doglover3

Wintergarden is one of the most beautiful areas on the ship.

Afternoon tea is wonderful in this space, and the adjacent alcoves.

Yes it is crowded when it starts. But I always found a seat if I went a little later during tea time.

I love the service where they bring you the tea menu, select the tea, you can talk to others while you wait for tea pot, plate, cup , holding cup for tea basket. Then they bring you scones served by waiter, next a tiered tray full of open faced sandwiches, desserts. I would hate a buffet.

Totally agree. On the Midnight Sun in June, we also enjoyed the afternoon tea a number of times. It was never overly crowded and we were able to relax over our individually chosen teas and tier of treats. The service was wonderful and we too would hate to see them switch to a buffet. Maybe it depends on your itinerary and the day. We did not try to go on one of the first days of the cruise.

I am the TS on this thread and wanted to give you my update on our 1st time booking a Guarantee cabin. I only booked this way because the timing for cruise was perfect, the itinerary was perfect, and this was the only way to get on this cruise.

 

I went online today to look at my booking because we cruise in 10 days. I was getting nervous. Lo and behold, there was our cabin #. Our guarantee was for a DV2 and we have been given a PV1. I can now relax and also enjoy the extra space and looking forward to trying the Viking Ocean product.

 

Thank you Viking :)

Congratulations on your upgrade! Sounds like it worked out quite well. Hope you have a wonderful Viking cruise.

Thank you so much for your suggestions. We will be cruising on the Insignia NE/Bermuda trip this summer. It was last minute but we are looking forward to the Oceania experience.

My Mom was from England. So we were fortunate to be able to visit family and friends and expand our visits.

We did several Rhine cruises with KD. I believe Viking acquired the part of the company that did 5-7 night trips. They were so amazing, we were repeat travelers. It was all inclusive featuring wines/beers and food from the areas we traveled through. Lots of historical commentary. I will definitely research them and also see what Oceania. Cunard looks like it only makes one stop in Lerwick.

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We took Viking's "Into the Midnight Sun" this June. In addition to traveling up the coast of Norway, we had stops in Lerwick (Shetlands) and Kirkwall (Orkneys). We docked at both ports and there was a free shuttle provided by the tourist services in each, which took 5-10 minutes to get into town. We were able to walk into town in Lerwick in about 20-30 minutes, if walking is an option. I don't know if a larger ship would be able to dock, one of the advantages of Viking's smaller ships.

We loved both ports and really enjoyed Viking Ocean. It was our first cruise with Viking Ocean, after having been very pleased with a trip on the Rhine with Viking River.

As BruceLovesSailing wrote, there are 3 washers and dryers per launderette and there are 4 launderettes, so that would be 12 pairs of washer/dryers. We found it very easy to use the launderette, which we did twice on our recent cruise. One of the two times we had to wait for a machine, but we just set our phone and came back about ten minutes before the next machine was scheduled to be done and had no problem. I only saw one person who waited while their laundry was going. The rest of us left and came back. Nobody left their laundry after it was done. We loved having such easy access and found we could have brought about 1/3 less clothes than we did (and we travel with carry on only!).

Now, I haven't been there so I can't tell you for sure, but we are also arriving early in Bergen and staying at the Thon Hotel Rosencranz. It has high ratings and seems very convenient location-wise.

We just left the Thon Hotel Rosencrantz and enjoyed our overnight very much. Small but comfortable room, quiet and very convenient location. Our room rate included a light supper and a fabulous breakfast buffet. All at what I thought a very reasonable rate.

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We will be leaving in a couple of days for the same trip on Viking Sky. Do you know how early you have to be back on board before departing each port? I know in Bergen it's two hours, but I was hoping it would be an hour in the other ports. Thanks.

Much appreciated! None of my American chip cards has those ) on it. Also, our chip cards mostly are chip and signature, not "chip and pin," which is what is really needed in Europe. It took a good while for me to find an issuer of a true chip and pin card.

We were able to simply request contactless cards to replace our chip and signature cards from Capital One. We have at least one other card that came that way. Be sure to look for the ))) lines on both the front and back of the card. Ours are marked on the back.

