TayanaLorna

Like others are saying, you can switch out the 4 little alcohol bottles to your choice. Just ask your room steward when you check in. You can also ask for an ice bucket to be delivered at a specific time each day. On our cruises, the little gin bottle was Tanguery. If you like a different gin, bring your own bottle.

It is good to see you 2. Museum looks fascinating. Far up in the mountains of Puerto Rico there is a small Cemi museum. It contains artifacts with similar motifs. There are several pre colombian archeological sites of the Taino indigenous that most visitors to PR never see.

Hmmm...this sounds like Viking is eliminating Viking Air Plus (where you pay an additional fee and are able to work with an agent to get the flights you want before 90 days) not Viking Air. Being able to see a list of what is available 3 months out and choosing from that list is nice IF you want to wait that long. Sounds like Air Plus will be limited to friends/family traveling together who want to be on the same flights. Last time we booked a Viking cruise was last May and Viking Air, Air Plus and Deviation were still offered.

We do know someone that was given an upgrade from DV to PV but it was on a fairly empty repositioning cruise. However twice we have purchased a last minute upgrade. It was a week or less before the cruise and we received an email offer to upgrade from DV to PV. Once the offer was $399 per person, the second time was $199 pp. We jumped on it both times as original difference between the cabin categories was between $800 and $1200 pp. First time we got a PV 1, second time a PV2.

We did a 2 day pre with Viking in Barcelona. Arrival time was too late to do anything except dinner. Second day we used Barcelona Day Tours for an all day private excursion. We saw and stopped for photos of all Gaudi's structures as I am a fan, went to Montserrat Abbey, toured La Sagrada Familia with Skip the Line tickets and an audio guide, toured Parc Gruell. Embarkation day we were out of our hotel rooms and off on a Viking excursion for the morning reaching the ship around 1 pm. Viking provided a shuttle which dropped people off at the head of the Ramblas. Our cruise left that night.

I know someone on board and told them about it.

Not on Viking Ocean. I bring my pair of collapsable ones.

I read about it with regards to Norwegian on Cruise Hive or something like that recently but that's it.

Add: no upcharge to use the Spa facility (saunas, steam room, therapy pool, snow room, heated clay loungers) No photographers in your face and charging $$$ for photos of you No hawking jewelry sales No upcharge for quiet pool areas to get away from noisy kids (there are no kids) No charge for specialty coffees No upcharge for room service No charge for ship tours of the bridge, galley or laundry if offered I don't consider excursions, drinks package or airfare an upcharge. We can choose to pay Viking or an outside vendor for excursions or take the included one. We can choose to not drink, only drink the beer/wine with meals or bring our own booze or wine. All rooms except V have your choice of mixer, room steward will provide ice. You can also bring your drinks to public places or drink your own wine with no corkage fee. We can purchase our own flights, use our FF miles or use Viking. Its not an upcharge. Our very first cruise was with friends who talked us into going on Viking with them. I choked when i first saw the fare. We chose the SSP for drinks and paid for it before the cruise. Our cruise had some sea days so we were happy to have a cocktail any time, got the upgraded wines at Chefs Table and enjoyed a wine tasting event - all included with the drinks package. We took all the Included excursions and then explored on our own. The only charge at the end of our cruise were gratuities which, based on the service everywhere on board, we were happy to pay the suggested amount.

Longest itinerary we ever booked was 18 days and the fee if cancelled was $100 per person. Even if the deposit was $500 per person the cancellation fee prior to the 120 days was $100. Don't know about longer cruises.

Yes, i would expect a seat change with an aircraft change.

Word was you wished to keep a low profile so i did not seek you out. Bob was very good about connecting with others from our RC but, with the Viking Covid ban on folks gathering in groups, we never played the games Bob had planned.

Who knows? It's possible that it is only an anniversary thing. It could also be a marketing tool to assess which cruises folks are interested in. We are more likely to put $25 down on a cruise which we "think" we might want to do. As a marketing tool, they can get a likely head count for a particular cruise and an idea of if they should offer further incentives. My understanding is that we can transfer that $25 deposit to another cruise but, if we cancel the cruise, we actually owe another $75. How they would collect that? Another who knows.

I know it can happen but out of 50 years flying I have never had a seat assignment change when I made it directly with the airline. Guess my time is due.

