snohflake

That's crazy. I noticed in a few threads posters indicating they had paid in full, which confused me. I wanted to see if that was required or if done by choice (pay in full discount a la Crystal). Last night I searched the Viking website (ocean, nor river) for deposit requirements and found in the Terms and Conditions a figure of $500 per person. There should be a disclaimer somewhere that cruises through x date require full payment at time of reservation.

I was thinking of booking but there is no way I'm paying in full for a cruise on a yet to hit the water cruise ship.

Thanks! Can you tell I'm excited about making my first PG booking?

When is it likely the 2015 schedule will be announced?

Thanks,

Anita

Just read this . . .

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Insights/Cruise-industry-reacts-quickly-to-help-Philippines-post-typhoon/

Having lived in the Philippines as a teenager and having been to Tacloban numerous times, well, it's devastating. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to not be able to reach your loved ones or to see the destruction of your home area on tv. I believe the Red Cross in the US is trying to help put family members from the US in touch with those in the Philippines. Hopefully the cruise industry is finding a way to support their employees. My thoughts are with all those who have been impacted.

Given that I just posted something about a strange service dynamic on marina and I hate to be misunderstood, I want to stress that it seemed as though the staff was being harshly treated by mgmt, and in a very public way, which impacted the staff's ability to be at 100%. The treatment was upsetting, not getting a drink, only annoying and somewhat weird. Back in the day I quit a particularly horrible waitressing job and I took my apron off and chucked it at the abusive manager, and found a new waitressing job the next day. The employees of a cruise ship don't have that kind of freedom, and that must be awful.

Anita aka snohflake

We'll be sailing on the Riviera in April so it will be interesting to see if we note any difference, but it sounds like we just hit the cafe/grill at odd moments. It typically coincided with the presence of 1 particular manager. Maybe he's not a staff favorite. :)

 

There is one manager that seems to just take his title too seriously.... he just manages

He would not clear a table if he was standing on it unlike the other managers

 

Lol!

Hi all. I recently came back from a wonderful Meditteranean cruise on the Marina. The food was terrific, our butler was top notch, and while the food at the Terrace Cafe was quite tasty the service was poor to odd.

Trying to get beverage service was challenging. The wait staff typically was watching for vaguely frantic direction from managers vs scanning the dining room for eye contact with guests. Service with a smile was the exception (except for Osmar!) and there was a general vibe of anxiety on the part of the waitstaff. The managers did a lot of frenetic pointing, ordering, etc and the staff looked like they were not just stressed, but nervous and cowed. :( Waves was just as bad, if not worse.

I typically left feeling annoyed (though full :D, loved the carving station). Service was particularly bad if I went to the cafe solo. I would try to get the attention of the wait staff and I felt invisible. Larger tables appeared to get quicker and more focused attention. I thought it was just me but another person noted the same when he went by himself to the cafe. It started to become a joke. Are you thirsty? No, not me. Great, let's go to the Terrace! :p

The unhappy service definitely prevailed at the grill station. Never got a smile there.

I really did enjoy the cruise and I thought service in all other areas to be terrific. Our butler Ismail was the best of any cruise, including Crystal. He was a true highlight for us. He would appear out of nowhere at times when we were in public spaces of the ship to see if we needed anything, and he did it in a casual happy way.

Has anyone else noticed the above/had similar experiences?