mort&fran

It was $14 pp per night posted to our on board account on the day before disembarkation.

Just got the documents for our March 5 cruise on the Viking Sea; the 'recommended' gratuity is $15 per.

The deviation fee is for flying in or out on a day other than the first or last day of the cruise or flying into or out of the the cruise city airport...

Viking calls in and/or out on a different day (or time?) a "deviation"; using a different airport is an "extension". If I remember correctly, deviations were $100 and extensions were $200, and extensions are only available for a limited number of cities.

We have been working with our travel agent to book our next cruise using the credit from the Sea cancellation. We have had no trouble getting our credit applied on the next cruise, Homelands. Ironically, the cruise is on the Viking Sea; I'm going to take it personally if there's another "issue" during the cruise! The refund does not include air, of course, or, from what I can see, paid excursions through Viking. We are in the process of filing claims with our insurance for the cost of seat upgrades, special private tours we arranged (some had only partial refunds), and additional expenses incurred. I'm finding that our credit card company's insurance will probably cover almost everything and the cruise insurance we purchased will likely be irrelevant as it is the secondary payee. Good lesson for me to do advance research on the credit card coverage.

Good point about checking the credit card coverage; that applies to whatever you buy, especially insurance.

However travel insurance affords more than unrefundable expenditures. I had a heart attack cruising off southern Argentina. The treatment on board was $5,000+, the surgery in Buenos Aires was $16,000+ [my US insurance covered some of the medical]; plus my wife's hotel bill in Puerto Madryn while I was hospitalized, our hotel bill for the week after surgery in Buenos Aires before the doctors permitted me to fly home, and the business class (per doctors' orders) air for both of us from Puerto Madryn to B A and from BA home; etc.

This thread is about a cruise that was cut short. Not sure what "show" you are referring to.

Touche'

But, Peregrina651 has been giving us soon-to-be-sailing-on-the-Viking-Sea folks a lot of useful info, so I thought I would use this thread to ask my question.

As to what show, I addressed that in the Title of my post, or at least I thought I had. Guess I should also have included it in the body... :o

P-651: We're 61 days out from our cruise on the Sea, so tomorrow we can make dinner reservations in the specialty restaurants. But we'd rather not miss out on whatever Viking has in the way of entertainment. Would appreciate hearing what time the show goes on. Thanks!

This is a very interesting blog with some excellent photo's.

 

It has made me even more excited to be boarding (hopefully!) this lovely ship on Jan 8th.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2016/11/mediterranean-empires-with-viking-sea-part-one/

Thanks for this post, Lottie. Anticipation can bring as much excitement and enjoyment as the real thing. We look forward to your posts from what we hope will be a wonderful - and uneventful - cruise.

Has anyone booked a tour for Naples yet. Our party of four is also interested. I am going to look at some options for independent tours but we would probably join up if someone has something booked. Would like to see Pompeii for sure and whatever other places are included.

Since there are 4 of you, a private tour should be less costly than any of the ship's offerings, and probably more geared to what you want.

We also wanted to visit Pompeii, however my wife has some mobility issues and from the posts and reviews we read it appears Pompeii will be too demanding. So we opted for the ship's tour to Herculaneum instead. And, if time and stamina permit, we'll take the metro to the archaeological museum.

If your wife has difficulty in walking long distances, you might want to rethink Parc Guell. We did Viking's 'Gaudi Architecture Tour', and Park Guell was our first stop. The bus dropped us at the top and then we walked down while admiring the buildings and other structures in the park. We then had to walk along a long path back to the bus. Just an FYI.

 

Becki

Thanks for that, Becki! Do you happen to remember if there is a park entrance/exit at the bottom of that long path?

CTLeeA: My wife has similar mobility issues to your wife's. We have been to Barcelona before, but had not visited Park Guell or Sagrada Familia, so were thinking of visiting them this time (3/6?). If the Park can be done one way (down hill), I'm thinking of taking a taxi to the top, then picking up a taxi at the bottom to go to Sagrada Familia.

Except i have heard over Torshaven (3004) Loud till all hours.

 

OP, give me cabin numbers and i will see what i can find out.

Don't yet have a cabin assignment; my guess is that we most likely will be somewhere mid-ship on deck 3. The on-line diagrams have Torshaven adjacent to the atrium, while 3004 is up near the bow. Are you sure of the cabin number; might it be 3040???

I presume the deck 3 cabins aft of the atrium are OK? how do you rate 3051?

Yesterday morning, they were running a vacuum cleaner out in the hall and i didn't here it until i opened our cabin door... The white noise of the ship's plant blocks a lot of noise plus the ship is well padded and you just don't hear a lot of noise from other spaces.

Your observations regarding the ship overall are very much appreciated. We're on a "guarantee" so won't know our actual cabin until who knows when, but it's gratifying to know that it will be relatively peaceful regardless.

I see from a ship tracker site that the Sea left Barcelona last night and sailed towards Toulon but seems to have done a U turn ...

What is the site?

Monte Carlo is not flat/level; would you have problems with modest (?) inclines?

