JM0115

2 minutes ago, Chari910 said:

Don't think they can repair these windows in 5 days. Even they decide to sail with those cabins empty,   the water will get inside from the rough waves. Too dangerous.

The bottom ones?

3 minutes ago, snookie1 said:

Where does one go to sign up for dinner at Manfreddi's?  To the restaurant itself, or is there a desk set up somewhere on embarkation day?  We've been on several Viking cruises (ocean and river), and I don't remember anything about "special events".  Some of those tastings sound interesting...  How do you find out what events are happening on your cruise, and where exactly is the place to sign up for them?  Just want to be sure I hit all the important places that first day!!😋

There typically is a dinner reservation desk located in the Atrium (Living Room) near guest services or you can go to Guest Services or to Manfredi's to get a dinner reservation. For tastings etc talk to Guest Services and ask them if there are any wine tastings or anything else you are interested in.

1 hour ago, Australia08 said:

I just checked at Explorers’. They have Wild Turkey, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. They don’t have Woodford at all. Definitely didn’t have it at Living Room Bar last night or at Torshavn last night. The bartender at Torshavn said Viking was changing their Bourbon menu and that items were just running out. Slim pickings for Bourbon drinkers. My husband was very disappointed that no Knob Creek Rye was available at Torshavn last night because that had been his “go to” on the last few cruises. I’ll verify the Bourbon situation when we go to Torshavn tonight. 

We must have drunk all of it in our world cruise this past year. Sorry! Hope they buy more before my next Viking Cruise. Was only in Torshavn by the way.

1 hour ago, Australia08 said:

Today was a fairly relaxing day for us.  After boarding, we made the rounds of desks to make sure that we had the times we wanted for our Chef’s Tables dinners and also signed up for the specialty events - in this case, the gin tasting and the bourbon tasting.  We had lunch on the aquavit terrace, then headed to Explorers’ Lounge for the Viking Royale.  We did a few quick turns around the promenade deck, played two games of backgammon on the electronic game table and headed to our room for a quick nap.  This evening we enjoyed a before dinner drink at the Living Room bar before heading to dinner at Manfredi’s.  I decided to try different items at Manfredi’s tonight. I started with a half order of mussels.  That was followed by an appetizer portion of the snail risotto.  Then I finished with the lamb chops.  I usually get the steak, which is great, but the lamb chops are my new favorite.  The portion is just right for me.  We also enjoyed getting to know Fatima who told us about her experiences on Viking Octantis, the next ship we will be on.  She was not only a wonderful server, but an excellent Viking host.  After dinner, we headed to Torshavn. To our great surprise, we were immediately greeted by Bharat.  He was our favorite Torshavn bartender on the Viking Orion last November.  He is from Nepal.  We absolutely loved his conversation and service on that cruise.  Ironically, at dinner tonight we were talking about him.  To walk into Torshavn and be warmly greeted by him was the best gift we could receive on this cruise!  We had a wonderful time catching up on what had happened to all of us since we last saw each other.  Isn’t it funny how one can seem so drawn to certain individuals?  It really seemed like meeting with close family again as we visited with Bharat tonight!  We had our after dinner drink and danced to a few wonderful songs by the Viking Band.  Now we should really think about heading to bed since we have a early morning tour to the Corinth Canal.  We had a peek at it yesterday on our tour with Nikos.  It will be nice to visit it in depth tomorrow.  

 

Before I close - one concern - the Viking Sky seems to have run out of Bourbon, or at least the variety of Bourbons they’ve had in the past.  They only have Jim Beam and Wild Turkey - are you kidding??  We are told they are switching over to other brands, but how can they supply only these two on a “premium” cruise???  Also, we always book a PV because we like the space.  Not that we really care about the liquor in the room refrigerator because we have SS but we looked in our refrigerator tonight and we only have one small bottle of Smirnoff Vodka and one small bottle of Gordon’s Gin.  That’s it!  Really???  We’ve always had more variety than this.  Again, we have SS - it really doesn’t matter, but what is happening to the Viking standard?

No Woodford Reserve?

If I was Azamara, I would put in a chat feature. It is so much easier on them and on the customer. Agents can chat simultaneously with several customers and it would cut down on telephone hold times I would think. I hope they do that some day!

Well written.  Enjoy your trip and cruise!

11 minutes ago, federalexpress said:

 

I gather there is a finesse you could try. You can cancel excursions without charge a set time in advance- I think 48 hours but you'd need to check. You could then in theory cancel any which are happening 2 plus days after you board, then immediately re-book those with the OBC you have. Your card should then be refunded. It is at the minimum worth asking once you get onboard.

 

The only reason I did not do this is the excursion I most wanted to reserve was one of the few that are non cancellable, a private driver in one of the ports. The annoying thing is I would have re-booked it onboard straight after cancelling it, but no, that didn't work for them, rules are rules. It's a bit over complicated really, there ought to be an easier way.....

I think there are enough things to buy with my OBC on board other than Excursions which are bought and paid for. Beverage Package, Speciatly Dining, Chefs Table, Wine bottle packages, etc.  I tend to overthink things too much :).  Happy to have the extra $500 bonus and need to change my thinking to it being a bonus.

