Torquato

Go to Mercado San Miguel next to plaza Mayor. You’ll find all kinds of quality tapas. You’ll see more locals than tourists which is a good sign. Save room for some Churros (I prefer porras) with hot chocolate at chocolatería San Gives which is two short blocks away. Sleep like a well fed baby…. enjoy!

We bring out large suitcases with us when we embark. The scanners are large enough for them. Up to now we never had a problem. We also have AirTags in them. Once inside the ship, we go to our cabin and leave the bags there. The one time the cabin door was closed, we left them in the hallway.

I agree as well. The one that always get my blood boiling when I see it is “California couscous paella.” I’ve lived in California for over 40 years. Never seen it. I was born in Spain and have been eating paella since I can remember. Never, absolutely never with couscous. Why not just make it with Spanish short grain rice? BTW: I was on a princess cruse a month. Saw paella as I was walking through the buffet. Tried it. It was probably the best restaurant paella I’ve had outside of Spain. That good.

Looking forward to seeing you all on board… we’ve sailed from San Pedro multiple times. Have driven the day prior and stayed overnight at the doubletree. This time we decided to fly down from San Jose To LAX tomorrow morning since we are doing a B2B2B.. We arrive at 11:30AM and will take an Uber. Seeing that tomorrow is Saturday, we are hoping that traffic won’t be as bad as a weekday…. We have 3 hours to make to the ship. 🤞

I’m starting a new thread to keep track of Carlos the bartender who is currently on the Viking Star as we sail back to LA from Hawaii. We, and others on board, want to know which ship he is on so that, if possible, we can book a cruise he is on or will be on… who knows, maybe if we get critical mass Viking may even come up with Carlos-centric cruises … “the Carlos Mexican Riviera Adventure” or something similar.😃 Carlos makes great hand crafted Margaritas. You can taste the love he puts into them. All the barmen and women on board and across the fleet do a great job and maybe this thread can be expanded to include others, we could mention many names, but for now we’ll start with Carlos…

Hopefully Manfredi will have the new (improved) menu by then

My wife has a gluten problem also. All the restaurants on Vinny will accommodate people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Just tell the hotel manager Viking has a dedicated person that will find you and present you the menu for the following day. You choose what you want and they will prepare your choices gluten free. Talk to the pastry chef and he’ll have freshly baked gluten f free almond cookies delivered to your room. Enjoy!

We were on the Star two months ago from Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale and will be on the Dec 28 cruise to Hawaii. After having been on 8 previous cruises with Viking, our experience at Manfredi's was also very disappointing. The menu has radically changed for the worse. Gone are my favorites like the Lasagna, Sole, Lamb chops, Veal, and may others.. The original rib eye has been replaced by two types of rib eye steaks (Why two relatively similar rib eye steaks on the same menu? I don't know.). Neither steak measures up to the original steaks that we have hade multiple times on previous cruises. Our experience at the Restaurant was also disappointing and we ended up having most of our meals at the world cafe where the food seems to have improved relative to previous cruises in terms of quality and variety. None of the above should reflect badly on the staff. I think these issues stem from corporate decisions. On the positive side, the crew on the Star was probably the best we've had out of all the cruises we've sailed with Viking. David Lecumberri, the Hotel Manager, was the most attentive, approachable, and congenial HM we've had the pleasure to sail with. Unfortunately, he won't be on our next cruise. Kate, the Cruise director, was without reservation, the best we have ever had on any cruise ship we have ever been on. We won't forget them, and most of the crew anytime soon. Viking should use the Star crew as the standard that crews on all Viking Ocean ships should aspire to and we're looking forward to seeing most of them on our next cruise...

In most restaurants, the price you see on the menu is the price you end up paying. Includes taxes and tips. Most people will leave a small tip such as 5 euros on a 100 euro bill but there is no expectation that you should leave something.

I agree with your assessment of Madrid. Just to clarify, the royal family residence is the Palacio de la Zarzuela in the outskirts of Madrid. The Royal Palace can be visited year round except for a few holidays and when used for official state functions. See https://tickets.patrimonionacional.es/en-GB/informacion-recinto/6/palacio-real-de-madrid

if you end up going to Madrid for a few days and you like museums, just a few hundred yards from the Prado museum you'll find the Reina Sofia Museum where Picasso's Guernica is exhibited. Impressive and definitely worth a visit.

