3 Couples on cruise booking excursions and dinners together?

[terrydtx]

We are sailing with 2 other couples and we are all first time VO cruisers. One couple is in a PS and the other two are in PV cabins. Since we have different start dates for booking shore excursions and specialty restaurants, how do we book so all 6 of us are on the same excursions and dinner reservations? Is there a way to link our reservations like we have done on other cruise lines? We will be on the Viking Sea for the Venice to Athens cruise in September if that matters.

Edited December 30, 2019 by terrydtx

[Jammy Bun]

Looking forward to responses to your question, as we are in a similar situation next year!

[TayanaLorna]

Our first time on Viking Ocean we were 2 couples traveling together in DV.  We coordinated our excursions choices and times in advance.  At booking time, we each used a tablet to reserve the excursions while having a phone on speaker so that we could talk if there was a glitch.  It went well.  There was only one hiking excursion which sold out before i could get it for my husband.  Our friends got it.  I kept checking and did get it for him a month later.  People do change their minds.

 

We are going again in 3 weeks with 3 couples.  We booked almost all private excursions for our group only.  Did minimal coordination and booking of Viking excursions.

 

Being that you are in early booking cabin categories, you should have no problem getting the Included times you want or the Optional ones with Viking.  Just coordinate with your group in advance, let the PS reserve first and the rest of you reserve what that couple did.  Only once did i see an excursion completely sell out before DV booking time.  It was an expensive overnighter that we didnt want anyways.

 

For booking excursions, go on line at the first minute of the first day you can book.  Have everything you want in your Wish List on My Viking Journey.  Know which ones are most important to you.  Reserve and PAY FOR Optional excursions first.  An excursion is not yours unless you pay for it with a credit card.  Sometimes you need to book and pay, then go book and pay for next one.  Sometimes not.  Its a pain putting CC info in over and over.  THEN go back and choose your Included excursion times.  Sometimes you can just reserve from our Wish List, sometimes you need to do it through Book Excursions.

 

Now getting Specialty Restaurant dinner reservations together is another story.  On neither of our sailings first with 2 couples and now with 3 couples were we able to link booking numbers in order to get a table for 4 or 6 in advance.  When making a reservation, there is an Invite box you can click where theoretically one couple makes a reservation and invites others.  You need the Booking number, name and room number of who you wish to invite.  I had that info but when i put the booking number etc in, the system came back saying invalid booking number.  So we coordinated keeping on speakerphone and managed to all book the same time and date at each of the restaurants.  However we each had a table for two.  It still requires you, once on board, to go and get each restaurant to combine your tables for 2 into one table for 4 or 6.  And you need to do it right away.  We had to change our time one day but they combined us.  We were able to also make additional reservations as DV only allows 1 at each.  

 

Hopefully the Invite box will work for your group.  Have the PS couple invite the other 2 rooms.  I suspect the Invite choice does not work when DV cabins open for booking.  There are so many more rooms trying to book at that time compared to when PS or PV books that the system overloads.   If it doesnt work when PS couple does it could be because PV cant book yet.  You may have to wait a week when everyone can reserve.

 

Again in your cabin levels you should get dates and times you want even though you may not get table size at first.  As far as restaurants go, reservations for Sea Days fill up first and early reservation times also go first.  Its tough to get 6:30, 7:00 or 7:30.  If you want 8:30 or 9:00 you can get any day you want.

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Our first time on Viking Ocean we were 2 couples traveling together in DV.  We coordinated our excursions choices and times in advance.  At booking time, we each used a tablet to reserve the excursions while having a phone on speaker so that we could talk if there was a glitch.  It went well.  There was only one hiking excursion which sold out before i could get it for my husband.  Our friends got it.  I kept checking and did get it for him a month later.  People do change their minds.

 

We are going again in 3 weeks with 3 couples.  We booked almost all private excursions for our group only.  Did minimal coordination and booking of Viking excursions.

 

Being that you are in early booking cabin categories, you should have no problem getting the Included times you want or the Optional ones with Viking.  Just coordinate with your group in advance, let the PS reserve first and the rest of you reserve what that couple did.  Only once did i see an excursion completely sell out before DV booking time.  It was an expensive overnighter that we didnt want anyways.

 

For booking excursions, go on line at the first minute of the first day you can book.  Have everything you want in your Wish List on My Viking Journey.  Know which ones are most important to you.  Reserve and PAY FOR Optional excursions first.  An excursion is not yours unless you pay for it with a credit card.  Sometimes you need to book and pay, then go book and pay for next one.  Sometimes not.  Its a pain putting CC info in over and over.  THEN go back and choose your Included excursion times.  Sometimes you can just reserve from our Wish List, sometimes you need to do it through Book Excursions.

