BluebonnetTexan

In case no one has expressed it lately - we really appreciate you doing this! 😍 

I do have two questions 1) shouldn't the Viking World Voyage I & Viking World Voyage II on the Sky be labelled as "World" cruises instead of "Grand" in the Region column? 2) Is there a way to denote the cruises that are actually comprised of shorter segments also sold separately? For example, the 29-day Mediterranean's Iconic Shores is actually 4 8-day segments. And, all the various 15-day and 22-day versions contained there-in. It seems lots of folks sign up for these longer versions not realizing it is really a series of B2Bs.

Just a thought! Thanks again so much for doing this! 

Nancy

As you have surmised, you can definitely do the Bergen-Oslo cheaper as a DIY than with the Viking extension. We were on Viking Homelands in 2019. We did our own air into Stockholm and out of Oslo (we live in Houston, so lots of options). We did Comfort Class train, three nights at the Comfort Grand Central, bought 2-day Oslo Pass, and Flytoget train to airport for what Viking charged for one person. 
The train from Bergen to Oslo is beautiful scenery for the most part as others indicated. We took a taxi from the ship to the train station, not very expensive. Then we walked from the train to our hotel which was inside the train station. Very convenient! We each had a large suitcase and backpack, no problem storing them on the train.
Friends that we made on the trip who took the extension later told us that they wished they’d done it DIY as they didn’t feel like the added cost was worth what Viking provided. 
Enjoy your trip!

The visitor limits being imposed in the various cruise ports is also not unlike the controls now in place at many US National Parks. 

Here’s another vote for spending as much time in Stockholm as possible. We had 3.5 days before our cruise departed and would have loved even more time. Vasa Museum should definitely be #1 on your list there. Lots there that I think I 12-year-old would enjoy.
We also loved Tallinn and Gdańsk. Helsinki was I think the least favorite port of all we experienced on our Baltic trip. But, I’m glad we went to see how it compared to Stockholm, Saint Petersburg, Oslo, and Copenhagen. 

Thanks to all for their many varied and detailed suggestions! I didn’t mean to imply in my original question that CC was my only source for research. It was more that I was puzzled about where the Iceland port info was located as I obviously overlooked it. I did do a general search and all I was seeing was Roll Calls with Iceland ports and didn’t really want to trawl through those. 
 

And, yes, more info is always better IMO, even if the OP may not need it, someone else reading this thread later may find it useful. 
 

We are definitely considering staying at least a couple of days after arriving in Reykjavik, thus this more generic phase of my research to determine what else we really need to see in that area (Golden Circle, etc.) and how long we should stretch our stay. 

9 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

It's in the Northern Europe sub-forum of the Europe ports of call forum.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/

Thanks! I knew it was there somewhere. Thought I checked that one, but guess I overlooked it!

We are on the Viking Iconic Canada, Greenland and Iceland itinerary next August. I can’t seem to find Iceland in the Ports of Call forum here on CC for general research and feedback. Am I overlooking it or do I just need to read through all the roll calls for info? I know there was a lot of good info during the Welcome Back cruises, but those also had lots of restrictions which are now gone. I was also hoping to find info broader than the Viking forum. 

Which specific cruise or cruises are you doing? In general if the included tour states it is "panoramic" (for example Panoramic Athens & Archeological Museum), then generally that is a bus tour driving by the sites with maybe a photo stop or two. I will state in that example, we just returned from a 10-day trip to Greece (non-Viking) and spent 5 hours at the Archeological Museum on our own - however, there are a few seats around the museum to rest a minute as well as a cafe with chairs/tables. We observed a couple of ship excursions touring the museum while we were there and of course their guide just takes them to the highlights, while we were looking at everything! 😉 Viking has this included tour labeled as Moderate.

Since you mentioned Turkey, I expect you are likely going to Ephesus. I just checked the Viking Included tour and it is called "A Gentle Journey into the Ancient World" and keeps you on the lower part of the archeological site which is much easier walking than the upper part. We were just there Oct. 1 and I don't recall many places to take a rest. Viking has this tour labeled as Easy.

If it is a walking tour, such as at Rhodes (Rhodes Town Walk & Palace of the Grand Masters), it too is listed as Moderate activity. So, my advice is to carefully read the descriptions of the included tours and check the activity level mentioned. Let us know which specific cruise you are on and people may be able to give more specific info about the included tours. 

If you do decide to go, you might want to get a set of walking sticks to use on excursions instead of the cane. I recently purchased a pair on Amazon that are quite lightweight, sturdy, and collapse small enough to fit even in a carry-on for only about $30.

