TayanaLorna

We live in the Caribbean and find the entire pool area much too hot unless the roof is open. Even on cold weather cruises we find the area is too hot especially if it is sunny outside. We avoid eating at the pool grill because of this. On our last cruise (Caribbean & Amazon) the out facing loungers were warm but a comfortable temperature in the early morning hours with the roof closed. We managed to snag a couple for 2-3 hours and actually sat in them. Most of the other out facing chairs were "saved" for the first 2 hours while we were there with no one sitting on them.

It was absolutely fantastic. On our way home now. Missed connection in Miami due to delay in Brazil. Will write a lengthy review once home and recovered.

Spa treatment hours 8 am to 8 pm maybe. I LOVE the deep tissue and it's all I get. Not for everyone.

No pain, no gain with deep tissue

We went through in the Santiago to BA direction at the end of January and the sky was just beginning to get light at 5:30. I recall getting out of bed, pulling open the curtains and saying OMG I see waterfalls already. It was the blue light of morning.

Go to Trip Advisor.

Agreed

We completely cancelled our Viking Air including Air Plus and Deviation fees and booked our own flights for cheaper. We received a refund to the account from which the e-check was paid. Don't know what would happen if an upgrade is changed to basic economy.

One person in a stateroom can make excursion reservations for both people in thst stateroom but not for another room. We have coordinated excursions with friends on cruises. If is best to have a meeting with all involved, decide which excursions you want and at what times. Then have second choices of time for same excursion if available AND for another excursion if one you want is sold out. If you are going for optional excursions, decide which one is most important. When booking day arrives, reserve and pay for the optional excursions most important to you first then go back and reserve the included ones. On the day of your group excursion, meet your friends first AND THEN get in line for the excursion all together. You can all get on the same bus that way. I've seen people being sent to the back of the line to wait for their friends when they don't show up together but want to get on the same bus. Just because you got their first you don't get to cut in the line when friends arrive.

Manfredi's is the more popular of the 2 Specialty Restaurants and one time we were not able to get a single reservation there during a 7 day cruise within our desired dining window times. If you want to eat there every day at 8:30 or 9:00 pm you will probably get in. On a 15 day cruise we were able to enjoy each of the 5 Chefs Table menus with 6 to 7 pm dining times. The by the glass charge until just recently was $6 and $25 for bottle of same. Silver Spirits package was $20.00 per day back then. Now SSP is $25 per day and the per drink cost has increased also.

In the MDR, the left side of the menu is Always Available, the right side of the menu are daily specials in all categories - appetizer/salads/soup, main course, vegetarian, dessert. Veranda suites cannot reserve specialty restaurants in advance but once on board, you may reserve as many as you wish. If you like early evening dining times (6-7:30), reserve as soon as you can. There are a number of wine lists floating around on CC so maybe someone will post or tell you where to find them. The wines can change with region and cruise ship. By the glass is $8 and those bottles are $30. There are a number of only by the bottle wines starting at $35. The SS package only includes the wines offered by the glass. However one gets a 15% discount if you wish to purchase a higher end bottle.

You must pay for Air Plus. Then you can work with Viking to get the flights you want. However be aware that not all airlines or flights are within what Viking has contracted.

A few days ago someone posted that they were staying another day in Tromso because weather system was too bad to travel to Narvik. I looked at the windy.com weather after that and it was a MAJOR weather system. Weather delays can happen on any cruise especially those crossing the North Sea in winter.

Another question is, if they are not insured in the policy, are you covered medically if injured while on an excursion?

The Viking Air fare for any given itinerary is sometimes less then you could book for yourself and sometimes more. It depends on the market and their contracted fares with airlines. It pays to do thorough research beforehand. We usually include Viking Air in our booking contract as it could go up. Then we do research. We like to choose our flights with Viking and go a day or 2 early. So adding the Air Plus and the Deviation Fees often makes the flights cost more. We book flights ourselves and get a refund for the Viking Air. Finding transfers to/from the ship is usually cheaper too then paying for Viking transfers. And yes, we only get free Viking transfers if we use Viking Air or a Viking pre or post extension. Viking gave us a one way fare of $899 for Manaus, Brazil to San Juan. Add deviation and Air Plus to make it $1,149. We got the same flights for $619.00. The reserved in advance taxi fare to the airport was $80 for 4 people. The difference paid for our 2 hotel nights, our transfers, and 2 days of private excursions with money left over to pay for our meals, wine and taxi from airport to home.

