Rosethorn40

54 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

Officially "Cucina del Capitano".  Captain's Kitchen.

Yes, of course you are correct. It's been so long since I've been on a cruise ship, or looked on Cruise Critic I don't remember anything with complete clarity any more.

I was told by Viking they are having trouble with Shorex is many ports because of local government restrictions or the tour companies having staffing issues. The world is not back to normal.

1 minute ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

An Italian Restaurant onboard.

Ah, got it. I was used to seeing the word Cantina following it.

On 10/27/2021 at 6:00 PM, WildBlueYonder64 said:

We're booked on a B2B on the Mardi Gras in February, and are wanting to make reservations at Cucina for Valentine's Day.  It's not showing up along with the other specialty dining options, do we have to wait until we're onboard to make reservations at Cucina?

What is Cucina?

On 8/9/2021 at 2:57 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Remains to be seen. Currently it is $500 for a cabana for a day.  Guess how

many are filled today?

On 8/10/2021 at 12:00 AM, mexicobob said:

OK, give up. How many?

On 8/10/2021 at 12:06 AM, lazydayz said:

my guess is none.  

On our sailing of March 5, 2022, all of the cabanas are already sold out

When the Mardi Gras is finally delivered the Excel category of suites will have some added benefits.

Mardi Gras. Was supposed to be on the Trans-Atlantic, which was cancelled. So used my 25% future cruise credit towards an Excel Suite. Going to enjoy my guaranteed Loft access and my big balcony, and wait to see what all Carnival has planned besides a big deck party.

Hmmmm, I wonder what will be released in the 15th? I went ahead and booked the Mardi Gras Sailabration cruise in March 2022. I used my 25% towards an Excel Suite, alas, not one aft with the private hot tub, but a fwd one.

Besides the ship meet up there is supposed to be a big deck party (hohum, will probably sleep through that) a midnight buffet, and some other special things.  

On 2/6/2020 at 7:52 PM, Eli_6 said:

Grrr.  I am a Mardis Gras TA cancellation and I didn't even get the email!

Same here. The only reason I even knew that the Mardi Gras Trans-Atlantic was cancelled was because a FB page I had joined mentioned it. Never got an email or a letter. To be fair my PCC did leave me a message. 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=340#the-ship-has-been-overbooked

I did find this article originally on Cruise Critic in 2018 about being "bumped"

Some common reasons are the ship booked by a charter (but usually in those cases you find out months in advance, not day if), redeployments of ships, or cancelled sailings for various reasons. And yes, over booked.

They had one story in which a lady received a call or email 2 days before she was to sail that she was being bumped due to the cruise being over sold. There is a link to the thread from 2018 that is a very interesting read. She was rightly angry when she wrote her Original Post, and 11 pages of posts later she was on the ship (This was with Azamara Cruises). Originally they were not offering her any compensation for what they put her through, later she stated she received $250 OBC, and later the CEO of Azamara wrote that she would receive a full refund, as well as the OBC.

There were some comments that apparently Royal Caribbean/Celebrity have done this a couple of times. 

However, at this time I don't think Viking would just bump someone against their will. To ensure they would have cabins on the Iberian Explorer the move over offer was:

We were going on an 8 day cruise in a deluxe Veranda 

We are now going on a 15 day cruise in a Penthouse Veranda

We got nearly 50% of our cruise fare back

We already had Viking Air, they took care of rebooking

We kept our 2 day pre cruise extension in Madrid.

But read the Cruise Critic story in full, and read the thread about the person that was almost bumped from an Azamara cruise. After that you will have some facts from experts, and not just opinions from people it's never happened to, and you can make an informed decision then.

3 minutes ago, ducklite said:

And there have also been situations where the ship was oversold and people didn't want to take the offers.  Those with GTY cabins were the ones "bumped."  Is that a chance you want to take?  Maybe with a Caribbean cruise where you can just stay land based at a nice resort in Florida, but on a cruise that starts in Europe and ends in Canada I wouldn't take that chance.

They keep making the offers better and better until someone takes them. I've had many a GTY cabin and have never been denied boarding, and I have received 3 move over offers; 2 from Princess (I turned them down) and one Viking (accepted, as it was very good). I have never heard of anyone getting to the pier and there was no cabin because the cruise was oversold. I have read of some mindblowing move over offers though. The cruise lines will accept some heavy losses to avoid the PR disaster of a customer standing forlornly on the pier, their luggage around then, and the ship sailing off without them because they were bumped.

If it ever happened, all the boards on Cruise Critic would light up and no one would ever booked a GYT cabin again. Guarantee means exactly that. You are guaranteed a cabin of at least a certain category. 

