slewis7

They did give us some OBC, but it was much more important to me to know that Viking pays attention to their customers and cares. When my wife and I started cruising, we were going with other couples and exclusively on Regent. It was a great experience but in our 3rd cruise we got a cabin that suffered from sometimes heavy vibrations and also there were nightly noises at around 2am from furniture on the floor above getting moved around. We complained onboard and we expressed dissatisfaction on the end of cruise survey. I never heard anything back from Regent and we quit sailing on that line as a result.

As mentioned in earlier posts here, I was unhappy how our land extension started with Viking dumping us at the airport over 5.5 hours prior to our scheduled departure to Reykjavik. I had written Viking an email to complain that day and I got a call from their customer service department this afternoon in response. I was extremely impressed with the Viking representative who contacted me; she was pleasant and supportive and promised that there would be an inquiry. As a result, I will be more likely to book with Viking in the future (not that we weren’t already likely to book more cruises with Viking before the call). I am very impressed!

Just to tie up comments on our Iceland extension, yesterday we did the lovely Golden Circle. It consists on a long bus ride with numerous stops at beautifully scenic locations. We were blessed with both perfect weather and a wonderful guide and it was a delightful day. Viking provided an outstanding buffet lunch at the Geyser Restaurant. We ended up really enjoying the Iceland extension despite the long wait at the Bergen Airport and the postage-stamp sized hotel room Viking provided. By the way, the volcano here erupted yesterday afternoon, but nothing is visible to us from Reykjavik. We hope maybe to see something on our transfer to the airport. Also, we decided we will come back to Reykjavik for several nights on our own, after our Viking Iconic Iceland, Greenland and Canada cruise next year. We will pick a more centrally located hotel in the vibrant downtown area. All in all, it was a glorious trip! Thanks for reading and commenting on this thread. I may post some photos here when I return home, if anyone is interested.

Great review Phil, especially for all the details on the shore excursions! We continue our Viking extension in Reykjavik. Things have definitely improved since the overly long airport stay in Bergen. We have had absolutely stunning weather and of special interest is the possibility that the volcano not far from town may erupt at any moment. We have had some very small tremors since we arrived. Viking has us staying at the Hilton Reykjavik Nordica. It is not a particularly great hotel as it is about a mile and a half from the interesting part of town and our room is very small (much smaller then the cabin we had on the ship) with no dresser drawers; we are living out of our suitcases. On the positive side, the breakfast buffet is outstanding and the WiFi is very good. A bunch of tour companies are using it (including Tauck, which is a great land tour company), so it may be this is the best facility in town for larger tour groups. The Viking contingent is 18 guests. Viking has provided a wonderful guide and a very comfortable and modern bus. Today we had a fantastic morning at the Blue Lagoon and a nice tour of the city in the afternoon. In the morning, before the lagoon, we visited the residence of the Iceland President. You can park right there and walk around the buildings with almost no security in sight. As we were driving up to the residence, the President himself jogged right by our bus and waved (I so wish I had my camera ready). He was totally unescorted! Amazing! We are really enjoying ourselves. Reykjavik is a great place to visit. Tomorrow is the full day Golden Circle tour.

That was not the case today. With about 3 hours or so to go, we were able to check into our flight at a kiosk and got through security within minutes. An hour left until we board now. Crowds at the airport seem to have picked up quite a bit since we first arrived.

I should add, the internet was pretty slow the entire cruise. Good enough for emails and most web sites though.

My wife and I are just off the lovely Viking Venus, having completed our Into the Midnight Sun cruise. We have had a few prior post-Covid cruises with Viking and I found them to be disappointing to what we experienced with them before Covid. This disappointment was greatly due to numerous missed ports and dealing with the daily testing (which I found uncomfortable) but I also felt like the food and service onboard was not nearly as good as our earlier Viking cruises. I am happy to report that this cruise was totally back to form for Viking! It was one of our favorite cruises ever! What we liked: Food was good and often very good, at all of the dining venues Service was fantastic The ship never seemed crowded Our cabin stewards were exceptional Ship’s captain handled weather related issues well and made frequent and informative announcements Port intensive itinerary but with a nice mix of sea days interspersed. All the ports were good and we did not miss any ports. Favorite Ports: Shetlands, Lofoten, Geiranger They had Surf and Turf (filet and lobster) one night on the Aquavit Terrace. It was delicious! Easy embarkation and disembarkation What we disliked: We had an argumentative waiter in Manfredi’s. That’s it. Ports: Greenwich: There is plenty to do here. The included walking tour gave a nice overview. We visited the Maritime Museum, Queen’s House and Greenwich Observatory on our own. The Greenwich Market was also worth a visit. Edinburgh: Our weather was was rainy. The Included panoramic tour was of minimal value but it got us into town. We enjoyed walking along the Royal Mile, but even with bad weather it was very crowded. We had a nice fish and chips lunch at Bertie’s. Orkney Islands: We enjoyed the Viking included tour of Stromness and the Ring of Brodgar. We saw nothing that interested us in Kirkwall. Shetland Island: We loved our private tour with Shetland Minibus (Grant is the owner and guide and he was great). An absolutely beautiful and interesting place to visit we would happily return to. Lofoten Islands: We had a fantastic private tour of the southern areas with Lofoten Lights (our guide was the wonderful Eliza). We stopped for delicious fish burgers at Anita’s Seafood. On the drive back to the ship we went through Leknes and we were glad we skipped going into town. Lofoten islands is an absolutely beautiful place. Honnigsvag: it was a cold and rainy day but the Viking King Crab Safari tour was great. Thankfully the clothing provided for the RIB boat ride kept us warm and comfortable. The crab lunch was incredible and we all got plenty to eat. We also enjoyed going on the Viking included excursion to the North Cape. Tromso: A nice town to walk around. We had been there before, so this time we did an optional Viking kayak excursion and we had lovely weather and calm waters. Geiranger: An absolutely gorgeous place and the Viking panoramic tour was a very scenic ride with some great photo stops. It was also interesting to see the skillful handling of the bus around the many hairpin road curves. We also enjoyed a Viking helicopter excursion which was pricey but amazing! Be sure to be in the Explorer’s Lounge for great views during either the sail-in or the sail-out. Bergen: A great port with plenty to do and we were happy to overnight here. We took Viking’s option Ascent to Mt Ulriken excursion and thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of it. My wife and I are currently at the Reykjavik Airport. We are on Viking’s “Iceland and the Golden Circle” extension. It is not off to a good start as Viking has dumped us here over 5 and a half hours prior to our flights to Iceland. I would certainly have expected better from Viking given the prices they get for extensions (perhaps a city tour to kill some time or putting us up for a few hours somewhere more comfortable than the airport). I certainly hope the rest of the extension goes better, but it is unlikely Imwill book an extension through Viking again.

