amypete

Following along in spirit as we had to cancel on MONDAY due to a family emergency which is still working itself out. However if any of you got a great upgrade to suite R404 please enjoy…..missing my first Crowne Grill dinner and all those fabulous Sabatini breakfasts…..my only consolation is the sun is shining, there is no wind and it’s 70 degrees in Nebraska….. 

28 minutes ago, memoak said:

There are no tapas just a full meal with no choices and it is not all that great

OK Now I am sad! Back to the IC for snacks!!! But at least someone is pouring me good wine….

We do Premier as well. Had it last February thru the Panama Canal and I swear the Vines waiter would send us “home” every night with a fresh opened and corked bottle of good wine. As people who love a good wine, it was also nice to take their recommendations what to try and what we may like. Am looking forward to the upgraded tapas there as well, as I remember the excellent ones in 2019. I don’t think there is the same variety as there was back then but thats OK. We also like the margaritas with the better tequila and the fun martini option at Crooners. Won about $100 for the door prizes which was fun. Hope to do better this next time! We also had the reservation cards for the Crown Grille and Sabatinis and switched times easily. This time I have them preselected via the app. I won’t get the desserts but for us the upgraded dining and wines, etc are just what we enjoy doing. Prefer creme brulee and decadent chocolate desserts instead!! 

Cheers and see you at Vines!

I know I am not giving the majority opinion but I don’t mind the app or the medallion. Haven’t had any trouble using either - here at home pre cruising or on the ship. Discovered previously if my app was not working correctly, I just needed to update it and for us, that was all it took.

And the best part is I get to use it again in 40 days! Or something like that! 

On 8/20/2023 at 6:17 PM, snow bunny said:

I had similar issues and just backed out of the app.  Then I reopened it and was able to book the second SD for free.

 

snow bunny

Me, too. I uninstalled the app and reinstalled and then it worked fine, with $0.00 charged for the meal reservation. 

I wish they would bring back the wonderful tapas they had on the Caribbean at Vines in 2019! Wishful thinking. I have seen a list of a few things Vines will have, I think some examples are posted above. In January, they'd bring us cheese and nuts at Vines. I do miss those pretty glass trays brought out each evening at Vines, you never knew what it was going to be and it was always pretty tasty. 

We are on the Caribbean in October. Hope to see some new things offered by then! 

As someone who doesn’t care about desserts….(weird, I know!) give me another awesome appetizer and I’m in! With an excellent Cab. Is that asking too much?

They are wonderful glasses that do make the wine experience better! On the Emerald in January, our wonderful waiters took good care of us and we did leave with them a few times to dinner. When we’d get a glass at the end of the night, I’d tell them to put it in a “to-go” wine glass. Honestly, they usually gave us a bottle of wine to go! We had the premier package so they just kept bringing them out and we kept taking them! Needless to say, they were compensated nicely. 

Oh where to begin! Love the SPACE inside and out. Including the big bathroom! 

Sabatini's for breakfast

Club Class Dining

Laundry for the hubs. I don't send mine because I for sure pack enough and I don't want anythign to shrink! ESPECIALLY on a cruise, LOL

Champagne the first day, even with the beverage packages. It's just a nice touch.

Bottled water is almost unlimited

Great room service!

(Our last cruise before....was a suite. Our last cruise was in January and we were with friends on balconies on Caribe. I love my friends but I sure did miss my suite! Next one up in October! ) 

Crown Grill the first night! It's like a welcome home. 

Well……you can’t usually take the realllllly nice wine glasses they use there anywhere else! Us wine drinkers know it’s all about the ambiance with our wine…… luckily our next cruise is on the Caribbean Princess, which has bar stools at the bar of Vines that we used daily back in 2019!  Our last was on the Emerald, so it wasn’t as big. But Romeo and Joseph made up for it with their larger than life personalities!!

We were just on the Emerald a month ago! So it's fun to read your journey, as we also stayed at the same hotel. The Doubletree is a good place to stay - and on embarkation morning, I swear everyone is going on the same cruise! We did ask for a ride reservation right when we got there mid afternoon... they were full when we needed to leave but they got another transport to get us there !! It was around 930 or 10 am

We had a group of 6. We liked to meet up at Crooners or Vines - so if you meet any of those waitstaff, they are all awesome. Have a wonderful cruise! We were unable to stop in Cartegna due to the weather but otherwise all went as planned. 

