CurlerRob

8 minutes ago, travelingJimmy said:

I'd be interested to hear anyone's experience with private tours and refunds on canceled ports.   We book almost exclusively private tours.  We were very worried about booking private tours and having port cancels.   That said, in Europe on 2 different cruises when we have had last minute port cancels (France, Spain and Italy), the private tour companies have been extremely gracious about giving refunds. I think they must know that on social media people will talk and those that do give refunds, even last minute, will be rewarded with a positive comments online.   Not to mention it would be pretty easy to verify that a ship has canceled a port verses someone changing their mind.

The vast majority of professional cruise tour providers will tell you up front that they refund payment for a missed port. Any one that doesn’t is a deal breaker for us. Refund policies overall are one element of how we choose a provider. 🍺🥌

3 hours ago, mort&fran said:

Is tipping "normal" (or reasonably so), for guide and drivers in Greenland and Iceland?

https://www.reykjaviktouristinfo.is/blog/the-a---z-of-tipping-in-iceland  🍺🥌

2 hours ago, Twitchly said:

This is a fascinating thread. 
 

I spent much of my career as a contractor/consultant. I never worked in a situation where the entire staff was made up of contractors. Is that the case on a Viking ship? I would be surprised if there were’t at least some number of actual Viking employees on a ship in order to ensure that Viking’s cultural and quality standards are met. While I’ve seen contractors take on those duties to some extent, I’ve never seen a company hand them over completely to outside staffing.
 

 

I also found it unique and I’ve run businesses that were very highly leveraged with contractors. However, our resident professional mariners have educated us that this approach is common in the industry and has been so for many years. Given the degree of success, it’s hard to criticize it. 
 

I’m certain that Viking invests in ensuring that their standards are met - I suspect through policies and procedures, training, communications and measurement systems. I’d also expect that they do have a process for inspection (even if it’s just Tor and Karine sailing a lot)!

One observation I have is that personnel turnover on the cruise lines appears low - crew and senior staff keep coming back to the same line. This makes it easier to propagate Viking culture and standards. If you keep working for the same company, after a while it doesn’t matter who signs your paycheque, you identify with the cruise line. 
 

This ability to retain contractors indefinitely is unique in my experience. Many land-based jurisdictions will deem a long-term contractor to be an employee, and require the firm to provide statutory benefits and pay taxes. This forces turnover and works against the positive “cultural assimilation” that negates the difference between contractors and employees. 🍺🥌

2 hours ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge to the best of your ability. I have not found the Viking officer crew to be particularly great... and thus I feel less guilty, and almost empowered, for lighting up the officer crew on the surveys. If they are indeed contractors, I'll continue to do the same.

Curious as to why their employment arrangement would have any effect on your personal evaluation, or why you would feel “less guilty”? 🍺🥌

7 hours ago, z111 said:

We are going to Alaska. It sounds like we should expect rain, cold, and warm.

 

Packing for cold weather or variable weather always takes more suitcase room.

Trying to also pack for outdoor things and indoor cruise things is adding more complication.

I'm trying to limit myself to just a carry on and am struggling, in part, due to bulky items but also, for vacay, I usually just have comfortable outdoor clothes and nothing dressy.

 

I have some thermals that don't take up much room. I'm thinking 2 pairs of jeans. And a few daytime not jeans outfits.

 

Any advice would be gratefully received. I am aware we can do some laundry! 

 

Thanks 

 

 

You’re going on your first cruise, to an area that may be variable in temperature and weather. 
 

Why stress yourself over packing? One of the beautiful things about cruising is that your hotel room moves with you - you only unpack once.
 

Check a couple of bags (cross-packed) and take a light carry on each with emergency stuff for a few days, in the event of luggage issues. You’ll find you will take too much, but you’ll learn for the next trip without having to worry about this one. Focus on what should be a great experience - your first cruise. 🍺🥌

34 minutes ago, anaky1229 said:

I have also been comparing the two cruise lines. I know that Regent's cruise only price is higher but it includes so much more. If, on Viking, one is paying for excursions that would have to be added in. Same for gratuities. I don't know if Regents includes gratuities for the local guides on excursions or if that is separate. Then, if you have a couple of drinks in the evenings outside of wine and beer at dinner or want to get a soft drink at the theater, I'm not sure how different the price would be. I know there are many intangibles like how comfortable one feels on the ship etc but if it's just price, am I wrong that they would not be that different in the end?

