kcpvwill

Having seen others on CC, like us, who have done lots of Viking cruises (11 Ocean & 8 River) suggesting new itineraries are needed, I thought it would be nice to suggest places that we would like to go. As we come from the UK and don’t do long haul any more, my suggestions are all in Europe I’d like to visit: All the Balearics More of Sicily Corsica and Sardinia More of the Greek islands Cyprus with some new mainland places to link the islands Also a second Round the British Isles including new ports, like Cardiff, Bristol, Glasgow, Isles of Scilly, Whitby ( my favourite place) the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight, Hebrides, and the whole of Ireland. There are so many places that would make a good cruise. As you can see from my list I like islands!

Thanks, that’s reassuring.

I haven’t read this thread for a while as we’ve been on a family holiday in the UK. During the week a small dog on a lead ( which I hadn’t even noticed approaching) decided to go for my leg with either teeth or claws. It was over so quickly I don’t know which. Luckily I was wearing trousers and had no injury, just stress. Dogs quite often ‘go for me’ and I assumed it was because I give off stress signals when I see them coming. As I’d not seen this one coming it can’t have been that. I say this because if dogs were on board Viking ships it would worry me. Have any been seen on board recently? As a matter of interest, does anyone else have problems with dogs going for them. Mine started in childhood. They don’t go for others I know, just me!

I feel so sorry for the US citizens and especially for Heidi and his fellow Canadians who have had to suffer the problems which appear to be happening regularly with the LA office. Although a few of the UK posters have mentioned problems, we have had outstanding attention and service from the London office with our 10 previous Ocean cruises and 7 previous River cruises with one more of each booked for this year. Our only problem is finding new cruises to do in Europe, as I struggle with flying distances nowadays. With the rivers we have done our first repeat (Douro) as we want to stay with Viking. It would be great if some new routes are planned for the Mediterranean or even another round Britain with different ports. I agree that Heidi must have had two awful customer service instances for him to give up on Viking after such a long time of great informative and positive reviews. I always read his posts with interest as they were so balanced and helpful. Andy and Judy, although I never met you, I feel I’d got to know you and wish you both well for your future travels.

We’ve done 10 Viking Ocean and not had any Art classes on them. They were all port intensive with few sea days. We did have an Art class on a Viking river cruise with a local artist.

As a child I was attacked (not too seriously) by a dog and now am scared when a dog comes near. They seem to sense this and go for me. I have done or have booked 18 Viking cruises and would hate it if they are allowed on board. This is in FAQ on the Viking site. Are pets allowed on board? No pets or other animals are allowed on board the ship, other than service animals and certified therapy dogs as Viking may choose to permit at its sole discretion. Guests who require the aid of a service animal or certified therapy dog must advise Viking at the time of booking, and complete and submit the Service Animal Request Form to Viking before final payment is due. Failure to do so may result in a denial of boarding. Please contact Guest Services at 1-855-884-5464 (1-855-8-VIKING) for more information.

Photopro2 Who is the current restaurant manager on Sea?

Yes we’ve seen grits and wondered what they were. Not known in UK.

Sorry to be totally unaware of what you do for Thanksgiving (we are from UK) but what food, activities etc do you have?

We’ve just realised that we will be onboard Neptune during thanksgiving 2023. We are from the UK and wondered what to expect on that day.

We are from UK and flights are included. We have done two B2B cruises including one trans Atlantic and one which started and finished in London (Greenwich). We had a flight credit on both. The trans Atlantic meant we put the money towards upgrading to business to fly back to the UK. The ‘air people’ in the London office will help you sort this out.

We think Fox News is but probably not Fox Business

As far as the Aisidra box is concerned, the QuietVox behaves like an MP3 player (eg iPod), so if you follow the instructions for using that sort of device with it then it should work. Maybe your hearing aids can’t pair with more than one Bluetooth device at a time so you may have to unpair your phone in order to pair the Asidira device.

My hearing aids have an accessory that allows me to send the QuietVox commentary to my aids wirelessly. For details see here https://www.oticon.com/solutions/accessories/connectline It probably won’t be compatible with your aids but you may be able to find something similar for yours. You can also use plug regular headphones into the QuietVox if you use those and I’ve also found that if all else fails I can use the Viking supplied earpiece even with my hearing aids in place.

I would be interested in sea conditions too at this time of year.

Not surprised about Bodo, it appears to have been missed many times this year.

Has anyone got heads up about the sea conditions in November?

Yes we did the B2B this year in June and July, Greenwich to Greenwich, so little flying as we are from the UK. We enjoyed having duplicate ports which allowed us to plan alternative excursions. Unfortunately we missed Shetland in one part and Orkney on the other because of weather. We managed two stops in Edinburgh and did our own trip to the Royal Yacht Britannia on one leg and the included on the other. We were able to walk to Britannia after tendering ashore. Great cruise, however we caught Covid on board and were in isolation for 5 days. We still love Viking and have 2 river and one ocean cruise booked for 2023. Happy cruising everyone.

I will be interested in the replies as we are doing this itinerary in 2023.

DrKoob we also watched most of the Downton Abbey series when we were in Covid isolation on board Venus for Midnight Sun Cruise in June. Unfortunately the two films were not available.

We always use the phone to contact the London office directly. They are always very efficient. We emailed from the ship when BA cancelled our flight home and were given 3 alternatives within a very short time. Great service as always.

We think we’ve mastered the confusing instructions but not totally sure. It is often easier to find someone who can explain it. Beware of setting the drier too high and shrinking clothes though!

As well as the above suggestions I used silver thread gloves and socks under thermal gloves and socks and a rechargeable HotRox for hands or feet. The HotRox lasts a few hours and can be switched on when needed.

In June we were given red bags for the trays when we were in isolation. We were told to ring for the trays to be collected. They didn’t want trays left outside. When we were out of isolation trays were left outside, so they must have dropped the ring for collection. We spotted lots of red bagged trays over the next week. We were on Venus.

Here is a copy of the t&cs about Covid. If a passenger has a case of COVID-19 or other communicable disease which is confirmed by a medical test and he or she (or any other member of his or her travelling party) is disembarked, refused re-boarding, or quarantined otherwise than on board the vessel as a result, then, unless Viking determines that he or she has failed to comply with its COVID-19 Policies and Procedures (and subject to the provision of verification satisfactory to Viking of results of any tests administered by providers other than those retained by Viking) affected passengers will be entitled to a refund of a pro rata amount (based on the proportion of the cruise affected) of the amount paid as by them to Viking for the relevant cruise or, at the passenger’s election, a future cruise credit (subject to such terms and conditions that apply to the relevant future cruise credit at the relevant time) equal in value to not less than such pro rata amount. When we tested positive (we had requested a test) after we got symptoms and were isolated, we were looked after extremely well by Viking. When we finished quarantining we were given information of who to contact in the London office to get a pro rata refund. This could be cash or FCC. We took the FCC and applied it to next year’s cruise. I know it didn’t make up for missing part of the cruise but it softened the blow. This does not seem to have been mentioned on Cruise Critic but as it is in the t&cs it cannot be secret. We feel Viking was very fair. (Looking forward to 3 more cruises with Viking next year)