CDNPolar

Thank you for your review and for the most part it sounds like this was a positive experience. One thing of note, when you talk about private tours and being back on time, you mentioned that Viking often would leave even earlier than stated in the Viking Daily... That would be because they knew that all passengers were back on board from the scanning of your key card. We have experienced this and this is a good thing for Viking if everyone is back on board and they can leave early, and if early enough, that could mean sailing at a slower speed to the next port and saving on fuel.

The only reason I suggested I don't want to travel on ships of 3000+ is that these are the ships that typically have the bigger shows and higher end entertainment. Viking has never marketed themselves as having BIG shows and entertainment. They have this now and in the past to give us something to do after dinner and I don't see it as more than that. We have grown tired of some of the shows because we have seen them too many times, but we still go with the hope that something will have changed. (ABBA and The Beatles) We are doing our first TA cruise this October and so I am anxiously awaiting what the entertainment will be like on those 6 nights.

Surveys are often built to give falsely positive resutls. As a Learning and Development professional I have taken a number of courses on how to build surveys. Most don't build surveys well, from my perspective and what I have learned about how to build them. On surveys that are 1-10, where 5 may be considered neutral, often any number from 6-10 is grouped together to be a "positive" result. You may see that "Overwhelmingly our customers have ranked our services positively" but this may include many 6's and 7's which are not high ratings. I am a person that rarely gives a 10 in these ranking scales because something has to go far and above and greatly exceed my expectations to get a 10. To me a really good score is giving an 8 and many things get a 6 or a 7 and I am still okay with them, but not a raving fan. The above thinking is true for many people responding to surveys making 1-10 scales very subjective. The 6-10 range will mean something different for everyone. We have seen here on CC how subjective reviews of the food are on Viking Ocean ships. We love the Chef's Table and others dislike it and for many reasons. How do you assign a proper number to your experience with the Chef's Table with a range of 10 numbers that are not defined. Most surveys I make if they are on a scale, are done with a 4 scale but have a definition beside each. 1 = Does not meet expectations 2 = Somewhat meets expectations 3 = Meets expectations 4 = Exceeds expectations When I am assessing the results, I would give separate reports for 3's and 4's but also group them to see what is the total of positive responses. 3 and 4 are clearly positive, and if your expectations are not met, then you choose 2 and that is easier for someone to choose because it is not a complete slam of the service or product. But back to the survey... I was astounded the first time, and I have heard this several times now, that we should choose the highest rating on the survey. This is a fail on the side of Viking that if they know their crew are instructing people this way, they should put a stop to it, and if they don't know, they should be informed.

We last minute booked a river cruise in December last year - 2 or 3 weeks before departure. The ship was changed last minute. When we arrived at the airport we were not on the manifest and when we arrived at the ship they did not have our reservation. (But, on a manual list in the office they knew we were to be there...) They said a combination of our last minute booking and the change of ship... Our excursions were not recorded - the optional ones that we paid for. This was a bit of a cluster&$*@ but they worked it out.

This to me seems like a new phenomena.

We have been on 12 cruises now and done countless ship arranged excursions - probably over 100 - and only ever experienced this kickback and feeling that we were herded into a shop to buy in Egypt. This cruise was with Uniworld. Never in all our cruises with Viking have we ever been taken to or felt that there was any expectation to buy something on an excursion. For us, we don't avoid ship's excursions but will be wary of Uniworld in the future if we sail them again. Viking has never put us in that situation.

I get you because it is my home airport also, but the whole Nexus thing gets us through so fast and then you realize that it did not save you any time at all. Re the carryon thing? For a land based tour in warm climate, yes. For a cruise no. Could not do it.

I personally believe that packing is an "art" and we have refined our art of packing over the years. We have never yet traveled with any overweight checked luggage (23kg) or any overstuffed carryon and we have everything that we ever need, and often more. We take a lesson - still - from every cruise and vacation that we go on and that has helped us to refine how we pack. I think that the main lesson we learned is that we always - each - have 2 changes in our carryon.

Yes, we do the same - direct with the restaurant. We have never done dining reservations at Guest Services.

I personally am of the opinion, that you tip if you want to tip, and you don't tip if you don't want to tip. I don't think that we need to care if the country we are in has a tipping culture or not. Getting off a bus tour, I see more people not tipping the driver and guide than passing a tip. We "North Americans" have such an expected tipping culture that we think we have to tip everywhere.

Now, a comment on the surveys that Viking ask us to fill out at the end of a cruise. This I fully support you @Mike07 I have never on an Ocean ship been persuaded to fill this out at any level of satisfaction, BUT have on a River Cruise been told more than once and on more than one cruise that if we don't give the highest mark possible (forget what that is, but probably exceeds expectations) that the crew will not get a bonus or something. I personally found that to be deplorable that we were being "instructed" on how to answer and in fact made to feel guilty that there would be consequences for the crew if we did not give the highest rating.

