Pegct

Does Cunard ever offer discount/sales on Drink packages or Wi-Fi services prior to sailing but after cruise is booked?

The Viking cruises I have sailed frequently offer a modified tour for less active for folks who may be slower and unable to keep up. Never saw that tour listed prior to getting on the ship but definitely was option in some ports on river cruises and also Mediterranean Odyssey ocean cruise.

Sorry to hear your predicament with the Viking vouchers. I think many people didn't realize the limitations/exclusions when they accepted vouchers instead of cash refund when Covid cancelled most cruises. I also accepted significant amount of vouchers and thought I was doing the right thing to support the cruise industry. I know many feel that the extra 25% was a good deal but honestly the price increases and limitations on use of the vouchers cancelled out any deal when cruising resumed. Viking offers a good product and I have finally used up my vouchers but have learned just take the cash refund to control your own funds. Suggestions to upgrade your cabin sound good but that just means the person you are sharing cabin with has to pay increased fares for that cabin too. Hope a compromise is possible but wouldn't expect it.

We did the Mediterranean Odessy in October 2022. In Barcelona we also booked an all day small group tour with Barcelona Day tours which included highlights of Barcelona, visit to Monserrat and Park Guell and was fantastic. Probably least favorite tour on the cruise was the Panoramic bus tour of Rome which was not unexpected as I knew most of time would be spent on bus. The only stops made was at a rest stop to use bathrooms and about an hour on your own in St. Peter 's square in Vatican City. Lines of tourists wrapped around square to go inside the Basillica which our tour guide advised was probably at least 6-8 hr. wait. Loved the included tours of Dubrovnik and Split. Docking in Fusina and traveling to and from Venice was cumbersome which is disappointing but all cruise lines dealing with that aspect.

Our Viking Ocean cruise in October docked in Fusina and we boarded buses and were driven about 30 mins to the former cruise terminal. No buildings appeared open and waited outdoors in line for a water taxi which was another 30+ minute ride to stop a few blocks from Piazza San Marco. Not sure if there are restrictions entering cruise terminal property but is sure seemed very deserted when we arrived there and we were taxied back to same area but had to go through immigration prior to getting back on buses to Fusina.

Sorry I think I posted the wrong website for the Italy tour operator that I used. The vendor was www.ItalyTours.eu. You can go to that website and look at tours they provide from the port of Livorno. We originally did not plan on doing wine tasting but the driver suggested a winery for lunch and our group agreed so he made arrangement for it to happen that day. We tasted 6-7 different wines during lunch and the pours were extremely generous. The winery was Tenuta Torciano which was a family owned winery. The staff were great and informative and the outdoor venue wonderful for the lunch and tasting. Barcelona Day tours were very reliable and responsive to emails and questions. I did not do the La Sagrada tour due to lack of time but I think they offered a skip the line option to La Sagrada after the completion of our Monseratte/Barcelona full day tour. They have a maximum number of 12 people on small group tours. They will conduct tour with a minimum of 4 people and may combine additional people from other boats if there is a need. Our group actually had 13 on tour but that was because 2 of my traveling companions signed up last minute and no one objected. The mini coach very comfortable and spacious for our group.

I think many Viking customers have found out the downside of accepting vouchers instead of cash refunds when the cruising industry was shut down due to the Covid pandemic. Although vouchers offered a 25% premium over cash refunds the downside was cruise prices increased and customers gave up their right to decide how to spend voucher. Not many people expected pandemic to last so long and unexpected circumstances occurred to people who two years later that were now unable cruise. I consider myself a well informed consumer and had accepted multiple vouchers for cancelled cruises but never thought I would hear a Viking agent tell me I could not use a voucher as the deposit on a future cruise as it had “no cash value” after they had my money for 3 fully paid cruises for several years. I learned a valuable lesson to accept cash refunds only and will no longer consider booking and paying for any cruise way in advance. Viking offers a good travel experience but will explore other options based on how they dictated use of vouchers which have no cash value but which cost me a significant amount of money prior to the pandemic virus.

I recently completed the Mediterranean Odessy cruise and realized the two most stressful experiences related to taking this cruise was trying to book optional shore excursions and dining reservations online prior to sailing. Our group consisted of six couples who had booked different stateroom categories which made it impossible to make reservations for dining in the specialty restaurants. We didn't expect all of us to eat together each night but it was frustrating not knowing how the online reservation system worked. Optional shore excursions you thought you purchased disappeared from your cart if you didn't immediately purchase them prior to choosing shore excursions for subsequent days. Thankfully, specialty dining reservations were easily obtained once on board so that turned out to be a non-issue for the group. Many shore excursions still unavailable upon sailing especially if they were sold out and lower category cabins had very late start times for "included" tours. Luckily I was able to arrange private optional tours that we wanted to do as a group. Two companies that I would highly recommend for small groups wishing to do same excursions together that are sold out are Barcelonadaytours.com and Italydaytours.ie that were very accommodating, reasonably priced, excellent communicators, and phenomenal experiences for all our group.

Previous post was interrupted but wanted to let those who were unable to book optional

Arrived in Barcelona on embarkation day with no issues of flight delays or missing checked luggage. Staterooms were opened and for all passengers around 1pm which was an hour earlier than expected. As many people are concerned about not being able to book restaurant reservations prior to boarding, there was no problems making reservations for Manfredi’s or Chef table with others traveling with you who may not have been in same cabin category as you. Some people were able to purchase shore excursions that were listed as “sold out”prior to boarding but still some shore excursion remained unavailable. My group arranged private small group

Thankfully it sounds like no injuries so that is good. Definitely can understand the disappointment of passengers and hope for the best for all involved onboard.

Surprise! surprise! Received a text from a traveling companion that the dining reservations that were supposed to open up at 11pm actually were open at 7:30am this morning. Still was difficult to get a reservation and most were at 9pm. I am aggravated with booking process but the thought of paying significantly higher prices for a higher category just to be able to make earlier selection of excursions and dining reservations doesn't make sense either especially if you have booked and paid for cruise reservations 18 months in advance. Hoping I will be in a happier frame of mind when I finally board our ship.

Do you think there will be a “live chat” agent available on a Saturday evening available at 11pm EST to assist with booking reservations? That is when my dining reservations open tomorrow night. Have not sailed Viking Ocean before but somewhat disappointed with process to prebook excursions and reservations prior to sailing. Sailing with several friends in different categories which makes it impossible to coordinate prior to boarding. I am hoping this will be rectified onboard and all will be well. River cruises just so relaxing and no stress regarding scheduling dining when we have no idea of shows, schedules, or activities. Hope you are successful scheduling tonight.

Yesterday DV 6 category reservations for shore excursions at 3pm EST as scheduled. Popular optional shore excursions sold out by 3:05pm. Seems like dining reservations will be more difficult to make 60 days prior to sailing. Hoping it will be easier to make onboard.

Yea, sometimes if you get a reduced airfare on Viking the fare class is not eligible for upgrades.