Welcome to CC! If you use the search function, you will find many discussions that attempt to compare pricing between cruise lines. 
 

In the end, it becomes a highly individualized answer, depending on what matters to you. For example, if you don’t drink, included alcohol at any amount can be viewed as wasted money. Or, if you always tour on your own, the inclusion of multiple included excursions is of no value. 
 

Further, sales and promotions have a huge effect and are obviously transient. 
 

To your question, there’s no consistent answer. Just look at the things that matter to you and do your personal price analysis for each cruise. 🍺🥌

Seven Seas Explorer enjoying the “scenic” cruise by the Hubbard Glacier. Tough weather day! (Taken from Viking Orion). 🍺🥌

8 hours ago, Buck King said:

Viking vs Regent.docxViking vs Regent.docx 21.08 kB · 86 downloads

Thanks for this. Your extensive and accurate factual comments will help others in their research. 
 

I had to chuckle about the TV noise issue. We haven’t had the issue on Viking, but our first Regent cruise was a TA in Sep/23. Our neighbours played MSNBC 24/7, at a stupid volume that made it impossible to sleep - swivel mount or not. (In fairness, this was poor behaviour, not ship design or soundproofing and stopped after a couple of complaints). If I never hear the MSNBC commercial “filler” again it’ll be too soon 😵‍💫. 
 

Of interest, Oceania’s new Vista is catching a lot of flak for the same TV bleed issue. 
 

I’d add only one item. While we’ve always had excellent crew service on each line we’ve sailed, Regent staff excelled at anticipating our needs - it verged on uncanny.  🍺🥌

5 minutes ago, Syd58 said:

Their Edge class ships have a good number of accessible veranda cabins.

I believe you are referring to Celebrity, not O. 🍺🥌

5 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Be careful taking fruit into some countries. It is often not allowed and penalties can be severe. Discovered this the hard way when, as a tour guide, one of the people on my tour didn’t listen and the results were unpleasant.

Second this and it often applies to ANY food taken off the ship. Oz, NZ, Hong Kong and Japan are all live examples with various restrictions and penalties.🍺🥌

2 hours ago, Syd58 said:

Some lines provide a larger bathroom (with a roll-in shower) and a little more floorspace (for wheelchair or scooter turning radius) at the same level non-accessible cabin. There may be some that I'm not aware of, but I personally don't know any others that require those needing an accessible cabin to pay considerably more to book a penthouse junior suite.

Not all grass is greener. Oceania’s R ships have only 3 accessible cabins - all are inside cabins (Sirenia may have 2 OVs). No accessible cabins with balconies. They also have a habit of not holding them for those who actually need them. 
 

Certainly cheaper, but not without impact on the experience. 🍺🥌

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Not so bad for us; we've been with Viking, but it will be a real disappointment for those who haven't been.

 

 

You’ve been fortunate, we are 0 for 3. It’s just a tough port. 
 

Conversely, we are 2 for 2 in the Faroes, also a notorious miss. Cheers. 🍺🥌

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

My bags are packed. I'm ready to go. I have one more job to do before we walk out the door (in the middle of the night): start this thread (while I still have a real keyboard to type on).

 

@formernuke covered a lot of ground on his thread, Semi-LIVE from Venus British Isles Explorer 4/19 with Churchill Pre-extension, so check it out as well. It is full of great information and vacation-enducing photos.  Also note that  formernuke did the Churchill extension and took really good notes for anyone who is also doing that extension.

 

For the search engine, let me name-drop the ports we will be visiting by sharing our schedule:

 

THU MAY 09, 2024 Embark in London (Greenwich) on Viking Neptune

FRI MAY 10, 2024 London (Greenwich), United Kingdom 02:00 PM

SAT MAY 11, 2024 Dover, United Kingdom 08:00 AM 06:00 PM

SUN MAY 12, 2024 Scenic Sailing: English Channel

MON MAY 13, 2024 Dublin (Dun Laoghaire), Ireland 08:00 AM 08:30 PM

TUE MAY 14, 2024 Holyhead, United Kingdom 08:00 AM 06:00 PM

WED MAY 15, 2024 Liverpool, United Kingdom 07:00 AM 06:00 PM

THU MAY 16, 2024 Belfast, United Kingdom 08:00 AM 06:00 PM

FRI MAY 17, 2024 The Highlands (Ullapool), United Kingdom 12:00 PM 06:00 PM

SAT MAY 18, 2024 Orkney Islands (Kirkwall), United Kingdom 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

