sabrefan

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.

Was on Orion in Alaska this past June and my  100 - 400 mm zoom lens on my camera was far better.  We were booked in a PV cabin. Not only were the binoculars powerful but they also had fingerprints on all the optical elements which does not help. Bring your own.

I would choose Celebrity in this case. I am elite level on Celebrity and sailed on the Edge before. I have also sailed on Viking twice, once in 2018 and again in June 2022. I felt that Viking food quality slipped between our cruise in 2018 and 2022. I am booked on the Viking Homelands cruise in May 2023. The entertainment on Celebrity is much better than Viking if that is important. The other downside of Viking is having to pay your full fare a year in advance of your cruise. If cash flow in your household is important, Celebrity is a plus. I have been to Australia and. New Zealand on the Solstice and it was a very nice cruise. I would go via Celebrity and save the money then spend at least a couple of extra days in Sydney. Sydney is a very cool city.

I have done 5 cruises on Oceania and 2 on Viking. I have another one on Viking booked in May 2023 and on Oceania in September 2024. These cruise lines are very similar. However even though food quality is subjective I feel that Oceania has the edge on this one. Regarding wine and beer with lunch and dinner on Viking this is a benefit but so is on board credit option on Oceania with O-Life which you could use for drinks. The big advantage that Oceania has is you don’t have to pay in full, a year or six months in advance of cruise departure.  There is something to be said about cash flow since there are other things in life outside of cruising.

Planning on booking a cruise on Vista. The O-Life choices are 6 shore excursions, beverage package or $600 shipboard credit. I see there are two beverage packages if you buy separately, one is $400 / pp for beer and wine at lunch and dinner and the other is all liquor anytime for $600 / pp. The one thing that is not clear if you take the O - Life beverage package, is this for one or for both passengers in the same cabin? Would certainly appreciate previous experience on this choice.

Taking a cruise land tour in August 2023. The land tour portion starts in Limerick, Ireland. Does anyone know what hotel in Limerick Princess has used in the past?

We are currently booked on a Viking Homelands cruise in May 2023. We are booked in a DV cabin and are traveling with another couple also booked at DV level.

We sailed to Alaska this past June and had a PV cabin. Just wondering if specialty restaurant reservations for DV cabin level for party of 4  are easier to get now given Covid restrictions are less now than they were this past summer?

Booked on Viking Homelands cruise  in May from Bergen to Oslo. Which train trip is more picturesque, Oslo to Bergen or Scenic Flam Railway? Right now we are doing a pre cruise in Oslo for two nights before the cruise, the train ride from Oslo to Bergen is included. The Flam railway can be taken as a excursion out of Eidfjord. Thank you in advance for your advice.

Coral, thank you very much for the detail on the land trip in Ireland. We booked the tour on Princess a few months ago. We go on this in August 2023. Looks very interesting.

This is a very interesting subject. I have been on two Viking cruises and a third one planned for May 2023. So far no on board credit from my TA. The only thing I have received is $200 from a referral fee. I wonder how much commission the TA is making on say a 10 to 14 night cruise?

Went on this excursion in June while on the Viking Orion. Fantastic excursion, spent sometime looking at humpbacks and orcas in Resurrection Bay. Then we went over to Kenai Fiord National Park and Holgate Glacier. The water was very calm, saw bald eagles and puffins as well. The ship captain was great and very knowledgeable.

Thank you for the replies. Snowcat, we are staying in Oslo on 5/27/23 and 5/28/23 then taking the train to Bergen where we board the ship after the train. Looking forward to this trip.

Going on the Viking Homelands cruise end of May to mid June 2023. Have already signed up for pre cruise two nights in Oslo and itinerary states staying at Thon Opera Hotel. Also signed up for post cruise two nights in Stockholm and the itinerary states staying at Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel. I have been reading reviews for these two hotels on Trip Advisor. Since this summer has been hot there are many complaints about hot rooms since both these hotels do not have air conditioning.

I wonder if there is a chance that Viking will have new contracts next year with hotels that do provide air conditioning since next spring and summer certainly won’t be cooler?

Thank you FolsomMike for your reply. Are they doing covid antigen tests in Oslo before the train to Bergen? I know this situation could change before we go on this cruise next May, just wondering.

Going on Viking Homelands cruise in May 2023. We are doing the two night pre cruise stay in Oslo with the train ride to Bergen. Our travel invoice has us staying at the Thon Hotel Opera in Oslo. I thought I read something a few months ago mentioning a change to the Bristol Hotel.  Can anyone who has recently taken this pre cruise program confirm which hotel you stayed at?

Was on Viking Orion from Vancouver to Seward last month and nobody at checkin asked for or looked at the Verifly code that of course I had on my phone.

Thank you Liz for the information on the Oslo to Bergen train. Since you are not allowed to get off the train during stops, is there a partially open car where you could take photos while the train stops or during the trip? Sometimes taking photos through glass windows show many reflections.

Will be taking this pre cruise excursion in May 2023. I am wondering if Viking has a dedicated train car or cars  just for Viking cruise passengers?

If masks do no good, why do surgeons wear them? The point that I made is a mask reduces the probability of getting the virus or disease. They do help.

We disembarked from the Orion on June 22, 2022. We were aware that some crew members came down with Covid during our cruise. My wife tested positive for covid on June 29, 2022 when we were at home. We did spend 4 days in Homer, Alaska and 1 day in Anchorage after the cruise. I don’t believe my wife contracted covid on the ship. However, I observed about 10 to 15% of the passengers wearing masks in public spaces on the the ship. We did test negative in Vancouver before boarding the cruise. It is one thing to test before boarding but it would seem that if passengers were required to wear masks in public spaces while on board the probability of covid cases would be greatly reduced. Still hard to understand the fuzzy logic around pre boarding testing and  a voluntary use of masks on board. Yet, Viking still requires crew to wear masks. 

How far away is the Electra Palace from the cruise port in Piraeus?

We are doing an Alaskan cruise Vancouver to Seward this Sunday. We did our our air travel through Viking air. We are arriving in Vancouver two days before the cruise and will take a cab from the airport to the hotel. After the cruise ends in Seward we intend on staying in Alaska five more days on our own. I have a rental car reserved at the Anchorage airport. There are buses taking passengers to this airport to fly home. Viking will not take us to the airport because we are staying in Alaska on our own. This makes no sense to me and as a result I had to pay $140 for my wife and I to get bused to the airport by an independent company. This is a really stupid policy and not really the kind of policy where you want to motivate repeat customers.

Heidi, thank you for the detailed explanation. It sounds like Viking would be well ahead loading luggage, passengers and provisions as much as possible starting by 5:00pm. We have sailed out of Vancouver two previous times before and enjoy the harbor area. Our friends traveling with us however, this will be their first time to Vancouver and Alaska. Fortunately we do not have an excursion in Ketchikan as I know that port will be packed with other ships. Thanks again for all your advice.