UK Only Viking Venus Cruise

[rachiem]

If we decide to take the drinks package, will they deliver a drink to your room?

Also, with the champagne being over the $15 limit, do you pay the extra or have to pay the full price?

[TayanaLorna]

1 minute ago, rachiem said:

If we decide to take the drinks package, will they deliver a drink to your room?

Also, with the champagne being over the $15 limit, do you pay the extra or have to pay the full price?

We had drinks delivered via room service along with food.  Never tried drinks only.  For single drink over $15, you pay full price.  However you get a 15% discount off bottles of champagne.

[rachiem]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

We had drinks delivered via room service along with food.  Never tried drinks only.  For single drink over $15, you pay full price.  However you get a 15% discount off bottles of champagne.

Thank you 😊 

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

We had drinks delivered via room service along with food.  Never tried drinks only.  For single drink over $15, you pay full price.  However you get a 15% discount off bottles of champagne.

 

Yes, fellow CC members have talked about having drinks only delivered via room service.

 

The 15% discount applies to any bottle of wine or bar drink over $50 -- and yes there are shots of whiskey/whisky that cost over $50, especially in Torshavn.

 

 

 

 

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Yes, fellow CC members have talked about having drinks only delivered via room service.

 

The 15% discount applies to any bottle of wine or bar drink over $50 -- and yes there are shots of whiskey/whisky that cost over $50, especially in Torshavn.

 

 

 

 

That's right the Armagnac's and Single Malt Scotch in Torshavn get up there. Thx 

[Heidi13]

9 hours ago, kittycrews said:

Looking for retirement near sea and cutural centre, play golf all year round on links course, easy to get to Europe.

 

You are certainly spoiled for choices when it comes to links golf. Lots of courses, even Open Championship Courses, on both sides of the Firth of Forth.

[jenna37]

10 hours ago, kittycrews said:

Looking for retirement near sea and cutural centre, play golf all year round on links course, easy to get to Europe.

 

I love golf. I play 4 times a week . It is a shame that we cannot take our own tour as Royal Lytham is only a short drive from where we dock.

[NeilP57]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

You are certainly spoiled for choices when it comes to links golf. Lots of courses, even Open Championship Courses, on both sides of the Firth of Forth.

With Gullane #1, Luffness and North Berwick almost as good as the two trophy Open Courses. The relative newcomers at The Renaissance Club and Kings Barns not too shoddy either!  
 

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, NeilP57 said:

With Gullane #1, Luffness and North Berwick almost as good as the two trophy Open Courses. The relative newcomers at The Renaissance Club and Kings Barns not too shoddy either!  
 

 

Same in St Andrews. When I was a kid we had a mere 4 courses, but I believe they now have 10 or 11 courses within a few miles of the town. The relatively new Duke's Course was built in the fields in front of where I used to live.

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, jenna37 said:

I love golf. I play 4 times a week . It is a shame that we cannot take our own tour as Royal Lytham is only a short drive from where we dock.

 

I vaguely remember those days of 4+ rounds per week, when we played any of the courses at St Andrews after school. In those days, after 17:00 you could just walk on the Old Course.

 

Then I moved to Canada and 1 round, on a 2nd rate course, cost more than unlimited golf on 4 courses, one of which was the "Old Course", for an entire year.

[kittycrews]

15 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

You are certainly spoiled for choices when it comes to links golf. Lots of courses, even Open Championship Courses, on both sides of the Firth of Forth.

In our heyday, we belonged to North Berwick, Dunbar and Craigielaw. Sadly, we've gone to social membership only. But in our 32 years we've managed to play hundreds of courses and volunteered at many championships including 3 opens at Muirfield!

Edited May 30, 2021 by kittycrews
Needed to add more info.

[Jammy Bun]

14 hours ago, jenna37 said:

I love golf. I play 4 times a week . It is a shame that we cannot take our own tour as Royal Lytham is only a short drive from where we dock.

and about 10 minutes walk from my home! 😊  (Though I do not like golf!)

[uktog]

Aren’t we lucky - and we can enjoy Sunday walks on the Old Course in St Andrews. We regularly play at St Andrews ok let’s be honest we play The Himalayas, the best and most challenging putting course in the world. 

[arlowood]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

Aren’t we lucky - and we can enjoy Sunday walks on the Old Course in St Andrews. We regularly play at St Andrews ok let’s be honest we play The Himalayas, the best and most challenging putting course in the world. 

