Moonlion

Agree, on our January '22 cruise, we were offered $600 per person discount for the 15-day BIE cruise we booked while on board (when combining the on board and Explorer Society discounts) and $700 per person for the 16-day SA cruise. We also got a more generous on board credit for the cruise we were on, and final payment extended to 6 months before the future cruises.

On our 2022, we had the SSBP and were able to have alcohol and other drinks delivered to room.

On our January '22 NL cruise, the ship was kept warm. At the Restaurant and Specialty dining venues, people kept to the Viking guidelines: nice slacks and tops for dinner. I didn't see anyone in their outside winter gear.

Hmm, anyone remember the term "the 'Me' Generation" from the 70s referring to the Baby Boom and then later generations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation)? This conversation reminded me of the term, especially now that we Boomers have come of age on certain upscale cruise lines.

What does Viking Ocean do if you have an early flight arrival time and have booked a Viking transfer from airport to ship? Our flight next May gets into Heathrow before 6 AM and ship is tendered at Greenwich. Do they keep you waiting at the airport or do they drop you off someplace in Greenwich until boarding is allowed?

You can go to the roll call for the January 24, 2022 Northern Lights cruise. There was a lot of discussion before our cruise and a spreadsheet of recommended outside providers for Alta and Tromso (unfortunately, you may have to search through several pages). Several of us had booked private excursions to search for the lights in Tromso (a smaller group tour) and Alta (bus tour), but we had to cancel when Viking informed us that independent excursions were no longer allowed due to Covid.

This is exactly what I do. I research excursions and tour providers for my cruise on a variety of sites (Cruise Critic, Viking FB, TripAdvisor/Viator - same tours/prices now). Recommendations from previous passengers and TripAdvisor reviews can give you a good sense of the quality of the excursion and reliability of provider. I almost always book directly with the tour provider unless the cancellation terms are not that generous. TripAdvisor usually allow free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour...but you may pay a higher price than booking directly with the provider.

We did the NL cruise in January 2022. We were in a DV cabin and had no problem booking optional excursions. However, two factors were unique for us that likely affected the availability of optional excursions. On the one hand, the ship was half full - a lot of people cancelled before their cancellation deadlines because of all the Covid restrictions and uncertainties at that time, which made it easier to book Viking excursions. On the other hand, we were not allowed to go on private excursions (had to stay in the "Viking bubble" on our cruise) which may have increased the demand for Viking excursions. I noticed that in the month or so before our cruise, the availability of optional excursions changed frequently, sometimes on a daily basis. Make sure to check back on My Viking Journey (MVJ) frequently if there is a sold-out excursion that you want. Also, once onboard, you can request to be put on a waiting list for sold-out excursions. People change their minds all the time and cancel tours they booked or Viking may add more buses if there is enough demand. Finally, there are many excellent private excursions available in Tromso and Alta. From my research, the private excursions to chase the lights were usually less expensive than the Viking optional excursions and better quality. Since the ship stays overnight in Tromso and Alta, you don't have to worry about not making it back to the ship in time. Have fun!

It depends on the airline and its partners. For example, United is part of Star Alliance and will typically connect through Frankfurt, Copenhagen, etc. British Airways and its partner, American Airlines, will often connect through LHR.

This may be your best solution. Amazon has compression bags for camping gear, sleeping bags, other bulky items, etc. The XL or XXL sizes may work for an egg crate mattress topper. They come with a vacuum pump and compress down to a fairly small size that should fit in a suitcase.

Not sure if it varies by airline. For our United flight, we were not able to make any major changes (change of date or flight #) with the airline either before or after ticketing. When I called United, agent said we needed to make flight changes through Viking.

Our experience exactly. Last year, we had our Viking flights changed by the airline 3-4 times, mostly without being notified by Viking or the airline. Whether booking our own flights or through Viking, I compulsively keep track of the flights at the airline's website, which is the usually most accurate source of information (you can get the airline's confirmation number for your flight from Viking if not on MVJ). It's especially important to make sure you are happy with your flights before ticketing. In our experience, once Viking ticketed our flights (about 2 months before fight), they charged a $350 pp fee to modify the flight!

On our January 2022 NL cruise, we did not tender at Alta. The ship docked at port.

On our cruise, there was a guitarist/singer who performed in the Explorer Lounge most evenings. My husband (who is a musician) and I thought he was quite good.

We book through a TA (and get the maximum OBC allowed) but have never had a problem calling Viking directly for questions or to make a change in our booking. The Viking call agents are more than willing to help us. In fact, on our last Viking ocean cruise this year, we booked two future cruises while on board. The onboard Viking TA was very helpful in providing advice and booking the cruises. When she mentioned that both cruises would be automatically transferred to our TA, we asked whether this would be a problem for her (e.g., would she lose any commission, etc.). She said no, that this is Viking's standard practice and she doesn't lose any compensation when the booking is transferred to an outside TA.

I called Viking directly and booked the transfer.

