cruz_happy

I am Diamond Plus sailing with my sister, I think she is Platinum (?) and sharing the balcony cabin with her on an upcoming Oasis of the Seas cruise. Will I be able to have her accompany me through Diamond Plus registration? (Do they still have that? My spouse and I travel in Grand Suites and higher; so I'm not sure if the Diamond-Plus get special check-in lines as they did years ago?). On Oasis, do Diamond Plus get early entry into shows, perhaps when the Key people get to go in? Other thoughts on benefits a Diamond-Plus gets when in a balcony cabin? (I understand about the drinks on the card, the best perk!). Trying to decide if Key is worth it since we will be getting the internet package as well .(I'll watch for a good price if it's worth it.) TYIA.

Leaving for 1st Viking Ocean cruise to Norway (translated bulky winter clothing). Is the storage space on Viking’s ocean liners bigger than what is on their longship river cruises? We are in DV6 cabin. Thank you for your help.

Does Symphony leaving from Bayonne offer a shore excursion to Kennedy Space Center? Is there enough time? When searching online, there was 1 listed that said 6 hours but Symphony shows in port 1 pm - 8 pm (which means back onboard by 7:30 pm). Thoughts on this please? TYIA

We recently got off of Harmony of the Seas. We were looking forward to doing the Escape Room but after boarding learned the Escape Room was closed and has been for a while now. No one could tell us when it might be reopened. Are any of the Escape Rooms on other ships still open (e.g., Symphony of the Seas)? Is RCL getting rid of all Escape Rooms? TYIA.

Thank you. Have a great time. Looks like you are having fun.

How are the shows onboard? Any you would recommend skipping? TYIA.

I wrote this after our first ever Viking cruise (& first ever river cruise where I originally posted a longer version). I am sharing a few of our observations, as well as those from others we talked with on our cruise, which might help newcomers to Viking. Hope this will help someone. (I'm editing out ones that I think were more attributable to the river cruise we were on.) Let me start with overall. Generally we liked the cruise, although we may prefer Ocean cruises more. Staff was great, always trying to make guests happy. On the river cruise, many times there really wasn't much to do, especially if you didn't go on an excursion nor after dinner. I'm hoping on an Ocean Cruise this will be different. We are booked on a Viking Ocean Cruise in February 2024, so we will see. (Just wasn't wow'd like I anticipated but just might be not wow'd by river cruises? Won't rule them out all together though as they serve a valuable purpose.) So let's start my thoughts & tips: PACKING: Dress was casual, even for dinner. (This was during summer months & record heat.) Some people, mostly men, wore shorts, usually with a golf shirt. Jeans (nice ones) were relatively common. (No muscle shirts seen at all.) Women too were casual usually in slacks and tops, some jeans. I overpacked as a few of my tops (crepe-type tops) and slacks were too dressy although they were "business casual". (These were clothing I normally wear on ocean cruises, different line though.). I would say better to pack more "summer casual", i.e., sundresses, lightweight woven or knit tops, cotton slacks. Not sure if this casualness was due to it being a river cruise vs ocean or if it's the way things are moving on Viking and likely other cruise lines too. Tip 1: Evaluate your packing and consider packing casual, but nice, attire. Men: no jackets or ties worn at all that I saw. TRAVEL: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP I CAN SHARE: I'll save you all the details but our early arrival with plans to spend 2 days seeing Budapest evaporated as we spent 2 days in our hotel room chasing our "lost" luggage. I say “lost” because I knew where they were every step since we had air tags in each piece. We used Viking Air for this river cruise and they had us on a tight connection in Frankfurt airport which we barely made; our luggage did not. Thanks to the air tags, I tracked our luggage from Frankfurt (3 flights later) to Budapest & knew when they were at the Budapest airport. After hours on the phone with Viking Air rep who was communicating with the airline telling the Viking Air rep that the luggage was in Frankfurt still (wrong!), I called the Budapest Airport main line directly and asked if we could come and pick up our luggage ourselves explaining that I knew they were there with the air tags. The airport rep said, “Sure”; so we did. The luggage was exactly where the air tags were showing. (BTW, Viking Air was still being told they were in Frankfurt.). After we boarded, we heard several others had had their luggage lost in Frankfurt airport as well. One couple I heard of didn't receive their luggage upon boarding; so Viking was washing their clothes for them each day. Not sure when they got their luggage. And yes, from what I understand, these others had flown in from Frankfurt airport although I can't verify that. I don't blame Viking Air for this. I've heard Frankfurt airport can be difficult. Tip 2: Put air tags in your luggage. (This is the biggest tip I can tell you!) Tip 3: Avoid tight airline transfers made by Viking Air. I do when I make my own flights and told Viking Air not to make such a tight connection but they did anyway, fighting us on this saying we'd have time. STATEROOM-OUTLETS: Our stateroom, a suite, had 2-110 volt (US) outlets and 2-220 volt (2-prong rounded European plugs). Tip #4: Remember to pack your international plugs so you’ll be able to use all 4 plugs simultaneously. Don't just rely on US outlets. (This may be different on different ships.) STATEROOM-STORAGE: Drawer space was limited in our stateroom. Pretty much 1 small drawer for my things and another for my husband. There was a shelf I used over the safe. That was pretty much it. Again, not sure if this is different on Ocean vessels. Tip #5: I’ve heard some Cruise Critic members mention about bringing small Dollar Tree fabric storage bins for added storage. (Didn’t remember to do this for this cruise. I think they said they slide them under your bed. There is a lot of room there.) STATEROOM-MAGNETIC WALLS?: Most the walls were NOT magnetic. (I’m accustomed to most of the walls being magnetic.). I wasn’t able to use my normal amount of magnets but it worked fine for us. I had brought some command hooks that I had read about on Cruise Critic but didn’t try them as we didn’t need them. Tip #6: Consider bringing command hooks for walls (although I’ve not tried it myself) and just a couple (not many more) of magnets. (2 magnets and no command hooks worked for us.) MOBILITY LIMITATIONS-EXCURSIONS: NOT SURE IF ONLY ON RIVER CRUISES? For those with mobility limitations (just limits, not other mobility concerns such as walkers or scooters), Viking tried to group us together for what they called a "light" group excursion. Tip #7: For excursions, if you have mobility limitations, you can ask if there is a “light” group for the excursions. I hope these help 1st time Viking cruisers. We are looking forward to comparing the Viking Ocean cruise with the Viking river cruise.