SUN MAY 19, 2024 Edinburgh (Newhaven Harbour), United Kingdom 08:00 AM 05:00 PM (always a tender port)

MON MAY 20, 2024 The Highlands (Invergordon), United Kingdom 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

TUE MAY 21, 2024 Shetland Islands (Lerwick), United Kingdom 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

WED MAY 22, 2024 Bergen, Norway 08:00 AM

THU MAY 23, 2024 Disembark in Bergen

 

We also have 3 full days of touring on our own in London pre-cruise and another four days of touring after as we make our way from Bergen to Oslo, which I will also talk about for the do-it-yourselfers.

 

So, away we go! 🎉

 

 

 

Enjoy your trip! I hope the Shetlands are accommodating. 🍺🥌

6 minutes ago, mariners said:

… if we make the decision to take a world cruise, perhaps Clay or other players of LCR, will accept CDN loonies instead of USD bills.  🤣 

Seems fair. 🍺🥌

41 minutes ago, mariners said:

On our next cruise on VO, we have SBC vouchers that can be used for onboard items.  The invoice has the vouchers in Canadian dollars.  How does that work if we don't use some, or all of them, until when we are onboard the ship given that the ship prices are in USD?  We do understand that they "will not be reissued or reactivated in case of cancellation".  The SBC vouchers were part of a promotion by Viking Ocean if that makes any difference.

I expect they will convert them to USD onboard at the time of use. We had a similar situation currently - purchased an excursion prior to sailing in CDN, then cancelled on board. The refund was applied to our onboard account, converted from the CDN price to USD. 
 

No luck on CDN $ at par, unfortunately! 🍺🥌

1 hour ago, kahuna21 said:

OK, this sheet says they give you $100 per person onboard credit for each cruise booked. So you book a cruise with $25 deposit. You get $200 to offset drinks and gratuities on current cruise, and you “buy” that with a $50 deposit? Too good to be true. This offer must have been available only for future cruises with a higher required (non-refundable) deposit?

It’s both true and good - assuming the new trip is under the $25 deposit offer (many are). For example, in Dec/23 we booked onboard for an Antarctic trip. $25 pp deposit, $100 pp OBC. 
 

in theory, you are liable for $100 pp if you cancel (std. terms), which would neutralize the gain, but it’s not likely worth Viking’s time to chase you for the delta if that happens. In reality, most people who book onboard intend to do the trip versus clipping a few bucks, and a live booking is always better than a “maybe later” one to the cruise line.🍺🥌

1 hour ago, SailorPaulH said:

Does the shuttle run on disembarkation day, so you can leave ship and be dropped off with your luggage at Harpa...? or is taxi or local bus the only way to do that (our self post-extension begins at hotel across from Harpa).

I’m speculating but I don’t think a shuttle would be available for a disembarkation day. The only way there might be one is if the cruise is B2B and your disembarkation was an in-transit day for pax continuing. Even then, I don’t think you could use it. 
 

As mentioned, taxi is easy and a short trip. 🍺🥌

12 minutes ago, Clipper said:

I will be on an Insignia voyage to Bermuda.  How does a single cruiser navigate Waves or the Terrace with no companion to find and save a table before ordering?  Thanks in advance for your guidance.

If your preference is to dine alone, just leave an article of clothing or a tote bag on the chair to mark it as taken, then go and get your food. For added assurance, order and receive a drink first. 🍺🥌

1 hour ago, miami mama said:

I know for most stops, Viking usually provides a shuttle from the port into town. Can someone let me know if there is one from Skarfabakki into the center of Reykjavik, and if so, what kind of schedule do you recall and where does it drop you off?  Thanks so much. 

My personal experience is dated (2019), but I think it’s still valid. Our shuttle ran every 30 minutes, drop off was at the Harpa Conference Centre - an easy few minutes walk to the heart of downtown. 
 

You can also walk the shoreline back to the ship if the weather is good - about 50 minutes. 🍺🥌

30 minutes ago, anaky1229 said:

I was just on my first Viking cruise and were in a V2. We could pretty easily get reservations on the ship for the Chef's Table but were told that Manfredi's was booked for the whole cruise. We did eventually get in but it took a lot of persistence and a bit of stubbornness. 