Bolding mine. Thank you, tartanexile81. We are in port (Rosyth) from 8 am to 6 pm and you have just solved my quandry about which (castle or palace) to see. One question I have is is there any way to tell in advance if a royal will be in residence at the palace? They probably don't publish the info for security reasons but I thought maybe a website was available to indicate if the palace would be open or closed on a specific day. If the palace were to be closed on the only day we're in Edinburgh, then I would plan to see the castle instead.

I can't tell when you're in port, but this website has the closures for the year:

https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/palace-of-holyroodhouse

Just click on "Opening Times" and a pop up screen has the dates they are closed.

Thanks for reporting. We will be on the Sky on June 23 for the Midnight Sun itinerary, so it's wonderful to hear that you're enjoying the ship. Have a great trip and I'll follow along until we leave next week! If you have time, I'd love to hear what you think about dinner in the World Cafe, once you have a chance to eat there. A lot of people seem to like the food and the more casual atmosphere, maybe better then the main dining room for dinner.

Hope you had a good flight and are busy enjoying Bergen. We will be following next in line behind you, leaving from Bergen on June 23 on the Sky. Can't wait to read all about your adventure. Have a great trip!

Twitchly,

What a fabulous review! We leave on Viking Sky in just under three weeks, so I was very excited by your wonderful description. Our itinerary is Bergen to London, so I was particularly interested in Bergen and the the train to Oslo, which we will do in reverse. Glad I reserved seats on the right, as DH loves to take photos. So much to look forward to! Thanks!

Thank you everyone for all your very generous and helpful advice. I think because of our timing at the airport, we will likely take one of the river tours from Greenwich to Westminster. After a quick look around (with our luggage), we will hop on the Tube District Line at Westminster, transfer to Piccadilly Line at Hammersmith (due to the easier signage) and be on our way to Heathrow. I like to allow extra time for getting lost and confused, so I think we will have to forgo the more extensive sightseeing. :)

Thank you both for your suggestions. The river tour to Westminster Pier sounds perfect. I'll have to look into Tube vs Express Bus. Any thoughts on which might be easier for a first time visitor?

I think visiting either Westminster or Parliament would be difficult with our bags and limited time, but it might be nice to walk by before our 8 hour flight home.

I was going to look up what might work for you for fun (no deep knowledge). What ship are you on? The only ship I see listed for 7/7/2018 coming into London's terminsals (on https://www.pla.co.uk/Travel/Cruise-Ship-Diary/Cruise-Ship-Diary) is the Aegean Odyssey. And it is listed as coming in to the London Cruise Terminal, which is on the north bank of the Thames, east of Greenwich. Is that your ship? If so, it sounds like you options would be different, since you'll be on the opposite side of the Thames and further east than Greenwich.

Sorry about the confusion for both MrsEmmaPeel and Canuker.

Before I answer you question directly, may I ask if you are positive your cruise ends in Greenwich on July 7, 2018, please?

I ask because the Port of London Cruise Ship Diary shows no vessels arriving on that day at Greenwich.

The Aegean Odyssey arrives in Tilbury (London Cruise Terminal), which is quite a way East of Greenwich, on July 7.

Perhaps you are on the Viking Sky, which arrives Greenwich July 6 - and you are able to spend another night in Greenwich?

 

Where you are has a great bearing on how you might transit to Heathrow...

You are correct. We are on the Viking Sky, with an overnight. So we will be off the ship the morning of July 7. I understand that it is fairly easy to take river transportation from that location in Greenwich.

We will be disembarking at Greenwich on Saturday, July 7, and will be traveling to Heathrow with only carry on luggage. We need to be at the airport by around 1:00PM, so I thought it would be nice to see some of the London sights from the river, then transfer to the tube to get to the airport. Is this a feasible plan and what would be the most convenient place to transfer, while giving us a chance to see some of the London scenery?