16 minutes ago, federalexpress said:

 

Although I've not yet cruised on Azamara (that comes in January) I've explored this topic extensively.

 

I believe you are correct, that you can use OBC to buy a beverage package (or other packages/services) when you are onboard but not before. I looked into buying an Indulgence package ahead of the cruise which among other things, included a drinks package and an excursion allowance. I wanted to use the latter to book an excursion before it ran out. I wanted to pay with OBC plus cash. No go, I was told it could only be done onboard.

 

From what I can see you can only use OBC pre cruise to book excursions. This made me question why. I concluded it is probably because by making you wait till you get onboard, they can change their pricing in the meantime to enhance their margins and/or deal with inflation pressures, especially given some people book a long way in advance. Hence the value of that OBC might decline over time. Excursions are accepted probably because they have already contracted these rates.

 

Otherwise they insist you buy anything else pre cruise with cash. While that restricts the margin/inflation opportunity referred to above, I guess they trade that off against the fact they have more upfront money, so it's good for cashflow, whereas OBC is not cashflow positive.

Good points. I have not sailed with Azamara yet. We are looking forward to doing so. I have $500 in OBC that I could use for excursions now but I purchased all my excursions before I got the extra OBC on their Black Friday sale. I could cancel the excursions I purchased and then repurchase them with OBC to use up the OBC which may be what I do but would hate to cancel them and then see that they are sold out. If I hold onto the OBC I will probably use it for the Ultimate Beverage Package on board. I am sure others have pondered the same. 

6 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Not so good on our recent Quest cruise. Champagne was Montaudon. I enjoyed the Domaine Chandon, though.

There seem to be differences between the ships probably due to supply issues.

We probably will wait until onboard to check what is available before we purchase a beverage package. Can we use our OBC onboard to do so? I assume yes because it is OBC but things seem to defy logic sometimes.

1 hour ago, federalexpress said:

Be aware those lists are very likely out of date, even though only from a few months ago. I'd be very content with the red wines shown on the Ultimate package on that pdf but I've discovered on a different thread more recently, they are not offered, which would be fine if the replacements were equally good, but they aren't.

 

I think at least for that package, it's going to be a bit of a lucky dip, depending on which ship and when you go.

I’m just hoping for some good Champagne!

1 hour ago, Los_Pepes said:

Same here. We called this morning and got the additional OBC. I believe as long as you do this prior to final payment they will honor the current promo.

Same here.  I really am impressed by their customer service other than long hold times.

On 10/13/2022 at 11:04 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I ultimately decided [see what I did there?] to skip the Ultimate Package and take the Wine Connoisseur Package 5-bottle plan.  Working with head sommelier Silas I have been able to choose a wine that pairs very well with that night's dinner, and after drinking my usual 1/2 bottle Silas recorks it with a device that removes all the air so the wine will keep until I finish it another night.  This has given me a much wider selection than the Ultimate Package or even the wine list, as Silas will offer me wines from the cellar that are not on any list (I got the only bottle of Auslese on board to go with dessert!).  Serious wine lovers should only go this route (unless you are in a position to bring you own wine on board and pay the corkage). 

What are some of the wines you were able to get?

3 minutes ago, lisiamc said:

Ok, I brought my tape measure on board! It looks like the bed is about 172 cm, or approximately 68 inches from edge to edge.

Thank you! Have a great cruise and sleep! Cheers!

42 minutes ago, keokukjoe said:

Is the cost for the wine tastings mentioned in the 'Viking Daily" included if you purchase the Silver Spirits package? Thanks.

Typically no. Small charge for wine tastings.

Does anyone have queen size bed dimensions (width x length)? We were wondering if their definition of queen is the same as ours? 

What has been your experience with CruiseCare? Or should I buy travel insurance on my own?

15 minutes ago, uktog said:

No app as of now, who knows in the future.  You purchase shore excursions at the Land Discoveries desk on Deck 5.  

Thanks @uktog. We will probably have all of them before we go anyway.  We have a cruise in May and have started booking shore excursions. In your experience, do shore excursions book up quickly?

I understand from reading this and other forums that Azamara does not have an onboard app.  How do you keep track of things and purchase shore excursions etc while on board? Go to Guest Services?  Most cruise lines have an app at this point.

Question on Veranda Plus: can you replace the included bottles of liquors with bottles of wine? Also, what liquors can you choose from?

1 hour ago, luv2travel90266 said:

It is not announced till you are on board and might be changed due to weather or ?????

Do you just go ahead and book excursions and cancel if you find out there is a conflict?

Newbie question.  How can you find out what night White Night is so that you do not book an excursion that same night?

Back home from the Encore (Alaska 7 day).  We really enjoyed the premium plus beverage package (PPBP)!  Had many Veuve Clicqot glasses of champagne and enjoyed nice bottles of wine (favorite was Silverado Cabernet) for dinner. For us it was really worth it! 

6 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Haven’t looked but will try to find out.

No Johnny Walker blue on the Encore at least currently.

I’m on the ship but still have a question. With PPBP can you have any glass of wine from the menu?

3 hours ago, JustAPilot said:

Now find out where they are keeping the Johnny Blue bottle for dessert. 😎

Haven’t looked but will try to find out.