Many passengers with Viking transfers have late afternoon or evening flights. Most often Viking arranges for a hotel space with refreshments for the time between ship and ride to airport. Normally you don't find this out until you are on the ship. You can have a tour operator pick you up at that hotel. Alternately find a tour operator that will pick you up at the ship with your bags, do the tour, have them drop you off at airport. Make specific arrangements for your luggage because most group tours do not allow it.

We were there on the Viking Jupiter in 2020. Being a smaller ship there is no need to stand in line in advance for tender tickets. Boarding the ships tenders is according to ship sponsored excursions, however they will also accommodate those on private excursions which we had. All ships must anchor in the outer harbor. It takes about 30 minutes from ship to dock. Boarding the outbound tender was easy but the wind was directly into the inner harbor and the waves built up at the floating tender dock and it was a bit rocky. We had the Volunteer Point tour with Patrick Watts where the jeeps picked us up right at the dock. We were still there when the second tender arrived and after several tries and hitting a docked local boat in the turn around basin, the tender was not able to pull parellel to the dock and returned to the ship. Our tour departed and about a half hour out of town, we as lead vehicle received a radio call that Viking was recalling all passengers on shore because subsequent tenders could not dock. When we asked why we could not just do our excusion and return afterwards, we were told that the winds were predicted to increase and they were afraid they couldn't get us back on the ship. At least we got to see some of the terrain and the guide pointed out the different sights in town. Neither of the to and from town tender rides were too rough although returning to the ship we were bashing into seas and waves were washing over the tender. To get back onto the ship each passenger had to watch the up and down movement of the tender compared to the ship and step aboard when they were most level - not an easy feat. When everyone was safely on board, we departed and had an additional sea day. In the afternoon the winds increased to 60 knots offshore and we had 25 foot seas. All outdoor decks were closed and a wave dampening netting was placed over the interior pool. Captain made a wise choice in cancelling the port stop.

The growth in passengers and the number of flights has far outpaced the size of the airport. We have always checked luggage. That line has always been very long even before you get to the rows that snake back and forth to get to the desks taking at least an hour. Then there is the security line which takes an hour IF they do not decide to search your bag which they did to a lot of people including us. Then it is a very long walk to where the international planes depart where sometimes you have to take a bus to your plane and walk up a long staircase to board. The only flight we ever took that had a direct from gate boarding was Reyjkavik to Bergen. IF you have carry on only or have access to a priority check in, then you can possibly do it in 2 hours or less. With carry on only there are kiosks where you can get your boarding pass. In 2021 we read about an airport expansion there but i doubt if it has been completed in 1.5 years.

Also look closely at that invoice as it may indicate how early you can book your return flight. On our 2021 cruise we could not book a flight before 10 am. Reason is that Viking (or anyone else) could not get you to the airport in time. It's one hour to the airport and you should be at the airport 3 hours before your flight. We were there twice 2.5 hours before our flight. The first time we barely made it to the gate. The second time we would have missed the flight if it was not held. One flight was in the AM and the other time it was the PM with no difference.

Chances are it was caused by something the passenger brought into the cabin but not necessarily that person's fault. There was a recent report of a diverted flight because a tablet/IPad began smoking. I left a USB cord plugged into a bedside table outlet but no device charging at the end. When we returned to the room housekeeping had unplugged it. Now I do same.

On the 9News one it is Viking when you play the video but the still shot is not. Go figure

Oops! I was thinking of Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Sorry! Punta Arenas is in Chile. Ok, been there too. Punta Arenas is a dock for some ships. We were on a small 750' Viking cruise ship and docked. I don't know about Norwegian. If ship is on the dock, you walk to the enclosed terminal and out into the street. Tour operators will meet you outside the terminal. If it is a tender stop, i have no idea where they discharge guests. For private tours, be sure to book one that refunds if ship cannot stop. Punta Arenas can get very windy. When we were there we had 60 mph winds, all water based tours were cancelled and the ship needed 2 tugs to pull us off the dock when leaving.

Puntas Arenas is a dock and a very loooong dock. In fact so long that they had port shuttle busses take passengers from the ship to the entrance. Any outside tour operator will know where to pick you up and will probably tell YOU. We were there in 2020 and all the busses for the cruise lines excursions were able to drive right up near the ship. We used Sentir Patagonia for an all day private tour to Penninsula Valdes and they met us where the shuttle bus left us off. If they are allowed to meet you on the dock near your ship, they will tell you.

Yes talk to Viking not TripMate. TM does not give vouchers only cash for covered cancellation reasons.

Amazing, i had no idea.