mhb1757

We like the hotel across from the Radisson Blu. The Havenkontoret… very Norwegian, lovely service and the price included full breakfast, afternoon tea and waffles and a nice dinner buffet. It’s on the Bryggen and a Very short walk to Viking dock. Walkable to train station but maybe 15-20 minutes. Right by the Hanseatic museum where the lovely walking tours begin.

I booked a cruise mid May 2025, thru a TA not HAL direct. When we booked it was more than the 330 days out. Now I log in on the website and enter our departure city and dates and nothing happens. Is it because it has to be done thru the TA? I was hoping to be able to look at flight options myself often as availability and prices seem to fluctuate a lot. Any suggestions?

I haven’t ever cruised on a Pinnacle Class ship before. We currently have a VB cabin booked on the 4th deck (4169 to be exact). On the deck plans it looks like these cabins have a much deeper balcony than many of the other verandah cabins, even those in higher categories (VA, V, VS) Can anyone speak to this?

Thanks for all of these. My regular TA was on vacation when I booked and the lady filling in for her did not know about the upgrade. I did a dummy booking as suggested and sent my regular TA a couple of options based on what I could see as available and she got it worked out with HAL today. The cabin upgrade alone was worth more than the cost of the Club Orange.

Just booked a Baltic cruise with Club Orange added on Rotterdam for May, 2025. How (and when) do I go about booking the cabin upgrade? I booked thru a TA, but honestly if they’d let me I’d rather call HAL myself and see what’s available. I thought I had read somewhere on this board how to do that but I sure can’t find it anywhere now.

THANK YOU! This was exactly what I was looking for!

We board this week (Wednesday) in Vancouver. I was sure I had read somewhere on this board that HAL had a luggage drop near the check in area that you could enter from the street level so you didn’t have to go down the big ramp and wait in that long line and then go back up to street level to check in. I can’t find that info anywhere now so was that just wishful thinking on my part? Any info from folks that have departed from Vancouver recently would be appreciated. 😁

And buyer beware. I purchased $300 of these gift cards almost 2 weeks ago and still have not received them. My cc was billed right away. I have called twice, chatted on line twice and still no gift cards. They keep telling me they have to “verify my account” which they do with each contact and then they have to “escalate the inquiry” but after 4 “escalations” they still cannot seem to solve the problem and they refuse to refund my cc. If I don’t have gift cards by tomorrow I’m going to dispute the charges with my cc company. I know others have gotten these cards immediately without problems but this has been a ridiculous waste of time and very aggravating… all to save a lousy $24. One “customer service agent” (and I use that term very loosely) said there seemed to be a lot of glitches with the cruise gift cards lately and they were backed up getting them worked out. No clue if he actually knew what he was talking about but it sounded about right.

Thanks I’ll call in the AM. It is a gmail account I had them sent to!

Quick question for those that have purchased these cards…. I went online 3 days ago and purchased a couple hundred dollars worth to use for OBC on our upcoming cruise. The site said they would be delivered electronically. So far nothing…I have checked my spam folder and even the junk mail folder and nothing has been received. most e-gift cards are delivered within a few minutes of ordering. Has anyone else had a long delay receiving these?

I totally agree with Peregrina651 on this. I have done it both ways and there isn’t a single right answer. If booking air yourself is $900/pp cheaper, you have a good cushion in case “stuff” happens. Although you would have the aggravation of making new arrangements yourself. I would also throw into the mix that since covid Viking has out sourced their Air Plus service to some company that uses agents based in the Philippines that are very poorly trained for the most part and know very little about air travel and virtually nothing about Viking. Dealing with them has become a MAJOR pain in the neck (and elsewhere🤪). The good news is you can now select from several flight options on MVJ without paying the Air Plus fee or bursting a blood vessel in your brain from trying to work with their Air Plus “agents” that can’t figure out how to book flights. But you can always leave it on your reservation until you find something you want to book yourself or see what’s available thru Viking and then drop it as long as the flights have not been ticketed (which is usually just 60-75 days in advance).

Not sure that our situation is the same but we had booked a Russia and the Baltic cruise for June, 2020 (we chose this cruise because it gave us 3 days in St Petersburg and a day in Tallanin) It was canceled due to COVID so we took vouchers, rebooked same cruise for June, 2021… canceled again because of COVID. Rebooked with the vouchers again for June, 2022…. But then Putin couldn’t keep his mitts off Ukraine so our Russia and the Baltic became a Scenic Scandinavia cruise with no StPetersburg or Tallanin . I certainly understand why the itinerary changed and it definitely wasn’t Vikings fault, but we were not particularly keen on the new itinerary. Since the itinerary had changed substantially Viking allowed us to transfer that booking to a completely different cruise. The vouchers were originally from funds we paid back in 2019 and the original vouchers had long ago expired, however each time a cruise was canceled, new vouchers were issued with new expiration dates. And when the Russia itinerary changed significantly, they changed the booking to a different cruise using the same booking number we had for Russia. You didn’t specify how much your itinerary had changed but if Viking makes substantial changes you might want to make a case for having new vouchers issued or transferring the booking to a different cruise that’s more to your liking. If the itinerary changes were relatively minor I suspect you are out of luck and must abide by the terms of the vouchers.

