mikenannie

I don't have the answer, but I do have the same question. Bumping this up to hopefully get some feedback. thx

Great topic. We just completed our first cruise with Viking on the Saturn. My biggest issue was the lack of information provided about the shore excursions. It's interesting to me that they have more information because during the port talks, you learn a ton about the excursions you already paid for and some of that information may have been very useful to know prior to booking. And, as mentioned in the original post on this thread, by the time you see the details in the port talk, it's too late to cancel. Had we had the port talk information prior to booking, we would have save over $1200 by not booking. For each excursion, I'd like to know how much of that time is spent sitting on a bus. An excursion that's 3 hours total time that has 2 hours of travel time on a bus is a lot different than the same excursion with 1 hour of bus travel. In addition, we found that some of the descriptions on the Viking website didn't match the experience - for example, what points of interest the tour visited and for how long. I wrote about two of our excursions earlier today here. Maybe the issue is that the tour companies contracted by Viking provide the descriptions and Viking does little to edit / proof them. Maybe Viking does this, but they should go on EVERY excursion and write the descriptions based on what they experience, not what the tour operator wants to write. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I think there is a ton of room for improvement. And how about more than one picture in the description?!! Based on our experience this cruise, I'm very reluctant to book another excursion through Viking based on their write up. I think I'd get better results using TripAdvisor for my pre-booking information and booking via a 3rd party instead of through Viking. I've never done that before on cruises, but that might be our solution moving forward.

It appears that the Viking Saturn webcam has stopped updating, same with the overview showing its position. https://viking.panomax.com/saturn/# Maybe that’s due to the poor internet connectivity.

Travel insurance is always a challenge for us. My experience is that the reviews tell you little about the product. 90% are complaints from people who feel they didn’t get what they paid for and you don’t know the specifics, just their perception. People who used the policy, had a claim, and had no issues, rarely post a review. That’s true of all the insurance plans available. I wish there was a website with better reviews but I’ve never found one.

We need her contact info... she sounds terrific. Just learned that our TA misspelled our email address and that's why we never received the final document pdf files. Being first time Viking cruisers, had I not learned about them here in this forum, we would have had no idea that we were supposed to get them.

We never received a 'final documents email pdf'. Our travel agent sent us our final documents via priority mail. No information about the contact number for the ship was included in those paper documents.

I've seen people reference the ship's phone number before. Where do you find that information?

We're leaving in a few days for our first Viking Ocean cruise. We booked our cruise and flights using a TA. They contacted Viking and booked the cruise, extensions, and Viking Air Plus flights on our behalf. We're leaving on Sunday for our trip. My question is, if we have flight issues who do we contact? Do we call Viking Air Plus directly? Do we contact the airline directly (Delta)? Or, do we need to have our TA call them since they booked the trip / flights? Same question applies to extension hotels and transfers. Thanks

I'm a big fan of changing up the aspect ratio to get some panoramic images or shooting several images to merge in post for good pano shots. I'll also crop square sometimes depending on the image. I've been to Blarney castle as well back in 2004. I didn't remember those security cameras though 😉

I've wondered about the 'wrestling' with those rain covers too. I've never used them before but since their easy to carry, I'll take a couple. I may find the same thing that you did. I've got some hiking pants too and I'm still working through my packing list, so those are definite possibilities.

Nice photos! I'm not anticipating seeing a lot of wildlife but we may see some sea / shore birds or maybe a whale or two. My main interest is in landscapes however. I expect that the long lens will be handy for picking out some micro landscapes from the ship as we pass through some of the fjords. Hope so anyhow.

I've heard the same from other visitors to Iceland and I'm trying to prepare myself both mentally and with the right gear. I've ordered a couple of these rain covers for my camera / lens. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PTFDYO And although I'm not crazy about getting my camera and lenses wet, it's suppose to be able to handle that kind of weather. I'll do what I can to keep it dry though. I also bought a waterproof jacket and I'm shopping for some waterproof pants as well.

I appreciate your thoughts. I think I’ll just raise my ISO for any low light or indoor photos. Also, the 28-200 is F2.8 at the wider apertures.

First time poster here on this board. I'm another of the 'old school' photographers who started with my first SLR (Minolta x700) back in the mid 1980s. I've tried cruising with just my iPhone 12 but I'm never satisfied with my results when I get back home and start editing in LR and PS CC. In late June we're cruising Viking to Iceland and then to Norway. It will be our first time to either location. We are arriving 2 days early in Iceland (doing the golden circle) and also extending the trip by 2 days in Norway for the train between Bergen and Oslo. I'm trying to decide what lenses and accessories to take on that trip. We have cruised probably a dozen times and my experience is that cruises are not the best place to get great photography. Mainly because you're not usually in a great location at the best time of the day for the optimal images. However, I never stop trying ;). I also need to blend my photography addiction with time spent enjoying vacation and family - not always my strong suit. My current camera is the Sony a1 with an a7iii as a backup / second body. I'm currently thinking about taking 3 lenses. Sony 100-400 GM. My thinking is that I can use this lens for landscapes, especially when sailing in the fjords. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get some waterfalls, architecture (houses / farms on shore as we cruise by), and maybe some shore birds with that lens. And possibly some whale images. We may also do some excursions where bird photography will be an option. Tamron 28-200 mm. I bought this lens as a travel lens realizing that I may be giving up some image quality for convenience. It's a very sharp lens if I'm careful with my apertures. It will overlap some focal length with my 100-400, but it should be a great walkaround lens. I anticipate this will be my primary shore excursion lens but I will likely also take my 100-400 and a wider alternate (below). Tamron 17-28mm F2.8. This is the widest lens I own and I love that focal length. I'll use it as needed, some on board the ship, but also on shore. I'm going to also take a Sony mic for some 4k video, a couple of neutral density filters and a tripod. I don't know how much I'll use the tripod but my thoughts are that it might be helpful with some blurred water waterfall images (time permitting). I'm anticipating 20 hours or so of sunlight (midnight sun) so I'll likely have plenty of light for most of my photography aside from possible rainy weather which I'm also anticipating. I'd appreciate any thoughts you all might have on this itinerary and what gear you think I should take or leave home. Thanks

At some point we have to learn to live with this virus. Living with it shouldn’t mean isolation or removing passengers from cruise ships. We have vaccines, boosters, and treatments that are all extremely effective. Personally, I think the time is now for these changes. If not now, then when? Surely we can’t go on like this indefinitely. (I’m vaccinated, boosted, and also had Covid around Easter).