CCWineLover

As you can see by the many different experiences, you results may vary. It truly does change from ship to ship and itinerary to itinerary - just like the personality of the passenger set changes dramatically. One cannot predict what it will be. Good news is - if you want to avoid crowds on the Ocean ships (versus river), it is easy to do. Also, as others have said, if there are lines, they do tend to move quickly. We've been on Viking cruises where everyone lined up for everything, from dinners to shows, to excursions (and up to 30 minutes to an hour ahead!) and we've been on some where it was quite mild and no one was in a rush for anything. So it all depends. If you can figure out, more power to you!

Maria - you'll be back in SCarolina before the playoff begin and you can watch Josh Allen do his thing (we also enjoy the Bills) 2024 NFL Playoffs begin: Saturday, Jan 13, 2024 2024 Divisional Round: Saturday, Jan 20, 2024 2024 Conference championship game: Sunday, Jan 28, 2024 2024 Super Bowl: Sunday, Feb 11, 2024

Thank you Janet! We also had a great time in Lofoten hiking last summer. We visit again next year on Viking Mars and will take a look at this excursion.

No worries. Good enough for whatever you want. Just keep your slider closed to the balcony. And get the steward to give you a dummy key card. We always have to ask for one. Not automatic.

Have been in cruises to Barcelona. Not sure why you couldn't. All depends on what time you dock and what time the first passengers are allowed off, after clearance is done.

Our trick to get great promo deals after we already have a reservation is to just "transfer" the booking number to some dummy cruise reservation way in the future (like 2 years). Then book the promo fare on the cruise we had, often for thousands less. This is especially worthwhile with the $25 deposits. Then we can cancel the "dummy cruise" at a later date. We never buy Tripmate, which thus gives us flexibility with insurance. That would be my number one advice - NEVER get Tripmate. But there are exceptions (as age may play a factor for some).

Clay - I can't believe how wonderful it looks! Would love to revisit Reykjavik in the sunshine! Enjoy all that Vitamin D for sure and count your blessings. Love all the pictures - especially the ones of food! I see you did your traditional Hot Dog (from your previous trips). 🙂

Wow - that was a long read. Got lost in the middle of it. We did Midnight Sun in July 2022 and had just the opposite experience. An incredible trip and the staff was easily the best and most helpful on any of our many Viking cruises. And we loved ALL the excursions - expecially the included one to North Cape. In Leknes, we had an outstanding included tour in the morning, involving some hikes and gorgeous vistas, followed by an outstanding (long and difficult!) hike into the hills as an optional tour - wonderful scenery. About the only disappointing excursion for us was Tromso included. We also used the included tour in Edinburgh to basically get us to downtown where we walked til we dropped and took the shuttle back to the tender port. It shows that every person has different experiences on the exact same itineraries, depending on the staff they have and the tours they take, and of course on their own personal opinions and expectations. Don't give up! Hoping you find a nice cruise in the future.

Linda - we also had a Movie Night plus a Dancing under the Stars on our June Iceland Saturn cruise. They showed Walter Mitty since a lot of it was filmed on location in Iceland (Seydisfjordur and Akureyri I believe).

Thanks for the insights! We'll see you onboard! I just looked and we are scheduled for Venice on Tue/Wed/Thur Feb 27/28/29 (yes leap year day!). I don't know if it means it will be more or less crowded that we are not there on a weekend. Will have to do more research! Haven't looked at our roll call in a bit - have you posted this information there? Might be of interest.

Safe journey Clay and Mike! At least you know KEF and Reykjavik, so that will take out some of the travel stress. Wait til you see the lovely Viking Saturn. ENJOY it !!

Yes, it is a tough lesson to learn in life (don't buy insurance from the cruise line). We were fortunate in that we didn't have to encounter the issues you all have had when we first bought Tripmate. Our last many many cruises have been done via a 3rd party insurer that insures vouchers (not all do). Via The Trip Insurance Store. Owner Steve Dassios has done some excellent forums on Cruise Critic, which is where we learned about this. He's a great educator as well. Do a forum search on the company and you'll find the threads (maybe a year old?) that he began. Excellent reading.

Did your SHIFT key get stuck? 🙂 Usually when someone does all caps, they are upset, but you obviously aren't. We will follow this since we are doing the 3 day turnaround in Venice on the Saturn next February. At that time of year, however, the options may be less, but hopefully the crowds will be as well!

A point that no one really has made yet. In our experience (13 Viking cruises), each and every cruise had a completely different feel and personality, as far as the passenger set was concerned. We often are intrigued by what type an upcoming cruise will exhibit. Ranges wildly ! So I don't think you can necessarily classify Viking Passengers. Probably one commonality is most have a love and curiosity for travel and seeing new sights, and everyone has different opinions on food and entertainment!!

Clay - just one request: we want to see pictures of you and Mike doing the Artic Circle dip in the cold water . . . and the slug of aquavit !!

She does put on a great show and is quite talented, regardless of what people think of her personality. (People either like or dislike her - nothing in between was our experience). We enjoyed her.

She does put on a great show and is quite talented, regardless of what people think of her personality. (People either like or dislike her - nothing in between was our experience). We enjoyed her.

And that is why we ALWAYS use a Travel Agent !! Lessons learned for the future. Especially for those who don't get on the web.

Clay - sincerely hoping that you and Mike have calm seas, beautiful weather, and an absolutely wonderful cruise! I've always felt you are easily one of the most pleasant and informative posters on these Viking boards - You've seen so much and most of all, remember it all! Will look forward to hearing from you. Kent

Fantastic pictures! You have been so fortunate with weather. We were at North Cape just a year ago in July, almost to the date, and it was SO cold, foggy and somewhat miserable!

In 13 cruises, we only encountered that twice. This was at Main Dining Room. THose cruises, whether or not a coincidence, were the 2 where the median age was the oldest (like 80). The Ft Lauderdale cruise and the Iceland cruise. Many theories. Some told us its because the Florida people are used to early dinner and used to lining up for dinner. Who knows? I wouldn't worry at all about it.

Thanks, Linda! Good to know. It was "hard" to go early on our Iceland trip since it never got dark! It seemed like we were struggling to get to dinner by 8 PM 🙂 I know, tough problem, eh?

You probably should have done a search on Venus Roll Calls, as there is already one out there plus several replies. You'll need to delete this one.

Sorry Clay - I'll disagree with you. And maybe Saturn was squeezed together more in MDR. The MDR tables for 2 were VERY tight together. So tight I took pictures in case I need to show people. I would avoid the middle seat of the 737 at all costs unless you are a party of 6 and then you can all sit together!! But thanks for the advice on the table #1 being private. Assume it's a 2 seater? On our Saturn Iceland trip, the MDR was filled to max every dinner we went, and we likely won't be back as the sound and cacophony were nearly unbearable and you basically couldn't carry on a conversation. Maybe though go earlier at 6:00 when people have not had quite so much to drink.

Again - fantastic pictures, Dave. What wonderful weather! What excursion(s) did you take in Tromso?