loriva

Også mig! My sister and I are following our Viking Homelands cruise with a Danish Heritage tour to see where our Mormor was born (Vejle) and where her family lived (Grenaa). Despite solidly Danish surnames--both ending in -sen--we've learned part of the family came from Sweden in the early 1800s. And then ended up just south of you--in Winona--when the family immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s.

Not on the question of buses, but in our experience if you book a SG that includes a meal, tea, or pub stop you will be there at the same time as the normal excursion group. So your SG may expand to a normal group.

You might want to post this as a new thread on the main board to get more views and responses,, @BenLynn. Regent did provide us with a transfer to their hotel in London from Southampton although our flight home was not for three days--BUT we were bumped from our flight home due to a hurricane in Florida, so our case may be unusual.

Thanks for your information, @duquephart. We're also looking to do the Vasa Museum, probably on embarkation day as our flight to Stockholm arrives too late the previous day to visit it then. DH has never been to Stockholm, so we are looking to take Viking's included tour the second day of the cruise. (We're on the same cruise as @SempreMare.) I've been trying to find a private option to the evening cruise in Stockholm our first night, but not finding any on the nights we are there. One company will not post its schedule for 2023 until April, so maybe then. I'd second the recommendations for Roskilde and the Flam RR. Did both many decades ago when I lived in Copenhagen. Roskilde gains in importance as the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo is closed for renovations (of course since we have lots of time there--an overnight--due to the change of itinerary stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine). It's a little bit complex to get to Roskilde from the port using public transit--excellent and reliable in Denmark--but given the 12 hours we have there, doable on your own. I may send DH on Viking's Flam excursion as he has not been. Thanks for the recommendation for the Pulpit Rock cruise!

Thanks @duquephart. Which ports historically are skipped on the Viking Homelands' itinerary? All times of the year? Or more likely some months? (We are sailing in May.) Many thanks,

On the same sailing as you, @SempreMare. Since we only have one sea day on this 15-day itinerary, wondering if some of the later arrivals (or early departures in Stockholm and Oslo) are to provide some additional daytime sailing time? It will be our first time on Viking Ocean as well as our first Baltic (albeit a modified one), so just speculating. Many thanks,

Looking at the information on the website of the U.S. Embassy Honduras, it states all visitors to Honduras must fill out and be prepared to show to Immigrations officials a "Pre-check form." It appears to be free to obtain and you obtain it through this website: https://prechequeo.inm.gob.hn/ It is unclear if this information is current or not. Has anyone done this? Been asked for the form on docking at Roatan? Many thanks,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I prefer NOT to use single-use cups. I would like to use my reusable insulated mug but want to know if the baristas on Viking will make my coffee in that or if it is no longer permitted due to hygiene reasons.

Thanks for the contributions to this thread through the years, including changes after the COVID pause. It has been very helpful as we prepare for our first Viking Ocean cruise after a great "Christmas on the Elbe" trip with Viking in December 2022. One question that someone who has sailed recently might be able to answer. I noticed a suggestion to take insulated mugs for coffee to-go from the baristas. (Or potentially, the self-service coffee maker in the World Cafe.) This is something we have done for years--especially mugs with handles that allow me to carry both in one hand and have the other hand free to open doors, etc. On a cruise with Princess (our go-to line for many years) in August 2022, however, the baristas said they were not allowed to use personal mugs for coffee anymore per new hygiene protocols. Does anyone know if Viking baristas will still make a coffee drink--latte, Americano, etc.--using personal mugs or not? If not, does Viking have the cardboard carriers to allow transport of multiple cups--although I still hate to waste paper cups every day. Or do they make coffee in real mugs? Trying to figure out if I should pack ours or not. (Thanks as well for information on the Nespresso makers and the pod choices in the stateroom.) Many thanks,

We had a very similar experience with Regent Custom Air when we booked on 23 January (270 days before we embark our Med cruise.) I had used Google Air to research potential flight itineraries and compared pricing booking directly, through AmEx's International Air Program, and even with a consolidator. I was, however, curious on what the Regent Air agent would suggest as an itinerary (Orlando-Venice and return Athens-MCO) so started by asking after I made it through the queue (about a 45-minute wait). She suggested a routing on United through EWR that would have come with a $2,300/pp upcharge. I asked her to take a look at the Lufthansa routing (MCO-FRA-VCE and ATH-FRA-MCO) I had found. She was able to reserve that without an upcharge, but we will need to take an earlier LH flight out of Athens instead of the Aegean one I had found--we're staying two additional nights on our own in Athens after we disembark, so an early flight is not an issue. The pricing was $2,500 (air credit on our cruise fare) plus the $175 air deviation fee. This was about $1,200/pp less than I could find independently--even the agent at the consolidator told me I should take it from Regent! We are in business class for the entire routing--including the two intra-European flights. (The agent said that was why she could not book Aegean--she could not find biz class seats.) The only hiccup is that our TA (the big box store one) had not noted I could work directly with Regent on the air. I did not encounter this when I booked air with Regent for a British Isles cruise in September 2021. The agent promised me a callback so I could call my TA. I did so (and had them also annotate our other two bookings for 2024 and 2025). The agent called me back about an hour after the promised time and we finalized everything. She sent me the proposed itinerary, which I returned with our approval. It took a few days to show up on my Regent account but is there now. Based on my experience--only two air bookings with Regent--it is difficult to beat their pricing to Europe. (Unless you have miles to use, of course. We're using those for our Viking Ocean Baltic cruise in May as Viking's air prices are close to market from what my research has found.) We MAY be able to do better independently on our upcoming Sydney to Singapore and Papeete to Auckland itineraries with Regent, but time will tell. Safe travels all,

