CDNPolar

It seems that you are truly not enjoying your experience. Sorry to hear that. I can relate to you having slow service, but the fix was already suggested above. Also as a note, if you choose to sit on the upper level of the Explorer Lounge, you will definitely experience slower service. The other experience we have had is that the Living Room before dinner often has faster service, if you don't want to go to the bar for your first drink. We love the food on Viking. Food is subjective to each person. We don't understand the fanfare around Manfredi's as we find it just ok food, but we love the Chef's Table, The Restaurant, and World Cafe. Before dinn

We took the cruise, we were never offered a drinks package, we only consumed the wine offered at the meals. The amount quoted above could only be worth it if you wanted to be drunk the entire sailing.

My knowledge on this is that you cannot do this before actually being on the ship and appealing to Guest Services. You may have to talk with the manager. They of course do this so that the "non-drinker" does not down the shot when the server turns their back. I am NOT saying this is your situation... but you know that there are many that will do anything to save a buck. The one time that I know this was done was when a friend of ours was travelling with her 18 year old granddaughter. They would not talk to her online or on the phone about it. She appealed to the Guest Services Manager and then the Beverage manager once on the ship and she got approval.

From what I understand now, the crowds are there all season that the ships are running. If you really want to reduce the crowds, then do as we do... Book the first date in the spring that the cruise is available, or the last date in the fall that the cruise is available. We don't like heat and would rather sail when it is colder anyway.

Yep! And that is more in Canadian dollars and we think in Canadian dollars. $68 per day CDN. That is a lot of drinking. We were a bit wine snobbish when we first started with Viking and wanted the extended wine list with each meal. Now we find that the included wines are very acceptable and on day two or three as you get to know the wine server, they will offer something else if the wine of the day does not please. We also took the SSBP because at that time on River Cruises Veuve Clicquot was included in the SSBP. This was never included on Oceans. Veuve Clicquot in Canada is $79 bucks per bottle, and we would easily drink 2 bottles of that a day... At that time I think that the cost of the package was $15 USD per night. We more than got our moneys worth. Now Veuve has been discontinued from the SSBP. Still available, but not within the package.

Of course Viking are charging a markup - healthy as we might think it is - but there is a lot of coordination to these excursions and most of all you are paying for the convenience of not having to book yourself. Booking yourself holds a host of challenges that you have to shoulder such as: 1) Time of arrival - what is the earliest you can join a tour? 2) Where do you join the tour? Do you have to Uber to the location where the tour starts? 3) What time will the tour end while keeping in mind the departure time of the ship? 4) Do you have a cancelation option if the ship misses a port due to weather or other reason? Many Viking guests - including ourselves - choose to book and pay the markup for the convenience. We have booked independent tours, and will likely in the future, but that is because we found something that Viking did not offer that interested us more. For instance, in a city like Barcelona, we would rather disembark the ship and do the Hop On Hop Off bus instead of a city tour by Viking.

I agree with @mom says but our experience in the last few years is that weather does not always follow historical patterns. Often today you can be taken off guard with lows or highs in temperatures. We were on a cruise in Europe over Christmas and New Year and the historical temperatures were 0C but we experienced 8-12C daily. We completely overpacked for cold, but were glad we had it. We travel a lot and have down puffer jackets that fold down to almost nothing but will keep us warm to -20C for short excursions. We pack wool under-layers that don't take any space. We also take a fleece zip jumper for under the down jacket if needed. We always have a couple of hats and scarves and gloves. We are ready for any weather and what makes us ready for any weather really does not take much room in the luggage. We dress in layers as the mornings and the evenings are always the coldest and that is where you experience the lows in temperature and we will strip off a layer during the day if necessary.

I think that this will be different with every credit card, and the level of credit card that you have. Often cards have many levels at many different annual fees, and this will change the insurance benefit. I think that you need to clarify what amount you want to insure and also the credit card you are using. Credit Cards, in my experience, have very low levels of reimbursement for cancellation and interruption unless you have the ability to top up the coverage.

