Viking Homelands 2022 Season

[Louise257]

On 5/30/2022 at 12:15 PM, sugarside said:

In the UK and Europe basically the only areas where tipping is done it is on excursion trips with a guide and if on coach then the driver is included.

This is historic as I can remember as a child going on church trips a hat being passed round the coach to put your donation in.

We then did three cheers for the driver followed by a round of applause.👏👏👏

Here in the UK we always tip taxi drivers and in restaurants too.

[Heidi13]

31 minutes ago, Louise257 said:

Here in the UK we always tip taxi drivers and in restaurants too.

 

It may have changed since I left UK.

 

As cabbies, provided they didn't try to pad the fare, the tip was rounding up the fare to the next quid. In restaurants, excellent service received about a 10% tip, poor service got nothing.

 

Have the standards changed appreciably, as we are flying over in November for a couple of weeks, prior to the Trans-Atlantic.

[DGHOC]

Andy service is very often included at the bottom of the bill in restaurants here now and is usually 12-15%, however if not 10-15% depending on your experience. Taxi drivers and hairdressers between 10-15%.

[duquephart]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Regardless of tipping culture of the country, we find that most often the tour guides that we have are excellent and they take great pride in delivering a great experience.  Often these are some of the lower paid positions and they have been adversely impacted by Covid without the same tourist flow and they may not have been working over the past couple of years.  We feel that they should always be given some small amount.  We feel fortunate that we can spend $100 on excursion tips over a 15 day cruise and positively impact the guide/driver's life in some small way.

 

It's been suggested elsewhere that Europeans in what Americans consider tipped jobs consider themselves professionals and might even find a tip insulting in that it suggests they have a "lower paid position." 

[janetcbl]

48 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

It's been suggested elsewhere that Europeans in what Americans consider tipped jobs consider themselves professionals and might even find a tip insulting in that it suggests they have a "lower paid position." 

That is what I was told over my many years working in Scandinavia. It was/is considered an insult if you tried to tip housekeepers, waitstaff, etc.

[Mrs Miggins]

3 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

It's been suggested elsewhere that Europeans in what Americans consider tipped jobs consider themselves professionals and might even find a tip insulting in that it suggests they have a "lower paid position." 

Not sure you can lump all 'Europeans' together.   In the UK we tip in restaurants (if service is not included on the bill), taxis, hairdressers, beauticians etc. This would normally be 10 - 15%. We also "give a drink" to tradesmen who come to the house and have offered good service eg  most recently tree surgeons, plumbers, carpet fitter, sky tv engineer etc.  In the pub it is normal to say " and one for yourself" when buying drinks - not every time of course.

 

I do agree that in some countries, people tip even less than we do in the UK.  We do have minimum wage legislation.  Other countries rates may be higher or lower which may affect the tipping culture.

[Beaudy]

A few additional random comments.

Dining - "Upscale" dining is available in 3 locations -- Chef's Table, Manfredi's Italian Restaurant, and The Restaurant. The first two have limited space and limited reservations. Of the two, Chef's Table is special. They have had 5 different menus (usually 3 nights in a row) over the 14 days, and we tried two (California and Mexico). Both were surprising (not what we expected) and exceptional. I wish we had tried others. Food was well presented, well prepared, and tasty, and service was impeccable.

Hint: Reservations are widely available when you first board the ship. Check out the menus and make your reservations for Chef's Table after boarding.

Manfredi's Italian Restaurant is like your local hometown family Italian restaurant. It's fine -- more like comfort food than fine dining. 

The Restaurant is much larger and is the "default" nice restaurant. Featured items on menu change daily, but a few standards are available every day. But note that almost everything on the nightly menu at The Restaurant is also available in the World Cafe. Do you want to be served in a more formal setting or are you okay serving yourself? And do you want to dress up (a little) or stay in jeans?

BTW, Viking policy is "no jeans"" in the 3 nicer restaurants, but we didn't see anyone turned away. 

 

Laundry - 4 free washers / dryers and 2 small ironing boards / irons were available in the self-serve laundry room on our deck. Detergent is provided (dispensed at the press of a button). Machines were readily available. Only thing you might want to bring is dryer sheets (.e.g, Bounce).

 

Entertainment - Leo Ward (magician) was fabulous. Very skilled, very humorous. We attended his shows in person. We watched some of the other evening shows (typically running from 9 to 10 p.m.), mostly musical reviews, on the Live TV from our cabin, so you have the choice.

[Beaudy]

Two more random tidbits on our last night:

COVID-19 Testing: We (passengers) have been spitting into a plastic test tube each morning for COVID testing. Staff also submit a test every day. You don't hear results unless you test positive. On the last evening, every passenger who tested negative in the morning receives a letter affirming the negative PCR test. This letter is required for getting back into the USA.

Credit for booking a future cruise while on the current cruise: At least on our cruise the offer was $200 on-board credit per passenger 

[Beaudy]

Credit for booking a future cruise while on the current cruise: At least on our cruise the offer for booking a future cruse was $200 on-board credit per passenger (could be used either during current cruise or booked cruise), plus credit against purchase price of 10% of purchase price of originally booked cruise (for many of us, that is 10% of whatever we originally spent for the 2020 cruise that did not happen).