Thank you for this explanation. We have just never experienced the music in the Living Room or the Explorer Lounge to be that loud that it interfered with our conversation with friends. This seems to me to be not typical. I could understand this if you were sitting in the Living Room close to the piano at the bottom of the staircase, but if you were sitting further back nearer the shop on the Starboard side, would it still be too loud? I am just sorry to hear this, and we are not sailing again until October, but we will certainly see if perhaps it is common now for the volume to be turned up. As for your response from emailing, this shocks me. Perhaps there is a difference in how the Customer Service is handled in the UK vs. Canada? When I email tellus@vikingcruises.com I can count on a phone call from Viking Customer Service to discuss the issue and usually within 48 hours. I cannot accept that they are emailing you back with a cut/paste reply. This is not what I would have expected. I cannot say that Viking implement changes from what we have submitted to email in the past, but they have at least graced me with a phone call and the response that my concern has been forwarded to the respective department and will be considered.

To anyone that is impacted by this please consider very carefully before you take a voucher option. Typically any percent added to your current cruise total is on a voucher. IMO the best option is CASH back. Vouchers and added spend as you put it, are potentially a trap for challenges later. Vouchers have lots of conditions and rules and many people have been dissatisfied after taking a voucher. There are many other discussion threads about voucher vs. cash back. Vouchers are the best option for Viking because they retain your money and then you are subject to their rules on how the vouchers are redeemed. Take the full refund to cash back or back to your credit card.

Again, sorry for this. Write tellus@vikingcruises.com and let them know your experience. You can eat at Chef's Table or Manfredi's as often as you can get reservations. I have noted that when they link us with friends, one of the other of us don't show the reservation on the TV system.... Don't know if this was the case. You sound like you got a newer GS Crew and perhaps not as skilled as we have experienced. Definitely write tellus@vikingcruises.com

Please don't take offence to this but you have mentioned your distaste for the music in the lounges more than once. Have you written tellus@vikingcruises.com ?? We quite enjoy the music in the lounge areas so not with you on this one.

Never had this issue with Guest Services, they seem to always take care of our issues quickly and without any tech issues... Sorry that you experienced this.

Happy to hear your first Viking experience was positive! Can't wait to hear your stories! Hope you are feeling better soon.

Well, this particular time was our first experience with this kind of pressure and we were not anticipating it to be so blatant. There was a stop and they just sort of shuttled us all in the store... no real explanation.

I can certainly see how Viking could be a "snooze fest" for many younger folks. Our friend brought their 18 year old granddaughter on Viking Ocean and you could see how bored she was. There was nothing for her at all. I agree that Viking needs to change. We are ok with the way it is now, but we are on the edge of looking for variety in our cruise experiences. I just don't think that we will ever choose to sail on a ship with 3000+ people.

Yeah - we had similar experience in Puerto Vallarta.

Shorter stops and frequent ship movements does depend on the river you are on... Some river ships stay in port overnight... Just depends.

We struggle with the concept of a world cruise for some of the reasons you state above. We are not concerned with the entertainment because it is there or not. We don't book Viking for the Star Theatre. We are just as happy sitting in the Living Room listening to the pianist or strings while enjoying an evening decaf coffee with a Cognac. I think we have to have the mindset that we are on the ship for 45 or 90 days and we are just going to relax, read, meet some new friends and perhaps socialize a bit.

The worst experience we had with "kick backs" was in Cairo where just a short discussion with one of the guys in the shop ended with them being angry that I did not buy anything. This is not the first time we have experienced this. We are not ones to buy anything on a trip - not a souvenir of any kind. No clothes, no anything. Now when we are "taken" to any kind of shop that sells any product that has a demonstration or not, we look and then exit without talking to anyone.

For Canada, feel comfortable tipping anywhere in USD. (Not coins... only bills and we don't care if they are crips and new like some areas of the world) For us, we take to the bank and we get 30% more. (We cannot exchange coins) I am not suggesting that you tip 30% less in USD, as IMO you should tip as though the currency was at par. As far as purchases in stores in Canada, some may refuse USD cash and some may take it, but don't expect exchange in stores. Some may exchange and some may not. You will also get change in CDN money. Few stores if any keep a float of US bills or coins. Remember too that in Canada $1 and $2 are coins and not bills. In Canada, it is rare that cards are not accepted. I use Visa to buy a $1.49 donut. The only thing is street vendors that are not common in Canada. You will be able to use cards and you will be buying 30% cheaper! This will get some opposition... but for us as Canadians, most places we travel, we tip bus drivers and guides in USD. US currency is the most accepted and exchanged at banks in the world. Many people on CC disagree with us, but I will not get a small amount of other currency for the purpose of tipping.

Australian Visas online often are awarded to you within 24 hours. Apply 30 days before your departure date.