We have observed (Star in December and Orion currently) that Manfredi’s has become much busier than in the past. You can still get tables, but it requires a lot more diligence and a bit of luck. 
 

Chef’s Table is noticeably easier to reserve. If you sail again, stay with the day before / day of queries and be flexible on your time. Hope you enjoyed yourself. 🍺🥌

10 hours ago, Syd58 said:

Most cruise lines, including Seabourn, Silversea, and Oceania, specify which shore excursions are accessible and appropriate for people with handicaps. I'm surprised Viking does not...

Why would you think they don’t? Like every other cruise line, Viking provides a description of each excursion, including a difficulty rating. The ratings are defined in detail in their ShoreEx documents. 
 

Unfortunately, there are always some who won’t read or choose to ignore the information - to everyone’s detriment. 🍺🥌

13 hours ago, yogamom said:

Did you use the airalo esim while on the cruiseship?  Curious since the cruiseline / satellite would not be able to charge airalo (I don't believe) so just wondering if it would work?  We are sailing Alaska inside passage soon and very curious about turning on only the airalo esim (global/US Plans) and picing up signal when so close to land.  Definitely do not plan to turn on our homebased carrier as I don't want to incur those terrible cruise/satellite charges.  

I’m not aware of any Airalo eSIMs that support maritime cellular service. Depending on the strength of the shore signal you should be able to use a Global or US eSIM when in range -  but I have no personal experience with the coverage for the inside passage. Good luck! 🍺🥌

On 10/7/2023 at 7:04 AM, rmalbers said:

I know that some people here use airalo ESIM's for data because that's where I first heard about it.  I used their esim on the last trip and it work great and I'm really glad I had it but: I had several cases where I was buying (trying to buy) an excursion or tickets and to pay at their checkout required sending an SMS message with a 'code'  to my phone number, which, being data only I didn't have (and of course, didn't have access to my US phone number).  Do any of you users of data only ESIMs have a work around for that?  My google searches and airalo don't really have any answers.   Oh, and I'm android so apple imessage is out. 

There are a couple of things that you should know about Airalo. 
 

First, as you recognized, a data eSIM will not help with confirmation texts - they need cellular service. 
 

If you go to the Airalo site and search their help function, you will find a section that explains how to still use your phone with the data eSIM. See the pic below. The section explains how to restrict data usage to your eSIM while activating your phone and text. 
 

If you only need to receive a confirmation text, you should not be charged or trigger a daily plan from your home provider. This is what I do when I need 2-factor authentication. 
 

Additionally, even if you have an eSIM that supports text and calls, it usually comes with a number different from your phone - may be useless if the text goes to your home number. 

Summary - I use the eSIM for data when away, but turn on my normal line for incoming text when I need a text code. 🍺

19 hours ago, longterm said:

Just a thought, and not something I'd bother doing, but an iPhone can be used as a wifi hotspot--which means that if I wanted to (I wouldn't), I could connect my iPhone to ship wifi, then use it as a wifi hotspot to connect my laptop to ship wifi. 

Is this a function of a newer iPhone? I’m very familiar with creating a wifi hotspot on iPhone using cellular data, but I’m unaware of the ability to do so when “connected to ship wifi”. 

Thanks. 🍺🥌

On 4/11/2024 at 3:47 PM, Hlitner said:

 

Another RANT, this time about Destination Services (also known as the tour desk).  Last evening they delivered our excursion tickets for this segment.  DW quickly realized that we were missing tour tickets for our Barcelona Culinary excursion.  A careful look at the latest tour printout showed that our previously confirmed excursion is no longer on the list.  Our assumption is that it has been cancelled, but since NOBODY from O ever informed us of a cancellation, how are we to know?  That excursion was booked online and twice confirmed by O (we still have the e-mails).  Apparently, O has their own definition of "Confirmed."  In fairness to O, we have found that the Excursion operations on most cruise lines leave a lot to be desired.p

On 4/11/2024 at 3:47 PM, Hlitner said:

 

I’d be curious to know if there was any info in the shorex brochure in the cabin (it just looks like every other sales brochure you’re ever seen, not an important reference doc). 
 

On our first O cruise, there were significant changes made to multiple excursions and the only place they were documented was in that flyer. Nothing from DS, no letter advising a close read of the brochure. Lots of very unhappy pax who were blindsided. 
🍺🥌