Lobes1

We were very dissatisfied with the service on our Viking Ocean Cruise, and we decreased the gratuities commensurate with our disappointment with the service.

We used Luggage Foreword on a Crystal cruise from Amsterdam to New York. The whole process was flawless, and our baggage was waiting in our cabin when we embarked in Amsterdam.

Viking lost our on board credit. Our travel agent had provided obc to us on over 25 cruises with other cruise lines without a problem. With Viking, it somehow disappeared.

April 1, in Port Everglades, Global Entry line marked, but not truly operative. They were shuttling anyone into the line, no kiosks, just a mish mosh. But GOES really does save time at US airports coming in from international flights.

We had the same experience at FLL in December, a GO line with no one checking cards, no faster than any other line.

Norman Island is only about a one to two hour sail from Road Town with a small sail boat. I have done it many times. It should be much faster on the Wind Surf.

We were very disappointed with the service on our Viking Ocean Cruise. We expressed our displeasure, asked that our gratuity level be significantly reduced, and it was done as we requested.

For comparison, a few years ago we did a cruise on another cruise line, terminating in Sydney. We found a cooking school that we could attend a day after disembarkation, and we made reservations on line. It seemed pricey at about $100 per person, but we decided to splurge. On the ship, they announced that they were able to offer that same cooking school experience as an excursion for only $430 per person! The cooking school was great, definitely worth $100

I second the book recommendation. What an amazing feat, and not accomplished until they were able to control malaria.

I agree that the book is excellent. Only one minor correction, the issue was controlling yellow fever, not malaria. If you are concerned, it is relatively easy, although not inexpensive to get yellow fever vaccine. We had to have it for a recent Amazon cruise. It is really not an issue for a Panama Canal cruise today.

A few years ago we spent ten days in Germany, followed by a train trip to Amsterdam and a cruise from there to NYC. Because of the varying dress ashore and on the cruise, we needed to take three rather large (not massive) roller bags. We could barely manage two bags on the trains, so we shipped the third with Luggage Forward. Fed Ex picked up the third bag at our home before we left the USA, and it was sitting on the bed in our stateroom when we boarded the ship. The price was $250, worth every penny, IMHO. We do not do this routinely, and have not used the service before or since. In this case, it was very helpful.

We never tried, but eggs Benedict was definitely not on the room service menu.

On our recent cruise on Viking Sky, we often ordered wine from room service, it was promptly delivered, and included in our Silver Spirits beverage package.

Coffee was never an issue. The food in many locations was the issue. as was the service. Needless to say, we were not thrilled with Viking Ocean and will be taking our business elsewhere.

Each night in the restaurant and chefs table we had to tell them we had the package when they brought included bottles to our table. Then they brought us a wine list.

 

 

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We had a similar experience. Unfortunately, we often waited thirty minutes or more for our selected wines. The wine list for the beverage package was extensive, but none of the wines was impressive. A Google search revealed that the wines on the list were usually available for under ten dollars a bottle. Many were priced closer to five dollars a bottle.

The choice changed twice during our recent 10 day West Indies Explorer cruise. If you are not sure what you would like, they are very happy to provide a tasting, along with the "included wine". We found you quickly found your preferred white or red. They are listed on a small wine menu placed on each table. They are priced at $6.5 if you are not on the package.

 

There is no need to state that you are on the package, just give them your cabin number when you order and their system takes care of the rest. This applies to other bars as well. In addition, if you eat in the Chefs Table, they already know that you are on the drinks package and automatically give you the premium flight of wines.

Sorry, but in the Chef's Table, they did not have a clue, poured the "included wine" which we found awful, and then seemed to be very annoyed when we asked for the silver beverage package wines. Then we waited thirty minutes before our selected wines arrived. The entire experience was terrible.

Here’s a first-world question: I see you can get coffee with skim or whole milk. What about half-and-half or cream? I’d rather drink it black than watered down with milk.

My wife agrees with you. We asked for cream and received it. Room service breakfast was actually better than most of the meals served elsewhere on the ship.

On our recent Viking Sky cruise, one of our bags arrived promptly in our cabin, along with three bags belonging to someone else! Our second bag arrived an hour or two later. They never did find our OBC. After our request, the cabin steward doubled up on the towels.

On our recent Viking Sky cruise, we were in a Penthouse Veranda stateroom. On arrival, we found a half bottle of champagne in the minibar, which was refilled daily with sodas and spirits. We asked if we could receive wine by the bottle. They never refused, but never answered the question.

I speak German, and spent a fantastic week in Berlin a couple of years ago. It is a great city to visit, and there is so much to see there. However, even with a full week, we missed so much. Maybe next time. The few hours that you would have there from a cruise stopping in Warnemunde seems like a waste of your time, considering the six or more hours spent on a train to get there and back. We recently were on a Baltic cruise with a two day stop in Warnemunde. We took the Deusche Bahn train through Rostock (where we changed trains) to Bad Doberman where we caught the Molli train, an old restored steam train, to Kulungsborn. There we had a fantastic fish lunch at a small restaurant on the sea side. We loved it! The trip was easy to negotiate and quite inexpensive. The cruise line offered an excursion that was comparable for $200 plus per person. Including lunch, we spent a small fraction of that.

Our last cruise on the Windsurf was almost two years ago. It that time, we were impressed that the quality of the food had gone considerably downhill compared to our previous Windstar cruises. On that basis, plus issues with cigarette smoke that appeared to arise from the crew area, we have stopped sailing with Windstar.

I've only sailed on O the past few years which I think was smart casual...no jeans but I was given a pass at breakfast.

I don't want to be publicly shamed, so what is permissible in the MDR?

 

Harry

The FAQ on the Viking web site anticipates most common questions.

https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/frequently-asked-questions.html

What Is The Dress Code?

Dress during the day is casual including shorts (if the season is warm), pants or jeans and comfortable shoes for walking tours. Swimsuits, brief shorts, cover-ups and exercise attire should be reserved for the Fitness Center, pool areas and Sports Deck. There are no “formal nights” in the evening; evening dress is “elegant casual” for all dining venues after 6:00 PM, performances and special events. On these occasions, required attire for ladies includes a dress, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse; for gentlemen, trousers and a collared shirt. A tie and jacket are optional.

If you have an iPhone, go into the settings and set up WiFi Calling. With the ship's WiFi you can then make phone calls worldwide, without additional charges.

We were on the Sky one month ago. Internet was reliable, rarely dropped, (although it was nonfunctional for one full day,) but it was unbelievably slow. It took fifteen to thirty minutes to download a daily newspaper. Internet on other cruise lines is much faster.

You can order wine by the glass from room service. We did so a few weeks ago.

It appears that the trip by train takes twelve hours. That is why they invented airplanes.

It would be really helpful if someone could send out the names of a couple of the current included wines as well as the names of a couple on the Silver Spirits....I realize that they change regularly but it would allow us to do a little research on what the difference is between them.

I don’t often drink mixed drinks but I do enjoy wine. ;) That said my guess is that I as well would be trying various offerings if I had the package!

We found that two of the better, or at least drinkable, wines were the 770 Miles Chardonnay, which my wife drank, and the 770 Miles Cab, which I preferred. They seemed to be better than the other beverage package wines we tried. I found both on line for about six dollars a bottle. We tried a couple of the included wines, and could not tolerate them. A single white and a single red are offered gratis with each meal.