As a Madrid native, I mostly agree with all of the above. If this is your first time to Spain and you want an overview of the country, then a combination of Madrid and Barcelona will give the broadest exposure given the limited time you'll have. if you want to take it easy and get more of a local immersion, stays in Barcelona and don't dilute you limited time traveling form one city to the other along with the attendant checking in and checking out of hotels, traveling from one city to the other, etc. Madrid, the nearby cities listed above, the south, the north west, and the rest of Spain deserve to be seen at a more leisurely pace. Enjoy!

Every time we’ve stayed in a V cabin we had the drinks replace with the ones we wanted by just asking the steward. Every time we’ve stayed in a DV cabin we left a note in the fridge stating the soft drinks we wanted and the fridge was restocked everyday with the soft drinks we requested. Also, every time we’ve stayed in a DV cabin we have asked the steward to remove the coffee maker. We never coffee makers because I don’t trust the cleanliness AND there is good coffee available in the WC.

LOL, LOL, LOL. Im originally from Spain and have lived in California during the past 40+ years. Every time I see “California Couscous Paella” on the menu it drives me nuts. Never seen that abomination either in Spain or in California.

I was told by the executive chef on a past VO cruise that Viking sources all their flour from France. No GMOs. No wonder their croissants are so good… On the last two cruises my wife, who has gluten intolerance, has asked the resident executive chef for almond flour gluten-free cookies and both times the cookies were made and delivered to our room. viking also has GF scones at tea time. All you have to do is ask. One more item…. Viking will have GF beer on board if you tell them of your needs ahead of time. On our last cruise my wife emailed tellus and soon after we boarded the person in charge of taking care of passengers with special dietary needs found her and told her that they had 100 bottles of GF beer on board. No, she did not drink them all. 😂 she may have had seven during our 14 day cruise.

High fiber content

On our May 29 homelands cruise the captain decided that we were not going to go to Karlskrona and we spent an extra day in Gdanks. Did not hear anyone complaining about the change…

We were on a Viking cruise pre COVID and on the first day at sea I asked the waiter for a Heineken which he brought a few minutes later. The next day, at lunch, the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink and I said a Heineken to which she replied “ sir, we don’t have Heineken on board”😃 Not that I’m an expert but that original Carlsberg sure tasted like a Heineken. it’s been Carlsberg ever since. No Heineken on any Viking cruise we’ve been on. YMMV

LOL. I actually love their lasagna. I make it a point to eat it every time I have dinner at Manfredi’s. So good. I typically have a small serving. Must have had a premonition because the very last time I ate there I asked for a full serving. Glad I did. Note: I am not Italian but I’m married to one..

We were on the Jupiter earlier this month. Our 7th ocean/expedition cruise. We ended up eating at the world cafe more than in any previous ocean cruise because of the disappointing food and relatively slow service at the other venues. I ended up eating pizza twice. A first for me on Viking.

Wow! A massive overhaul… many of my favorites have disappeared. Mushroom soup, Dover sole, lasagna, lamb chops, and more. i’m very disappointed.

We’ve only cruised on Princess and Viking. 11 cruises on Princess and 8 on Viking. Presently on Viking doing the Viking homelands. There are pros and cons with either line.. We will continue to sail on both of them depending on convenience, itineraries, and price…

Oops.. I should have read your post before I replied.

I very much doubt that crime is a primary reason or even a top 10 reason. Since the Sunday after thanksgiving 2022, we’ve been on four cruises with Princess out of San Francisco. Crime was not a concern at all and the atmosphere around the cruise port was “we’re going on a cruise” festive. My take is that San Francisco has a very finite number of destinations for recurring cruises (Mexican Riviera, classic California coast, Pacific Northwest , and Alaska come to mind) that limit passenger volume. This has to do with distance to the nearest foreign port (Ensenada or Victoria/Vancouver) that adds days to the itinerary, and seasonal factors like the relatively short Alaska season. Repositioning is also a factor.

My wife has it lit and she first asks the barman if he knows how to do it. If he is clueless she just tells him what she wants in it besides red wine… Have you ever had a calimocho? It’s a popular drink in Spain, albeit not as popular as sangria. I personally like it and have had it many times on Princess. Very refreshing. Mix red wine and coke or diet coke. Half and half over ice. try it before you prejudge 😀 Enjoy!