Don't forget the other potential gems in the East Neuk - Balcomie links in Crail and the course at Elie. If you're pushed for time then you could also try the quaint little 9 hole course in Anstruther.

[uktog]

14 minutes ago, arlowood said:

Don't forget the other potential gems in the East Neuk - Balcomie links in Crail and the course at Elie. If you're pushed for time then you could also try the quaint little 9 hole course in Anstruther.

Followed by fish and chips. Even William and Kate went back to their old haunt last week 

[MikeD1000]

Still looking for more info and hints from the cruise returnees please. We love Anstruther fish and chips and their ice cream also.

[arlowood]

1 hour ago, MikeD1000 said:

Still looking for more info and hints from the cruise returnees please. We love Anstruther fish and chips and their ice cream also.

If you have access to Facebook there is a users group called "We Love Viking Cruises (UK)" where several passengers on the first cruise have reported what procedures were in place and also their impressions of the ship, food and the various excursions

[MikeD1000]

Sorry, we don't

[pcolmer]

On 5/29/2021 at 7:37 AM, MikeD1000 said:

Please does anyone have any reflections on the cruise which ended today?

 

I've put together the following but I would want to emphasise that my wife & I were first-time Viking cruisers so don't have any previous Viking experience to compare against, and this was Viking's first cruise with their COVID protocols in place so the experience of subsequent cruisers is likely to be different as the protocols get eased.

 

COVID Protocols
There were several layers to testing and keeping everyone safe:

• Social distancing. Where necessary, some chairs/seats were marked with a "do not sit" sign. There was additional signage to show that certain seats could only be used by passengers from the same stateroom. Elevators and pools were capacity-restricted. Seating in excursion buses and coaches was also socially distanced.
• Masks in public areas, only to be removed if eating/drinking. Passengers were really good at complying with this, often being embarrassed or apologising if (for example) they went up to the buffet and had forgotten to put their mask back on.
• Temperature checks. Facial-recognition & temperature-checking camera systems at the World Cafe, the Restaurant and Guest Services. My wife & I did not need to remove our masks but some passengers did in order for the facial recognition to work.
• Sanitising. In addition to soap & water at the World Cafe, there were automated sanitisers ALL OVER THE PLACE! These were *really good* systems as well, dispensing a short burst of spray rather than sanitiser liquid which can often be hard to dry on your hands.
• PCR tests. OK, possibly the worst aspect in terms of generating 2ml of saliva each morning but it was in the comfort and privacy of your own stateroom and I would much rather go through this than be on a cruise ship that wasn't testing and therefore run the risk of the virus spreading.

It was made clear that the rules are likely to change over time. Certainly, on the last night in the Star Theatre, they did reduce the amount of social distancing (i.e. more seats could be used) but it wasn't entirely clear to me if that was going to be permanent for the next cruise or just because we were leaving the ship the next morning. It would be interesting to hear from subsequent cruisers to see if anything else has changed.

 

Entertainment & Enrichment
There wasn't a lot of non-enrichment going on - two movies, one trivia quiz. Everything else was lectures and port talks. I hope that this mix is adjusted on future cruises as, for me, the lecture topics didn't really appeal. We loved the three musical shows and Sofia (the piano player) is outstanding.

 

The stateroom TV has a wide selection of movies and some interesting music on demand. There was a lot of pre-recorded Viking material plus recordings of lectures/talks that took place during the cruise. Live TV was about 50% news channels and the rest was a mix of content but, without an EPG of any sort, it was almost impossible to find something of interest to watch. I realise that the simplicity of the remote control is something that the Chairman has pushed for but I'd love to see the capability/flexibility of connecting your own laptop/table to the TV for watching your own content.

 

Internet access was really good. It is made clear up front that it is not to be used for streaming but everything else I used it for worked absolutely fine. The fact that it is free to crew and guests alike is a big gold star for Viking.

 

Food
The quality of the food was great to excellent. The temperature of the food was excellent and side dishes like the steamed vegetables were cooked perfectly. Menu choices were varied and we rarely chose one of the "always available" menu items. What was an absolute bonus was chatting to the staff in the World Cafe about the room service menu and being told that we could order items from that and eat them in the Cafe. The room service menu has some *really* nice items - I can definitely recommend the apple pie!

 

The afternoon tea is a delightful experience and you can have coffee if you don't like tea 🙂

 

It was really nice being able to take a glass of wine away from the meal to finish at your own pace elsewhere, e.g. in the Star Theatre.