Looks like a great trip and I hope you are able to go and experience it to the fullest!     

Looks like they added Neptune to the Iconic Iceland, Greenland, & Canada itinerary instead. @CharTrav will need to update her spreadsheet! 😉

Anyone else notice that cabin availability on the website for all cruises is now saying “Call for details”? My guess is that since dropping the daily testing requirement, they can’t keep the website updated with all the new bookings! 

Keep an eye on this thread below. @CharTravupdates it pretty frequently 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2651194-viking-ocean-combined-cruise-schedule

1 minute ago, KBs mum said:

A thought occurs, as you like Tia Maria, you might also like Baileys, it's an Irish cream liqueur that has several 'flavours'. It's not as sweet, and works well added to coffee to jazz it up a bit on cold days

 

I love Bailey's! It was really the only liqueur I'd tried much before the Tia Maria. We didn't have alcoholic beverages in the house growing up, and it has only been in the last few years that I've indulged. My current favorite drink is what I call a "Salty Maria" - Bailey's Salted Caramel with Tia Maria. And Bailey's Vanilla Cinnamon is another I use in my "Nancy B&B". 🍸  There's some other new Bailey's flavors I need to try, too! Another reason I liked having the SSBP - I'd try a different cocktail every afternoon and not worry about if I was going to like it or not. Found some things I liked and some that I thought I'd like, but didn't! Again, for me it was about the experience and ability to try some new (to me) things. And, yes, I could've tried all of those on a pay as you go without the SSBP, but it's just a different mindset when it is all already prepaid for. LOL!     

22 hours ago, KBs mum said:

Tia Maria is not an upgrade in the UK, its a drink popular with teenagers and elderly female relatives. 

I knew I should have added quotes around that usage of "upgrade" too! LOL! Guess, I'm feeling older than my age or maybe younger! Again, individual perspectives and tastes will vary. I was just going with the Viking terminology. All I know is that it went really, really well with the chocolate desserts it was paired with for my taste. Yes, port and chocolate pairs well, too. But as I already mentioned I'm not a big fan of ports, so for me this was the type of experience I was looking for at Chef's Table. And, yes, we have found wines on the included list that we liked better than some on the SSBP list - but that's how it goes with wine and individual tastes. The SSBP just gives us more options to choose from in my opinion thereby broadening chances of finding something you really like. But, as others have mentioned, Viking seems willing to work with you, if you really dislike an included wine, to find a suitable replacement. What we observed is that they cycle through various included wines - so it isn't like they serve the exact same red, white, and rose' every meal. 

So back to the OP's question - Are the "premium" wines at Chef's Table worth the extra $25/person? I think if you view it as getting the optimal pairing for the menu, then it is. If that isn't important to you, then probably not. Either way, it should be a fun experience! I hope you enjoy whichever menu(s) you select as well as whichever wine pairing!   

It really depends on how you value and perceive the Chef’s Table experience, in my opinion. For us, it was about trying things we might not have tried otherwise. And although we did have the SSP, so the “upgraded” wines were available to us, I think we would have paid for them at the Chef’s Table based on the assumption (yes, I know better) that these would be the Chef’s preferred selections for each course. There are four courses, so four wines. If we hadn’t had the upgrade, I’d probably never have tried Tia Maria, which is now a staple in my liqueur lineup. Instead, it would have been a port, which my husband loves, but I’ve yet to try one that I’ve really enjoyed. Everyone’s tastes are different, so really it just depends. 
I’d recommend going and getting the menus when you board to see what the pairing options are for included vs. upgraded wines for each course and decide then. 

Even if limited to Mile 43, you will have some spectacular views (pending general visibility) and potential for wildlife sightings that are incomparable. We were lucky when we went in 2018 that we were able to see the majority of the Denali mountain on several days. Most people may only catch a brief glimpse even if you were able to go further into the park.

Many thanks to all the WC folks who have shared their adventures with us on CC and via some wonderful daily blogs! I’m going to miss following you all each day when everyone’s cruise is over. 

Eylarson, Sounds like time to find a new TA!

31 minutes ago, MarkBearSF said:

I saw a menu picture from California theme Chef's Table. It appeared that there were no choices for the main course (or others). Is this the case? In our case, we'd have to cancel because my husband is allergic to fish. (I'm also a bit picky, which could be a potential issue)

Not to mention we probably wouldn't pick the "California Cuisine" theme, well because....

 

Mark, this is true that it is a fixed course dinner. However, if someone has an allergy then the chef will usually supply an alternate course for that person. One of our foursome on our 2019 cruise had a seafood allergy and each meal would be discussed with him in advance - whether in The Restaurant, Manfredi's, or the Chef's Table. Viking is very accommodating in this regard. 