Thanks for this info! We will be in London later this year; fortunately, we only have 30 GBP in 5s and 10s; thought we might bring them along and walk into a bank and see if they can be exchanged, so now we will. (Have a bunch of 20s we better use before they are taken out of circulation as well! :D)

Both my brother (Chase Bank) and I (PNC) were able to exchange our old 5 and 10 pound notes for US dollars at our local bank. There was a small difference in the exchange rate of a few dollars, but it was definitely worth it for me to not have the bother of trying to find a British bank that would do an exchange while we're on our cruise.

Any particular reason? (Just curious.)

I will likely be very tired and distracted (don't sleep on planes:(). Not the way I like to do money transactions!

No problem. It is ticket machines and office. You can pay by visa or master card. They don’t do Apple Pay.

 

No need to pre book tickets for the local trains.

Only for the long distance trains to Bergen, Trondheim, Bodø, Stavanger etc.

 

Safe travel:D

Thanks for the help. That should work out just fine.

We will be arriving at Gardermoen Airport next month and want to take the local NSB train to the Central Station, I think Oslo S. I apologize if this has been covered before, but I can't seem to figure out how we buy a ticket. Since we're not sure what time we will be ready to take the train, we'd prefer to buy the ticket at the airport. Are there machines or ticket agents? Will we be able to use our credit card? What about ApplePay? We are arriving without Krone and would prefer to avoid ATMs at the airport. Thanks in advance for any advice.

It’s a 10-15 minute walk up to the trail head, and the hike to the farm takes around 45 minutes for an averagely fit hiker, depending on your speed. It’s a steady uphill climb, and there are some rough rocky patches, so it can take an hour for slower hikers. From the farm, it’s an easy 10-20 minute walk down a farm road to the overlook. So roundtrip, I’d say 2-3 hours for the hiking, plus whatever time you spend at the top. Maybe 10-15 minutes at the overlook, but there is also a small cafe at the farm.

 

If you’ve been to Eagle’s Bend, it’s probably not a must-see. Here is an image of the overlook itself: https://goo.gl/images/BNZNxa The draw in that case would be the farm and the hike itself.

 

An alternative if you’re interested in hiking but not after the fjord views is to continue up to the Storseter waterfall. It’s a more strenuous hike (some rocks and muddy patches early in the season) but it gives some nice views up into the mountain passes, and you can walk behind the small waterfall at the end (a bit underwhelming, so don’t set your expectations too high).

 

The hiking map for the Geiranger area is available online: https://www.geirangerfjord.no/hiking-map and paper copies are usually available for purchase at the tourist info in town.

Kaisatsu,

Thank you for your detailed reply. I will copy it to our itinerary for our day in Geiranger. The photo from the overlook was beautiful, but I think we'll have to see how the day is going. We plan to walk up the falls to the Fjord Center and from there we can decide which way to go. We may only get part way on either hike, but I appreciate knowing about the alternative up to Storseter.

It’s well worth getting a view of the fjord from above. I find that the scenery is dramatically different looking down vs looking up from the ship. Even if it’s cloudy, the lower viewpoints still give a very different perspective. If you’re up for the uphill walk, you can take the trail up to Vesterås Farm (starting behind the Hotel Union) and then continue on to the Vesteråsfjellet overlook (an easy walk from the farm) or the Løsta viewpoint (a bit challenging).

Any estimate on how long it takes to walk to the Vesteråsfjellet overlook? Wouldn't want to miss the boat because we didn't make it back in time! Also, if we've already been to Eagle's Bend Overlook, is it even worth the time? Thanks for any input.

Thanks for the quick reply. I think I'm all set. I'll know how it goes in about 6 1/2 hours!

We are in a DV cabin and we got all the excursions we wanted, which was only one optional and the rest were included. We did manage to get all our first choices of times for the included excursions, which was equally important to me. I was done by 3:09am! We are happy and I can now move on to planning the rest of our time in port.

Yes, you will still have to enter the credit card info. I printed it out on a piece of paper so I wouldn’t have to squint at my card in the middle of the night. Lol

Thanks for the quick reply. I think I'm all set. I'll know how it goes in about 6 1/2 hours!

When booking excursions, if you've already given your credit card information to Viking for use on the ship, do you have to enter that information again? Just want to have everything ready when I get up at 3am!