 

Now getting Specialty Restaurant dinner reservations together is another story.  On neither of our sailings first with 2 couples and now with 3 couples were we able to link booking numbers in order to get a table for 4 or 6 in advance.  When making a reservation, there is an Invite box you can click where theoretically one couple makes a reservation and invites others.  You need the Booking number, name and room number of who you wish to invite.  I had that info but when i put the booking number etc in, the system came back saying invalid booking number.  So we coordinated keeping on speakerphone and managed to all book the same time and date at each of the restaurants.  However we each had a table for two.  It still requires you, once on board, to go and get each restaurant to combine your tables for 2 into one table for 4 or 6.  And you need to do it right away.  We had to change our time one day but they combined us.  We were able to also make additional reservations as DV only allows 1 at each.  

 

Hopefully the Invite box will work for your group.  Have the PS couple invite the other 2 rooms.  I suspect the Invite choice does not work when DV cabins open for booking.  There are so many more rooms trying to book at that time compared to when PS or PV books that the system overloads.   If it doesnt work when PS couple does it could be because PV cant book yet.  You may have to wait a week when everyone can reserve.

 

Again in your cabin levels you should get dates and times you want even though you may not get table size at first.  As far as restaurants go, reservations for Sea Days fill up first and early reservation times also go first.  Its tough to get 6:30, 7:00 or 7:30.  If you want 8:30 or 9:00 you can get any day you want.

Thank you for your detailed explanation on how this worked for you.

 

It sure seems to be a lot of work to coordinate all by phone and book separately. Would be much easier if we could somehow link all three reservations through VO. We have cruised with the same couples on RCL and HAL and both times we were able to link our cabin reservations and book together. If what you say is the case, I am already disappointed in our VO experience so far. I will have our TA check on this for us, we have until the first week of July to work this out.

[Homosassa]

We had three cabins traveling together last July. We were all in DV cabins.

 

We had no trouble booking our excursions together. We did book as soon as excursions opened for our group.

 

Speciality dining was different.

 

We could not get the system to work with invites.

 

My sister finally called Viking with our names, cabins, and reservation numbers. The woman at Viking could pull up the restaurant reservations and book the six of us at a table. She told my sister that calling Viking was the only way to coordinate multiple cabins dining together.

 

Be prepared with alternate dates and times when you call.

 

The reservation only showed in my sister's cruise calendar and it only showed for two people although it was for the six of us.

[TayanaLorna]

10 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

We had three cabins traveling together last July. We were all in DV cabins.

 

We had no trouble booking our excursions together. We did book as soon as excursions opened for our group.

 

Speciality dining was different.

 

We could not get the system to work with invites.

 

My sister finally called Viking with our names, cabins, and reservation numbers. The woman at Viking could pull up the restaurant reservations and book the six of us at a table. She told my sister that calling Viking was the only way to coordinate multiple cabins dining together.

 

Be prepared with alternate dates and times when you call.

 

The reservation only showed in my sister's cruise calendar and it only showed for two people although it was for the six of us.

I am curious what Viking department was called.  Customer Service? Your booking agent? On one trip we supposedly "linked" our bookings with Viking before we left but once on board we still had to combine tables.

[geffric]

We have coordinated with  4 couples and it was easy. We all used the same travel agent and she booked us all together for both dining and excursions.  That being said we had many calls and emails to figure out excursions,  time, etc. We all determined first and second choices then agreed on one.. I did a spreadsheet with dates, ports, etc so we could share the sheet and determine which ones. If for some reason one can't get all the times coordinated then guest services onboard will take care of the issue. 

We were all DV and had no issue..

Edited December 30, 2019 by geffric

[Homosassa]

6 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

I am curious what Viking department was called.  Customer Service? Your booking agent? On one trip we supposedly "linked" our bookings with Viking before we left but once on board we still had to combine tables.

 

My sister called the Customer Service number on the website.  When the phone menu said questions about an already booked cruise, that is the option she chose. The woman who answered was the one that made the reservations.

[Kellybc]

For our Alaska cruise on the Orion, we had no problem coordinating the excursions. (Luckily, they had just changed the times to book from 3:00 AM eastern time to 3:00 PM). For the specialty dinner reservations, when I realized I could “invite guests”, I thought that would be easier. However, since our friends had already started, then deleted the reservations they had made, the system didn’t recognize the changes. I emailed Viking at the tell us site and a representative called me within two hours. He fixed it all. Enjoy your cruise. 

[lke]

We couldn't get the "invite guests" tab to work, either.  I called Viking and they linked our bookings together, and made our dinner reservations.  We, too, are in different cabin levels, so we booked our excursions, and when the time came for my cousin to book theirs, they chose the same excursions.  Then I called Viking again and asked that we be put on the same bus - not just the same excursion, as sometimes there are many different buses going to the same excursion.

 

[Peregrina651]

8 hours ago, lke said:

Then I called Viking again and asked that we be put on the same bus

 

Buses are assigned as you arrive at the tour meeting place on the day of the tour. You must show up together and check in together in order to be assigned the same bus. You cannot send someone ahead to get the assignment.

 

Also note, that regardless of what you have arranged today, someone will come along and change it. When you board, compare tickets to make sure that you have all been assigned to the same departure time for each tour. If not, head down to the Shorex desk and get it fixed.