pwise60

We are not river cruisers, but had done many ocean cruises, mostly with Oceania and Regent. We chose this cruise for its new concepts, ports and the Viking reputation.

Apart from the glitches and a few problems, the cruise was great. We have already booked the Midnight Sun cruise for 2017 (2016 has long been sold out).

Pros. Great modern design, long hours in ports, good tours (some great) with good guides (some very good) at free or moderate prices. Very good dining (not as good as Oceania, but better than most). Very good and unique dining opportunities on board, in addition to the specialty restaurants. Manfrieds excellent. People do try to help--one of our tours was cancelled for lack of sufficient numbers; after complaining a private car and driver (no guide because did not need one) was arranged for only slightly higher cost. The WIFI was free and for us it worked very well (I use it a lot). The free wine was very good.

Cons. Some of the service and cabin personnel needed more training. They tried hard and things got better, but there were issues since many of them had not worked at this level before. The TV had lots of problems, but did work at the end of the cruise--the system's design is terrific with lots of info, but it was too complex for starters. The specialty Chef's Table restaurant is really bad; it takes almost three hours and the food is strange--many empty tables. Not much was promised in the way of entertainment and that is what was delivered. The small shows in Torhaven were good. The lectures were just OK, and were not reshown on the TV. The Cruise Director is an excellent and experienced man, but you almost never heard or saw him; no TV show in the A.M. to greet the days events.

I think the problems will disappear ant this will be an excellent cruise line

Yes, and I was able at midnight on the 70th day to also do our dining reservations, without getting my TA involved. They did a good job on the system.

You may be right. The shore excursions are now viewable on line. Almost all (but not all) have prices which are very reasonable. Nice choices. I assume that as our various eligibility dates arrive, there will be a drop down that allows us to choose and pay. There does not yet appear to be a final port schedule which makes choosing shore excursions a little difficult. Hopefully, tha will show up in a few days.

I just checked all the terms and conditions on their website, as well as in my original brouchure which contained an "offer" good through 8/31/13, and which has additonal terms and conditions. This is the brochure that says "free wi-fi". The general terms and conditions on the website, and the particular terms and conditions in the brochure give them the leeway to make lots of changes in named items. None of them mention the ability to change listed amenities, such as wi-fi. The situation may be different for brochures with offers that extend after 8/31/13.

If there is no free wifi, after it being clearly promised and paid for, there will be a lawsuit.

I live very close to their HQ in Woodland Hills CA. I went over there once and was treated very well. I may go back in the next day or so and ask what is going on with dining, shore excursions, wifi and general info to their customers. If they see I have a TA, it may be a dead end.

I agree tha the lack of communication is terrible. if you ask anything more than the time of day, they tell you to ask your travel agent. When you do that, they call and learn nothing of any value. They could at least post something on their website.

They seem to be making a distinction (maybe) between free internet access in the public areas of the ship and the staterooms for certain cabin categories. That is very strange.

They can just change the promised amenities that were part of the deal? No more free wine at lunch and dinner? What do they consider a promised amenity that they can change after you pay?

But, this does not say you will not get (excuse the double negative) the free wi-fi when we are not in port. The guy I checked with on the phone, went off line to check. When he came back he said that there is definitely free wi-fi at sea. I did not tell him what my cabin category is.

The FAQ is confusing since it mentions free wifi in port. But, my original brochure from when I ticketed in 8/13 says "free wi-fi", which was confirmed on the phone with me today to mean at sea. The port thing must be an extra, but I am interested in what you may learn.

I just spoke with an agent at Viking. There is still free internet on board.

This is extremely informative. Thank you. Also, there are comments on the Board here about the loss of free internet. I have seen nothing that would infer that except a confusing item from Viking that there will be free internet in port, which looked good to me. Have you learned anything about that?

Thank you very much. That is good news. Does it cover both dining and shore excursions, if you know?

Willie. See my posting about dining etc.

We are booked on the Viking Star leaving Venice on 4/20 for Barcelona. I have been trying for some time to get info on shore excursion and dining reservations.

By email, I was told that it would have to be done through my travel agent, a real pain if you think about it. Then their FAQ says you can do dining on line, no word on shore excursions. Then I wrote them about the confusion--promised an answer in 48 hours---no response. No info on what the shore excursion options are, and reservations can supposedly be made by my category next week.

It looks like they are unprepared here.

Does anyone have any info on this?