Hello from Bergen

[Nonnie1975]

LM and anybody else, questions about Bergen.  We are going to Mt. Ulriken.  What are some of the must does in Bergen? 

[Little Monty]

49 minutes ago, Nonnie1975 said:

Thank you LM for all of this info, learned a lot.  This is our first VO, so inhaling all the information.  Will be joining Lotusgirl22 and Jeebg next week in Reykjavik.  Can't believe that  you had snow in Flam, went and pulled out some gloves! Hope you have safe travels!  Please, keep updating.

Thanks Nonnie1975 .. we are presently in the Living Room Bar listening to two young ladies play the violin and the cello - James Bond themes no less.

 

I have never listened to violin / cello music in my life but somehow being on Viking makes me cultured - cultured with a glass of red 🍷 

 

Seriously, this is living 😀

[Little Monty]

50 minutes ago, Nonnie1975 said:

LM and anybody else, questions about Bergen.  We are going to Mt. Ulriken.  What are some of the must does in Bergen? 

My Floyen was better than Ulriken .. more to do once you get up there in our opinion. And you can walk back to town.

 

A cruise on the fjord in the sunshine is fantastic (leaves from in front of fish market).

 

Bergen has the most wonderful Christmas shop (on the Bryggen wharf).

 

Lovely home made wares for sale in the alleyways behind the Bryggen.

 

Just take your time, walk around, and enjoy. 😀

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Little Monty said:

Today we had rain and low cloud with some sunny breaks (we even had a few snow flakes fall) but the weather in August will likely be quite different. 

 

One never knows. The more I talk about travel weather, the more I understand just how entirely unpredictable it is.

[stampinpat]

Thank you so much for your posts.  We are on the August 1 sailing and sure hope we don't see snow.  But, it is great that you warned us about the weather!  Enjoy hearing about your excursions, too.

[Little Monty]

9 minutes ago, stampinpat said:

Thank you so much for your posts.  We are on the August 1 sailing and sure hope we don't see snow.  But, it is great that you warned us about the weather!  Enjoy hearing about your excursions, too.

Thank you .. no probs.

I was going to switch off CC Forum for a couple of days but once I got started .. well, you know - it’s hard to avoid 😀

 

Feel free to ask any specific questions .. if I have time I will do my best to answer. 👍 LM

[Lotusgirl22]

LM - did you register for the Meet and Mingle?  If so, what arrangements did Viking make for that event?

[Scootoir]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 11:21 AM, Little Monty said:

No worries - thank you.

 

I try to avoid discussions about food as what is perfect for me might be terrible for you .. and just because my meal was perfectly cooked and presented doesn’t mean yours will be.

 

Suffice to say however, we think the food on board is fantastic.

 

But .. we have just finished an early dinner in Manfridi’s and have been reminded of one important issue.

 

Some of the meals are huge, far too large for most of us mortals. The special steak they serve there is great and I have had it a couple of times, but the 9oz NY rib is just as good and half the volume.

 

Tonight I had a lovely soup - and then the parmigiana chicken .. thinking the chicken would be ‘normal’ size.

 

It was huge .. covering most of the plate. I hate wasting food knowing so many are going hungry every night but I only ate half.

 

My suggestion.. ask about the portion size. I know they do the special steak half size if you ask, I suggest you ask for a half size on the chicken parmigiana as well .. unless you are a sumo wrestler or an NFL Linebacker (I don’t actually know what a Libebacker is or what he does, but I think they are pretty big guys 😀).

 

The food was delicious.. as was dinner last night and lunch today in the World Cafe - but please do be aware of this issue in Manfridi’s. LM

 

Thank you very much for posting this.  DH and I don't like to eat huge meals and hate to waste.  This might be one of the most useful things I have read about the ship.

 

We will be on the Viking Sky next month but our itinerary is different.  We start out in Bergen and I do appreciate what has been posted here.  

[Marianna49]

My hubby and I will be traveling on August 1. This is our first Viking Ocean Cruise. We look forward to your travelogue. Thank you for sharing with us.

