idonthaveahobby

1 hour ago, xwchristy said:

Thanks very much everyone for such valuable info. Feel much more comfortable.

 

Just wondering for lunch and dinner,  those non alcoholic mock tail like pinna colada, are they complementary as well?

 

Also want to ask what are the included excursions like? I read some postings and reviews sounds like most of them are just a bus ride to town center or a walking tour. Can anyone give more insights?

 

Thanks!

I don't believe there is complementary mocktails offered.  I believe the website says only beer, wine and soft drinks are complementary.  I would imagine that since they have to mix each one individually, regardless of whether they have alcohol in them, that they would be a charged item,  unless you purchased the Silver Spirits package. 

If you go to the Viking Ocean website and click on the city for each day, the tours are listed.  You can see the description of the included tour for each day as well as the optional ones. I did a similar itinerary to you this year.  Yes, on your cruise most of the included tours will be walking tours.  Some of them have a part of the tour that is a a bus tour.

I think the other questions have been answered, so I am going to give a little bit more info on your question about drinks. 

In a DV cabin, your room mini fridge will be restocked so everyday you start with 2 cokes, 2 diet cokes, and 2 sprites. If you need a coke not during lunch or dinner hours, you will still have those options for free. You will be able to have tea and coffee 24 hours a day in the world cafe. 

In our experience, lunch is approximately 11:30-2pm. Dinner 5:30-9:30pm. You can drink as much coke, beer and wine during that time as you want. The beer is draft and closer to 20 ounces. They have 3 different kinds. A lager, an amber and a dark beer.  The wines rotate by region of the world but there is a variety. I have asked them to refill me with glasses of beers/wine/cokes to go  and it is never an issue.  I have found that the pool bar is a little more liberal with the time frame and does a good job about alerting you to last call.  I think it is because the pool grill is still open until 4pm, so they seem to be willing to keep serving a little bit after lunch in the World Cafe is over.

13 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

Just wish it was an option on all VO cruises. 

Agreed. I would book them because I don't care where my cabin is located for most itineraries. Plus, finding out your room assignment right before the trip makes for a fun surprise. 

37 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

There was not. 

Thank you. I hope that is something that makes the final design. It would be amazing to see the wildlife and glaciers from the perspective of underwater. 

I never considered a helicopter being a necessity for exploration.  Maybe they will have something worked out to see these magnificent places from the sky. 

There was an article earlier this year that the boats would have submarines ("pods") on the ships.   Was there any info about that in the presentation?

It happened on one of my cruises that they overbooked, which was over New Year's. They sent out emails about 2 weeks before offering passengers an upgraded stateroom and all airline change fees reimbursed if they would switch to a later cruise.  We had 3 guaranteed rooms booked, so we were most likely to get denied boarding. Fortunately, within just a couple of hours, they had enough people call in and take the offer to switch dates.

This is a really great thread. I am going to SPB in May on the Constellation and would prefer to do it on my own, but it looks like the visa application for U.S. Citizen is about the same price as a deluxe tour ($250+ for those of us that don't live in D.C.). Is that what others have concluded? Also, our ship is docked on a Saturday and Sunday. Will there be additional crowds on the weekend that make it harder to do it on our own?

Thanks,

Elizabeth