Happy sailing to all!

[duquephart]

12 minutes ago, Beaudy said:

Credit for booking a future cruise while on the current cruise: At least on our cruise the offer for booking a future cruse was $200 on-board credit per passenger (could be used either during current cruise or booked cruise), plus credit against purchase price of 10% of purchase price of originally booked cruise (for many of us, that is 10% of whatever we originally spent for the 2020 cruise that did not happen).

Happy sailing to all!

 

When did the $250 pp for the loss of Gulf of Finland ports happen?

[Beaudy]

$250 pp credit was applied at the beginning of this cruise -- could cover the $210 pp tips, massages, shore excursions, or any other expenses.

[janetcbl]

Too bad if you want to book a transfer and you arrive a day early. With the uncertainty of travel these days, we booked our own flights to arrive a day early into Heathrow and planned  to stay overnight at a hotel next to Terminal 2.  I learned today that Viking  refuses to transfer you if your flight does not arrive the same day as the  Viking Air flight! That makes absolutely no sense! Anyone else run into this problem?

[CDNPolar]

You only get Viking transfers if you book your flights through Viking.   Even if you arrive the same day you don’t qualify for a transfer if you book air yourself.   Same when leaving the ship. You don’t get a transfer to the airport if you book yourself.  

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

You only get Viking transfers if you book your flights through Viking.   Even if you arrive the same day you don’t qualify for a transfer if you book air yourself.   Same when leaving the ship. You don’t get a transfer to the airport if you book yourself.  

Not true when leaving the ship without Viking Air. You can sign up for a transfer and pay for it.

Edited June 7, 2022 by LindaS272

[janetcbl]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

You only get Viking transfers if you book your flights through Viking.   Even if you arrive the same day you don’t qualify for a transfer if you book air yourself.   Same when leaving the ship. You don’t get a transfer to the airport if you book yourself.  

I was told by Viking (email) that as long as you arrive and/or leave the same day as the Viking flights, you can book the transfer. We booked our return flight the same day as the Viking flights  and have the transfer. We arrive a day early (that was the one Viking cancelled). It took me less than 15 minutes to book a hotel and arrange for an airport  car transfer to Greenwich.

[CDNPolar]

This is contrary to what I have been told by Viking Reps in the past, so perhaps this is new?  My information was not dreamed up, it came directly from Viking.  I was told that was a "perk" of using Viking Air.

 

How do you book the transfer and how much does it cost?

[cmaasfamily]

57 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

This is contrary to what I have been told by Viking Reps in the past, so perhaps this is new?  My information was not dreamed up, it came directly from Viking.  I was told that was a "perk" of using Viking Air.

 

How do you book the transfer and how much does it cost?

MVJ - Air - Transfer Request Form. $49/per person each way. Its been around since at least 2016 because we used it then. (and will be again in a couple of weeks)

[oldgeez]

4 hours ago, cmaasfamily said:

MVJ - Air - Transfer Request Form. $49/per person each way. Its been around since at least 2016 because we used it then. (and will be again in a couple of weeks)

We've used it multiple times as well. Depends on the city; sometimes the $98 compares very unfavorably with bus, train, or taxi options. Other times it's well worth the convenience and certainty of knowing where you're going.

[janetcbl]

1 minute ago, oldgeez said:

We've used it multiple times as well. Depends on the city; sometimes the $98 compares very unfavorably with bus, train, or taxi options. Other times it's well worth the convenience and certainty of knowing where you're going.

As it turns out (our transfer was cancelled by Viking as we arrive a day early), our transfer, by private car, costs less than the Viking transfer for both of us would have cost.

[Clay Clayton]

54 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

As it turns out (our transfer was cancelled by Viking as we arrive a day early), our transfer, by private car, costs less than the Viking transfer for both of us would have cost.

That has usually been our experience also. And you don’t have to sit on the bus waiting for stragglers!

[duquephart]

Some friends of ours (of Swedish descent) have highly recommended Sjätte Tunnan Medieval Restaurant in Stockholm. Has anyone here had an experience?

[CDNPolar]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:05 AM, cmaasfamily said:

MVJ - Air - Transfer Request Form. $49/per person each way. Its been around since at least 2016 because we used it then. (and will be again in a couple of weeks)

So, you are suggesting that I go to MVJ and to the Air tab and I will find this form?  This is not available on MVJ login and have never seen it before.  We are very comfortable with MVJ and all its components.

 

Does is matter if you are using a TA or not using a TA?  We have both situations.  I have one now that we have booked our own air, but this form is not available.  We have searched the site and it does not exist.

[cmaasfamily]

I can't address whether TA is a factor; we have not used. Here's a screenshot from "my" MVJ. See the sentence at the bottom... "To purchase transfers..."

 

No idea why you wouldn't be seeing it. Could be TA. Could be Canada. I'm sure you could call or chat with Viking and they'd help.

 

 

[janetcbl]

Good news! Hope it’s true!  
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/us-to-end-pre-departure-testing-requirement/index.html

[duquephart]

9 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

Good news! Hope it’s true!  
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/10/politics/us-to-end-pre-departure-testing-requirement/index.html

 

That would be a welcome deal for us (leaving a week from Sunday). Now ---- kill the daily testing!