5 hours ago, cleadon cruisers said:

Thank you for such quick replies. We know the website does indeed show a couple of cabins, DV3 and DV4 still available, but in a phone call to Viking today we were told that they don't have cabins available! Can't think of a worse scenario than being denied boarding,  so I think we're with you ducklite, it's too big a chance to take. There's a remote possibility it may work out and we get an upgrade but we'd spend between now and August worrying about it.

Thank you both, I knew we could rely on this site for advice.

You will NOT be denied boarding. There will be a cabin for you, but you may not know the cabin number until you board. They and all the other cruise lines have models that, for the most part, accurately predict how many cruisers will cancel before the sail date. If the model is wrong, and it's getting close to the sail date, they will offer Move Over Offers to booked passengers. It's voluntary, but people do take them because they can be very good.

We were supposed to go on the Iberian Explorer this past January. In December, we got an email telling us that the cruise was overbooked (we had booked a year in advance, and had our cabin), and asked if we would consider their move over offer. The offer was very good and we accepted it. Someone that had booked a GYT cabin got ours, and we sail in about 72 days.

What cruise will you be on? Shore excursions opened for us last Sunday, and tomorrow we can start making dining reservations. I wasn't selected for this new experience. I'm sure it was frustrating to lose everything in your Wish List. Hopefully you will be able to remember what you selected.

21 minutes ago, BaxCruiser said:

This is for anyone who's rented a Retreat Cabana for a week - would you give me an idea of what you tipped for the week?  TIA

I would base it on how much you use the Cabana, and the type of service you got.

My husband booked a lido Cabana for my birthday, and we were really waited on. Our steward brought us breakfast (his insistence, not ours) lunch, and  afternoon drinks. Even though we were low maintenance guests, and the only ones renting a Cabana that day (Baltic's cruise sea day) they made me feel very special. We tipped $40 for the one day. I think other people noticed the special treatment we got because on the second sea day all the lido Cabanas were booked.

We book the Sanctuary on Princess for cruise duration, which is a similar concept. We usually tip about $15 per day. They don't bring meals to you (Unless you order off the spa menu), but they do bring afternoon tea, bar drinks and water.

15 hours ago, terrydtx said:

How can a VO cruise be overbooked? When you book you are assigned a specific cabin. Does VO do guarantee cabin bookings like the mainstream cruise companies? This is the only way I could see them overbooked, selling more guarantees than they have available cabins.

There are several people on this cruise that were still waiting for cabin assignments. I know that the cruise lines have computer models that predict how many passengers will cancel before sailing. Usually the models are right, but occasionally they are wrong, hence the move over offers. This particular sailing is only offered once a year, and being a 7-day cruise has a lower price point then most Viking Ocean cruises, which is probably why it was sold out.

So I did go for it. We went from a Deluxe Veranda on the Iberian Explorer (8 days) to a Penthouse Veranda  on Trade Routes of the Middle Ages (15 days). We have most of the original ports (Except Vigo, Spain has been substituted by Porto, Portugal). and of course additional ports. 

We have an upcoming 7 day Ocean Cruise coming up. It's our first Ocean after several River Cruises. I received an email from Viking that the cruise is overbooked. I know this happens from time to time as I have received move over offers from other companies, and I am not worried about getting to the ship and there is no cabin for me. What I was wondering if this sounded like a typical mover over offer from Viking. They offered to upgrade our cabin from a Deluxe Veranda to a Penthouse Veranda, rebook us on a longer cruise (Gave us 3 options), and a 2k refund in form of a credit back to the credit card. I am seriously considering it, because for the first time we do have some flexibility. In the past I have always turned them done because of scheduling. Any thought?

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 11:13 AM, GoTravelLife said:

The Heidelberg day is as follows:  You arrive to Mannheim in the morning.  The included Excursion is to take a bus to Heidelberg and spend part of the day there. I did not see any other options other than remaining on the ship. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Heidelberg, at which point you drive straight to the castle and you spend another 90 minutes touring the castle with the guide.  There is no way to opt out of the castle trip(after our chat with the guide) , but it will be a suggestion of mine.  It was very busy today with many other crew ship lines, along with other Viking lines as well, so we really didn’t get to see much of the castle other than main areas. We then board the bus and head back down to the Neckar river at which point we disembarked and our guide walked us to the market Square, This took another 20 minutes and he gave us the lay of the land of that particular area and we were given one hour of free time. Once we returned to the bus, it was 45 minutes as we drove to Gernshiem;  and we we joined the ship there. The ship set sail soon thereafter and we arrived into Rudenshiem at 5 PM.   There are several optional dinner tours here tonight, or you can enjoy the town on your own or have dinner on the ship, but we are staying here all night 

You can opt out of the Castle Tour. Sign up to go with the Leisure Group, which skips the castle. Tell the tour guide that you are going independent, but make sure you know the time and place of the meeting and go off on your own. That's what we did. 

