screen-gem

Arrival at Greenwich

Sailing up the Thames was everything I'd hoped for, and more. The first surprise appeared while sailing south, just before turning right (west) into the Thames estuary. There are several large wind farms at sea - hundreds (thousands?) of wind turbines, row upon row, glinting in the late afternoon sun.

The journey up the river began about 6pm. For a while, there's not a lot to see. Miles of industrial docks, freighters, tugs, gantries, and warehouses. We passed the Port of Tilbury on the right, which Viking sometimes uses as a London 'port-of-call'.

The first notable event was passing under the Queen Elizabeth bridge, but It's pretty ho-hum as Bridges go. Passengers began to assemble in the Explorers Lounge and on the bow decks to watch the sail-in.

We reached the Thames Barrier behind schedule, just before midnight. A tug appeared and connected a tow line to the bow of the ship. I suspect there was a second tug at the stern. They helped guide the Star through the Barrier, which is somewhat like a multi-booth toll plaza on a Thruway, with green and red lights indicating which lanes are open. (The Viking has a Seapass, and did not have to stop to Toss coins into the toll collector:-). It was quite amazing to see the giant ship slowly ease between the barriers.

Soon we came upon the large circular O2 stadium (port side). It was all lit up, with a dozen towers which hold up the dome, illuminated in red.

Just past O2 came the next surprise. There's a powerful green laser beam shooting up and across the Thames from the Royal Observatory. The laser is almost exactly on the Prime Meridian, marking longitude 0.000000. You'll know you've crossed the PM when you see the laser going straight up at 90 degrees (on the port side). It looks like it's going up, but in fact you're passing under it.

Next - the tugs helped the Viking do a 180, and the ship then reversed backwards up the Thames, and was gently guided into its docking location at the Greenwich Tier, which is a floating pontoon (officially named "Welcome").

Thus ended a remarkable journey. The few die-hards still in the Lounge drifted off to their cabins to get a few hours of sleep before exploring Greenwich and London.

Tips on disembarking at Greenwich:

As is the norm, luggage is left outside the cabin by 10pm. In the dead of night, hard-working Viking elves transport it off the ship via tender boats, and organize it on shore under a tent in a small park just east of the Cutty Sark. There is no cruise terminal building at the Greenwich Pier.

One can take luggage off the ship on your own in the morning, but it can be a bit of a struggle getting heavy cases on and off the tender (which is a TfL 'Clipper Ship', not Viking's tender boats). Then it's a long uphill climb to drag the cases up the ramp from the Greenwich Pier to land. The angle of incline depends on the tides, and it was quite steep this morning.

Upon request (well before disembarkation day), Viking will arrange transfers to local hotels. The price was exhorbitant - $495 as I recall. Maybe more. It was so expensive, my brain refused to store the data point. On Friday night, I booked a car with Addison Lee for transfer to our hotel in Kensington. That cost £30! Plus tip. Driver arrived right on time at 930am. I booked the car using the AL app. It's very slick, much like Uber. Their system sent me a message when the driver was 5 min away, providing the car's make, colour, and licence number.

I believe AL bookings can also be done by phone.

Note that vehicles can't drive right to the Greenwich Pier. The roads are blocked at the south side of the Cutty Sark. So you'll have to drag your luggage from the small park to the street. We asked Viking Guest Services for details on exactly where the luggage would be located, and exactly where taxis would pick up passengers. They had no clue, and provided conflicting/confusing information.

We found that the pick-up location for pre-arranged taxis is on the little lane that dead-ends past the right side of the Cutty Sark (with your back to the river).

Here's a link to the location:

Dropped Pin, near 60-54 Greenwich Church St

https://goo.gl/maps/z7iRErfN8CR2

There were very few taxis in evidence on Greenwich Church Street on Saturday morning, and lots of Viking pax trying to find one. Pre-booking a taxi is strongly recommended.

DIY Edinburgh excursion.

We've been to Edinburgh before at the start of a Windstar cruise around the British Isles, so we didn't feel the need to take Viking's 'panoramic tour', or any of the pricey optional tours. so instead, we did our own thing, starting with the tender off the ship to Newhaven Harbour.

Got a proper map from local Tourist rep, since the Viking port map is rubbish, again. (The Viking map shows us docked at Leith. The Viking ships can't even get into the Leith basin since they're too long to fit through the lock). Got someone to mark the location of Charlotte Square on the map - that's the drop-off/pickup point for Viking's shuttle bus.

We walked to Ocean Terminal to see the Royal Yacht Brittania. It's an easy 15 min walk. The tour of RYB was very interesting, with an included audio guide providing tons of information. We spent a couple of hours there.