Are you only interested in Monte Carlo for poker? IMHO Monte Carlo has little to offer besides the casino (somewhat interesting, architecturally), the palace, and the Oceanographic Museum. We found Nice much more interesting, especially the Chagall and Matisse galleries (but that's our taste).

Getting back to H2Otstr's questions, have Viking Ocean cruisers generally given tips for room service, and if so, what amount?

Correct - smaller ships often dock at the terminal by the World Trade Centre which is much more convenient for walking from Las Ramblas. If you are at the other larger terminal a shuttle bus runs from near the Columbus statue at the bottom of Las Ramblas; with luggage however I would take a taxi.

That would be my recommendation, too. If you don't have luggage, the shuttle bus stop near the Columbus statue is a short walk to metro and HOHO stops.

We took this cruise last month. The drop off point in Paris was in front of the Grand Palais; the pick up point was across the street from the drop off, in front of the Petit Palais, by the statue of Winston Churchill. Both points are on Avenue Winston Churchill, near its corner with Cours la Reine. (You will have to take the Metro to get to both the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, however the drop off and pick up locations are about one block from the Champs-Élysées - Clemenceau Metro station.)

I posted a mini review of our cruise (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=49726255#post49726255). Our overall impression was very favorable.

We were in Paris last month. Used our US credit card (does not have a chip) for the Metro without a problem.

We, my wife and I, were in Paris last fall.

The transit(METRO) ticket machine at did not accept our USA credit card.

Also, it did not accept Euro bills (paper money).

...

Should we get coins in advance, or is this trip going to be different?

I used a credit card for the Metro earlier this month without a problem. I don't recall if I also used it for the RER, but I believe both use the same system so if it worked for one it should for the other.

That being said, it won't hurt to have coins on hand. (E.g., needed for some of the public bathrooms).

I called Viking re: their shuttles from Le Pecq to Place de la Concorde. Their rep stated that they will have shuttle vans leaving every 15 mins. In which case, why do you recommend using the RER (?). I am a newbie to Paris so am trying to figure all this out before our trip on the Viking Kadlin in June. 2016. Thoughts?

We just returned from the Paris/Normandy cruise on the Rinda. There were only two shuttles to/from Paris each day we were docked in Le Pecq. Aside from not being docked in Paris, it was a wonderful cruise.

Two additional points: (1) Our Viking "travel agent" strongly suggested that we call him directly, and leave a message rather than send an email, because they constantly get interrupted when they work on emails received. (When I called he always got back to me within a day or so.)

(2) If you will be sailing on the Rinda, Joana is the concierge (concierge.rinda@vikingcruises.com). She was good at responding promptly to emailed questions.

You may be correct, $hip$hape, especially as it applies to Viking's corporate attitude/positions taken. However, at least from my experiences thus far, the people at Viking with whom I directly dealt did try to oblige, even (in one instance) when what I requested was counter to Viking's policy. True I did have to request more than once, and the person who succeeded in getting the accommodation I had requested did not get back to me with that information. I had to follow up to learn of it, which most likely is due to inadequate staffing?

Try emailing TellUs@vikingcruises.com. I have not yet received the exception I requested 2 days ago, however the person who responded to my email said she understood what I wanted, and why, and she would contact the involved department to see if an accommodation could be made.

Since I had not heard from Viking, and we are departing Monday AM, I sent a follow-up email to TellUs this morning. About 3 hours later I received an email response (a) that the first person with whom I had originally spoken had obtained approval for what I had requested, and (b) what we are to do when we arrive. So if at first you don't succeed...

:o OOPS; wrong thread. I was responding to a question on a different forum. But the message is still valid.

PR1NCESSD1ANE (and anyone else who at first receives a "no" from Viking):

Since I had not heard from Viking (see my earlier post), and we are departing Monday AM, I sent a follow-up email to TellUs this morning. About 3 hours later I received an email response (a) that the first person with whom I had originally spoken had obtained approval for what I had requested, and (b) what we are to do when we arrive:). So if at first you don't succeed...

Very cheap wines have a lot of chemicals. In Spain I would probably spend 8- 12 Euros a bottle from a supermarket. For that I would get a drinkable Rioja.

OOPS! Wish I had known that. Thanks for the insight.

Wine preference is obviously a matter of taste, and my taste runs to cheap. So when we were in Barcelona for a couple days before our cruise I found a supermarket near the Hilton where we were staying, but decided to not be super-cheap. (I.e., I bought something at 1.50 euro for a full liter, rather than one of the wines @ 1 euro.)

Before departing for the ship I bought another 3 bottles to take on board!

The wine (and sangria) in Barcelona is fabulous. Enjoy!

Try emailing TellUs@vikingcruises.com. I have not yet received the exception I requested 2 days ago, however the person who responded to my email said she understood what I wanted, and why, and she would contact the involved department to see if an accommodation could be made.

In addition to the transfer from the Pullman hotel on embarkation day, for our cruise (and others I have noticed) Viking has two shuttle runs between Le Pecq and Paris. So I suggest that you CONFIRM, 'in case there is no room for you' on the bus from the the Pullman hotel, that you and your luggage can take one of the shuttles returning to Le Pecq from Paris.