Clay Clayton

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/shipbuilding-equipment/fincantieris-ancona-yard-floats-out-viking-vesta?utm_campaign=SC_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Update_NL_07052024&utm_emailname=SC_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Update_NL_07052024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eloqua&utm_MDMContactID=db60c4e4-0afe-4832-ad88-83806cef368f&utm_campaigntype=Newsletter&eM=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d&eventSeriesCode=ES_SEATRDCRSCTNT&eventEditionCode=MTM00SCC&sessionCode=S_STRDCRSNEWS&sp_eh=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d

In our experience (which does not include Rome), the departure time is when they expect to leave the ship.  Typically, if asked to meet onboard, the meeting time is 15 minutes prior to the excursion time, if meeting on the pier it will be the listed excursion time. Information on when and where to meet will be on page three of the Viking daily which will be in your stateroom after dinner the night prior to the excursion. 
 

Again, based on our experience (though not in Rome) they expect to have you back to the ship at 4:15. But on daylong tours like this, we have often gotten back later than this posted time due to traffic, crowds, or other factors.  Additionally on at least two occasions I remember, due to traffic being not as bad as expected, we were taken to an unplanned sightseeing location so that the trip took the full amount of time promised. 

If you wish to leave any excursion, it is allowed just be sure to tell the guide (and we always tell others on the tour in case the guide forgets) that you’re leaving and will make your own way back to the ship. 

So sorry to hear of the incident in Bergen. Hope you won’t let one wayward teen ruin your view of the whole city….we encountered nothing but great folks when we were there last summer.  Safe travels tomorrow!

3 hours ago, downsmead said:

We are on one at present, room 110, no real problems at all. People in the first room on the side of the odd numbers have said there is a lot of noise from above with chairs being moved - think there is the reception / office above 🤦‍♀️. Generally ok if there are cabins above your room, though interestingly those at the back of the ship seem to suffer far more engine noise 🤷‍♀️.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, Ryan208 said:

We were in “aquarium class” ( aka “ swan view”) on a Rhine cruise a few years ago and will again be on the same deck on an upcoming cruise. We were in a cabin towards the bow and, as the river was low that summer, heard a lot of gravel/ stones being kicked up against the hull when under sail during the night. Other than that it was quiet. Another con is that the elevator does not go to that deck if that is an issue for you.  Those were the cons as far as we were concerned. The pro, for us, was that it was not as pricey as the cabins on the upper decks so we had extra funds to spend on such things as special excursions. We were not in the cabin much so didn’t miss a balcony. When we were sailing during the day or evening, we were in the lounge or on the sun deck to see both sides of the river. Plus when we were docked, we were often “rafted“ to another ship, so sitting on the balcony would have been a bit public as you would be staring into the ship next door (and they would be starting at you!). Hope this helps. 

It does. Thanks! I recall similar comments from the post I now can’t find.  It seems others posted about an issue with noise depending on location along the hallway. 

I know I read a post about which of the rooms on this deck were noisy and which weren’t, but I sure can’t find it now😡. 
 

Would love thoughts on the pro/con of particular rooms in this category. 
 

TIA

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

 

 

From Clay's response above, I would think that if this was with Viking they are taking you to places that accept foreign cards.

 

My husband is Chinese and we have family in China and my response above is first hand experience.

 

If you are wandering in the Hutong in Beijing which is all locals, you would be hard pressed to find merchants taking foreign cards and Apple Pay.

Perhaps my/our knowledge and experience is in more remote areas and less touristy areas of China.

 

Looking forward to others experiences.

The barbershop, convenience store and restaurants were all in Bejing prior to us joining the Viking pre-extension. I suspect you’re right about the souvenir shops as those were with Viking.

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

If you want to purchase something on shore then you will need CNY / RMB cash / currency with you.

 

Foreign Credit Cards are not widely accepted in China, if you can find anyplace that will take them other than the largest hotel chains.

 

Visa cards can now apparently be linked to WeChat, and MasterCard to AliPay and then you pay with these apps...

BUT...  we travel to, and have family in China.  We have tried to connect our North American credit cards to WeChat and AliPay unsuccessfully.  We have Asian grocery stores where we live and we continue to try to link our cards and pay this way in preparation for our next visit to mainland China and we are not having luck.