Then took City bus #22 to get downtown. Fare is £1.70pp. Cash only, exact fare required.

Got off at Princes Street. Walked down into the park below the Scott Monument, and had our Viking take-away lunch (muffins, cheeses, fruit, cookies). Then walked up to the Royal Mile. Lots of tourists wandering the Mile, shopping, and enjoying the antics of various street performers.

We continued all the way up the Mile, shopping for Scottish scarves. There are dozens of tiny shops specializing in wool and cashmere. An interesting stop is a big shop (forget its name) on the right side just before the Castle. There's a long sign on the wall claiming it's the oldest woolen mill in Scotland, or something like that. A vast selection of woolen items, as well as the usual assortment of souvenir dreck. The upper floors are worth a visit, with a nice selection of Harris Tweed clothing back in a far corner. Way down in the basement (Level -3) is the mill, with a dozen old knitting machines. And I mean old. These machines have been in production for decades. We visited the Dale factory outside Bergen, and the contrast between the two facilities was quite amazing.

Last stop was the Castle. We walked into the parade square, where the famous Military Tattoo is held each season. (We saw it a few years ago on a previous visit to Edinburgh. It's quite the spectacle.) Unfortunately, there was a big stage erected on the parade square, blocking the view of the Castle. No decent photos.

Time to return to the ship. Walked out of the Castle courtyard and back down the Mile, turning left onto the first 'street', which is a narrow lane going down the hill and around a bend. Nice views over the City. Turned left onto The Mound, continuing down the hill past the National Gallery, then left onto Princes Street. It's a few longish blocks to get to Charlotte Square. The shuttle bus stopped at the west side of the square, in front of #17.

Shuttle ride to Newhaven was about 20 minutes. Then onto the tender, and back to our floating home.

Be advised that Edinburgh is fairly hilly. The maps don't really show the terrain. The walk up to the Castle (and back down to Charlotte Square) might be challenging to those with impaired mobility.

Hey there, Reading these informational posts is most appreciated. What time of day was the Bluenose ceremony?

The Bluenose ceremony is scheduled to happen around the time that the ship crosses the Arctic Circle. For the Molde to Tromsø leg of our itinerary, it was about 1pm. We're on the Bergen to London voyage. It might be different for those on London to Bergen.

Viking cabin trivia:

Cruise Critic members will no doubt be well equipped with smartphones, tablets, cameras, and various other gadgets needing to be charged daily. The DV cabins (and no doubt other categories) have two handy USB charger jacks on either side of the bed, integrated into the bedside table. One is marked "High Power". For those curious about such things, the high power jack can supply up to 2A of current, at the standard 5 volts. The other is good for 1A.

However, be advised that when your key card has been removed from the receptacle next to the door, both jacks supply No Power. When you remove your key card from the slot, power to the USB jacks is shut off after a few minutes, along with various lights in the cabin. For a few days now, we've wondered why iPads left charging during the day (when we were out and about) never seemed to get charged up fully.

Power to the 110 and 220 volt outlets next to the desk are not deactivated when the key card is absent.

Viking is providing maps, but they are pretty sparse. Some might say next to useless, but that might be a bit extreme.

The Tromsø map was particularly bad. The Star docked in Breivika, a few miles north of Tromsø. The location of the port was not indicated on the map, which did not extend out that far. Viking ran a shuttle back and forth into town, but the drop-off/pick-up location (across from the Radisson Blu hotel) was not shown on their map. Quite disappointing.

In some ports, we were able to obtain a local 'tourist' map once we got on shore.

We made good use of Google Maps on iPhone...

Tromso trip report.

Upon arrival in Tromsø, it was cool and cloudy, but it soon cleared up and was another gorgeous sunny day. I'm so glad we ordered Viking's optional Golden Sunshine package.

NB - we were docked at Quai 24, in the town of Breivika, a few miles north of Tromso proper. The Viking Sea was also in Tromso, and they were docked 'in town' at Quai 4. If you're on a future Midnight Sun sailing, you may be at one or the other locations. Check the Tromso port schedule to be sure you know where you'll be docked.

Viking provided shuttles to/from downtown, running every 20 minutes or so.

We started our day with the included 'Panoramic' tour at 915am. It was ho-hum. A drive to the countryside to a photo stop overlooking the ocean. A drive through downtown Tromso, then across to the Arctic Cathedral for another photo stop. Then back to town for another photo stop. Climbing on and off the bus is great for burning of all the calories we're consuming every day...

