Raison

1 hour ago, Kylie said:

Is there away to know how long we are in each port on Viking Homeland?   Thinking about filling in some time with tours we book ourselves or HOHO.

 

On the website in My Viking Journey, go to the My Calendar section and the arrival and departure times are listed on each day.

And I just found if you click on the 'View Trip Summary" option from any page in your calendar it brings up the whole cruise with arrival and departure times all on one page.

47 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

 

When we traveled on the Star in Apr/May last year, friend had dairy issue that he made Viking aware of shortly after booking.  At that time they asked to be reminded a month before we boarded and to mention it again when you board at guest services.  He did all but the last and when we went to the restaurant the first night , there was attitude from his side of the table.  At the pool grill he was harping at the staff serving and asking them questions that i was not surprised they didn't know, having eaten with him here in town.  When he went to the gym, I trotted myself down to the desk and informed them that this was not how i was going to spend the cruise and we needed to get a handle on it.  The next day we were trying to get two excursions back to back and they fixed us a box lunch(I was not aware that flavored chip have dairy in them to help absorb the seasoning.)  Another fit and then I convinced him to go and speak with guest services.  After this the restaurant manager came over and apologized, explaining she had the same allergy so she knew and would had been on the lookout if informed earlier at boarding.  Now he wasn't going to die if he ate it but he was going to be congested.  At any rate, the menus appeared at our door as we went to breakfast in the morning and he would peruse and make his choices and turn it in before we left on our shore excursion.  Anytime we showed at a restaurant where there was table service and gave our cabin number they had notes at the front desk  of the venue.  They have a guy that handles all of these specialties that floats through out the venues.  He come by and discusses if they were able to come up with a possible solution for for him to experience the dish as intended.  They had a discussion if that would be to everyone's satisfaction and then the meal was served.  The waiter would would restate as meals were served and the guy in charge of specialties would come by our table again.  He would also be on the lookout for us at the World Cafe if we did not have requests registered at other restaurants.  So moral is, follow those guidelines I gave you and you should have no problems.

Thanks for your detailed reply! I will make sure we let them know on board, I don't like to make an issue of my dietary restrictions, but it is good to know I will be covered after I let them know.

18 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

When you board, go to the Restaurant and register your allergies and that you are vegetarian. This bit of information will follow you in any of the sit-down restaurants and your waiter will be aware of your restrictions. You will receive tomorrow night's menu the night before and will be asked to select your meal (if you decide to dine in the World Cafe your menu will be delivered to your cabin). The Chef's Table will be ready for you when you get there.

Thanks, I will let them know when I get on board. Appreciate the advice.

On 3/3/2019 at 4:31 PM, Focused1 said:

We are on the Orion now and have eaten at Chefs Table twice. Yes, they will make substitutions for items, including the wine pairings,  you don’t like or are allergic to. Just let them know ahead of time. I am allergic to red wine, gluten and shell fish. 

Thank you for the information! 

I am travelling in May and my companions wish to dine at the Chefs Table. I see that it is a degustation menu and I am a vegetarian with a seafood allergy, so many things on the menu would not be suitable for me.

Does anyone know if special diets are catered for at Chefs Table, or should I look at alternative options for myself the night my friends go there?

Go to My VIking Journey and add all the excursions that you want to your wish list. Then on the day that you can actually book you just move them to your cart and pay for them all at once.

 

 

 

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Thank you, this is a great tip.

We are travelling with friends who will be able to book their excursions before we can and I was wondering how to coordinate. Now when they book, I will put the same ones in our wish list and hopefully it will all work out fine!

The rain doesn't bother me as much as the heat and humidity, so what are the temperatures like in NZ at this time of year?

If the cruise includes Australia in February, it will be hot and humid. I live a bit north of Sydney and we will often have 35 degrees celsius (or higher) for many days in February, and humidity along the coastal stretches will be high. If you go further north, humidity in Queensland will be higher again.

I have been researching the various St Petersburg companies and they recommend tipping amounts of 10% guide and 5% driver. Can’t comment on what people actually do though.

i am looking for an early morning boat ride to pulpit rock as the viking star is in port from 7-1:30. any suggestions ? i've only found tours that our in the afternoon

I have not been on my cruise yet, so I have no personal experience of the company, but Rodne Cruises seem to have morning departures, but not sure if they will be early enough for you to get back by 1.30.