 

Staff/crew
I am blown away by the staff & crew of the Viking Venus. They are all happy (particularly the captain!) and eager to talk to you. Many ask your name and then remember you next time they see you, and the next time, and the next ... 🙂. Some, like Putu (who some may know from other cruises), go above and beyond by recommending custom options - Putu particularly loved coming up with ice cream combos 🙂

 

Excursions
Often the trickiest part to evaluate a cruise for because they are not operated by the cruise company itself. That said, they are *picked* by the cruise company so I do hold them somewhat responsible.

As first-time Viking cruisers, we wanted to try both included and optional excursions. We'd already been to Liverpool so picked the included excursion which was a coach ride around parts of Liverpool but it was really let down by the commentary. Our guide said at least 3 times that he was rusty because he hadn't done this for so long. The route picked was all over the place, again with commentary about how it was disrupted by roadworks. I couldn't help but feel that some homework should have been done to be less rusty and plan the route in advance.

 

For the remaining ports, we picked optional walking tours. Of the two we did (because the Isles of Scilly was skipped), we enjoyed the Lizard the best for the scenery and the commentary. The Jurassic excursion was, we felt, paced too quickly, leaving us with almost no opportunity to actually take in the scenery or stop for photos. To cap it off, we had time to ourselves at the end, with the guide recommending we went to the pub ... which didn't really feel like that was within the Viking excursion rules but hey ho!

 

I was a bit disappointed with the pricing of the optional excursions. $99 for a walking tour per person seemed quite high.

 

The Ship
Venus is, to a large degree, identical to her sister ships so there probably isn't a lot of comparison to make here. All I would say, as a first-time Viking cruiser, is that the atmosphere was calm and quiet. There were so many times when we'd be walking around and see absolutely nobody. It does leave me with a niggling concern as to what a full ship will feel like - do the pool areas get crammed? Does the spa pool area get too busy? I hope we find out next year 🙂

 

[librarylady19]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences. Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

[MikeD1000]

Thank you so much pcolmer that was so helpful. One query did the men wear jackets in the evening?

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, pcolmer said:

 

I've put together the following but I would want to emphasise that my wife & I were first-time Viking cruisers so don't have any previous Viking experience to compare against, and this was Viking's first cruise with their COVID protocols in place so the experience of subsequent cruisers is likely to be different as the protocols get eased.

 

COVID Protocols
There were several layers to testing and keeping everyone safe:

• Social distancing. Where necessary, some chairs/seats were marked with a "do not sit" sign. There was additional signage to show that certain seats could only be used by passengers from the same stateroom. Elevators and pools were capacity-restricted. Seating in excursion buses and coaches was also socially distanced.
• Masks in public areas, only to be removed if eating/drinking. Passengers were really good at complying with this, often being embarrassed or apologising if (for example) they went up to the buffet and had forgotten to put their mask back on.
• Temperature checks. Facial-recognition & temperature-checking camera systems at the World Cafe, the Restaurant and Guest Services. My wife & I did not need to remove our masks but some passengers did in order for the facial recognition to work.
• Sanitising. In addition to soap & water at the World Cafe, there were automated sanitisers ALL OVER THE PLACE! These were *really good* systems as well, dispensing a short burst of spray rather than sanitiser liquid which can often be hard to dry on your hands.
• PCR tests. OK, possibly the worst aspect in terms of generating 2ml of saliva each morning but it was in the comfort and privacy of your own stateroom and I would much rather go through this than be on a cruise ship that wasn't testing and therefore run the risk of the virus spreading.

It was made clear that the rules are likely to change over time. Certainly, on the last night in the Star Theatre, they did reduce the amount of social distancing (i.e. more seats could be used) but it wasn't entirely clear to me if that was going to be permanent for the next cruise or just because we were leaving the ship the next morning. It would be interesting to hear from subsequent cruisers to see if anything else has changed.

 

Entertainment & Enrichment
There wasn't a lot of non-enrichment going on - two movies, one trivia quiz. Everything else was lectures and port talks. I hope that this mix is adjusted on future cruises as, for me, the lecture topics didn't really appeal. We loved the three musical shows and Sofia (the piano player) is outstanding.

 

The stateroom TV has a wide selection of movies and some interesting music on demand. There was a lot of pre-recorded Viking material plus recordings of lectures/talks that took place during the cruise. Live TV was about 50% news channels and the rest was a mix of content but, without an EPG of any sort, it was almost impossible to find something of interest to watch. I realise that the simplicity of the remote control is something that the Chairman has pushed for but I'd love to see the capability/flexibility of connecting your own laptop/table to the TV for watching your own content.

