sabrefan

Go on the Princess Regal in 53 days. I have filled everything out on the Medallion App. I was under the impression that a QR code would show up on the phone app for boarding purposes. So far I see no QR code. I suppose the cruise is too many days away to receive this. I have cruised Princess before but not using the app. When and if the QR code shows up on the app where is it located? Certainly appreciate any advice in advance.

We are Elite level on Celebrity and our last Celebrity cruise was on the Edge in February 2020, just as Covid was becoming a real problem. We enjoyed the Edge and had no major problems. We have been on two Viking cruises to date. We like Viking as it is smaller, the layout of the ship and the design of it’s common areas. The cabins are also well organized. We did Alaska last year in a PV cabin and the upcoming cruise in a DV cabin. Had some difficulty getting specialty restaurant reservations versus no problem last year with PV cabin. Their included excursions are very basic which for some ports is okay because we would prefer time on our own anyway. We had found that Viking food quality had slipped some versus our first Viking cruise. Frankly the food in Celebrity specialty restaurants is as good or even better than that of Viking. No casino on Viking and entertainment is somewhat lame on Viking. Two nights on our Viking Alaska cruise they showed movies in their theatre. One thing I hate about Viking is having to pay in full one year ahead of time unless you have another Viking cruise scheduled then they give you some relief on this policy. We have also cruised with Oceania 4 times and they compare well with Viking, their food is certainly better in our opinion. At the end of the day it is nice to be out to sea again and some little things that don’t measure up are just first world problems.

I have used the patches in the past but developed a skin allergy to them on a Sydney to Auckland cruse back in 2017. This happened while crossing the Tasman Sea from Tasmania to southern New Zealand. We had 30 to 40 foot waves two days in a row. The ship had sea bands on board and they helped a lot. I have used them ever since when there are rough seas on a few cruises. They work great for me.

Will be taking our first Regent cruise April 1, 2024. We are booked in a Concierge Suite, I see that the three specialty restaurants on the Explorer require a reservation. When restaurant reservations open, will I be able to make two separate reservations for each of the three specialty restaurants? Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Going on a Vikings Homeland cruise in June and was wondering what currency others used for tips? A friend of mine did this cruise last year and used U.S. funds for excursion tips but I don’t know how easy it is for tour guides to exchange U.S. $ into their local currency. Appreciate getting the opinions of others on this board.

Depending how close you will be in these countries to a U.S. Consulate or Embassy you could have more pages added. Especially given how much time it is taking the State Dept. to get passports processed. Years ago, when I was working I traveled a lot between Hong Kong and mainland China and had more pages added at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong. The consulate used to be located in Central area of Hong Kong back then.

Thank you all for the feedback. I don’t have any intention of asking my TA for OBC. I just find this very interesting information. This information of course could be useful in looking at other options. Besides it would more acceptable to me to be offered OBC without having to ask for it, especially since we have booked at least 15 cruises in the past and not all were on Viking.

Just curious if anyone knows the commission benefit package a travel agent receives from Viking?

Cruised from Vancouver to Seward in June 2022. Used Viking air but had pre cruise plans for two nights in Vancouver and post cruise land plans in Homer. Took a cab to our hotel when we landed in Vancouver. Post cruise we planned on renting a car in Anchorage but Viking would not sell us a bus ticket from the dock in Seward to the Anchorage airport. Ended up taking a bus ride via an independent bus company to Anchorage. Personally I thought this was a pathetic policy on Viking’s part for the cost of this cruise. However lesson learned. If you use their air you can not have any pre or post cruise days unless you are doing a program through them.

Currently booked for this excursion hiking down from Mt. Floien in Bergen, Norway. I have been to Bergen before and I know they get a lot of rain. So I am wondering what the path or trail down Mt. Floien is like when it rains a lot there? Any advice on what the path or trail down the mountain would be appreciated.

We have done a cruise to Alaska 3 times. We always liked going northbound as the the scenery gets better and better. Last year we went Vancouver to Seward in June on Viking. Weather was perfect and the marine life was plentiful. We spent 4 days on our own in Homer after the cruise since we visited Denali on our first Alaskan cruise 12 years ago. We have also been to the Canadian Rockies but, previously did this on a separate trip on our own. Not sure you get to see as much being on a train versus doing a self driving trip from Calgary to Jasper Park.

Thank you all for your advice in advance of the event tonight.

I was able to get all the excursions that I wanted for the Tokyo to Tokyo cruise tonight that will sail on 4/1/24.