It is a 3 hour cruise, leaving at 10 am May to September.

Smooth Traveler,

Hi,

Just finished Viking HL APRIL 28th 2018 Cruise.

Did not bother with local currency in Non Euro countries. Did the following-

Tipping for tour guides & bus driver. Euros in euro countries. Germany, Estonia, Finland. PP 2€ tour 1€ Driver.

Skipped local currency in non Euro countries. Use per couple $5 tour guide, $3 driver.

No one complains. In non euro Countries guide/driver took € or $. Have a great trip.

Also, see my CC REVIEW of

Viking Sky & HL Cruise.

hi BruceB,

Thanks for this, very helpful!

Let me just jump in here a second . Your plan to transfer to hotel on disembarkation day is a good option and that's what we did. We did the NIAN tour with Norway Active as a round trip in one day as we were flying out of Bergen. Since you are overnighting in Flam, do go to the Aurland Overlook. There's is RT from the train station by bus. A completely different viewpoint than you will experience from fjord. The tour we took included the train to Myrdal, then Flam. You could bike part of it (w/ guide)if you wanted. Fjord safari through Neurofjord to catch a bus back to Voss and then train to Bergen but it could also include white water rafting in Voss if you wanted. This was sort of put together by the company and they arranged for you to get from adventure to adventure but there is no guide for the train part but I'm sure that could be arranged also if you talk to them. Price is based on what you decide to do. Our cruise went to Flam but we did the included and then went to the lookout. We did the train ride and Fjord safari with this excursion for a lot less that it would have cost from the ship(which also had a tour with the bikes as well). Just throwing out options. You should realyy enjoy this cruise. I know we did.

Thanks for the info, the lookout sounds great. Will also check out Norway Active, thanks.

we're doing similar … some comments, btw we've been to Bergen and Oslo b4 ….

 

1. First question …. does your itinerary have you arrive in Bergen, stay overnight, and depart the ship the next morning? If so you can do what you plan without a problem alto I'd use the Bergen day for a little recon ….

 

2. Don't discount Bergen as a nice place to visit … we will stay another night after leaving the ship and begin 'Norway in a Nutshell' the morning after that …. but with the ship arriving the day b4 (ours does) you DO have one day to explore. And on 'depart' morning folks will be leaving EARLY, so you CAN make your plan. Note: my 'Nutshell" tour Ressie says I need to pickup tickets along the way. Recommend you do this the day b4 and learn the way around the train station. We're using the extra day to explore more AND to pickup our Nutshell tickets the day b4 ….

 

3. Sounds like you plan to do Nutshell as a Bergen to Flam back to Bergen … spend a nite …. then train Bergen to Oslo. We're doing Nutshell as Bergen to Flam … overnight in Flam …. then train Flam to Oslo. Why back track? Yes you'll get more train but will cover some part twice ….. On our schedule we depart Flam by train (up) at 12:20 and arrive Oslo 19:05 …. over 6 hours is enuf train fun for one day for us!

 

Just mentioning in case you did not know this was an option ….. the train ride tween Bergen and Oslo is very pretty but IMO long enuf that breaking it up ain't a loss! Looking forward to a very quiet night in Flam! We did train straight from Oslo to Bergen last trip (then flew to Copen' after a few days) ….. I look forward to seeing more of the waterside scenery this time.

 

We leave in just a few weeks.

Thanks for this information, we are planning Norway in a Nutshell, Bergen to Oslo after our Viking Homelands cruise next June. We are planning a night in Flam as well, so will be interested to hear your experiences.

We have an overnight in Bergen before disembarkation and plan to spend disembarkation day in Bergen and then NIN the next day.

As an Aussie, I hope you all enjoy your travels down under, an amazing part of the world! Welcome, welcome!

Hi Raison,

Just got back from VK HL April 28 2018. Part of my CrC review of the VK Sky.

Great cruise. Enjoy.

 

VIKING SKY HOMELANDS REVIEW APRIL 28, 2018 VOYAGE

We were 2 couples (65+) on this wonderful cruise. Having 8 countries and 11 cities to visit was amazing. Previously we had been on 3 Viking River Cruises together, so this was our first ocean cruise, All agreed it was a great trip. Viking handled everything from beginning to end perfectly. An amazing itinerary. Great ship, excellent dining, an exceptional crew, a rating of 9.5/10!!

