of the cruise this is chump change, but I thought it was worth asking.  Thanks!

[The Other Tom]

12 minutes ago, linda_22003 said:

Can anyone advise on the advantage to "AirChoice"?

It allows you to fly in a few days early and/or stay a few days after the cruise.  You also have more control over your flights in that you can request a specific flight or flights according to your preference for leave/arrival time or layovers. Note they may not have your specific flight requests in their inventory, so it's best to have plan B and C before you call.  I'm not sure about the booking time, though.  And it may be $150 now, I'm not sure.

Edited July 28, 2022 by The Other Tom