I was trying to do that today - and could not find my airline listed to even choose! 

35 minutes ago, May B said:

Funny! I’m expecting to embark, the day you disembark. Then, from Thunder Bay … fly home through Toronto!

I need this cruise!! As you can see!

Edit to my above post - Toronto to Milwaukee… (had been reading so much about it, I accidentally put Thunder Bay!) I do know where the airplane is landing!

Just found this thread. We are new to Viking and will be on the TB to Milwaukee on July 9th. Looking forward to it - hopeful - our last two cruises on other lines in 2022 we had to cancel ... so I keep my fingers crossed! I did make a roll call for this date as there was not one yet that I could see. Looking forward to seeing what the "splash" is about with Viking! 

14 minutes ago, May B said:

I agree, but I am excited to experience as much as possible, and one way or another, I expect to have a great time. We’ll be getting on when you get off. 

LOL I did survive Cancun....discovered the dry red was passable, LOL. I could have bought a $9 of Apothic for $55 but chose not to !!! Am really looking forward to this cruise! Our first since September 2019 on Princess. 

Well......we are on our first Viking cruise July 9th on the Octantis....I hope the cruises before have the loyal Viking cruisers happier....and I hope the wine list improves! We were at an all-inclusive in Cancun that most of the wine could clean a sink!! Seriously, I hope now that they are in place, things will settle into something wonderful....like we were promised! And paid for. (I know, I know, normal is not normal, but the bill didn't change, so....) 

We are on Majestic in two weeks. (Hopefully) Is it me or do things seem a bit calmer this week? Don't want to jinx anything.....

On 3/23/2022 at 11:16 PM, c-boy said:

Try crown grill bar live musuc venue

They have a real bar now? I don’t remember those on the other ships, did I walk right by them? (Possible, possible) 

27 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

Great, that answers the question, thanks.

And the tapas are great! Is the IC close to vines on Majestic? I’d go over there and add some cheese and crackers etc to add to it as well !

On 3/17/2022 at 12:21 PM, jondfk said:

I'll add that the suite breakfast, usually in Sabatini's, is IMHO by far the most enjoyable of suite perks.  We ordinarily wouldn't go to the MDR for breakfast on a daily basis - but we NEVER miss the suite breakfast.  They will prepare anything within reason assuming the ingredients are available.  Omelette with avocado and jack cheese is my favorite.

 

As for priority boarding, pre-covid this was hit or miss, for our one post-covid cruise it didn't matter, they had boarded the entire lounge by the time we got to the ship . . . at 12 noon.

.  

I’m going to ask for avocado toast as much as I can!!!

Such weird things it does. My issue is it won’t link our booking. I’ve tried on the app and on the desktop…you press Link Booking and it just does it for a bit and goes back to it being blank. Oh well. I’ll try again another day I guess!

On 3/17/2022 at 9:45 AM, Nebr.cruiser said:

Neither my husband or I lost our sense of smell or taste when we had Covid.

Hello Fellow Husker! (that is all!) 

On 1/17/2022 at 11:28 AM, Upper Bob said:

We just sailed in an aft Penthouse on the Enchanted (B735). As mentioned above, there are two categories of Penthouse Suites on the Royal Class ships. S3 are the aft suites and S4 are the port and starboard suites on Riviera Deck. The aft suites are much larger, both the interior and the balconies. The only partially covered balconies (out to around 7') are on Baja and Dolphin decks, which are also the deepest and largest balconies. We found that there was plenty of room on the side (by the bedroom sliding glass door) to put one of the chairs on the side. The forward Premium Suites (S5) have more interior space than the Riviera suites and they both have the same narrow balconies (maybe 15' x 4'). The advantage of the Riviera Suites is their proximity to the Concierge Lounge and that they are a little more toward the center of the ship. I took a profile picture of the Regal Princess aft a couple of weeks back while we were side-by-side in St. Kitts. I'm also attaching an image showing the back of the Majestic Princess.

Happy to see this! We are in B735 for the April 30th sailing and I did think that balcony area looked interesting!!! 

5 hours ago, fpsphil said:

Whelp:

 

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/02/20/alaskas-congressional-delegation-wants-large-cruise-ships-bypass-canada-again/

 

Lets see what happens over the next few weeks.

Interesting. We have one on April 30th. Guess I'll just see what our options are! EZ Air will have to accommodate!