 

Even taking a Taxi in China, you will only have the option of Cash, WeChat, or AliPay.  

 

For shopping, our fix is we have "UnionPay" cards and we have a bank account in Canada with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBK) and our UnionPay cards are linked to this account with RMB and this works like a debit card in China paying directly from our bank account in Canada.

 

But - this won't work in a Taxi or street vendor stall...  They want AliPay or WeChat.

 

Get RMB cash.

 

Note that you likely will not find stores or street vendors that would accept USD.

This info is from 2019 so perhaps it’s changed but we used ApplePay on our phones and never changed any currency. My Visa card is the default credit card loaded into ApplePay and we used it at restaurants, convenience stores, food stalls, souvenir shops, and a barber shop.  Admittedly, our number of uses was small as we had prepaid a Chinese travel agency for an individual tour before we joined the Viking pre extension so most of the time we didn’t have to pay directly.  

2 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Completely agree.  We were there last month.  We didn’t have the best weather, but still the walk out to the ring of Brodgar was well worth it to us (but like you, we are archeology buffs).  They are not Stonehenge, but their situation is more dramatic.  And, did you hear about the two men spraying orange paint on the Stonehenge stones today.?  Just awful.  Anyway, a few pics from the Ring:

32 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Ah.... Pre-vandalism... Smdh

Luckily the orange power is supposed to wash off when it rains (according to the vandals). 

1 hour ago, millybess said:

They came in quite handy in Norway, but watch out for the little black flecks.  😊

 

They don't burn your clothes, it just makes a mess.

 

I was told those were not heaters just decorative and they certainly didn’t have them on when we were in Norway. 

7 hours ago, millybess said:

On our sailing in Norway, there were little black flecks on the Aquavit Terrace, and eventually our clothes.  We traced it back to the heaters on there 

6 hours ago, millybess said:

On our sailing in Norway, there were little black flecks on the Aquavit Terrace, and eventually our clothes.  We traced it back to the heaters on the Terrace.

Heaters? What heaters?  I’ve been suggesting that they add them to make the outdoor space more useable in the northern climes

On 6/11/2024 at 1:40 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

They -- Star, Sky & Sea -- do not.

.

Sky has drawers in the closet. Was onboard for the World Journey and made good use of them. 😂

Second everyone’s recommendation for Geiranger, especially being up on deck for the sail in.  The sail out is also beautiful, we enjoyed it from the Aquavit. Below are pictures from last summer.

in Bergen, after Viking canceled the expensive excursion to Greig’s House and the 1pm concert, we walked through town to the Kode Museum where we took their shuttle to the house.  It was a great day! https://www.kodebergen.no/en/whats-happening/concerts/summer-concerts-at-troldhaugen

Have a great cruise!

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Thanks Clay.

 

I note the family retains 87% of the voting rights - basically no change in governance. Hopefully, this should reassure those who seemed to equate an IPO with an automatic decline in service quality. 🍺🥌

My thoughts (hopes) exactly. 

Looks like Hagen was telling the truth about his ownership😁

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance-legal-regulatory/how-vikings-post-ipo-ownership-shakes-out?utm_campaign=SC_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Update_NL_06112024&utm_emailname=SC_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Update_NL_06112024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eloqua&utm_MDMContactID=db60c4e4-0afe-4832-ad88-83806cef368f&utm_campaigntype=Newsletter&eM=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d&eventSeriesCode=ES_SEATRDCRSCTNT&eventEditionCode=MTM00SCC&sessionCode=S_STRDCRSNEWS&sp_eh=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d

37 minutes ago, toolworker said:

Do Viking Ocean ships have these features?

 

1. 1. Booking and changing tours at reception 24/7 Yes

2. Booking and changing things on the app - tours, dining reservations, ... ?Yes/but often is glitchy

3. Quietvox or equivalent for tours (phone app doesn't count) Yes

4. Starlink internet Yes but even so, pretty awful 

5. Play enrichment talks on TV with pause, resume, save your place.I think so

6. 800 number to call Reception from shore for international phone charges only.Not that I am aware. 

 

I'm asking because we've been cruising Regent lately, and it doesn't have any of them (except phasing in Starlink).  I've seen these on other lines but can't remember which lines have which ones.

See my responses after your questions. 