Thanks for the list, @GeorgiaPeach51. As others have noted, some old favorites and some I will need to seek out. I laughed out loud to see Tim Dorsey's name on the list--he's an acquired taste and it helps if you know something about life in Florida. But if you like series about crazy, genius serial killers and drug-addict sidekicks, the series is hysterical. Dorsey comes out with a new one every year with the latest due this month. You are correct to link him with Carl Hiaasen as "Florida Man" fiction as well! I just finished the Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott series. You'll need LOTS of sea days to finish the six-book series--I think the books average about 1,000 pages. Cinemax has made a show based on the series, but i have not seen it. Take care and happy reading,

Having read about the pistachio buns somewhere in the 76 pages of "Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers," inquiring minds want to know--what has happened to them? Are they gone for good? Or just a morning offering?

Do the drinks at HH need to be drunk by the same person? DH and I--at most--will drink one cocktail apiece before dinner and a glass of wine with dinner, so not planning on buying the beverage package. We plan to bring on some wine and pay the corkage to drink that at dinner (and have O save the remainder for another night) but interested if O allows us to split the HH cocktails or not.

We had one when we lived in the UK. The only way to get it to work somewhat was to use the cycle that took many hours--six? more?--and run loads overnight. (Do not think that would be realistic on board.) Even then I had to hang items coming out to get them thoroughly dry. I hope this is only on the older VO ships, not an "improvement" Viking is making.

First-time Oceania cruisers, so will be O Club members after our sailing next month. Can the O Club member discount be combined with other offers? For example, OLife, OBC offers from TA,, and the NCLH shareholder benefits? We found in booking our upcoming cruise that the latter two could not be combined with the Florida Residents' fare, so curious if the same applies to O Club fares.

Yes, you are absolutely correct--per cabin, not per person. Shows up on My Account on Oceania.com as ppp. And the numbers work out even--pp and per cabin--in our case as we are two in a cabin. Sorry for the mis-statement and any confusion created. Thank you for the correction!

First time with Oceania next month. If you buy the Prestige package do you have a selection of better wines included than with the Select package? My comparison is with Viking, where the Silver Spirits beverage package includes upgraded wine selections, including bottles up to $75. Many thanks,

Do you recall how you booked this, @MEFIowa? The "Go with Gus" website shows a message of "no online availability" for any dates (whole months) when I try online booking. I used the "Contact Us" link over a week ago and have not received a response from that. The number that comes up with the "no availability" is completely different (even different area code) from the contact number on their website. I've had issues with other tour operators--even those with good reviews on CC.com or TripAdvisor--who have made fraudulent charges on our credit card, so am very careful now in booking. Many thanks,

We always do the math as well. The price difference between the Anniversary Sale price (after the air credit is deducted as we do not need it) and the cruise-only fare is $300/pp. We will be receiving $600/pp in OBC from the Anniversary Sale and the OLife package ($300/pp from each promotion). We will use that to pay for gratuities, a dinner or two in La Reserve, plus our bar bill including corkage for wines we'll carry on. I know many people find great value in taking the shorex package (where you could get up to $600/pp in value versus $300/pp OBC), but I found equivalent tours for the shorex that looked of interest to us on our Oceania cruise next month and found the prices much lower when done independently. One that I was sure was the same provider was $119 from O and $69 directly. So, a little better than 50 cents on the dollar, but not by much. We do not drink enough to find the drink packages work out for us, so won't take that OLife option nor buy a package. While I understand your point about an additional $200 outlay of cold, hard cash the value we'll receive from the $1,200 in OBC provides value to us. Even if it is only 50 cents on the dollar, we still seem to be ahead by $400 -- $1,200 divided in half equals $600 minus $200 equals $400.

I also found today that our cruise in December 2024 is included in the 20th Anniversary sale. The base fare went up $100/pp but we received an additional $300/pp OBC--so a net gain of $200/pp. Contacted our TA who contacted Oceania who "re-fared" our cruise. Essentially a new booking, but they moved our deposit over so no additional funds out of our pocket now and an extra $400 when we sail.

SpaceX just sent up another batch of Starlink satellites this morning so the plan is to keep growing capacity.

We have enjoyed our two cruises with Regent--one Caribbean on Explorer and a British Isles on Splendor. But they are very expensive. Which is why I'm doing a spreadsheet to compare actual costs of Oceania (no drinks package, gratuities, or shorex included--depending on OLife selection or cruise only), Viking (wine and beer included at lunch and dinner, no gratuities, shorex but usually panoramic), and Regent (all inclusive, including air and hotel if desired).

Thanks @PhD-ivafor starting this thread and all the interesting contributions. We are auditioning cruise lines to replace our long-time loyalty to Princess as, like others posting here, we prefer to sail on smaller ships. We have our first cruise with Oceania next month, another first with Viking Ocean in May, and our third with Regent in October. I've started a spreadsheet to compare costs and experiences. We sail primarily for the itinerary, so may never have loyalty to a single line. Thanks to all for thoughts and tips on Oceania.

Not sure about your specific case but do know that some benefits or offers are not combinable with all fare types. For example, we booked a Florida Residents' fare and could not receive the OBC from either our NCLH stock or AmEx CPP.

I wonder if Scenic's Australian base--they are a long-established Australian company--is so strong that they do not care about attracting new customers from the United States or Canada? (The UK website does not seem to have the same issues as the one we in North America use.) We have friends who were with Scenic for an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise in October 2022 and they reported most of the passengers on the cruise were Aussies.