This weblink shows where the Panoramic tour took us:

https://trails.io/s/83ic8y/

We asked the guide if we could be dropped off downtown, instead of returning to the ship. After some discussion with the driver, they agreed to do so. About a dozen pax disembussed with us.

We walked along the water's edge past the Polar Museum, did a little shopping in the market square, admired the Viking Sea (docked right downtown).

Next on our plan was to visit the Science Museum/Planetarium to see the documentary movie about the Northern Lights. It's easy to get there, on city bus #20. Fare is NOK50 pp. There's a stop right across from the Radisson Blu hotel, then a 15 ride to the Museum. Bus stops right at the door.

The Northern Lights movie runs at 115pm in English, which was perfect for us. The next English showing is at 315. NOK90 pp.

While waiting for the movie to start, we ate our take-out lunch (muffins, cheese fruit from the World Cafe) in a sunny games room from which we could see the Viking Star.

We quite enjoyed the movie. I saw the northern lights (for real) decades ago.

The museum is up on a hill, above the Botanic Gardens. It's a pleasant walk through the Gardens back to the ship. Exit the Museum at the top floor (Level 4), walk to the street, then make a hairpin turn to the left. There's a narrow path that goes gently downhill, through a comprehensive Rock Garden. Geologists will love it.

Follow the path down the hill, and you'll come to the extensive Botanic Gardens. We wandered around for a half hour. There's a small café at the bottom of the Gardens, close to the highway.

The walk back to the ship (from the cafe) takes about 15 minutes. There's a pedestrian tunnel that goes under the highway to get to the port area.

Track from rock gardens to the ship at Quai 24:

https://trails.io/s/kxr9tq/

If you find yourself docked at Quai 24, it's a nice excursion to visit the Botanic Gardens, and even to walk up the path to the Science Museum. You can see the Museum from the ship. It's a tall grey building with an odd dome on the top -- looks a bit like a lighthouse. The dome is the planetarium.

Enjoy Tromsø!

Some Viking Star tips:

In cabin categories DV and below, storage is somewhat limited. There are only three drawers in the built-in 'bureau'. Plus two drawers in the bathroom, and a single drawer in each bedside table. In total, this adds up to 7 drawers. Seven is not divisible by two. The female passenger in the cabin will invariably commandeer two of the three drawers in the bureau, before her male travelling companion even knows what's happening...

We've sailed on the Star before, and came prepared. We brought a cheap plastic shoe organizer that hangs on a hook on the back of the bathroom door. Great place to store all the little chargers, cables, and other doodads one needs to bring. We also brought a multi-compartment collapsible storage gadget that hangs from the closet pole. It has a dozen or so cubbyholes to hold socks, underwear, scarves, and other small articles.

There's lot of space in the closet, but not enough hangers. When your cabin attendent comes by to introduce him/herself, ask for more hangers. We got 12 more. More than enough to hold our cold/warm/hot weather apparel.

The PV cabins are a bit larger and better designed, with more drawers -- an even number if I'm not mistaken.

The walls of the cabins are metal. We brought a few magnetic hooks on which to hang hats, belts, etc.

Lunch tip - you can call room service and order a box lunch, which will be delivered the next morning. Very useful if you are planning two excursions in a day and don't have time to have lunch ashore, or to return to the ship for a midday meal.

Minka34 has set the bar very high with her detailed posts! Here are some other midnight sun tips.

Oslo to Bergen train. We sat on the left (south) side, which I think did have better views. But it was a perfect sunny day, and got a bit hot with the sunshine blazing through the window. I concur with advice to bring your own food. Viking provided meal vouchers (NOK 179) with which to buy lunch from the 'dining car'. It seems that most locals bring their own food on board. The cafe was totally overwhelmed with 140 pax trying to buy food with the vouchers. Viking would do better to provide box lunches than require guests to stand in a long line on a swaying train.

Bergen - we took the Rodne fjord cruise, a 3 hour tour to Mostraumen. It was a great trip, going through a very narrow passage on the way to the end of the fjord. I booked the tickets online months ago for the 10am sailing on Saturday. NOK600 pp. They had space available for to 10am trip and were selling tickets to walk-up pax. There's also a 2pm trip. Departure is right behind the Fish Market.

Geiranger - instead of taking one of Viking's excur$ions$, we booked the Geiranger "Exclusive Panoramic Tour", a 3hour tour to all three of of the main sights (Eagle Bend, Flydalsjuvet, and the very top of Mt. Dalsnibba)

https://www.geirangerfjord.no/panorama-exclusive-bus

It was a fantastic excursion, with spectacular views of the fjord below. Instead of being packed onto a 40-pax bus, we were on a brand-new Mercedes mini-bus with one other couple from the Star.

