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I cannot speak to comparisons with Seabourn or Regent. My experience with Oceania has not included air booking. I prefer to do that independently as well as pre post cruise stays. You can book transfers which I did once on board for the end of the cruise and regretted. Had to wait for bus to fill and think taxi would not have cost much more. I think that should be evaluated based on port, distance to airport, availability of taxi or Uber/Lyft and of course, ease of having luggage handling service. Specialty restaurant reservations allotment is based on cabin class and as noted previously depends on ship as far as number of restaurants. There is no extra charge (except as previously mentioned for the unique dining)and every cabin is guaranteed at least one reservation per restaurant which you can do before boarding when the booking window time opens. Depending on the length of the cruise, our ability to book more than our allotment once on board has been good but surprisingly, not as easy as on our recent Viking cruise, even though Viking only has 2 specialty restaurants. There are so many choices on Oceania that it is often abit hard deciding where to for lunch and even for dinner if you don’t have a specialty reservation. You can always get fresh grilled steak, salmon, shrimp, lamb chop at the buffet. I would rate the food on Oceania excellent (pre Covid travel) and overall better than Viking which was very good. There are more choices and more variety on Oceania. I was particularly disappointed in the breads, salads and pastries on Viking though the wafffles, soups and open face sandwiches at Mamsens were a delight. A consideration re alcohol is that you can buy a wine bottle package once on board. There will be a list of wines and you can mix whites and reds. We have travelled with another couple so each of us have usually purchased one 6 bottle pkg which means 12 bottles total. Depending on the length of the cruise and how much we feel like having, we have purchased maybe 2 additional bottles. Your bottle is labeled and your server can access it at any of the restaurants. The only time we had any difficulty was once when we decided we wanted wine at lunch at our table at the buffet when it took a very long time. You can bring on spirits or wine so we have had our own cocktails in our staterooms or weather permitting on the veranda pre dinner with an occasional purchased drink if we wanted to enjoy the delightful jazz pianist at the bar. Compare the prices of the packages and your drinking preferences. Having just returned from our first Viking cruise, while the generous refilling of your glass at lunch and dinner started off quite nice, for us, after a few days we found it abit too much and had to develop a modicum of control and moderate. In regards to the Olife options. We prefer the onboard credit which we apply to the basic gratuities and our wine purchases. Traveling with another couple, we have found booking shore excursions independently more rewarding and less costly. We have even done a small group tour connecting with others here on cruisecritic. I think it also may depend on the itinerary and what can be arranged. On our recent Viking cruise ( first post Covid), we only booked through Viking as we were not traveling with our friends and most of the independent tour operators had some cancellation penalties. With the uncertainty of potential Covid, we felt more comfortable staying with the cruise excursions even the ones with additional cost. Hope this a helpful.

Pre existing condition waiver is always one big question that comes up for most travelers. AS I understand it for example, One caveat is you must be fit to fly on the day you purchase the insurance for the pre excising waiver. Chronic health conditions if stable do not preclude the waiver but I believe the medical definitions may be quite important e,g, any tests or medicine changes could preclude. .I AM NOT AN INSURANCE EXPERT. EVERYONES SITUATION AND COMFORT LEVEL IS UNIQUE. I found excellent advice and information at steve@tripinsurancestore.com. Very knowledgeable

Thank you for your information. Was there any notification by the captain on your cruise of Covid cases and requiring or strongly recommending masking in public places, excursions, etc. From the information Viking told me over the phone, I believe they no longer have isolation cabins which I would guess means full capacity cruises. Where did your cruise go? I’m glad you were able to cruise and return home safely.

Does anyone have any experience/information about how Viking is handling Covid cases since they discontinued testing and masking policies? The information I received when I spoke with the representative was not very specific. I have a few more days to decide about my cruise and would very much appreciate “real world” experience so I can make my personal choice. Thank you.

Wow. Quite an impressive list. Hope some of these will be on our cruise though also anticipate some longer days in Iceland as well as post dinner 🍷 somnolence might limit time and energy to watch. Thank you for taking the time to dig out those dailies and post.

What are the topics presented on the cruises that visit Norway and Iceland? What are typical re: history, Viking mythology, animals, natural features? If you’ve been, I would appreciate your input.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. It sounds like you were able to avoid contacting the virus on the cruise and have returned home safely, thankfully. What measures did you take that you think helped you avoid the transmission that was occurring on your cruise? Did you go on the cruise shore excursions? Eat in the Cafe? Did you notice problems with service due to staff shortages from crew illness? It does appear that the attraction of what Viking promoted as having implemented a higher standard of Covid monitoring and concern for health has been abandoned. While there was no guarantee of certainty with their prior program, this complete change and lack of transparency as to how these increased case are being handled is concerning.

Thank you for your information.. It would be wonderful to hear your experiences as you cruise. Of course, daily enjoyment must come first. I hope all goes well and you have a lovely trip. I am planning on boarding the Mars in Bergen for my upcoming cruise. Did you get your pre embarkation test at the airport? I will be traveling a few days in Denmark before the cruise so need to test on arrival in Bergen. Thank you for an additional information.

First, I would like to say that I am sorry for those people on this thread that experienced positive tests and Covid. I am glad that for most it was quite mild and that the quarantine, meals and contact with Viking was positive. That being said, it was certainly not the cruise one hoped to enjoy. I had a question for those who have been on cruises recently. Does it seem that the majority of cases are identified within the first few days of the cruise or for those on B2B, when the days following the new segment passengers boarding? I have a 12 day cruise booked and to have to isolate for 10 days seems almost like cruising from my living room with YouTube. It also seems confusing about testing once in isolation since PCR tests can remain positive for longer than you are considered contagious. What has been the isolation experience? If no symptoms, only 5 days? If symptoms it would seem longer but how long if no fever.? I wish good luck to those who have returned home to new challenges.