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austinetc

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  • Posts

    599
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Oceanside, CA
  • Interests
    wine, books, motorcycle, baseball
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Viking
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    The last one. Or the next one.

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austinetc's Achievements

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

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  1. I'm not 100% sure today. It was my experience in 2015. Since then I keep a card in the slot. We were on the first Ocean ship in it's first year. Perhaps they made an adjustment.
  2. If I recall correctly, when the card is removed from the device, not only do the lights go out, but also power to the outlets. So if you carry lots of things that need charging, it's wise to use a fake card.
  3. The card is also used to lock/unlock the locker room lockers in the spa. Like a magic wand.
  4. Advice on this subject depends largely on how serious one is about wine. Back in our White Zinfandel days, what they pour would be fine. Now, their $8 wines leaves much to be desired. We're bringing wine with us. If the only alcohol you plan to consume is wine at meals, the SSBP is certainly not a good idea. Keep in mind that you can not only order an $8 glass, but also purchase a bottle for as little as $30. They'll save open bottles for you. Also, in my experience they will let you taste as many $8 wines as you'd like before you choose a glass. They also pour very generously.
  5. In my experience, one of the good/bad things about Viking is their extremely hot water.
  6. We had tickets in our hand only to learn the night before that the excursion was canceled. By asking, not by being told. We got apologies (every time the director saw us from then on), a refund, and credit. There are so many moving parts on a cruise, I'm surprised when things work without a hitch. Because I assume things will go wrong, I book once, check twice (at least). As long as Viking continues to buy us off with credit, I'm fine if they sometimes want to cover errors with a little mendacity.
  7. I spied this poster on the inside of a crew's entrance door. Viking river cruise in Portugal.
  8. We’re boarding the Jupiter in a few weeks. I’m afraid of some brain drain when experienced crew members transfer over to the Saturn.
  9. What is yours? I think whatever criteria Viking uses to select (and keep) their staff is the biggest asset they have going. Mine was actually on a Viking River cruise in Portugal. We were circumnavigating the Iberian peninsula at the time by car, so I needed to find long-term parking during the cruise. I short-term parked the car near the boat and asked Sara at the front desk for any long-term parking information. Sara didn't tell me. Instead, she walked me three blocks to the entrance! It actually wasn't that hard to find, making her effort all the more impressive.
  10. You are probably right. I hadn't made the connection. Viking reps never mentioned that as a precondition. They would put me on hold to ask a "supervisor", then come back with "good news". Duplicitous.
  11. In my experience the trick is to ask for six months out to PIF at the time of booking. I've never had the request refused.
  12. To recap from my originating question, it's clear that the people my sister saw tipping early and often on her Viking (transAtlantic) cruise don't participate on CruiseCritic. I'm glad to see it. No tipping it is (until perhaps the last day).
  13. I was on the Epic! Caribbean, 7 nights. 4600 LOUD passengers. Never again. So much tipping, which frankly didn't work from what I saw. There were lines at the bars.
  14. I was recently on an awful Norwegian cruise and was surprised by the amount of random tipping going on at the bars. There's a service charge for each drink. But now my sister, who just completed a Viking Cruise, also mentioned tipping at bars and the dining room. What is this about? I'm not insensitive to the crew's tremendous value, but one thing I stress over is whether or not to tip and how much. I luxuriate in the knowledge that tipping is included on Viking.
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