Since there were three ships in port that day, I had expected the tour would be sold out (I booked it months ago), but to my surprise it was not.

The drive up/down the twisty turny mountain road was great fun. See video here:

https://trails.io/s/iyehsh

 

Thanks to all of you who followed along and to those folks who jumped in with some thoughts of their own. I hope you had fun keeping up with our journey.

Russ,

Thanks to you for the time you spent keeping us all up to date on your journey. Your comments, insights, and answers to the many questions were most useful. We head to the airport in a couple hours, en route to boarding the Star on Saturday for our own Midnight Sun adventure.

Wondering how crazy crowed Edinburgh was when you were there. Some post are saying it’s worth avoiding because the crowds are so bad.

It's only really crazy crowded during Fringe Festival in August. It's the largest art's festival in the world. In my opinion, attending the Fringe is a must-do activity despite the crowds.

 

Thanks for all the great questions!

Russ

Thanks for all the great answers :)

Here’s our experience: we bought a sweater in Geiranger and were given 2 receipts. You fill out the form. Go to guest relations with your passport and the receipts. You need to have the credit card used to make the original purchase and that’s it.

 

Viking makes it really simple.

 

Russ

Russ,

Thanks for the info about VAT refunds. I would never have thought that Viking's Guest Relations desk would be in the loop. That really simplifies things.

According to Ms. Google (who knows all...), the VAT on most purchases in Norway is 25%. You got 10% back on your sweater purchase. It appears that 15% went to Viking, and the agency that they use to process the VAT paperwork. I guess that's why they're in the loop:rolleyes:

Thank you for your time and detailed explanations. The cruise sounds wonderful. We sail July 21. My question has to do with Edinburgh. The itinerery originally said the port was Rosyth but the invoice says Newhaven. From what I read Newhaven is a tender port. We have booked an independant tour and want to be able to give the vendor correct information.

@gradydude,

Your invoice is correct. If you're sailing on the Viking Sky (July 21st departure from Bergen), it's scheduled to anchor off-shore at Edinburgh with tender service to Newhaven on August 1.

http://capitalcruising.co.uk/cruise-schedule#sectionSchedule23

Don’t forget that Norway offers a tax free option. For example: the $300 sweater we bought in Geiranger qualified for a $30 refund - 10% rebate!

 

Russ

Russ,

Can you say some more about the VAT tax refund procedure? Did you actually get the 10% refund from the shop in Geiranger? I've gone through the VAT refund song-and-dance a couple of times on other trips abroad (but never in Norway). The procedure required me to save the receipts, complete forms, get paperwork stamped at Customs in the airport prior to departure from the country, and then mail the forms away. For this cruise, you don't depart Norway from an airport. Leknes is the last Norwegian port-of-call, and I doubt there is a VAT Refund office on the Quay there:-)

Thanks for the refund info, and thanks for spending cruise time on this thread.

When the Viking itinerary shows the departing city on day 1 and 2, that means the ship is essentially your hotel that first night? Check in that afternoon, then have that evening and most of the next day available for a tour or walkabout? Same question upon arrivals when the destination is listed as 2 days? That's what I'm inferring, but don't see that stated plainly anywhere.

Steven,

I'm not russg140, but I can answer your question.

Your assumption is correct. You check in on Day 1 (around 2pm, perhaps earlier if you're in a high-category cabin), have the afternoon/evening to explore the sights/sites. Next day will be the "included" Viking excursion, with sail-away late in the afternoon (typically). This arrangement provides a little bit of insurance on arrival time. If, perish the thought, one's air connections get screwed up, you have a day of leeway to get to the embarkation port before the ship departs. Or for your luggage to arrive, if it happened to get misrouted (not that that ever happens...)

Likewise at the end of the cruise - a full day (Day N-1) to explore the destination city and/or enjoy Viking's included excursion, return to the ship for overnight stay, then exit stage left first thing the next morning (Day N) to make room for the new passengers who will begin boarding that afternoon.

THANK YOU! You are 100% correct...we are on the Sea. I got my sun and sea mixed up. My apologies!

Mark,

Now if you had titled the thread "Into the Midnight Sea", we would really be worried...

Thanks so much for starting this thread, and for the time you'll spend updating it from time to time as you sail past the fjords. There are eight other similar voyages this season (on the Sea, Star and Sky), with lots of other CC members anxious to follow in your wake, so to speak.