Going on our first Regent cruise in one year. Shore excursions open tonight and I would like to know if the free shore excursions sell out fast on the very first day of availability? I would hope that they wouldn’t since the cruise is a year away and final payment hasn’t been made yet. Looking forward to hearing from experienced Regent cruisers regarding free shore excursion availability.

Since we are from the Rochester, NY area we sometimes fly out of Toronto because of more direct flights. Just wondering what airlines Regent uses for people flying to Asia if any of our Canadian friends have experience with this?

Thank you Rachel G, doing this cruise from Yokohama next year. Looking forward to you report. This will be our first Regent cruise. I haven’t been back to Japan since 2002. Did many business trips to Japan and can’t wait to visit again. One of my favorite countries to visit.

Just a follow question, if you deviate and you have picked the cheapest business class seat in this case Tokyo do you have to pay the difference between Regent air credit and the actual published fare that you see on your own?

We are booked on our first Regent cruise around Japan in April 2024. We have been on 20 + cruises before on Oceania, Viking and Celebrity. Business class air on this cruise was included which in addition to the cruise itself was also a reason for booking. As I understand the air gets ticketed 60 to 70 days prior to departure. My TA tells me that most customers accept the air arrangements that Regent assigns to them versus picking the custom air option. Just wondering how true my TA’s statement is based experience of folks here on cruise critic?

My question is will a 2.5 hour layover be long enough time in Frankfurt airport to make a connection? We don’t have any mobility issues and we make our connection in Frankfurt on a Saturday in May of this year.

We sailed on Orion in June 2022. We did a tour through Viking in Seward. We took the Kenai Fjords National Park Boat. The weather that day was perfect in that it was a clear sunny day. We have sailed on 20+ cruises and this excursion was in the top 5. We saw a pod of killer whales that even dove under the catamaran we were on. Saw a group of humpback whales that were doing the bubbling technique where they dive down together, blow bubbles to force plankton and small fish up to the surface and then the whales open their mouths and feed on fish and planktons as they surface. Saw bald eagles and puffins. Also went to a large glacier and saw some more humpback whales. A friend of mine did the same cruise in late August and did not see any whales, so later in season the whales have already started their migration south. Just a perfect excursion to end the cruise portion of our cruise.

Sorry for the delay in excursion review that we did back in June. Due to a delay in this cruise we did not go to Sitka. Ketchikan we just walked around town as we had been to Ketchikan before. Juneau we did the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watch. Auke Bay had a lot of whale activity. Saw both Humpback and a pod of Killer Whales. In Skagway we did a river raft and bald eagle reserve watch. We took a catamaran from Skagway to Haines. River rafting was calm and very relaxing, saw a few bald eagles along the river. We also did a whale watch in Icy Strait Point, saw a few humpbacks but not as many as in Auke Bay. Our last excursion was a whale watch in Seward, went into Fjordland National Park. Saw Humbacks, Killer Whales and bald eagles. All of our excursions were through Viking. Go Sabres

Did Orion in June 2022 Vancouver to Seward. There was not enough dock space during the day in Vancouver so Orion was anchored out in the harbor until 6:00pm when all 3 larger ships left the dock area then Orion moved into port and we boarded. The only problem is that we’re spent the whole next day in the harbor as one of the cables on a lifeboat had to be replaced since it broke the day before. As a result we missed Sitka and there was no tendered ports for the rest of the cruise.

Very nice review and I would agree with your findings of Viking. We have been on two Viking cruises, a transatlantic in 2018 and again on a Alaskan cruise in 2022. It seemed that food quality decreased on our second cruise. We have been on 21 cruises since 2010, we are Elite on Celebrity and have been on 5 Oceania cruises. We are going on Vikings Homeland cruise in May, it will be interesting to see how this compares to our previous two Viking cruises.

We had a PV cabin with binoculars this past June. My 100 to 400 mm zoom lens on my camera was far better than the binoculars for seeing distant objects. Not to mention the fingerprints on the binocular lenses left over from the previous cabin passengers. The Viking provided binoculars are junk, definitely bring your own.

This is a very interesting subject, was on Orion last June 2022 in a PV cabin, could only get 8:00 pm reservations in specialty restaurants. Of course I think this was somewhat impacted by covid restrictions back then. We have an upcoming Viking Homelands coming up on Jupiter in a DV cabin and dining reservations open up later next month. It will be interesting to see what is available now that covid is being treated differently versus last June.