 

Internet access was really good. It is made clear up front that it is not to be used for streaming but everything else I used it for worked absolutely fine. The fact that it is free to crew and guests alike is a big gold star for Viking.

 

Food
The quality of the food was great to excellent. The temperature of the food was excellent and side dishes like the steamed vegetables were cooked perfectly. Menu choices were varied and we rarely chose one of the "always available" menu items. What was an absolute bonus was chatting to the staff in the World Cafe about the room service menu and being told that we could order items from that and eat them in the Cafe. The room service menu has some *really* nice items - I can definitely recommend the apple pie!

 

The afternoon tea is a delightful experience and you can have coffee if you don't like tea 🙂

 

It was really nice being able to take a glass of wine away from the meal to finish at your own pace elsewhere, e.g. in the Star Theatre.

 

Staff/crew
I am blown away by the staff & crew of the Viking Venus. They are all happy (particularly the captain!) and eager to talk to you. Many ask your name and then remember you next time they see you, and the next time, and the next ... 🙂. Some, like Putu (who some may know from other cruises), go above and beyond by recommending custom options - Putu particularly loved coming up with ice cream combos 🙂

 

Excursions
Often the trickiest part to evaluate a cruise for because they are not operated by the cruise company itself. That said, they are *picked* by the cruise company so I do hold them somewhat responsible.

As first-time Viking cruisers, we wanted to try both included and optional excursions. We'd already been to Liverpool so picked the included excursion which was a coach ride around parts of Liverpool but it was really let down by the commentary. Our guide said at least 3 times that he was rusty because he hadn't done this for so long. The route picked was all over the place, again with commentary about how it was disrupted by roadworks. I couldn't help but feel that some homework should have been done to be less rusty and plan the route in advance.

 

For the remaining ports, we picked optional walking tours. Of the two we did (because the Isles of Scilly was skipped), we enjoyed the Lizard the best for the scenery and the commentary. The Jurassic excursion was, we felt, paced too quickly, leaving us with almost no opportunity to actually take in the scenery or stop for photos. To cap it off, we had time to ourselves at the end, with the guide recommending we went to the pub ... which didn't really feel like that was within the Viking excursion rules but hey ho!

 

I was a bit disappointed with the pricing of the optional excursions. $99 for a walking tour per person seemed quite high.

 

The Ship
Venus is, to a large degree, identical to her sister ships so there probably isn't a lot of comparison to make here. All I would say, as a first-time Viking cruiser, is that the atmosphere was calm and quiet. There were so many times when we'd be walking around and see absolutely nobody. It does leave me with a niggling concern as to what a full ship will feel like - do the pool areas get crammed? Does the spa pool area get too busy? I hope we find out next year 🙂

 

Thank you for commentary.  We have been on 2 Viking ocean cruises with full capacity and many sea days.  Never found the public spaces crowded, hard to get a pool lounger or a window seat in the Explorers Lounge or a full hot tub or spa.

[Jammy Bun]

28 minutes ago, MikeD1000 said:

Thank you so much pcolmer that was so helpful. One query did the men wear jackets in the evening?

 

I wasn't on this cruise but have cruised with Viking several times before, and in normal times I would say the answer to this is NO... in fact, my OH did not even take a jacket with us on our last (4+ weeks) cruise.  Not necessary, nor is glitz and glamour for the women.

 

This being an entirely British cruise, with some first timers who might be more accustomed to the dress codes of Cunard/P&O/Fred, I think there may have been a few jackets visible... so I await an answer too from recent cruisers!

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

Aren’t we lucky - and we can enjoy Sunday walks on the Old Course in St Andrews. We regularly play at St Andrews ok let’s be honest we play The Himalayas, the best and most challenging putting course in the world. 

 

Last time over visiting my dad, we thoroughly enjoyed walking the Old Course on a Sunday, brought back some great memories. Had to stop at the Jigger Inn, one of my old haunts, for a refreshment and then check out the school playing fields across the street.

 

Himalayas, yes, a most aptly named putting course.😁

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, kittycrews said:

In our heyday, we belonged to North Berwick, Dunbar and Craigielaw. Sadly, we've gone to social membership only. But in our 32 years we've managed to play hundreds of courses and volunteered at many championships including 3 opens at Muirfield!

 

Living in St Andrews, we didn't need to join any club. We purchased an annual pass from the Links Trust and had unlimited golf on all courses for a year. When under 18, I believe it cost me about UKP 25.😀