Little Monty

CC Member ronbe65 has written a wonderful overview (link below). I hope this is of assistance.

From the Cabin Guide in the Viking blog.

https://viking-cruises-cabin-guide.blogspot.com/

Thank you Ontario/AZ for sharing your thoughts. Please do report your feelings to Viking as suggested and please let us know what response you get. We are in Iceland next June and are booked on the 3 day extension - and are more than a little concerned. Regards

hello imcpa ... we are also on the 30 Dec sailing from Auckland. We previously lived in Sydney. Disembarkation day in Sydney will be a Sunday so the traffic will be somewhat better than Mon - Fri (when it is a nightmare) so Heidi13's suggestion about a limo is a good one. I am a bit disappointed that we will not be berthed at Circular Quay .. so assuming we will be berthed at White Bay Heidi13 is correct, it is quite a way back to Circular Quay to catch the airport train ... BeeD is correct that the train is a good option if we berth at Circular Quay - but that seems not to be the case.

We are staying an extra night in Sydney (in the Rocks area) so will go there after disembarkation. A water taxi from White Bay to the Rocks might be an option for us. The problem for you may be ... what to do with your luggage while you do some sightseeing ?

That issue aside, rest assured there is plenty to do in and around Sydney harbour - assuming you are happy to go there from White Bay. BeeD's suggestions are spot on - and you can also catch the ferry across the harbour from Circular Quay to Manly for just a few dollars return (if the weather is good it is a very enjoyable experience). Sydney is one of the world's great harbours, so anything on / around the harbour is always a good choice.

Of course if your flight is at 2pm you would probably want to be at the airport by say 12.30pm which means you really only have say 3 hours from disembarkation till you need to depart for the airport.

My Viking Journey tells me it is just 114 days till departure - and the Shore Excursions seem to have been loaded into the system (although it is too early to book them).

Best wishes to all with your planning, see you on board.

We will be there next May and will be using the airport bus. But there are several options ..

https://en.visitbergen.com/visitor-information/travel-information/getting-here/to-bergen-by-plane/bergen-airport-flesland-to-bergen-city-center

Enjoy your trip.

We have been to Europe on Emirates past 4 years in a row on A380 in Business Class (from Australia). Excellent flights every time, and the A380 is a wonderful aircraft. Emirates on-board experience is as good as we could hope for.

.. I should have added - anyone who was identified as likely to carrying the virus (ie infectious to others) or who displayed indicators of being sick from the virus (without necessarily being still in the infectious stage) were of course handed into the care of medical / health specialists.

Further to the discussion re screening ... I worked at an international airport in Australia for several years. During the Avian Influenza (Asian bird flu) pandemic a few years ago people who were arriving from high risk areas (primarily Asia) were screened in the same way as described. A 'walk-though' exercise was undertaken inside the terminal shortly after disembarkation in which body temp was measured and anyone with an elevated temperature was taken aside for additional assessment (eg questions about where they had been, if they had been in contact with birds or poultry, if they were feeling unwell). On some rare occasions they were required to be cleared by a doctor before being allowed to leave the airport. There have been other occasions in the past where similar screening has been implemented ... all temporary measures until the world wide and / or the local risk of a particular virus or other medical risk moderates. Obviously it is in the best interests of the person that they be made aware they have a high risk virus etc, as then it can be treated - so detection on arrival in an airport is often the best available option for testing. Also obviously, the Australian government and those responsible for community health see this type of screening as being in the best interests of the wider community - identifying a carrier of a specific high risk virus at the border rather than somewhere down the track after the carrier has infected others in the community. At different times in different locations around the world local authorities may introduce this type of screening to respond to a known or emerging health risk. Don't stress if you see or are subjected to this type of screening, it might save you from becoming very ill - or save you from something even worse.

Wondering if the excursion with Viking will get us past the lines and will there be a guide that would make it worth doing the excursion over DIY? I've read that you need to get there when the doors open to avoid really long lines, but the excursion is in the late afternoon for 4 hours. Has anyone taken the Viking excursion to the Tower of London that can comment on it?

If the timing works out, I can recommend this one from personal experience.

http://www.walks.com/our-walks/the-tower-of-london-tour-1

... if you go with us – go First Class – you'll get a discount on the Tower admission price and VIP admission: no queuing, no "standing in line.

Thanks everyone, this all sounds very positive. Whether we choose Norway, the Med or Aus/Nz, I'll be looking hard at the details of the itinerary. I notice, for instance, that Viking doesn't do Milford Sound in NZ. And Seabourn itin for 2019 doesn't do Geiranger but does go to Alesund. Trade-offs everywhere.