We board Viking Sun on Tuesday and overnight in Bergen. As we go along please ask me any questions you might have about the trip that I haven't written about (ship, shore excursions, food, etc.) and I'll do my best to answer them.

@russg140,

Your thread is titled "Live from the Viking Sun". Are you really boarding the Sun in Bergen today? Viking's schedule shows the Sun is in Denmark right now, en route to Stavanger.

Your signature says you're sailing on the Viking Sea, so I suspect you mis-titled the thread.

We're sailing into the Midnight Sun on the Star in two weeks, so will be following this thread with great interest.

Have a wonderful voyage, whichever ship you're on.

Travelers to Norway may enjoy these short videos by Morten Berg, with stunning vistas of mountains and fjords:

@Bonnie,

Could you drop a line to your webmistress (or pass it up the CoC) and suggest that the web page re the WWF lectures be updated. It's here:

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/fi/discover/why-azamara/boutique-hotels-sea/world-wildlife-fund

As of April 22, 2017, it only lists two WWF lectures:

- one by Sybille on the Journey, Feb 19th to March 6, 2017

- one by Nicky on the Quest, Feb 21 to March 10, 2017.

Those dates have come and gone.

It's sloppy to not keep the web page up to date. It looks like no one is paying attention.

At a bare minimum, they could easily change a couple of words and convert those two announcements into past tense.

Better yet, they should update the web page with names & dates of the upcoming WWF speakers. Early feedback on the initiative was quite positive. You don't want to lose the momentum. Unless of course, the partnership has withered, in which case it would be best to have those out-of-date web pages fade to black. I sure hope that's not the case - Sybille's lectures on the Journey were the best enrichment presentations I've ever attended.

I don't think you can link a Facebook video here, but if you look at Konstantinos' YouTube channel link in the video above there is one of the dolphins

Here is a link to the (AzAmazing) GoPro video of

Do people at Azamara read these post cruise surveys or they farmed out to a third party?

I can answer this one. Azamara most certainly reads the comments submitted via the on-line survey instrument, and actions them. We recently sailed B2B Singapore->Sydney->Auckland on the Journey. After the first leg, we completed the on-line survey (we were still on board, a couple days out of Sydney). We submitted a few constructive criticisms re Housekeeping and Dining. Two days later, managers from both departments contacted us to follow up. One by a phone call from someone in Dining, and one a personal visit by the head of Housekeeping. I was astounded that (a) comments submitted via the on-line survey had been reviewed that quickly; (b) concerns had been immediately communicated from Miami to the ship; and © responsible managers on-board followed up. That's impressive.

We had similar experience with feedback provided mid-cruise on the paper survey form. This was our first experience on Azamara, and we found them to be extraordinarily responsive to customer input.

Would like to take advantage of every moment in Venice on the 3rd and not have to rush back to the ship for muster.

We recently sailed the Journey which had an overnight in Sydney. The 'obligatory' muster was scheduled at 5pm on embarkation day (i.e. before the in-port overnight). We had on-shore arrangements already planned that day and were unable to get back to the ship on time. Missing the muster is no problem at all. Azamara scheduled a make-up class the following day to cover off those who didn't attend the first one. There were probably 20+ pax at the second one.

By all means, take advantage of the day & evening in Venice, and attend muster the following day.

My confirmation doesn't specify either, but my TA confirmed that the OBC from Azamara can only be used towards Land Excursions.

We recently sailed the Journey from Singapore to Auckland. I can assure you that our OBCs from Azamara WERE accepted for Land Excursions.

The confusion on this topic is that Azamara awards different kinds of OBCs for different purposes. Our OBCs were thanks to their 'extended journey' promotion. (ie, a benefit for booking multiple cruises back to back). That type of OBC can be used on almost anything (but not casino chips).

Azamara also awards OBCs as part of an advance/early booking inducement. Historically, that type of OBC is only good for shorex, and not for any onboard purchases. It's a marketing mystery why Azamara would give customers something called "On-Board Credits" for booking early, when the credit can't actually be used for any on-board purchases. Better that they call them ShoreEX Credits, or Land Discovery Credits.

OBCs received from travel agents are another kettle of fish. This post from Bonnie on the topic might be helpful.

We boarded the Journey twice last month while docked at White Bay (it was an overnight stop so we got off and on twice). There was no security or screening of any kind by the WB port authority, other than the usual bored security guard who looked at our SeaPass cards before letting us walk onto the pier, and thence to the gangway.

The Journey security staff rigorously scanned all parcels being taken on board, but they were unconcerned about bottles of wine.