[Liz Masterson]

I’ll be enjoying this itinerary in 2020. 

 

I was thinking it would be cool if there was a thread for each Itinerary Viking does.  

 

Postings would be things like reviews views of the itinerary and tips for best photo ops and excursions. 

 

Maybe ill I’ll start one! 

[Little Monty]

6 hours ago, Lotusgirl22 said:

LM - did you register for the Meet and Mingle?  If so, what arrangements did Viking make for that event?

 

Sorry but no, didn’t register. There were very few people in the Roll Call for this cruise.

 

I know it is possible others who weren’t in the Roll Call May have registered for M and M but I have read stories of Viking putting on a M and M spread and only a couple of people turning up .. so I didn’t want this to happen to DW and I.

 

As far as I can work out there is no way of telling how many people have registered for M and M (please correct me if I am mistaken 🙂).

[Little Monty]

2 hours ago, Scootoir said:

 

Thank you very much for posting this.  DH and I don't like to eat huge meals and hate to waste.  This might be one of the most useful things I have read about the ship.

 

We will be on the Viking Sky next month but our itinerary is different.  We start out in Bergen and I do appreciate what has been posted here.  

Thank you. Enjoy the trip.

[Little Monty]

55 minutes ago, Marianna49 said:

My hubby and I will be traveling on August 1. This is our first Viking Ocean Cruise. We look forward to your travelogue. Thank you for sharing with us.

 

My pleasure

[Lotusgirl22]

4 minutes ago, Little Monty said:

 

Sorry but no, didn’t register. There were very few people in the Roll Call for this cruise.

 

I know it is possible others who weren’t in the Roll Call May have registered for M and M but I have read stories of Viking putting on a M and M spread and only a couple of people turning up .. so I didn’t want this to happen to DW and I.

 

As far as I can work out there is no way of telling how many people have registered for M and M (please correct me if I am mistaken 🙂).

 

Thank you, LM.  For future reference, you can see how many and who (with their CC name) are registered for the meet and greet.  Enjoy your cruise! 😊

[Little Monty]

16 minutes ago, Lotusgirl22 said:

 

Thank you, LM.  For future reference, you can see how many and who (with their CC name) are registered for the meet and greet.  Enjoy your cruise! 😊

 

Thank you .. please tell me more.

 

Where do I look ?

[Lotusgirl22]

12 minutes ago, Little Monty said:

 

Thank you .. please tell me more.

 

Where do I look ?

 

You go to and select the Meet and Mingle box at the top of the Viking Ocean forum page, and under the select a ship box, it reads something like “view your registered party information” and when that is viewed, it shows the cruise for which you signed up for the M and M.  It also has an option to view who is going.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Liz Masterson said:

I’ll be enjoying this itinerary in 2020. 

 

I was thinking it would be cool if there was a thread for each Itinerary Viking does.  

 

Postings would be things like reviews views of the itinerary and tips for best photo ops and excursions. 

 

Maybe ill I’ll start one! 

 

Great idea! I'd been thinking the same. Let's not hijack this thread talking about here. I'll meet you on the roll call and we can talk about it.

[Little Monty]

In Ålesund today. It’s cold and windy with rain periods.

 

We did the included walking tour this morning. Walking tours are of course dependent on decent weather and a good guide. We got lucky, only a few spots of rain and the guide was quite good.

 

The guide provided the right mix of history, culture and more light hearted information.

 

The town is a joy to look at and easy to walk around. The art nouveau style is wonderful and most of the buildings are in pristine condition.

 

The walk is mainly on flat ground although there is a steep-ish climb to a lookout point and then steep-ish decent on the other side and a couple of people struggled with that climb and decent.

 

As an aside, it was our first time with the Quietvox system and it worked very well .. but the earpiece is a bit difficult to keep in place (I’m pretty sure you can BYO earpiece if you have one as the jack is ‘standard’ for the want of a better word). In case I have confused anyone .. the Quietvox system has the guide talking into a microphone around his neck and through the magic of Bluetooth or something similar you can hear him through your earpiece even if you are 50m or more away. Your earpiece is attached to a small gadget which you hang around your neck.