We have always gone on a day early and the easiest and cheapest for us was to rent a car at LAX and drop it off in San Pedro. This let us do some sightseeing the day before boarding and then the morning of the cruise, we dropped off the luggage at the ship before returning the car.  We then had a nice stroll to the pier-Uber was our backup if it had of been raining. 

As mentioned previously, both of this year’s World Cruises docked at Phu My.  Viking provide a shuttle to the Opera House in HCM City.  The port provides a shuttle from the dock to the port gates which is where any independent tours will pick up and drop you off.  If you’re there overnight, highly recommend booking a hotel in the city, relatively cheap and saves anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half each way.  Traffic can be awful and hence the wide range of times you are seeing.  
 

Just for fun, here is a video of us on Sky waving to Neptune as we passed each other as we left and she arrived at Phu My. 

2 minutes ago, Kountess said:

Darn!  We'll miss you again.  We are booked on The Americas, Chile and Antarctica cruise from Ft. Lauderdale on October 13.

Never say never.  We have decided we will wait and see if there are any promos later this fall.  If we went one cruise earlier the cost is $1000pp less and while it has a great deal more staterooms available, there are still a lot empty on the 12th so 🤞

1 hour ago, Kountess said:

Clay, When are you planning to go?

9 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Clay, we are booked for Jan 25 - maybe we'll meet!

 

In my research, you would have to be extremely unlucky not to land at all and I have not found a single cruise that has missed entirely thus far. You'd need a terrible combination of poor weather and likely a mechanical or medical emergency to lose the whole thing. That said, "00" in on the roulette wheel for a reason 👿

 

My larger concern with our timing is actually Avian flu. There are areas of South Georgia that are currently off limits to all expedition landings, and no-one knows for sure how the disease will progress in the far south. It has been detected in wildlife on the Peninsula, but no restrictions thus far. We've decided to roll the dice - not getting any younger, but you may want to monitor the expedition threads for Silversea and Seabourn.

 

Here's one I found, it's over now, so not completely current. I think it was post #212. Best of luck! 🍺🥌

 

 

 

We have some friends from the World Cruise who are going on Octantis on Jan 12 and we are considering changing our currently booked March Buenos Aires to Barcelona to join them. But had hoped to get our other friends to come along but at least one of them is pretty set on flying to Antarctica.  

We have friends who we are trying to convince to take Viking to Antartica with us but they are worried about not actually landing.  They are looking at the NatGeo cruises that start with an expensive flight to Antartica which is beyond our budget.  
 

Other than diversions due to medical evacuations, I don’t recall any cruises that didn’t make a landing on Antartica-can others confirm? 
 

TIA!

3 hours ago, pcalv said:

Thanks so much for your feedback Clay!  This is making me feel much more comfortable.  I've booked a V2 category cabin on the cruise.

No problem. Just paying it forward!

1 minute ago, Islandbc said:

Hello Clay.  Do you recall if 5060 was a few cabins forward of the elevators as shown on the deck map?

The deck plans are pretty accurate.  We met folks on board whose stateroom opened directly into the elevator lobby and they reported no sound issues-only problem was making sure they were fully prepared to greet the public whenever they opened their door😂

On 6/1/2024 at 7:54 PM, pcalv said:

Hi folks, I'm planning of our first cruise onboard a Viking ship for the 8 day Iberian Explorer itinerary and I was considering a Verandah (V2) Aft location.  Can anyone who has stayed in a V2 category AFT cabin please give me some insights on;

- The location of Deck 3 Aft cabins - do they get noise from surrounding public areas, e.g restaurant below

- The inconvenience of not being able to pre-book dining venues until on the ship.  Have you been disadvantaged booking onboard?

- The inconvenience of not being having priority access to book shore excursions until 60 days prior to sailing

 

best regards,

Paul.

Paul

Can’t respond to our aft Deck 3 questions but can to your other V related questions. 
 

We have never had an issue getting into Manfredi’s or Chef’s Table once onboard as long as we were flexible with time and day. Even when we have been able to book ahead, we don’t bother as I barely know what I want for dinner tonight, how do I know months ahead?  
 

We tend to either do included excursions or private ones, we haven’t had an issue with getting our excursions we want either.  Again, we may have to be flexible on the timing.