Viking Homelands Cruise

[travelbug246]

Can somebody please advise me if upgrading to Deluxe Veranda when the only advantages I would want are the guaranteed reservations to the Chef's table and Manfredi's restaurant (I guess you only get one reservation at each), six more days advance booking on shore excursions, and the position of the cabin.

Also is the best way to travel from Stockholm to Bergen or vice versa?

I would also be interested in which optional tours are worth doing.

Thank you:)

[Lucky Granny]

travelbug....About the direction of your cruise....we did Bergen to Stockholm. Stockholm was so amazing that I think I would have liked more time there instead of Bergen. About the excursions: we very much enjoyed every included tour. Guides were great and we were happy to be able to see important parts of the towns. The best paid tours we did were the Railway to Voss from Flam, Historic Berlin, and the two-day Ultimate St. Petersburg. In Gdansk we did the Malbork Castle Tour which meant we missed a tour of the town, which we think we might have preferred. In Helsinki, we did the Ice Bar paid excursion. It was a commercial and touristy affair that was fun, but we were sorry we didn't do a better tour of the city than that excursion included. One of us did the Tallin Chocolate Factory excursion and loved it. The rest of us enjoyed the complimentary Old Town Walking Tour. The only problem with the complimentary excursions is that they are guaranteed, so there has to be multiple excursion times as everyone cannot go at once. If you happen to be put on a tour in the middle of the day, this means you probably don't have time either before or after your excursion to do do something else, like walk around on your own, etc. I don't see how this can change, since everyone is guaranteed a tour and there has to be a limited number of guides and buses available, so everyone cannot go at one time. Every excursion we went on except one was in a large bus, but always only about half full. I seem to be running on here, but am happy to answer questions.

[KyOh]

I can't see any differences other than the ones you've indicated. Unfortunately for us, that was what was left when we booked our room.

[travelbug246]

Thank you so much Lucky Granny and KyOh that is such useful information.

I am sticking to the apartment I was offered on Sea which is 305, which is a Deluxe Veranda as there are only two Veranda's left at the front of the boat on apparently the wrong side. We don't have a choice of Stockholm to Bergen in July 2017 and it sounds the best way to do things and will enable us to sepnd some time in Stockholm and even go back to Denmark at the end of the cruise. Coming from NZ we don't get the chance to upgrade the flight which might not be so great bearing in mind at least three flights but we are really looking forward to doing this cruise as it is eight places we have never been to. Thanks very much:)

[Lucky Granny]

travelbug246... with your Deluxe, you will also get a coffee maker which is an adventure itself, and a very small pair of binoculars. With our Deluxe, we made our one reservation at each of the specialty restaurants, but were able to make more once onboard. Don't miss the ribeye steak at Manifredi's, lasagna is great also. Chefs Table is an adventure....keep in mind that, if you book early enough, you can go to the buffet later if you didn't care for what was offered. I enjoyed it all. Ten varying flavors of gelato at every meal!!!

[travelbug246]

Thanks Lucky Granny - deposit paid so we are on our way!

Glad we're not on Harmony of the Seas maiden voyage!

We can pay $250 each to choose our airline but we are hoping they make the flights the quickest and least stop overs.

We will probably add on a week in Stockholm at the end.

Thanks for the advice about restaurants etc it is good to find out these things prior although we have a long wait. Keep in touch.

[Dauntless]

In Gdansk we did the Malbork Castle Tour which meant we missed a tour of the town, which we think we might have preferred. In Helsinki, we did the Ice Bar paid excursion. It was a commercial and touristy affair that was fun, but we were sorry we didn't do a better tour of the city than that excursion included.

If you are going to an ice bar and lingering in Stockholm before or after the cruise, there's an ice bar there that will leave more time for unique experiences in other ports. I am also interested in your comment on Malbork. I was wondering why you think you might have enjoyed town tour more?

[Lucky Granny]

Dauntless, we did enjoy the Malbork excursion. The trip was a considerable distance (hour and a half) through the Polish countyside, but our guide was great....she talked the whole way about the country and culture and changes in each over the course of war-related world events. We saw the stork nests and heard about the Mennonites who lived there for a while. The castle (it's really a more of a monastery) is beautiful and has been amazingly restored (the different colors of the bricks shows which portions remained after the war and which were replaced). We were just a little disappointed that, because the castle excursion took so long, we did not see the town of Gdansk and hardly felt like we had been there. You will have to decide which you will prefer. And about the ice bar....the one in Las Vegas wouldn't have wasted our time in Europe. lol I guess the sled dog description made us think we would be going into a snowy area and somewhere a photo of an ice hotel appeared on a Viking site that was not the ice hotel we saw. Viking is a little lost with the fact-checking sometimes....I just received a cruise booklet wherein a future Viking Homelands cruise is described without the stop in Flam, Norway. Another town is on the intinerary instead. And yet on the next page is the same description of Flam that appeared when there was a Flam stop. This should have been changed to the new port but wasn't.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Lucky Granny