 

Viking cabins look quite reasonably-sized, unless Azamara's tiny standard balcony cabins.

hello Wendy

If you are really keen on seeing Milford Sound there is one option. The 'Santiago to Sydney' cruise (which is a section of the world cruise) in Feb 2019 [although there are only a few cabins not yet booked, so your preferred cabin option might not be available, even if the itinerary is of interest]. :)

All of you have given such wonderful information! We are going on this cruise in July 2018, and we have booked our own post to Oslo. I was wondering for those of you whom stayed in Oslo, which Hotel did you stay in, did you like it? Was it on your own booking or through Viking.

 

Also, how was your experience about availability of the tours/dining when it was your turn to actually book, we too are in a DV category. We are by no means "new" cruisers, and long ago I was a travel agent whom specialized in cruises, however, we are new to Viking and their way of cruising.

 

Thank you in advance

hello MZiegler ... we stayed at Thon Hotel Opera in Oslo last year and did the reverse (Oslo to Bergen by train, own arrangements). The hotel is right at the main train station, but is also well located for walking to the most popular tourist sites. We were happy with our hotel choice and suggest you might want to consider it as an option. To save dragging our bags all day (on 3 trains, a bus, and a boat) we used the porter transfer service - perfect. Luggage picked up at the hotel before we boarded the train, and was waiting for us in the room when we arrived in Bergen. We just carried a small shoulder bag for the day http://www.porterservice.no

We are cruising from Tokyo to Vancouver May 2019. Very excited about trying a new cruise line.

Fabulous .. we are going Norway to Iceland in May 2019. I know you will really enjoy (y)

We attended a VIKING Ocean Cruise information seminar today which was excellent. We have our first VIKING cruise booked. We were given the beautifully presented 2019-20 brochure but did notice the gremlins had been busy! We live in Melbourne and on Page 131 there are the details for a 3 night stay in our city and the major attractions include Jaipur, Agra and the Taj Mahal! If only they were that close then we wouldn’t need to travel so far to see them!

Yes, it would be handy to have them close. :) Good to see some more Aussies signing up. Where is first cruise to ?

One more question about the loyalty program. Is it available in all markets or only the US?

Oh yes, good question. I never thought of that ! Thank you

Hello all,

 

Your inquiries regarding the returning guest gift program have not gone unnoticed, and we would like to take a moment to provide some clarity below.

 

It’s worth noting, as some of you have mentioned, that the gifts associated with our gift program are separate from the luggage tags and other items provided in our standard documents kit. The gifts referenced here, such as the packing cubes, are extended as a benefit to honor the members of our loyalty program. Here’s how the benefit works:

 

After you complete your first cruise with us, river or ocean, you are automatically enrolled in the loyalty program. As some have stated, approximately 60 days prior to your next cruise’s embarkation, an email prompting a gift selection is delivered to each guest to which you will have 21 days to respond. We encourage you to check your spam/junk folders around this time to ensure receipt. After choosing your gift and placing your order, you will get a confirmation email; if no confirmation notification is received, your order has not gone through and we advise making your selection once more. Once you’ve received your confirmation email, you may expect your gift to arrive within three to four weeks.

 

This program is relatively new, so gifts have only been offered to guests who’ve joined us again since November 2015.

 

If you believe you qualify for a free gift, but haven’t received the referenced email message, you are welcome to contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com so that we can review your case and generate your email prompt, as needed.

 

We appreciate the opportunity to offer an explanation and hope we’ve been successful in clearing up any misunderstanding.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

Thank you ... most appreciated(y)

This might be old news so apologies if I am repeating - but I notice the 2019 World Cruise has been split into segments. Miami to Buenos Aires (23 days), Buenos Aires to Santiago (19 days), Santiago to Sydney 32 days ... etc (these are listed in the web page under 'Ships / Viking Sun / Itineraries This Ship Sails').

An interesting change from 2018 WC. Just FYI in case anyone is interested.

So glad I found this thread and thanks to all of you!

 

I am seriously considering Viking for a cruise in October of November 2020. Up to now, we've done mostly Royal Caribbean with one on QMII and we'll be trying Celebrity in November of this year.

 

Everything I've read here (and other places) has me leaning towards booking this, if I can convince my husband.

 

One question (he'll want to know). I see there is complimentary beer and wine at meals, which is great. He does like martinis and scotch. I think I read somewhere there is a bevo package, not sure if that's needed or the cost of it (I also read "reasonable").