We are on the Venus now and enjoyed that lovely ribeye steak a few days ago at Manfredi’s and it was perfectly cooked and tender. I saw Chicken Parm, Osso Buco and Lasagna all on the menu. We do miss some of our old favorites from years past including the Dover Sole and the meatball appetizer (I loved the tomato sauce with that dish). I have not yet had the lasagna at Manfredi’s on this cruise, but I enjoyed it in the past. I plan on ordering it before we leave the Venus.

Holy hell, our Viking cruise embarks in London Greenwich on June 24th! We fly into Heathrow, but fortunately we come in several days early.

I have had very mixed results ordering that steak at Manfredi’s. The first time, it was delicious but subsequently it was mediocre. Still, I will try again in our upcoming cruise. 🤞 Our recent experiences at Manfredi’s, post pandemic, have been a mixed bag in general.

Especially good to hear as I have booked 2 tours with the same company coming up in November aboard a Celebrity Beyond transatlantic!

I am especially enjoying this thread as my brother, his wife and in-laws are on the cruise with you. He is visible from behind in one of your Malta tour photos. Keep the updates coming and thank you!

Mostly that food and service on my first Viking cruise was almost always great but on subsequent cruises it was inconsistent. Also, the Covid testing protocols made things less enjoyable and on one of the cruises we missed a majority of our ports due to having some cases onboard. I would not fault Viking for the problems directly related to the pandemic, although I guess (hope) quality issues are likely related.

We are booked on Insignia in cabin 8046 this December, so I am very happy to read the positive comments here!

Yes, I believe so. That used to be something my wife and I mocked but given how the Celebrity has changed over the years, it is one of the better loyalty benefits currently. 🤣

My wife and I also previously considered Celebrity our go to cruise line and no longer feel that way. A few distinctions between the lines not mentioned here yet: - The Viking ships tend to feel much less crowded and less busy. - The entertainment on Celebrity is much more varied. Viking can be pretty quiet. - The Viking spa area is open to everyone and is quite nice. While I loved my first Viking cruise, I have not found it to be as enjoyable on my subsequent experiences (since the pandemic). Our future bookings include Viking, Celebrity and a few other lines that we will be new to. We are still hoping to find the right fit for us.

I am booked on a Holland America cruise leaving late January next year that ends in San Antonio and we booked a day long tour and airport transfer from the Puerto San Antonio company. They were very responsive and professional in their emails and I am happy to hear that @Dobby36 had a good experience with them.

I did correspond with them, but I ended up booking with this company: https://puertosanantoniotours.com/transfer/

I contacted them and they responded that they are not doing tours in 2024, so I am still looking.

We saw our best view of the Lights one evening from the ship. We went from the dining room to our cabins for heavy jackets and gloves in a rush. It was extremely cold standing outside that evening so be sure to be prepared with very warm layers standing ready in your cabin.

We are booked on that Iceland extension this summer. Our current flight scheduled shows us leaving Bergen at 3:30pm. The flight into Reykjavik is 2 hours 20 minutes via Iceland Air. It seems like that day will be about transit with no real sightseeing.

My wife and I have booked The Hendrick’s for a week in April. Not cheap, but great reviews and hopefully a quiet location close enough to the action. https://www.thehendrickshotel.com/

Great thread! We have canceled South America several times already and are looking to book it gain in the future, perhaps 2024 or 2025. We have considered HAL because friends took their itinerary which includes sailing by Antartica and loved it. After seeing this thread, I now know that Oceania has a similar itinerary which we will strongly consider. We have sailed a bunch on Celebrity but feel like it is no longer the great value it used to be and will likely quit using them after our two already booked and upcoming cruises. I am curious about some of the comments posted in this thread about Celebrity hinting that some recent happenings with them can not be posted about. If anyone could enlighten me, my email is s l e w i s 7 @ gmail . com (remove extra spaces).

My wife and I are traveling in Holland and staying in Amsterdam for an extended time next April and we are researching the many options for transportation passes. We definitely plan to visit Keukenhof. Thanks to the posters for contributing some really helpful tips.

We have taken an Australia and New England cruise on Celebrity and loved it. If the price difference was perhaps 30% or less, I might consider Viking on an equivalent itinerary (we prefer smaller and less crowded ships). For anything more, I would go with Celebrity.