Berlin Bear

Thank you. That is good to hear. So, I shall simply presume that these drinks are included at mealtimes and go ahead and order them 😊. If refused, I shall refer to all your experiences. i love this crowdsourcing function of CC!

Aha - thanks for this additional information. As it’s an ocean cruise we’re looking at at the moment, I can probably rely on being able to order „complimentary“ non-alcoholic beer with lunch and dinner, but possibly/probably not non-alcoholic wine. OK, I can live with that 😄.

You are all so helpful - thanks for answering my question! Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Thanks for confirming. Was that included in the „complimentary inclusive wines, beers and soft drinks at mealtimes“?

Thanks for the tip. We frequently cruise on the German Mein Schiff (TUI Cruises). They have a really good selection of non-alcoholic cocktails which are not too sweet. But no wine of the non-alcoholic variety at all unfortunately.

Many thanks for these speedy replies. I can imagine it being the case for non- alcoholic beer, but was less sure about the wine. I know, non-alcoholic wine is not always particularly palatable, but at least it gives us the choice 😉

A simple question - are non-alcoholic beers and wines included at mealtimes? As we now drink very little alcohol, it’s not really worth us getting the SSP, but we would be very happy to drink something other than water, juice or lemonade with our meals. We‘ve had the SSP in the past, so I know that non-alcoholic beer and wine are available on board, just not sure whether they are included. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

I was born and bred in Liverpool so we don’t take ship tours when we’re there on a cruise - three times up to now. But on our last visit there we had my SIL with us. It was her first visit to Liverpool so we decided to take a City and Beatles tour leaving from the Albert Dock (about ten minutes walk from the ship) on a double decker bus. We booked it in advance via get your guide, but you can also just turn up. We drove through the city centre out towards the two cathedrals and then through the leafier areas of Liverpool to Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, John‘s and Paul‘s houses. We had a very knowledgeable guide who sung to us and it was great fun. The trip took an hour and a half, leaving plenty of time to do other things.

When the gangway is really steep they provide a service to drive you up or down - at least they did in June 2022 when we were last there.

Hi all, born and bred Liverpudlian here - you can, in fact, see the three graces from the ship. If you stroll past these buildings you‘ll get to the Royal Albert Dock where the Maritime Museum is located. It really isn’t far - perhaps ten minutes at the most. The International Slavery Museum in the same building is also well worth a visit. Last time we docked in Liverpool we took a City and Beatles bus tour from the Albert Dock. We had my SIL with us and the tour, which took one and a half hours, gave her a good overview of the city centre and some of the leafier areas of Liverpool, including the two cathedrals. Really worth considering. Whatever, it’s a very walkable city.

Following your crossing with great interest. We did Buenos Aires to Barcelona in March 2022 and would actually like to repeat this trip sometime soon, as Brazil, Senegal and Morocco were not open for business at the time, we missed Punta del Este (a replacement for the Brazilian ports) because of high winds, and we spent the first 10 days in quarantine! So please keep reporting on your experiences! Regarding the use of former prisons, we’ve experienced a few good examples over the years - Dornoch Jail in Scotland was also turned into shops selling clothes and arty gifts in 2000, in Ribe (Denmark) we spent a couple of nights in Den Gamle Arrest, the former prison, in a very small cell, and a while ago I attended a meeting in the Stirling Old Town Jail (also Scotland). Great idea turning these old buildings into something useful and attractive.

I also find this very interesting. It would be really nice if you could post these offers under the thread Post Viking Promos. Up to now e are only seeing promotions for the US market.

An interesting article from today’s Guardian about recent developments in Cyprus https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/13/cyprus-becomes-safe-haven-after-hamas-attack-israel-middle-east

Interesting - we never receive promotional emails from Viking despite having booked several times through the UK office. And we don’t have access to the UK website either. Would you mind letting me know what prices are being quoted for the Athens to Rome trip on 20 December? Many thanks!

Ok, living in Germany I’ll jump on that one. We found coffee on Viking to be weaker than our normal (not too strong) German coffee brands. So you should be ok.

Not a big fan of Heathrow, but our flight last year from Heathrow to Buenos Aires with BA - booked by Viking - in economy was absolutely fine. Wouldn’t hesitate to use the airline for long haul again.

Dear Mr. Hagen, Stop ignoring your fellow mainland European citizens / potential customers! Please make it possible for us to book a Viking cruise either through a Viking office based somewhere on the continent or through our travel agents. Thank you! It’s not going to happen, I know.

Fully agree. Casablanca was our first port on our first cruise in 2011 and we had no idea what we were doing at the time. We simply took the shuttle bus into town from the industrial port and wandered through the open air market to the mosque which was very impressive. We were incredibly lucky in being able to join a small German-speaking group (there were four of us) to tour the mosque, including the hammam.

Envy🤢. When we sailed from Manhattan on the Viking Sea in October 2018, we were, despite a full ship, completely alone on deck! Made ourselves comfortable on a sofa. We put it down to the fact that our North American sailing companions had seen it all before 😁

Did you manage to leave Heathrow before the air traffic control network failure? Keeping my fingers crossed for a safe departure and looking forward to following your travels!

I quite liked this one, seen in Nairobi. Note to myself - try to look busy when sitting

Well, we’ve certainly gone off topic now, but we’d love to repeat the trip as well. Although we spent 10 days in quarantine, we actually only missed one port - Montevideo.

Nothing at all, of course. I was simply bemoaning the fact that the European owner does not cater for his fellow European citizens - tongue-in-cheek, so to speak I really like the Viking Ocean product, but I think we must all recognize that the owner has been very smart in choosing such a streamlined business concept (English language passengers only on identical ships). This is not a criticism, it is simply stating a fact. Still love the ships though!🤩

BTW, shipboy, I believe we were on the Southern Atlantic Crossing together in March 2022.

Ok, thank you. I will try that.