CCWineLover

We are on the Rome to Athens itinerary this February. Don't recall any sea days. In fact, need to get better shape before then to do the 14 days of touring/walking without a break! 🙂 We usually like a mix of sea and port days - love them both, for different reasons. But only YOU can tell if you will enjoy your sea days, no matter what anyone on Cruise Critic says. Try it out!

The waiting period for us was 24 hours ( for the room to back in inventory they said). Have done this twice. TA took care of it for us. No issues. Got same room back at big discount and only gave up $200 penalty. It was a risk someone would take that room but we told ourselves we weren’t wedded to the specific room.

Exactly what we do! Balance between Viking cruises and do it ourselves. Best of both worlds !!

You must have Tripmate. If so, that again is a reason we never do Tripmate. We do a 3rd party and are always able to carry over the insurance to other cruises. Never lost anything.

Absolutely! the house sparkling worked just fine! remind me Lorna, it was the real deal French Champagne that Viking leaves 1 bottle of in the refrigerator for the PV’s when you board (we haven’t been further up the chain), right?

Ha! Yes indeed, to me they all taste very similar with orange juice - especially if you don't like the taste 🙂

Sorry - beg to differ but don't want to get into arguments. Yes it is semantics, but my friends from France drummed this into me and get prickly at Americans who say they are the same. Champagne is the name reference to sparkling wine from the Champagne regions of France. All other sparkling wines cannot use the word Champagne. Viking serves non "Champagne" sparking wine for it's included wines.

River might be different- you say they served mimosas ANY time. on Ocean we had them free ONLY at lunch and dinner time. Per my previous post yes sparkling wine (not champagne) is included.

House wine, beer AND sparkling wine (not Prosecco ) free during lunch and dinner hours. Yes bring as much alcohol of your own onboard. No charge. We often bring our own wine bottles to dinner! who knows if you’ll like Viking? Only you can figure that out. Try it and see!!

Clay - yes, they are the top half of the full windows that can be opened. I also thought wouldn't do much, but believe me it does. The cross flow of air is rather amazing! What a difference.

Don't feel bad. I'm sure many of us veterans have already learned our lesson and no longer use Viking Air. Love the cruise line. Dislike that they are still offering Air and Insurance services (via the airlines and tripmate 3rd parties). They don't handle that well and mostly don't communicate well. So many have the wrong expectations. If Viking just nicely spelled out to people all the nuances of their air and insurance services, so many more people would not be disappointed and frustrated.

Sorry for you indeed 🙂 It does depend on the itinerary. Most of the itineraries are quite popular and THOSE prices go up, some by a lot. A few are not popular (like the Polynesia one and some Transatlantics). Those can go down. Was your unfortunate bad luck. So don't give up on Viking and/or make a blanket statement (won't pay ahead). Take a close look at the itineraries you might like and make your decision based on that (and what you read about its popularity).

I agree except that on the 3 new ships they now can open the windows along the sides!! (Mars, Saturn, Neptune only). Makes a HUGE difference!!

Yes indeed! On our last cruise a few weeks ago we were the only people wa saw order the Ahi. EVERYONE else had hot dogs hamburgers and more.

I personally wouldn’t chance it. You will have long lines in customs and these days long lines at FLL. Having done thi multiple times, I see why Viking says 11 am. then you also have the ship arrival issue. The Mars was late arriving today from the Panama cruise. Noon instead of 6 am. So be prepared!

We love the pool grill and are not burger and hot dog folks. We always get the grilled Ahi steak. Sometimes we ask for a bun and sometimes not. AND we always fill the plate up not with fries but the really good salads they have at the Pool Grill. And sometimes, like the other poster, we have put that Ahi on top of the green salad that we make. Really tasty lunch and environment (and don't have to eat hot dogs - but of course we love Ahi!)

Yes indeed!

Ah yes . . . When we finally have the money and the time to cruise, we often don't have the body & bones to really do it well !! Such an irony.

duquephart - as we so know by now (drilled into us all from many cruise critic forums) . . Anyone can get any wine (or liquors) that is stocked onboard the ship at any time - it's just a question of paying for it. SSP is just a different means and schedule of payment. Without SSP you can pay for anything you want plus get free house wine/beer during lunch and dinner hours. With SSP you pay a fixed cost up front and then have unlimited alcohol (and other things) at any time (up to a certain $ amount per drink, plus a discount on buying a wine bottle). There's probably a couple other nuances to that - but that's basically it. SSP is simply a different payment scheme.

We are same as you! We thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere of the WC - so relaxing. We take our time and just "graze". We try lots of different items. We pick up small portions and if we like something we go get more. We really liked the Asian station in the back !! The Restaurant for us was TOO slow, TOO noisy, and more like a large boisterous restaurant back home (which we used to enjoy but now that we've aged, not so much anymore. We like a nice quite, relaxing environment these days!. )

Yes - And in 2023 as well. Here's a shot I took when we disembarked in Reykjavik on Viking Saturn this past June 21 (longest day of the year!).

Yes you could, but they ignored those reservations. It didn't make any difference 🙂

Too funny! I read off the ship to mean the passengers and performers were off the ship!🤔. I see now you were referring to non Viking people coming onto the ship to perform.! we a a couple “off the ship” performers come onboard to do some shows on our recently completedMars cruise.

No splits on Ocean. We always ask and always no splits. Just full bottles 750ml - red or White House wine and/or Sparling house. just Beer cans no bottles.

Thank you both! I see on Viking's site this excursion was added after our June Saturn visit to Reykjavik. Glad you got to experience it! Maybe next time for us.