Maite88

April 9th, 2023

Eurodam

14 days Panama Canal

First time cruising with HAL

We have had excellent service on our Viking cruises.  During our most recent cruise in May on the Sky on embarkation day, DH asked our cabin steward if can get ice for our drinks in the room.  Not only he brought us and ice bucket, we had a bucket of ice every day when we returned to our cabin after our excursions!  
 

On the same cruise, on one occasion we went to the World Cafe for lunch and the Head Waiter noticed I was eating and not my husband.  He asked my husband “can I help you with anything?” DH replied, oh no thank you, I just need to go to the grill to get a burger.  He said to my husband, “tell me what you want, I’ll go get it for you”. and he did!  
 

I can tell you a few more stories as like I said before the service in Viking is second to none!

We’ve done two Viking Ocean Cruises and had a great time on both of them.  Service, second to none, the atmosphere, the stateroom facilities and the overall experience have been great in both cruises.  When it comes to food we’ve liked some things and not a fan of others but food taste is subjective.  We’ve also met some wonderful people from all over and enjoyed conversations with them.

Your cruise experience is what you make of it for the most part.  Go with an open mind and enjoy.

23 hours ago, crystalspin said:

I would say 3 or 4 (it was 2 just on the 7-day subject of this thread). When do you sail? Someone with recent experience or a better memory than mine will be along!

Thank you crystalspin, Our cruise will be April 2023.  

We just booked our first cruise with HAL.  It is a 14 day Panama Canal.  How many gala nights are on a 14 day cruise, one per week?

36 days!  We flight to Athens spend three days on our own and then cruise from Athens to Rome!  This was rescheduled from 2020 so we are very excited!

Thank you for a great report about your cruise and post extension in Athens.  You have provided so much information for us doing the same cruise in the near future,  very appreciative!

6 hours ago, longterm said:

Our guide Niki is superb; she works with Rick Steves, doing his groups when they are in Greece. If anyone is looking for an excellent guide for Athens or Olympia, please contact me privately on this forum and I'll be glad to share her information with you--she's first class.

I’ve tried messaging you for the information regarding your tour guide in cruise, and the “message” feature seems to be disabled.  Can you send me the info to; wanda.mora@att.net.  Thank you!

4 hours ago, longterm said:

Last day on board the Viking

I have really enjoyed and learned from all your post about this trip.  Ours is in May from Athens to Rome and we are very excited.  Thank you for all the great info provided.  
 

One more question, if you are on DV room, does it have 3 drawers in the closet?

We were able to review the shore excursions with enough time before we could book them.  We had no problems booking what we wanted.  Today was our assigned day to book our dinning reservations and was not able to do get one done!  We could not find anything on the restaurant earlier than 8:30, which is too late for me.  
 

For the specialty restaurants I got a message that said “need to make your reservations aboard.  I contacted Viking and was informed that the problem is there is no more reservations available for a table for two?!  I asked what about seating us on a larger table and they said that is why we need to reserve when we are aboard.  
 

Anyone else with the same problem?

On 3/13/2022 at 6:40 AM, longterm said:

We went into Venice all 3 days

How did you get shore excursions booked for the full day in Venice, (middle day)? There is no shore excursions available to book on MVJ.  Did you do it on board?

1 hour ago, longterm said:

Today we went into Venice, for our all-day excursion to Murano and Burano.

Thank you for all the information about today. Happy to know you enjoyed that excursion as we are booked for that one. 
 

Are private excursions allowed in Venice?  If so, are there taxis or buses available to hire at port?  What is Viking offering as excursions for the middle day you we are dock in Venice?

Bob P., I am really enjoying your posts about your cruise.  I will be on the same cruise in May and I am learning a lot from your experience.  Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and opinions with us.  We are scheduled on the Sky, same cruise, in May and I am aware that some of the protocols may change by then but I am curious to hear about the excursions, etc.  Enjoy your trip!

We are booked to go Italy, The Adriatic and Greece April 2021 with Viking.  We are on our early 60’s and love Viking because is an adult only Cruise.  We book cruises based on the itinerary and Viking have a few of them with either one or no sea days.

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July 22nd for us! Can't wait 🛳