Having finished the Pearls Of Switzerland tour, I would say that the level of physical activity was fairly light, but 13 hours makes for a long day. We stayed at the Radisson Blu in Lucerne, and had to walk to the boat, which was about two blocks away. The ground was level, but the Viking guide who took us to the boat set a rather fast pace. The boat by the way is a public ferry, not a tour boat. From the ferry to the train, which took us up Mt. Riga had a very short walk, maybe 20 yards. Once at the top of Mt. Riga we had an hour of free time to walk or just sit and admire the views. Another train ride down Riga, and at the bottom we met our bus. To reach the bus we had to go down a flight of stairs. After that it was just going In/out of the bus at the monastery, the dairy farm, and cheese cooperative (Where we had dinner). My husband did fine, but 13 hours was probably too much for him, heck, it was too much for me. 

We are on in Lucerne today, and are taking this excursion tomorrow, so I will be able to answer your question after then. Husband is having knee replacement when we get back, so I will be able to give you his perspective as well.

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 6:19 PM, 1stimecruiser said:

 

RoseThorn40 - That would be fantastic.  Have a wonderful trip and we are looking forward to your full review as we are going in 2020.  Are you spending extra time in Amsterdam or Basel?

We are doing the two day extension in Lucerne offered by Viking. Both husband and I work demanding jobs with long hours and I just don't have the time to figure out train schedules, find hotels, etc. Of course DIY is much cheaper, but going with the cruise line works for us. 2 Weeks, and 2 days before I drop the dogs off at doggy spa (They love it, I can barely get them to come back home), and we are off. 

We have sailed mostly on Princess (Finally became Elite last year), but have enjoyed Carnival too. And while we haven't sailed on the Horizon, we have on her sister ship, the Vista. Forget about Carnival's reputation as a party ship, full of loud-mouthed drunks (Biggest, loudest, nastiest drunk I ever saw was on a Princess ship). It may be true in their shorter 3 or 4 day cruises to the Bahamas, but on 7 day+ expect mainly a mix bag of families, couples, all ages, and groups of friends. Want to party until late at night? You will find many others in the same party spirt. Want a quiet corner to read, or just relax? You can find that too.

Our experience is there are more choices for places to eat on Carnival (On the Vista we never ate at the same place twice for dinner), and the food was rather good. Guy's Burgers beats Princess's hands down, but Princess has the better pizza. I personally prefer the adult area on Princess (The Sanctuary, which has a fee) to Carnival's Serenity, which has no fee, but plenty of chair hogs. If you like tropical style drinks, Carnival wins. 

Have fun planning and dreaming about this cruise!

We leave on this cruise in about 2 1/2 weeks (But doing the Amsterdam to Basel route). We will be doing most of the included and a number of optional tours as well. I plan on doing a full review upon our return. Hopefully I will be able to give you some useful information. 

I think your format; of comparing each cruise ship by section, i.e. cabins, dining, etc. is an excellent idea, and I am looking forward to reading more. I hope to one day do a B2B2B2B of several lines, on their newest, grandest ships. However, neither mine nor my husbands jobs would give us that much time off at once 😞 Also, don't think I could leave my fur-babies for that long. 

I was on the Magic in March 2013 (Spa Cabin) and the Vista in December 2016 (Havana Cabana Cabin). I loved both of them, but for slightly different reasons.

Magic-I loved the location of our cabin, so convenient to the spa and serenity deck, where we spent so much of our time. It was also the ship where we discovered the Mocha Chocolate Getaway. It was a Western Caribbean itinerary; Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel and we had a blast at all three stops-4x4 in the mountains in Jamaica, swimming with stingrays & dolphins in Grand Cayman, and Xcaret Park in Cozumel. Its one of my favorite Caribbean holidays.

Vista-I loved our cabin (A Havana Suite as were celebrating my DH 60th B-Day), loved the Havana area, which was so quiet without a bunch of screaming kids. Loved all the food options; Guys Burgers, Ji-Ji's and Bonsai Sushi were my personal favorites. This was an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, and we never got off the ship as DH was suffering a lot of aches and pains and couldn't do anything that active, so I read a lot, and played a lot a trivia (Won 4 Ships-on-a-Stick).

Its a toss up which was better, overall I liked the Magic cruise more, but I loved the Havana area. Either that you chose should be great.