1. PRE CRUISE IDEAS

Do research using Rick Steves “Northern European Cruise Ports”.

Go on line and look at YouTube Videos of all ports and those by Rick Steves.

Search past Cruise Critic postings. Many CC posts contain useful information like a complete set of the Viking Daily for a 2016 Homelands cruise. Some menus have been posted as well.

Lots of good stuff on CC.

2. STUDYING VIKING MATERIALS

Go over the Viking website for information about each port and the various excursions.

Reading the first 40 pages of the big Viking Ocean Brochure helps getting a perspective of the ship and may answer many questions you have. Look at the back pages for the “Deck Plans” to get a feel for where places are located. Helps to have a “heads up” advance to the cruise.

3. If you want to explore beyond the Viking Included Excursions, plan ahead. Cities like Helsinki, Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, & St. Petersburg have a lot to see.

 

Thanks Bruce,

I have been reading your review and it is very informative. Great tips about booking shore excursions with Viking and doing some places under your own steam. This is what we are aiming to do as well.

Having just booked the Homelands cruise for May 2019, Hubby and I have begun our research and we have found this thread to be very very informative. Oh my, very excited about this cruise. We are planning on doing our own post cruise Bergen to Oslo trip, probably with Norway in a Nutshell at this stage.

Thanks for the great info in this thread!

Hi ruisin

great info

 

do you have contact info?

 

I think we're good for HCMC' date=' Nha Trang and Bangkok

but the others

 

appreciate it[/quote']

 

This is the link for the Don Bosco Hotel school we are using for a day trip in a few weeks. I hope this is what you are after. Just send them and email via the contact page.

 

http://www.donboscohotelschool.com/

 

 

Regards

Debra

We will be in Iceland this summer on a cruise and will have one day where we can either take an 8 hour golden circle tour or the Blue Lagoon Tour and I am torn between the 2 tours. Any suggestions from those who have been there please?

If you only have one day I would definitely do the Golden Circle.

The Blue Lagoon is lovely for a relaxing few hours, but the sights on the Golden Circle are fantastic IMO.

We will be in the Reykjavik port in August arriving at 2pm and leaving the following day at 5 pm. Is there any way to be able to see both the golden circle and the south shore during these two days?

We were in Iceland on a cruise ship last August, we arrived about 9am and were away in our hire vehicle by about 10. We drove straight through to Vic and then made our way back stopping at various places (waterfalls, glaciers) along the way, then we headed back to Rekjavik via the Golden Circle in reverse. We got back to our ship about 9.30 that night, so it was a long day but fantastic!

Have you contemplated spending a night off the ship? and staying on the south coast area somewhere and then doing the Golden Circle on your return to the ship? This would save a fair bit of travel time.

Very sad for the crewman and his family.

A reminder to us all of the fragility of life...

We didn't book a tour in Ko Samui - our time there was short (and ended up being even shorter due to significant issues with tendering) We walked around town (the port) and got foot massages. Fabulous.

Thanks for this info! We were considering doing something like that as we are not really beach goers. Being a tender port always makes things interesting.

Do you remember if there were lots of taxis around near where the tenders disembark? Maybe that would be an option to have a drive around the island a bit and then explore Nathon a bit.

i saw that' date=' we aren't interested in the cuise shuttle bus

 

Ine, thank you, I sent her an email

 

our other ports ae Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Ko Samui in Thailand

 

i really appreciate the advice[/quote']

 

We are visiting these ports on our cruise in March. I can't recommend anybody yet as I haven't used them, but this is what we have planned so far:

Kota Kinabula - either a shore ex from the ship or do our own thing

Sihanoukville - we are doing a day tour with the Don Bosco Hotel school

Ko Samui - no plans yet

 

Debra

What ports are you going to in Malaysia and Cambodia?

The world is your Oyster.:D

Remarkably, even turkey seems a more reasonable prospect now.:eek:

Not sure if I would agree with that!!!:D:eek:

"There are too many other interesting countries to visit without jumping through hoops".

I completely agree! With all the Donald activity, the visits to the USA from us have been curtailed, luckily we had no bookings to cancel, but the planning has stopped. No off to find the Atlas to pick somewhere else...

Grrrr...new format is back, and it won't let me change it back.

Anyone else have any luck? It is locked when I try to change the skin in edit options, I hate this white screen:(

I can't change the skin either, option is locked....just going to put my sunglasses on to cope with the glare off the screen :D