RJ2002 Posted July 8, 2017 #1 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Is it possible to board the ship later, say early evening, when the first night of the cruise is an overnight at the embarkation port? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw1776 Posted July 8, 2017 #2 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Later? I don't see any reason why not. I would contact the ship via phone or email to let them know as a courtesy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ2002 Posted July 8, 2017 Author #3 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Is it possible to board the ship later, say early evening, when the first night of the cruise is an overnight at the embarkation port? Answering my own question. :D Yes, this is possible, per Viking Ocean's Customer Service folks. They added it is also possible to board early and drop your stuff, then go out touring all day, and return later in the evening. Have not sailed Viking yet... considering a cruise next year. Nice to hear that they seem very flexible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw1776 Posted July 8, 2017 #4 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Last year we arrived in Amsterdam at 6AM. Viking representatives met us and took us to our ship the Lofn where we had breakfast with all the departing passengers. They were sad to leave. Our room was ready before we finished breakfast. We had the Viking concierge print out tickets for our museum visits so we could avoid the ticket purchase lines and we were off touring on our own, returning for dinner. Appreciated the way they tried to do everything reasonable to help us enjoy our arrival process and day. Slept well that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted July 8, 2017 #5 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Last year we arrived in Amsterdam at 6AM. Viking representatives met us and took us to our ship the Lofn where we had breakfast with all the departing passengers. They were sad to leave. Our room was ready before we finished breakfast. We had the Viking concierge print out tickets for our museum visits so we could avoid the ticket purchase lines and we were off touring on our own, returning for dinner. Appreciated the way they tried to do everything reasonable to help us enjoy our arrival process and day. Slept well that night. Embarkation/disembarkation rules tend to be different for ocean cruises than the river cruise you are describing. I'm sure Viking staff will be just as helpful, but the boarding procedures may be a bit more formal and inflexible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Peregrina651 Posted July 8, 2017 #6 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Last year we arrived in Amsterdam at 6AM. Viking representatives met us and took us to our ship the Lofn where we had breakfast with all the departing passengers. They were sad to leave. Our room was ready before we finished breakfast. We had the Viking concierge print out tickets for our museum visits so we could avoid the ticket purchase lines and we were off touring on our own, returning for dinner. Appreciated the way they tried to do everything reasonable to help us enjoy our arrival process and day. Slept well that night. Yes, but Ocean is a bit different because check in is not handled by Viking crew as it is on the river cruises but by port personnel, which means that they can't start boarding guests until the ground crew is ready. The real question is how early and late will those check in stations be manned. If I miss my connection in Zurich and don't arrive until 9pm, will there be someone there to check me in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ2002 Posted July 8, 2017 Author #7 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Yes, but Ocean is a bit different because check in is not handled by Viking crew as it is on the river cruises but by port personnel, which means that they can't start boarding guests until the ground crew is ready. The real question is how early and late will those check in stations be manned. If I miss my connection in Zurich and don't arrive until 9pm, will there be someone there to check me in? When I called Viking this morning, this was my exact question, and the agent told me that it would be no problem to board the ship later. Perhaps for the presumably small amount of passengers that would be boarding late, the Viking ship staff handle the check-in function? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw1776 Posted July 8, 2017 #8 Share Posted July 8, 2017 Agree completely about different regs for Ocean vs river. Was making a point about service. Ocean cruises have higher port security. Some local government and onboard as you enter scanners & such. And back to early boarding, Viking Ocean boarding times are a function of cabin class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ2002 Posted July 8, 2017 Author #9 Share Posted July 8, 2017 And back to early boarding, Viking Ocean boarding times are a function of cabin class. Again, I'm a Viking Ocean newbie, but I was under the impression that anyone may board at the stated boarding time, but that the access to your cabin is dictated by cabin category. Is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deec Posted July 8, 2017 #10 Share Posted July 8, 2017 yes you may board but your cabin may not be accessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vnb2003 Posted July 8, 2017 #11 Share Posted July 8, 2017 yes you may board but your cabin may not be accessible. We are arriving @ 9:10 am (if there are no delays). Getting our baggage, going through passport control, meeting Viking rep and maybe wait a little for another couple or two. Drive to port and let's say we are there around 10-10:20 am. What happens then? Officially boarding at 11 am but will they let us in a little early (like Viking River did last September or we'll be standing on the pier? would be nice to board right away after a long flight. I understand that the cabin won't be ready. Any experience on early arrival? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spursgirl Posted July 9, 2017 #12 Share Posted July 9, 2017 We are arriving @ 9:10 am (if there are no delays). Getting our baggage, going through passport control, meeting Viking rep and maybe wait a little for another couple or two. Drive to port and let's say we are there around 10-10:20 am. What happens then? Officially boarding at 11 am but will they let us in a little early (like Viking River did last September or we'll be standing on the pier? would be nice to board right away after a long flight. I understand that the cabin won't be ready. Any experience on early arrival? Found Viking very guest focused so am sure they would allow you to board early ( we boarded at 11.00 am) However, they would need an empty ship for a while on turnaround day so it may depend on the time the last guests on the previous cruise left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vnb2003 Posted July 9, 2017 #13 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Found Viking very guest focused so am sure they would allow you to board early ( we boarded at 11.00 am) However, they would need an empty ship for a while on turnaround day so it may depend on the time the last guests on the previous cruise left. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretchcruz Posted July 18, 2017 #14 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Our flight arrived in Barcelona around 7 AM and we took a taxi to the ship, I think we were there well before 9. Folks were still getting off. We dropped our luggage and took a taxi downtown, I had tickets for Sagrada at 11 AM and we had to kill time before that. No problem dropping the luggage off so early, they just tagged it and took it. We didn't check in until we went back to the ship...no line, we breezed through. It was before our cabin category was supposed to be ready, but the cabin was ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vnb2003 Posted July 18, 2017 #15 Share Posted July 18, 2017 We are arriving @ 9:10 am (if there are no delays). Getting our baggage, going through passport control, meeting Viking rep and maybe wait a little for another couple or two. Drive to port and let's say we are there around 10-10:20 am. What happens then? Officially boarding at 11 am but will they let us in a little early (like Viking River did last September or we'll be standing on the pier? would be nice to board right away after a long flight. I understand that the cabin won't be ready. Any experience on early arrival? Answering my own question. We arrived around 10:15 am. It took us 10 min to go through security. Our room supposed to be ready at 1 pm but it was available already. We took a shower and went to explore our ship :). World Cafe was open for lunch but the choices were rather limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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