So my question about the missed port coverage is this….do they just pay you the $200 if a port is missed or do they reimburse you up to $200 for non refundable excursions you had booked independently in that port and you submit a claim for those expenses?

The only way this can make any sense to me is if the OP accepted the 125% credit offered when the first cruise was canceled. Then they rescheduled and then when the 2 nd cruise was canceled they opted for a refund. Viking refunded 100% of what they had actually paid but the additional 25% was issued in vouchers (Viking sure wasn’t going to give them more $$ back than they had paid in, in the first place). And now they are mad because they are not going to use those vouchers. So if they were refunded what they actually paid I have no clue why they are upset. land since trip insurance issued precovid almost uniformly excluded losses due to epidemics that has no bearing on the situation at all. Or do I smell a troll?

GTYs often get “upgrades” but most often within the same category (I.e., you have a DV6 GTY and you get a DV3 or a DV4). I have read here of a few people with a V2 GTY that got a DV. But since they are all the same cabins just different locations on the ship I don’t think it makes much difference. I think it would be really rare for a V GTY to wind up in a PV cabin. There just aren’t that many PV cabins and I think they generally book up quickly. I have not read here of anyone in a GTY getting an upgrade for cash offer, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.

Don’t know what your next cruise is but generally speaking I have seen folks with walkers do fine. If your cruise has tender ports, that may well be a problem but getting on and off the ship when docked should not be an issue assuming you are stable and fit enough to handle the incline.

At that price you will likely be better off booking your own air. But the good news is you can leave Viking air on your reservation until the final payment (or sometimes even up until they ticket the flights) and then just drop it if you find better arrangements on your own after flight schedules for your dates are available. if you are going to Reykjavik early on your own, Viking wouldn’t provide transfers from the airport anyway so that’s no loss. And the ship is easy to get to from hotels in town.

You can always take your own luggage off the ship and leave as soon as the ship has been cleared by the local authorities… no clue exactly what time that will be on your specific cruise but you are welcome to take your own bags off.

It won’t be a problem booking excursions or dining. Your booking window will open with all the DV cabins since that is the category you booked. We have booked a DV GTY twice. Once the cabin was assigned within a few days of booking and once it wasn’t until we checked in. Both times we were “upgraded” from the DV6 we paid for to a DV 3 and DV4. But honestly it makes no real difference. Same cabin, just a different deck. It seems people have reported getting assigned a cabin anywhere from months in advance to check in. Keep an eye on MVJ because your cabin number often appears there a few days before they notify you by email. Never had any trouble getting our luggage either.

We have sailed twice in a DV6 cabin right by the forward elevators. Honestly they are my favorite cabins on the ship. Love deck 3. Sitting by the atrium overlook on deck 3 in the evening listening to the lovely music is one of my favorite places on the ship. Also like being close to the stairs and elevators. Laundry access is handy too. I wouldn’t hesitate to book a V1 or 2 cabin for a minute, they just aren’t ever available when we book. They are a bit farther from the elevators but that’s not a big deal IMHO.

We have also done both Viking Air and made our own arrangements. If the costs were close I tended to favor using Viking Air because of included transfers and then if something changed (cruise dates, port arrival time etc,) Viking would take care of it. We always paid the $50 fee for Air Plus and could pick our flights and have them ticketed long in advance so we could upgrade to medallion or extra legroom seats, etc. However, since Covid, Air Plus has been outsourced to some company in the Philippines that has very poorly trained agents that seem to know virtually nothing about air travel. Dealing with them ranges from laborious to the stuff nightmares are made of. Additionally, the fee has gone up from $50 to $100-150. So unless Viking offers free or almost free air I think I’m done using them for the foreseeable future. The awful service has reversed the equation.

I wouldn’t risk anywhere near a 1 hour connection at LHR. Even if it’s all BA you may have to change terminals. Everyone has their own risk tolerance but if you aren’t flying business it can take 15+ minutes to get off the plane and you have to be in the security line 35 minutes before scheduled departure. If you flight is even a few minutes late arriving and/or you have to change terminals you are out of luck.

We have had a GTY cabin twice on Viking. Once they posted a cabin assignment just a few days after we booked (many months before the cruise) and the other time we found out at the port. I have read reports of those getting cabin assignments at all points in between. Both times we were “upgraded” but within the same cabin category. From a DV6 to a DV4 once and a DV3 the other time. But honestly on Viking that just means you are on a higher deck and personally I like being on Deck 3 where the DV6 cabins are located and you have the nice atrium to sit by and listen to music in the evenings. But that’s just me. Others may prefer the higher decks. the staterooms are all the same until you get to the PV’s so there’s not much difference.

Can you give us some examples of low carb desserts? Except for some fruits I’m not coming up with any ideas here.

If you look on the excursion page for each port where there is a tile with a picture and short description, when an excursion is sold out it will move to the bottom of that list and it will be labeled as sold out. Also if you click on the individual excursion it will also show if it is sold out. Usually if there are only a few spots left it will show there as “Only 2 spots left” or similar.