We are in Canada and you are in the USA, so there are going to be differences in airlines, and how many connections you have. We generally fly direct from Toronto to most European cities that we embark a cruise from - generally. Our friends in Kentucky have to connect at least once in the USA to get to the same destination. The above aside, if we are buying air through Viking, we have all but once used Air+ and the only reason the once we did not is because we booked the cruise 2 weeks from departure and there was no option to use Air+ on such short booking. We book our flights through Viking Air+ about 300 days out. We find our routes and times, and we will call Air+ with 2 or 3 options. We start with our first option. We have only paid an up cost on one flight because we wanted a later time departure to home and that was $100 per person. We have always gotten what we wanted and rarely if ever had to go to option 2, or 3, but we know the Canadian airlines and partners that Viking have contracts with and they work for us. We know that Air+ has these costs: 1) $100.00 per person to use the service 2) $100.00 per person if we want to fly in our out earlier or later and not buying Viking's pre or post extension - and this is on each end of the trip. 3) Possible up cost if we want flights outside the contract rate that Viking have. 4) Possible that the airline or flights we want are not in the contract pricing. 5) We may NOT be able to upgrade to PE or Business We have always made any changes to our flights after ticketing on the airline site, not through Viking, but this is mostly seat assignments. I am not talking upgrade. That in most cases would have to be done through Viking if available. On our recent cruise - the 2 week advance booking - the air was such a deal, we took what they gave us. We could not book ourselves for less than $500 more per person. We booked our seats on the airline site as soon as we got the flights. We tried for online upgrade to PE and not available, but it was available at reasonable cost at the airport counter. (This is not always the case.) @FlyerTalker has explained this extremely well. I just wanted to add our experience and perspective.

Our experience is that most all shops take cards today, much like at home and the banking system in Europe tends to be more advanced than in North America. Cards are a reality everywhere today.

As a Viking many times repeat cruiser, I can tell you with confidence that you can bring wine, beer, or spirits on the ship without concern. You will never be charged a penny. You can pour in your cabin and bring to the lounge or consume anywhere on the ship. No one will bat an eye. We often buy bottles of wine when we go on winery tours and bring them to the dining room to consume with our meal. The server will open, pour, and give you best wishes to enjoy the wine! We were most recently on a River Ship (Viking) over both Christmas and New Year's Eve. We bought wine off the ship for both of these nights and brought them to the dining room. BUT - remember that Viking pour unlimited refills of wine and beer at lunch and dinner, so if you are ok with the wines that they are offering, you don't have to bring anything on board. Many will ask their server to top up their glass before they leave the dining room and carry that glass to the lounge.

We love our wine and we wanted the expanded selection of the wines at lunch and dinner, and then again, after dinner, so we always used to buy the drinks package. We were never under the illusion that we could not get access to those wines if we were not on the drinks package, but I have seen in many discussions that that is what some have felt was the case. For us it was purely the convenience of being able to order what we wanted when we wanted, and not worry about charges. We have now however started to rethink the whole situation and are not buying the Silver Spirits Package. At $25 USD or $34 CAD per night per person, we feel that it is too far out of reach now and we would feel obligated to drink that amount. In CAD $$ for an upcoming cruise, it would have been $952.00 for the both of us to have the SSBP and we would not spend that much buying individual drinks. We now sail without the package.

Most major insurance companies that offer travel insurance when YOU are travelling also offer a package for those visiting.

The air that you can book has nothing to do with the original price that Viking is showing you before the air discount. Your reasoning makes sense, but that is not how this works. This is as @SelectSys indicated and this is "marketing speak". Viking are just moving amounts around and instead of discounting the cruise they are showing it on the air. You are at the mercy of their contract pricing. About the only time now that we book our air with Viking is when it is FREE air.

Please tell us how you got to book in USD? The Viking.ca site is in Canadian dollars. Did you pay in full? If not, then by the time you pay the exchange rate may not be in your favour?