 

All very simple, perhaps not so well explained 🤪

 

Above the park in the town centre there is a climb to a further lookout (not part of the tour) .. 412 steps up and 412 steps down. The path looks narrow and there are people going up and down at the same time but only one hand rail.

 

We might go up later.

 

We had time to do a second excursion this afternoon but to be honest nothing else on offer was of interest.

 

Not long after we arrived back on ship it started raining heavily. Hopefully that will clear shortly and we can go for another walk.

 

Each day at lunch time they have a special offering in the pool area .. kababs on Tue, various wraps yesterday, pasta made to order today. I had a pasta dish and it was delicious .. followed by the excellent gelato 🍧 

 

As I look out over the balcony there is a little blue sky and a hint of sunshine. Time for a walk. 

[Little Monty]

22 hours ago, cruiser02 said:

 

Silly questions:   Is the mini-bar restocked daily ?  

 

Yes.

 

We were here when the mini bar guy came through. We asked him to replace the empty bottle of Chardonnay with something else.

 

He said no problems and left us a nice looking French drop - which we will try tonight.

[cruiser02]

2 hours ago, Little Monty said:

 

Yes.

 

We were here when the mini bar guy came through. We asked him to replace the empty bottle of Chardonnay with something else.

 

He said no problems and left us a nice looking French drop - which we will try tonight.

Thanks   We are on the Jupiter June 9th  transferring from the river Hlin in Amsterdam  Hope the weather improves a tad.   

Looking forward to our 1st ocean adventure on Viking 

[Peregrina651]

On 5/29/2019 at 10:29 AM, cruiser02 said:

Silly questions:   Is the mini-bar restocked daily ?  Free laundry ? 

 

General answer for all categories.

 

Mini-bars are restocked daily except for V category and filled according to cabin category. Additional stock can be purchased regardless of cabin. Mini-bar content is not covered by the drinks package. Even after stocking, there is plenty of room for BYO bottles and groceries (like local cheese and charcuterie).

 

Free laundry service is a perk for categories PS and above. Free launderette (detergent included) are available to all.

 

For details of perks for each cabin category, go to https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/ships/viking-sea.html

Scroll down and click on See More to see all of the cabins. All six ships are alike, so it does not matter which ship you look at.

[cruiser02]

13 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

General answer for all categories.

 

Mini-bars are restocked daily except for V category and filled according to cabin category. Additional stock can be purchased regardless of cabin. Mini-bar content is not covered by the drinks package. Even after stocking, there is plenty of room for BYO bottles and groceries (like local cheese and charcuterie).

 

Free laundry service is a perk for categories PS and above. Free launderette (detergent included) are available to all.

 

For details of perks for each cabin category, go to https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/ships/viking-sea.html

Scroll down and click on See More to see all of the cabins. All six ships are alike, so it does not matter which ship you look at.

Thanks  We are in PS 

[retiredman]

Following your posts closely LM. As we are on the August 1st sailing, we appreciate any information you can provide. If you have the opportunity, could you post the schedule for 

chefs table menu and maybe Captains reception ( if there is one). We select our dinner reservations this weekend and it may be of some help. Please do not go out of your way since  I believe we will be able to make changes once on board. Have a fantastic trip!

 

[Marianna49]

I don't remember if I asked already 😕, how is the internet speed? Thanks.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, retiredman said:

Following your posts closely LM. As we are on the August 1st sailing, we appreciate any information you can provide. If you have the opportunity, could you post the schedule for 

chefs table menu and maybe Captains reception ( if there is one). We select our dinner reservations this weekend and it may be of some help. Please do not go out of your way since  I believe we will be able to make changes once on board. Have a fantastic trip!

 

 

Chef's Table menus are not tied to the itinerary. You should be able to see the  Chef's Table offerings for your sailing on MVJ, where you made your reservations. And, yes, you should be able to make changes to your reservations once you board.