Vineyard View, we took the voucher in the same timeline as your friends. If you took the voucher and didn’t use it within two years, only then can you get the refund of the original monies paid. So, it makes sense to me at least as to what they were told. The T&C have changed slightly over time since the pandemic began, too. So everyone needs to carefully read theirs as to the specifics each time. 

1 hour ago, Cienfuegos said:

In my experience, Viking's Chef's Table specialty restaurant greeter will ask if the guest prefers to join a larger table, or sit at a table for two.  If you elect the larger table, the greeter walks you to their choice, and seats you.  I don't recall if they introduce the guests, I don't think they do.

 

I think that's a fine way to handle it.

That’s how it works on Viking Ocean, but not on Viking River. There are no 2-tops or even 4-tops on River that I’ve been on in the Main Dining (versus Aquavit Terrace). So you are usually looking to join other guests for dinner and on River it is all one seating time. 

Here's another vote for Alla. We used them in June 2019. While we had 14 in our group, that was far better than 35-40 in the similar Viking tour group and half the price. I also compared them with TJ Travel and SPG - all very similar with some very minor differences in their 2-day tours. We also added on the evening Faberge Museum tour with Alla. They took great care of us and our guide was probably the best I've ever had. I guess the big caveat these days is that my experience was pre-Covid, so I'm not sure what the policies are now. However, it should explicitly state on the 3rd party sites whether they provide the visa or not. 

I'll echo what the others have said - very easy to get a cab from the dock to the train station in Bergen; very easy to book the train ticket yourself and I agree that you should book Comfort Class; very easy to find hotels near and even within the train station in Oslo. We stayed at the Comfort Inn Grand Central - didn't even have to leave the station to get to it! Then it was also very easy to catch the express train to the airport for our departure.

And yes, the scenery was stunning! 

We did the Grand European as our very first cruise in 2017 (retirement splurge) and fell in love with Viking and cruising. We went from Budapest to Amsterdam. If you've never been to Budapest - definitely plan extra days there pre or post depending which direction you go. We had planned to do the Passage to Eastern Europe cruise from Budapest to Bucharest last summer, but well, you know... In hindsight we wished we'd done the the whole European Sojourn in 2017, but were afraid to commit to that long of a trip having never done one before. 

MDR = The Restaurant

Buffet = The World Cafe 

Manfredi's is Italian

The Chef's Table is a rotating fixed menu featuring regional cuisine

We learned several things on our Viking Homelands trip. 1) Whatever time you plan to spend in Stockholm is not enough! 2) Be sure to check if for local special events and holidays which might impact what is open and when. 

We arrived two days before embarkation - we bought the 3-day Stockholm Pass and managed to do the HOHO loop the afternoon we arrived to get oriented. We realized the week before we left that Sweden's National Day was the day we were to embark the ship, so that impacted what was going to be open and we adjusted our plans to take advantage. The next day we took the first morning boat to Drottningholm Palace (using our Pass) and then did the Under The Bridges Tour in the afternoon to see more of Stockholm from the water. Viking does a similar Drottningholm Palace tour, but we paid less for the whole 3-day pass than Viking charges for that one tour. It was easy DIY. On the embarkation day, we checked out of our hotel early, checked our luggage, and caught an early ferry (or maybe the HOHO boat) I don't recall which now to arrive at the Vasa when it opened. We were able to get on an early English tour and then spent at least another hour there - we were probably there about 3 hours. You don't want to miss it. We went back to our hotel at that point and took a taxi with our bags to the ship, got checked in then headed to the Royal Palace which was open for free due to it being Swedish National Day. We did miss the changing of the guard, so can't comment on that, but there is so much to see around Stockholm. We wandered around Gamla Stan the rest of the day, including the Nobel Museum, which I also highly recommend. You can definitely spend hours there, too, if you like that kind of thing. We had two in our group ready to go after about 30 minutes, and the other two could have stayed all day!  On the morning of departure we took the ferry across to Skansen Open Air Museum. As it was the day after the holiday, the ferry schedule was not running as often as other days, so again be aware of these types of issues when getting between sites. Our foursome was so-so on the Skansen, but I think it was because a lot of the buildings were not open yet after the prior evening's festivities. At any rate, there were still several things we had tentatively on our to-do list, so we want to go back to Stockholm! We ultimately opted for doing several things well, instead of shortchanging one place to get to the next. And, we got our money's worth out of the Stockholm Pass, of course YMMV.