philw1776

Up until a few years ago Viking River's minimum age was 12, not 18. As always, Viking staff was very welcoming. Later, we got a letter from our Tour Director reminiscing about our family's experience. There were several 3 generation families on the cruise before us and on our cruise. One 12 year old with siblings up to 21. Youngsters learned about France today & past, D Day, Bastile Day, Joan of Arc, and some learned about the Bayeux Tapestry. Hard to have a much better immersion in history experience. Elder sister, 16 at the time, at 18 went on Viking Ocean, Iceland. Now hooked as a Viking life experience person.

🙂 Redhead (like this grandfather once was) turned 14 day one of cruise. Viking made a big deal about it. Big sister was 16. Joan of Arc sites and Bastille Day completed the history lesson. They'd just studied the Bayeux Tapestry in school and were excited to see the real thing.

Took the Commonwealth tour with 3 generations 4 years ago. Pegasus Bridge was great. Lots of UK school kids visiting that July day. Cruise Director had my wife & our oldest granddaughter lay the wreath near Juno. Great history lessons.

Great topic. I am not happy with Viking on this issue. Pay $$ for a PV so I can book early, yet everyone who is already on the cruise can book BOTH excursions and preferred times before I can book. Not easy or even possible to find out beforehand if this is the situation.

Acadia & Bar Harbor are very nice but no way would I bus ride 5+ hours to visit them. YMMV.

Not I said the cat. But reservations easy to get once onboard in my experiences.

Yes you get the discount. Once you go ACH you never go back. It keeps using the ACH info as you enter optional excursions later for THAT cruise.

Precisely. I booked Into the Midnight Sun excited to take tours like Churchill's War Room and it never appeared on MVJ, Viking rep told me that not all advertised tours are available on all sailings. Bummer. (Flying early & doing it on our own)

I hiked it but in good weather. I dead reckoned and did it alone. The route starts out with dirt switchbacks and the last portion is downhill through paved streets if this helps.

I agree that once onboard spots open up. ALWAYS for Included tours and sometimes for SOLD OUT optional tours. I believe that Viking quietly reserves some spots to accommodate those shut out in the reservation process. AND people onboard often cancel optional tours. Seen it happen often. I'm one. But here is where Viking is potentially shooting themselves in the foot regarding customer satisfaction. Some of us book higher priced cabins thinking favored excursions that made us book the cruise will readily be available. Now Viking is often chaining cruises together. I booked a 14 day cruise only to find out that three (3) different cruises that start earlier will already be onboard. Not a problem EXCEPT that these three cruises will be able to reserve the optional cruises a week before we get our chance. I expect lots of SOLD OUT signs on excursions.

Happened in 2023. 2022 was a misprint. Le$$on learned by SpaceX.

Love puffins but Vigur is almost impossible to book. Had a PV cabin and tour was Sold Out. Not happy.

Is this code words for, "We are bring Dogs on the Ship"?

Broken record post.

In my phone call Saturday with Viking tellus I addressed that when they mentioned ADA. I said that's the AMERICAN Disabilities Act, not the Norwegian, Italian, etc. I asked if it was just on US departing cruises that the animals were aboard. She did not know. The weakest part of her response when she stated that they cleaned the staterooms so well that dog allergies couldn't happen to the next occupant. Baloney. But I did not respond because I like the idea of Viking cleaning their staterooms as well as is practically possible. Maybe lemonade from the dogs aboard lemons. Daughter & 18 yr old granddaughter allergic to dogs. No question Viking is feeling the heat on this one. Keep it up peeps. Silversea explicitly does not allow this stuff to happen.

Viking tellus called me. I informed them about my experience with service animal behavior and their owner+animal training. I emphasized that the issue was ALLEGED service animals, noticeable by their untrained behavior. Suggested that when guests notice such behavior (feeding dogs from table, dogs on furniture)* from owners+animals that should not have been let aboard that staff not handle it but that Hotel Manager or Restaurant Manager level handle the issue by discretely putting the guest on notice. Guest should be told that repeated pet bad behavior is grounds for being removed from ship at next port. *Service trained dogs+owners do not do this

Yes, vouchers are a tool of Satan.

So jonthomas, Tell Cruise Critic readers how you really feel about viking.

Yesterday I posted a link to a page that listed many cruise lines' policies on pets. Every cruise line Except Viking listed along with their policy. All prohibit pets and of course allow legit service animals. The post was blocked by mods. I realized that a page from a perceived rival to CC must be verboten. But the bottom line is that viking and it looks like Viking in USA is the outlier. Still no response to Tuesday's tellus.

Wrote to tellus days ago when thread opened. No reply.

People in this thread need to contact viking in writing. I did. Told them like their 18 age policy it needs major NO emotional support animal emphasis. Best to nip it in the bud before it becomes widespread accepted practice and proliferates. I know shipboard cats were a naval tradition but imagine a herd of emotional support meowsers jumping up and devouring the sushi bar. Then attacking the gelato station en masse. Chaos!!!

Never once had powdered OJ on Viking Ocean or River

I have zero problem with that exception to the rule.

Let's hope that "What happens on Jupiter, stays on Jupiter"

Had no problems making connections in Frankfurt Pretty much every large airport has horror stories. My try to avoid is CDG.