[Dauntless]

Dauntless, we did enjoy the Malbork excursion. The trip was a considerable distance (hour and a half) through the Polish countyside, but our guide was great....she talked the whole way about the country and culture and changes in each over the course of war-related world events. We saw the stork nests and heard about the Mennonites who lived there for a while. The castle (it's really a more of a monastery) is beautiful and has been amazingly restored (the different colors of the bricks shows which portions remained after the war and which were replaced). We were just a little disappointed that, because the castle excursion took so long, we did not see the town of Gdansk and hardly felt like we had been there. You will have to decide which you will prefer. And about the ice bar....the one in Las Vegas wouldn't have wasted our time in Europe. lol I guess the sled dog description made us think we would be going into a snowy area and somewhere a photo of an ice hotel appeared on a Viking site that was not the ice hotel we saw. Viking is a little lost with the fact-checking sometimes....I just received a cruise booklet wherein a future Viking Homelands cruise is described without the stop in Flam, Norway. Another town is on the intinerary instead. And yet on the next page is the same description of Flam that appeared when there was a Flam stop. This should have been changed to the new port but wasn't.

LuckyGranny--Thank you for your explanation. I think one of the problems with the Gdansk stop is that, going to Bergen, we get there on a Sunday and though it is a 7 hour stop, so much of that time is lost because of things are not up and running the full time while we are in port. It's all a trade off. The time it takes to travel to the castle would probably have been lost roaming the empty streets of Gdansk, due to the early hour. The Gulf of Mexico is about the same amount of time from where I live and I certainly would not think of making the trip there for such a short amount of time as the castle trip, unless it was going to be my only chance to see a large body of water and I wanted to do that. I would have like to have seen some of it but I think muck of it a slight difference on other ports we will be visiting and the shipyard story I heard enough about for my interest when it was happening. The picture in the Viking ad peaked my interest in the castle and after watching the 20 min video on YouTube, it seemed like the only choice for me. The change for next year's version of Homelands has been brought to my attention by another CC member making that trip then. The map appears to be the same but the Flam substitution is on another fjord completely. The picture of Flam is justified because like the castle, they do offer a paid excursion there that takes you 'over the mountains and through the woods'. This cruising thing is an education in the making--I just hope I'm passing.

[Lucky Granny]

LuckyGranny--Thank you for your explanation. I think one of the problems with the Gdansk stop is that, going to Bergen, we get there on a Sunday and though it is a 7 hour stop, so much of that time is lost because of things are not up and running the full time while we are in port. It's all a trade off. The time it takes to travel to the castle would probably have been lost roaming the empty streets of Gdansk, due to the early hour. The Gulf of Mexico is about the same amount of time from where I live and I certainly would not think of making the trip there for such a short amount of time as the castle trip, unless it was going to be my only chance to see a large body of water and I wanted to do that. I would have like to have seen some of it but I think muck of it a slight difference on other ports we will be visiting and the shipyard story I heard enough about for my interest when it was happening. The picture in the Viking ad peaked my interest in the castle and after watching the 20 min video on YouTube, it seemed like the only choice for me. The change for next year's version of Homelands has been brought to my attention by another CC member making that trip then. The map appears to be the same but the Flam substitution is on another fjord completely. The picture of Flam is justified because like the castle, they do offer a paid excursion there that takes you 'over the mountains and through the woods'. This cruising thing is an education in the making--I just hope I'm passing.

 

We were in Dansk on a Sunday also, from 1-12 pm. You are right, not much to see. If you go to Marlbork, I want to point out something you might miss as the three people I was with did not notice it, as it is kind of hidden in all the destruction. You will visit the church at Malbork which has not been restored to its original. Our guide has a passion for the castle and was dismayed when safety precautions and avoiding further deterioration recently forced more restoration. But a large crucifix remains high on one wall as it was when the war ended, with Jesus' body partially blown away. It sort of drives home the cruelty and ferocity that was attacking parts of the world at that time. I hope you enjoy your cruise and end up feeling like you passed your cruise course....it's all in the perception. By the way, I live thirty minutes from the Gulf of Mexico and would rather drive to Malbork.

[id4elizabeth]

Another vote for Malbork - yes, it's a drive but we had enough time there to explore just about everything EXCEPT the church you described - last year they were doing emergency restorations due to safety issues, so we only saw the outside. But the castle is fascinating, and the amber museum was quite interesting too.

[Celiac Cruiser]

Lucky Granny,

Thanks for all your input. We are on the same cruise this coming May!

I would like to hear more about your experience on the 2 day Ultimate St Petersburg tour. So many others on CC really push the private tours and I wanted to hear about the Viking 2 day tour. Would you recommend it??

Thanks