I don’t disagree with you. I personally am ok with it. I was just sharing observations for others who may be questioning prior to their trip, and for packing plans, just as I had been earlier. (Just reporting.). Luckily haven’t seen any muscle shirts at all, at least yet.

I am on Viking’s Danube river cruise right now. Good news for some, bad for others. Attire is more casual than I expected. Although you “can never be overdressed”, I sometimes feel overdressed at dinner in nice slacks (ones I always take on cruises and I’d wear to work meetings) and crepe type tops (again what I’d wear to work meetings). I have seen many shorts being worn at dinner, mostly by men. There have been some t-shirts but mostly golf shirts with the shorts. I’m not sure if it’s due to this being a river cruise and just more casual anyway or the extreme hot temperatures across the globe, but for those who like to dress for dinner, (don’t shoot the messenger please) my sense is this more casual attire is here to stay. Understand I’m not advocating one way or another: Just sharing what I’m seeing. As someone earlier stated, there is no “guard” to speak of at the door. So overall, just enjoy yourself. If you have questions, I can try to answer them. (I’ll also post some other observations in another forum later.)

Which river cruise are you on? Have they had to skip any ports due to low water levels? TYIA.

Absolutely. Had no plans for that in the evening, just during the day.

Thank you, Cilcianrqts and longterm; I like the way y'all think!!!!

As a new Viking cruiser (been on many other cruises though), do we need to bring an overnight case for night before/morning of disembarkation (as other cruise lines recommend)? We are on Viking's post-cruise excursion; does that make a difference? (Packing now; so trying to decide if I need to pack an overnight bag for that night or not.). TYIA.

Thank you Twitchly and OneSixtytoOne for your replies and advice. I appreciate your help.

OK; this may be a very stupid question but are the Airalo GB's each day or the full month (or time) that you are using the card? If this was answered before & I missed it, my apologies. Thank you for your help.

We are getting ready to embark on our first Viking cruise. (It's a river cruise and never been on one although we are experienced cruisers.). Can people wear what I call "dress" t-shirts (ok, sort of an oxymoron; these are nicer ones that have college name or other nice things, e.g., Hawaii, nothing offensive at all) during the day ONLY on the ship? Can you wear these on shore excursions on Danube river cruise (excluding if going to a cathedral)? I know I saw a guide before but I cannot seem to find it now. TYIA.

Looking at potentially adding the Oslo extension to our Norway cruise. We disembark in Bergen and actually overnight there. Was planning to fly home from Bergen to USA. Didn't see a lot to see/do in Bergen that interesting for us. (We are not big museum people.). Thought might be better to go to Oslo then. But not seeing a whole lot in Oslo either and not sure it is worth adding the cost for the Oslo extension. Am I overlooking things in either Bergen or Oslo? I've read through posts but didn't see a lot regarding things to do/see (besides the Funicular in Bergen)? We do like history, especially World War 2 history, less so on Norsk history. Just looking for suggestions. Leaning towards flying home from Bergen but wanted to ask for others' input first. TYIA.

I have so enjoyed everyone's responses regarding grits. I must say though that grits are nothing like "gruel" from Oliver Twist days, nor are they like oatmeal. Grits are considered a "hot cereal", like the others. As correctly identified, grits are made from corn. They are served many ways----cheese, plain, buttered, with shrimp, even fried grits cakes. I too like them mixed up with scrambled eggs and crumbled extra crispy bacon mixed in. (Ok; now I'm hungry.). 😁 Thank you for the input on Viking likely not serving grits; sets my expectations. As much as I hate to do it, I might have to bring instant grits which are NO way as good as cooked grits but sometimes beggars can't be choosy. I'll reach out to Viking "ask us" desk hoping maybe, just maybe, they might consider it. Nothing asked, nothing gained. As Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Thank you all for letting me know what to expect for our upcoming Viking cruise. BTW, Happy Mardi Gras from Louisiana!!!!

Since we are talking breakfast and since I am new to Viking, does anyone know if they serve grits anywhere on the ships? (I’m from South USA.). TYIA

Thank you so much.

What is the e-mail address to communicate with dining at RCCL? I tried a former one I had ("dining@rccl.com") but it came back as incorrect e-mail address. I would appreciate your help on this. TYIA.

Thank you all. I knew I could count on our Cruise Critic friends to have the answer. Thanks again.

We are getting ready to board our ship next week to Alaska. Wondering if we should bring some binoculars? (Of course we won't pack them but have to carry them on due to optics.). Those who've been to Alaska before, would you recommend to others to bring binoculars on this cruise? Thanks.

With Rapid Test & Trace, can you set a preliminary appointment and cancel it if not needed? I have 2 embed tests for us to use but if one is bad and can’t be used, I’d like to have a backup plan with the government tests we have. So wondering if we can cancel the test if we schedule it for later? If so, would you get a refund do you know? TYIA

I’m presuming you checked spam folder too? If so and still no photos, definitely call. We had our few (singles, not package) within no more than 5 days of disembarkation. Hopefully, they will see the link immediately. Good luck.