Hey MikeyB, you were on the 2021 TA from Barcelona to SJ, right? At one point on another thread you asked if I ever heard from Bob after the cruise? I haven't but still bring that little "basket" his crafty wife made and gave to a lot of folks on the roll call. Only couple we keep in touch with are CCWineLover.

My understanding is once the itinerary is actually ticketed and you get a ticket number, then you can choose seats. Any assigned seats prior to ticketing are requested seats and could change.

Besides what JM0015 said, Air Traffic Controllers won't be paid but are required to work. No Federal workers will be paid except for Congresspeople.

The first time we thought to tie back the drapes was on a welcome back cruise when we had to wear contact tracing devices. They were on a lanyard. My DH said why don't we try one of these lanyards with our magnets. We did, it worked so we just asked Guest Services for more lanyards. We too keep a bag with stuff we bring for a cruise and don't use otherwise.

I think we are the only ones who prefer the door/window combo in a PV. The first one we had was a PV2 so disregard that Viking staffer comment that only PV3's have them. We do tend to spend time in our cabin. My DH downloads photos at the desk and I sit with my legs up on the sofa journaling. We can both have great views to outside. We put the chair in the narrow wall space between the door and window. We also capture the drapes with ties and affix each tie to a wall magnet which we bring. That places the drapes behind the chair giving a better view through window or door. I know some folks like to leave their slider open but we don't. Keeping the door open is harder. We do use our veranda but have yet been on a cruise where the weather was conducive for long seatings out there. It was either frigging freezing or dripping humidity salt encrusted rails, table and chairs. One thing with the door is it closes slowly then at the end slams. So we needed to be considerate and not allow door to slam.

You may want to look under Roll Calls to meet folks on your cruise. Roll Calls - Viking Ocean - name of ship - name of cruise and dates. Good luck.

Some find the location objectionable as those on the Bridge can see on to the veranda and folks who go to the outside deck can look down on to the veranda also. However your cruise is port intensive so how much time will you really spend on your veranda.

We did not get yellow fever due to age and we did not carry malaria meds. Wore lightweight long sleeved shirts and pants and sprayed with a Deep Woods insect repellent. Typhoid is water borne so never drank water, ice cubes and never ate at local markets or kiosks - only nice hotel and on ship. Had all Covid vax and boosters available. Yes people on ship were still getting Covid in Feb-Mar 2023. Already had hepatitis and tetanus shots. Traveled Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, up the Amazon to Manaus on a cruise ship followed by a week on a smaller river boat further up the Amazon and 2 days in Manaus. Only saw mosquitoes once and it was on a dense forest hike. We each need to research what is best for ourselves based on what we plan to do. We chose a river boat to go further up the Amazon rather then a land based rainforest lodge figuring a lodge surrounded by dense forest would have more mosquitoes.

I only referred people twice. The first time the credit was applied to our cruise and our friends cruise immediately. The second time the credit was applied to our friends cruise but not ours. When I called our Viking agent he said it won't be applied to ours until our friends complete the Guest Info form on MVJ. Huh? They booked a cruuse and it was fully paid up, why does Viking need an on line form completed? My friends were not very tech savvy so I walked them through downloading MVJ and where to find the form. They said they completed the form but Viking said they did not so no credit forthcoming. This happened several times. You can't make this stuff up. We did finally get our credit. But boy has the Viking LA office gone downhill since we took our first cruise.

No they won't hold it on the ship but at the hotel where they arrange the day room. You will claim your bags in the terminal alongside the ship, then walk them out of the terminal past Customs & Border Patrol officers who will ask you if you have any fruit, vegetables or plants. Once outside the bags will be put on a bus to the hotel. Folks with early morning flights follow the same process but go to the airport. The ship and all passengers are already cleared by Customs & Immigration by the time the disembarkation begins. No one ever asked us if we had anything to claim, only if we had anything agricultural. You will need to be out of your room by 8 am and off this ship by 9-9:30 am.

For past cruises, Viking has arranged a day room at the Sheraton across the street from the docks and folks were able to explore Old San Juan for the day. The best way to find out if the do that again is to find and join the Roll Calls before you. We have always found out the details of transfer day arrangements once on the ship.