Can confirm the above information from recent experience. We are booking our own flights to London for our British Isles cruise next May. Since we're arriving on the first day of cruise (day of embarkation), we were able to purchase one-way Viking transfers from Heathrow to Greenwich for $49 pp. The $98 for the two of us was a better price than booking a private car from LHR to ship. Plus our flight arrives very early in the morning and we weren't sure how early we could drop off our luggage at the ship if we arrived by cab or private car.

You should be fine with the new itinerary. On our January 2022 Northern Lights cruise, we saw the lights while at Alta (our most spectacular viewing), Tromso and Narvik - still included in the new itinerary. The previous itinerary included Stavanger and Bodo. Stavanger is a bit too far south for optimal aurora viewing and was replaced anyway on the 2022 NL cruises with a stop at the Shetland Islands (which non of the cruises made because of high winds). Bodo was frequently missed on previous NL cruises, including ours, because of weather issues.

Most included excursions and many optional use a standard size bus so I'm guessing anywhere from 25-50 passengers.

This is new! Viking had the old itinerary on their website just a couple of days ago.

We've been on two Viking river cruises and one Viking ocean cruise. I agree with everything said by Iloveketo and Katlew. I've added a few of our thoughts on some of your questions: 1: Would Viking Ocean possibly be a good fit for us? Their advertising makes it sound like they are. From what you've described about your likes and interests, I think you will love Viking Ocean. The ship is beautiful and there is a very peaceful, calm, low-keyed vibe that we love. There are no sales pitches or someone trying to sell you something. The evening "entertainment" is fairly low-keyed as well. However, there are several lectures (about the history and culture of the region) and enrichment activities each day. We also took a megaship cruise about 10 years ago and hated it. We loved our Viking ocean cruise so much we booked two additional cruises while onboard. 3: How are the included shore excursions? Are they good or are they just ok so Viking can say they included one in each port? As Iloveketo said, the quality varies greatly. I've been on some included excursions that have been excellent and others that are little more than a bus ride (basically a drive-by the sites and a few quick stops for photos). Those listed as a "panoramic tour" tend to be bus rides. It also depends on the guide you get. Some are great, others not so much. However, we've also been on optional excursions that have ranged from excellent to disappointing. 4: Can anyone give a very rough idea of how much the other shore excursions are? I realize they are all different prices & styles but just a ballpark amount. For our upcoming British Isles Explorer cruise, most optional excursions range from about $100 to $250/pp depending on length of tour, type of transportation involved, whether lunch is provided, etc. You can also look into booking private excursions which tend to cost less than a similar ship excursion and often involve a smaller number of passengers. 5: Finally, we've heard horror stories of how Viking runs their River Cruise division-canceled departure dates, leaving people stranded mid-cruise if water levels are too low, etc. How is it dealing w/ their Ocean division? Are problems dealt w/ swiftly/professionally? Ocean cruises, of course, don't have a same challenges as river cruises with too low or too high water levels (no ship swapping in the middle of the Atlantic ocean 😉). However, there can be last-minute cancellations of port stops once at sea, usually because of weather-related issues. On our Northern Lights cruise last January, we missed two ports because of weather. One of the ports was replaced with a new port at the last-minute; the other lost port became a sea day. In our experience, the crew bend over backwards to reschedule port stops if possible or to make the sea day more enjoyable. There is also the possibility that the itinerary can be modified before the cruise departs. This can be frustrating especially if a port you want to visit is swapped out.

This is correct. We were on the January 24, 2022 Northern Lights cruise and missed Bodo because of high winds and rough seas. We made a last minute stop at Trondheim instead which replaced Bodo. In following the other roll calls that season, none of the '22 NL cruises made it to Bodo. I had heard that the port of Bodo can be challenging to reach in winter, especially in poor weather conditions. None of the '22 NL cruises went to Stavanger either. On our cruise and several others that season, Stavanger was replaced with the Shetland Islands (Lerwick). We were told onboard that this was because of a port requirement, something about Viking needing to stop at a port outside of Norway and the London stop didn't count. Unfortunately, none of us made it to Lerwick either because of high winds. We got an extra sea day on our cruise. Despite the itinerary changes and all the Covid restrictions we experience, we had a great time of this cruise... and saw the lights! I'm surprised that Viking hasn't updated the itinerary of this cruise on their website, especially given the need to replace Stavanger with a port outside of Norway (if that indeed was the reason we skipped Stavanger).

Sorry, I should have been more precise. The temps I suggested above are the typically highs (usually in mid-afternoon). The lows at night will be about 10-15 degrees cooler.

Having traveled many times to Greece, temps in November usually range from low to high 60s (F) but can be variable (e.g., from low 50s to high 70s). You may have a few days of rain. I like this website for historic weather: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/greece/athens/historic

In our experience, if you use Viking Air or have a post-extension with Viking, Viking guides you to your next destination (shuttle to airport, next hotel, etc.). If not, you pick up your luggage and go on your way (on your own).