 

I am guessing the answer may be here in the 13 pages of the thread, but, forgive me for not searching for it.

 

Oh, and are the ships (ocean) pretty much all the same? I think the cruise I'm looking at is The Sea.

 

I will read all of this at some point!

Do a quick search in this forum for Silver Spirits Package. We had it last year and will include it for NZ cruise this year and Iceland and Med cruises next year. We considered it good value ... but we mostly appreciated the convenience of having what we wanted when we wanted. We are not big drinkers, it was more about the convenience. Of course 'big' is a difficult term to quantity ;)

Just wondering if anyone knew names of hotels near the cruise terminal in Copenhagen. Currently considering the Marriott in Copenhagen using reward points.

We were in Copenhagen on the Star last year and berthed up near Nordhavnen (past the Little Mermaid). I assume there are multiple berthing locations in Copenhagen so you may be in a different spot - but it would be a long walk from the Marriott to where we were - but only an 8 min cab ride. We stayed in a hotel near the Tivoli but there is a good looking hotel on Nvhavn which might be of interest - '71 Nyhavn Hotel'. We never stepped inside, but it looks quite nice and is very central to the action. Obviously visit all the popular tourist locations in Copenhagen, but do visit the Copenhagen Street Food Markets directly across the water from Nyhavn - they are really good. The one hour canal tours from Nyhavn are also quite good. Copenhagen is a wonderful city, enjoy.

Glad tidings to all of you.

And to you ... thanks for sharing.

Katie, if you haven’t booked already, you can see an extremely detailed review I wrote of my first Viking Ocean voyage this past January. I believe it was just posted earlier today. It’s for the Viking Sky, for the month of January 2018, and the location is “Caribbean”. It’s under my user name of “aungrl”. I wrote this review in as much detail as I did because I was looking for that type of compare and contrast information before I booked on Viking Ocean, and couldn’t find it. I tried to paste in the link and couldn’t make it work, but hopefully you can find it without too much difficulty.

Thank you for the review aungrl ... balanced and informative. Most appreciated.

Tell Me Why.....

Thank you .. I must learn how to do that on an iPad :)

I have sailed many times to the caribbean and related on Royal Caribbean, Cunard, NCL, Celebrity and even Carnival. I originally started looking at river cruises for something different but then found an ocean cruise I really liked. It is a 14 day around Italy. Royal Caribbean has a similar one, but I like this one better. I am just wondering what I can expect on a Viking Ocean Cruise. Thank you for your help

Have a read of the thread ‘Tell me why’. That thread gives a great overview of the information you are seeking. Give Viking a try, you won’t regret it. Enjoy.

Just wondering...have always thought it'd be interesting to go to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. The itinerary on this trip looks nice. We recently attended a Viking presentation and this was one of the cruises mentioned.

This is a new itinerary for Viking - the first cruise is later this year. You might pick up some useful information from the World Cruise thread as they recently passed that way.

Attached news report is FYI.

http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/if-you-think-your-commute-is-tough-check-out-the-strike-thats-crippling-france/news-story/b28747c294914cea8fba58f1620d5c65

It may come down to the ship not even stopping in Russia and you will enjoy some more civil ports. If things continue the way they are going no American may be allowed to go there in the near future.

We were in St P last year and it is a wonderful city to visit. However it is hard to ignore emerging issues. Below is some advice from our Department of Foreign Affairs, and a quote from the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia last week (obviously directed at Australian citizens).

Would we still go if our trip was this year instead of last year ?? ... I'm not sure - maybe, with some trepidation.

"Due to heightened political tension, you should be aware of the possibility of anti-Western sentiment or harassment," the advice says.

Many Australians are planning to travel to the FIFA World Cup later this year and Mr McCormack said they should think carefully before travelling.

"There is obviously a diplomatic row at the moment after those nerve agents were used," he said.

"If you don't need to travel to Russia at the moment then think twice, think three times about doing it."

We are on the Star right now we have the package and we are enjoying all the wines. As soon as we sit at dinner we advise our waiter that we have the package and we get the wine list or a sommelier helps us with our choices. We get prompt service. At chefs table, the wines have been wonderful. When I didn't want the Port, it was replaced with my selection of choice. We have eaten 2 times in Chef table. Great food. The staff is wonderful they even were able to get us a table tonight even tho they were totally booked. If we didn't have the package it would have cost us 75.00 ea for the premium wines but it was free for us.

Thank you ebtrip ... that is good to know. Enjoy.