While I appreciate your frustrations, please don't take offence to this response. When you are booking through the cruise line, you are booking into contracted rates that they have negotiated and they do not include every airline and every route and every time slot. The contracted rates are also based on flying in and landing the day the cruise begins, and leaving the day the cruise ends. If you want to come in early, do a stopover, then these are outside of the contracted dates and rates and that is why there is an additional fee per person per deviation. Contracted rates may not allow upgrades and they may not pay full air miles. This is no different than if you were booking on AC, you would see that the lowest fare only includes 25% or something like that of the air miles. It is not just Viking - this is what the airline offers too. We have flown in and out from 10 Viking Cruises now from Toronto and have always gotten what we wanted in flights, when using Viking Air Plus. Sometimes we could book upgrades and sometimes we could not. Perhaps we were lucky. We always call with our top three selected routes and airlines, but when we have booked with Air Canada, or Lufthansa we have gotten what we wanted. I completely hear your frustration with the agent. The best advice is if that happens again, politely end your call and call back. You will get someone new that knows, or the other strategy is to ask politely for a supervisor and have the conversation with that person. Sorry that you experienced this frustration. We also can and do book on our own. We have two pending cruises with Viking and we are watching the air... when we call - generally 300 days out - we ask for what we want, and if that is not available, then we book ourselves.

First - there are shows. However, you put "shows" in quotes. Every night there is a show in the Star Theatre and it is not as BIG as some larger mass market cruise lines, but there is a dance/singing troop, the Viking Band, and the Cruise Director will host a variety show as well. There can be comedians, magicians, and the like, but lower key than a line that has 3000+ guests. There are Resident Historians that have lectures (If you consider this fun) that have talks daily about the region you are visiting or the history of the region. Port talks of course. Yes, there is Trivia, but this is generally during the day. There is 4:00pm Tea in the Winter Garden. There can be craft and cooking demonstrations. I think that you will find that if you are part of a world cruise, there will be more options than a straight 8-12 night cruise.

This is how we do it.... You must ensure that your bookings are "connected" and that is done by calling Viking and ensuring that each booking cross references the other. You may be able to call Viking and make the reservations but we have never done it this way. We discuss with our travel companions what excursions we want to go on. We almost always have different tastes and can agree on perhaps 50% only. We make our reservations independently on the same day so we know that the availability is open. You cannot book for another cabin. Because our reservations are linked, we will be assigned to the same bus and guide when our excursion reservations match. We make a check of this when we board the ship with Guest Services and it has always been confirmed that we are on the same tour group.

Interesting question... We have been politely refused when not in an area that also has a food menu attached and I believe that it is down to that person's discretion as well.

Enjoy!

That is our main concern now.... I mean, our understanding is that we would still have coverage if a limb was broken or there was some kind of other freak accident, but if to do with the pre-existing, then perhaps not. I also find it confusing reading discussions that are largely US based as it seems that the US based insurance is more specific about many of these things and CDN insurance is more vague in their language. We mostly book our own air, and mostly book fares that have a cancel policy that is only a small fee. We had to cancel a trip last month where the air was $6,500.00 and we only lost $400.00 CDN cancelling that. Full refund minus the $400.00 I am more interested now in potentially buying CFAR insurance at the point of booking and then it does not matter the reason. I want to say that it gets hard with these things when you get old, but it is not just those of us that are aging that have pre-existing conditions to be concerned with.

We booked our December (2023) cruise only 2 weeks before. I think that all went smoothly including getting the seats we wanted on the flights. The only glitch that worried us was that when we arrived at the destination airport the agent for our cruise did not have us on the manifest, but said since we booked late, that is probably why... Then at the ship, we were not in the computer for checkin... but then someone came with a list and we were on that.

LindaD22 is correct, however we have found that often we have arrived and docked sooner than the arrival time and then you can actually disembark at the posted arrival time. Our experience is that you are not really waiting that long. Why are you asking? Are you booking independent excursions that you have to disembark to meet at a certain time?

Wonder if this is a cell phone carrier thing? I had this conversation with my other half and my memory was correct, I was on eSIM data only and he was on our home carriers Roam Like Home package. We could NOT iMessage each other - only WhatsApp. We have often travelled with both of us on the Roam Like Home package and we can absolutely iMessage each other. With the data only eSIM's nope. I am going to say that when I am on an aircraft with free texting, I also cannot iMessage. I can WhatsApp, but not iMessage.

I know that this is about what side of the ship, but do consider booking the full day - 14 hour I think - Berlin excursion. On our cruise there were about 450 guests that took this excursion and Viking chartered a train from the cruise port to Berlin just for us. This is about a 2.5 to 3 hour train ride each way. Then you have about 6-7 hours in Berlin. To us this was worth every penny and every minute. We had never been to Berlin and probably would not end up there purposely so we did it.