lackcreativity

If flying early and booking a hotel through Oceania, does Oceania include transfers to the hotel if I book air with them? If flying in early and I want to have input on the flights, then I pay the deviation fee? (Sorry, I am trying to get all my information before making a decision to book!)

I am a potential new Oceania cruiser. Previously, I have booked air through another cruise line and paid a nominal fee for the ability to work with the Air Department in selecting our flights. Is there a fee to do so with Oceania?

Viking has a very large group of loyal customers. When you bend over backwards to appease the customer, you end up with people in the World Cafe in their bathrobes, as I saw on my last cruise. It is my opinion that sometimes the customer is not right, and sometimes a line needs to be drawn.

We always sail in Veranda cabins, and think they are quite satisfactory. With every cabin having a veranda, and lots of open and uncrowded areas on board, we never feel the need for more space. Even without advance reservations, we have been able to eat in both specialty restaurants on every cruise we have taken, often more than once. It helps to be flexible on time, and check availability several times during the cruise, as people change plans often. Download the Viking Voyager app on your phone before you depart, though you won't be able to use it until on board. You can use that to search for and make reservations. Welcome to Viking. Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

This! I love the Mediterranean, but there are so many more ports available in that area than the ones Viking has done for years. The very quick SOLD OUT on all sailings of the new Malta, Morrocco, and the Mediterranean itinerary supports Viking's customers desires in this regard.

I always struggled with this. Once we completed our first cruise, then for future cruises, our expectations were pretty high. "Meets expectations" would be accurate, but somehow seemed less than complimentary.

Sorry, but I have experience in retail and I am not sure I agree that the customer is always right. The customer should always be treated with respect, but in my experience, sometimes they are not right.

Yes, yes!! I forgot about these. We visited on our first trip to Boston, and then returned some years later after the flowers had been cleaned and the display updated. Very much worth the trip.

Looking forward to taking our Boston grandson to the Gardner. However, since he is still three weeks away from his first birthday, I guess I will have to wait awhile! Thanks for sharing your happy memory of this spectacular place.

We visit Boston frequently and use the T to go pretty much everywhere. Of course there are many historical spots and sports venues, but if art is of interest I highly recommend the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The setting alone is worth the visit!

I appreciate the information about cabin selection, and I bet it is useful to others. On our travels we fly economy and have sailed in Viking's Veranda cabins. While we could afford the more expensive cabins, we prefer to travel more often so we take the more economical option. After appreciating the balcony that is on every Viking cabin, I won't consider an inside cabin, but I might give an Ocean View a try. My thought at this point is that since both itineraries I am considering are appealing, perhaps it would be wise to select the Mediterranean itinerary on Riviera as a better test of whether Oceania will be a good fit for us. If all goes well, we could always try Sirena in the future.

If both ships were sailing the same itinerary, I think I would choose the Riviera. After Viking's spacious bathrooms, I am a bit concerned about the reportedly small bathrooms on Sirena. I don't think that would be a deal breaker, since that is the place I plan to spend the least amount of time! What I am hearing from the responses here is that both ships are very nice, though Riviera has some advantages. I think that leads me back to itinerary as the deciding factor. After all, it is a search for new ports that has prompted me to consider expanding from Viking in the first place.

So, assuming that Sirena is R class? I guess I won't know about the shower claustrophobia unless I try it!

MEFlowa, I agree that the itinerary is our most important factor. I am glad to hear that you like both ships, and we are not pool people, so we can eliminate that issue as part of our decision. Thanks for your input.

We are experience, satisfied Viking cruisers here who are looking for some fresh itineraries. Oceania sounds like a good fit, and I have found a western Mediterranean cruise on Riviera and a northern European cruise on Sirena that both are tempting. Any advice about choosing based on the ship?

I am not disagreeing with you, but at the top and the bottom of each page of potential shore excursions, Viking posts "Shore excursions vary by itinerary and are subject to change." I suspect that provides them some coverage there. In fact, sometimes they change the actual ports on a cruise even before sailing. If I ever did read the Terms and Conditions of the Viking booking agreement, I certainly don't remember much now (I know, I know...). I bet that provides them much more leeway for changing things than we might wish.

We have done both land tours of Italy and cruises, and I agree that all things being equal a land tour is better. However, there can be extenuating circumstances. We did the land tours in our early travel years (mid 50's) when we had more energy. That was the stage when we finally had enough discretionary income to take those trips. If that stage (grateful for those college scholarships our kids both received!!) hadn't happened until now (early 70's), then I would settle for the brief exposure that you get during a cruise excursion.

Far from a Madrid expert, but we did take a day trip to Toledo from Madrid and enjoyed the visit. We had a great tapas lunch in a side street restaurant with friendly staff who were happy to practice their English with us as we were early arrivals. Then some local families from grandmas to babies began arriving and we left feeling like we had an authentic experience. We would have enjoyed more time to explore, but on this guided tour we had to make the obligatory stop at the silver merchant's shop, which was interesting for about ten minutes.

I would hope someone else will confirm this, but having accepted a Guaranteed cabin on a previous cruise, I was under the impression that it did guarantee a cabin, just not which one. It also included a possibility that you would be upgraded (which didn't happen in our case.)

We always travel in Veranda cabins, and usually book a few optional excursion on each cruise. We have rarely missed out on one of the optional excursions that we wanted. If something was really a top priority for me and I was unable to secure a spot, then there are generally independent options available. For instance, from Granada, Spain the trip to the spectacular Alhambra is restricted to just a set number of openings per cruise ship. I suspect that would regularly sell out, so I wouldn't even wait until excursions opened for my cabin category but would book an outside excursion in advance. Taking advantage of the lower cost of the Veranda cabins has also taught me that there is usually more than one interesting option available in a port. We have had very few disappointing excursions on our travels.

I admit that I have never needed to use either the tellus@vikingcruises.com or the chat feature. From what I have read here over the years, I would suspect that the chat feature could work well for routine questions, but if something is complex or out of the ordinary, I would use the email. The email has the additional benefit of easily providing you with a record of the response if that is needed. Other with actual experience can correct me if they have better advice.

We are scheduled there this October. Were scheduled there in April 2022, but last minute change to Ravenna.

Barcelona is one of our favorite cities of the world. Even though I have no desire to redecorate my home in the Gaudi style, I still find the Sagrada Familia and the Parc Guell glorious and joyful experiences. Even after three short visits to Barcelona, I still want to see more. Our one visit to Madrid was disappointing, but to be honest that was mostly due to bad planning on our part. I have recently been wanting to plan a return there, especially to see the Sorolla Museum, which we missed on our first visit. Liberty Bella, I will second your opinion regarding so many places we have also visited in Spain. Toledo, Granada, Seville, Cordoba were places we really loved, and there are so many other places we hope to visit in the future.

Walking the walls of Dubrovnik is a remarkable experience, but it can be very strenuous, with lots of steps up and down along the way. Be aware that there are two main sets of stairs that provide access to the walls, so it is possible to walk halfway around the city and then come back down if your energy lags. I will confess to doing that, but gave my camera to my husband to finish the walk. We then met up and went to lunch, for a really excellent day in not so very hot April.

We are looking at booking a cruise with an 8:00 AM until 11:00 PM stay in Valletta. That is one of my bucket list ports, so short of an overnight (or a land visit), that seems tempting. Hope our energy level can make the most of it! I was disappointed that none of the ship's excursions offered what I had hoped to see, so now I am looking for private tour options or DIY. Good to know that cabs were helpful.