A caution regarding booking excursions and specialty dining

[OBCtraveler]

My wife and I are booked on the Viking Sea for January 6, sailing to Manaus Brazil.  We choose our trips according to itinerary and available shore excursions (among other things).

Viking has various stateroom classes and the higher the class the sooner one can book excursions and specialty dining.  I understand this but did not understand the full implications of this policy.

We are booked in a Deluxe Veranda.  One-third of the ship’s staterooms are of a higher category (Penthouse Verandas or Suites).  By the time reservations opened up for shore excursions for the Deluxe Veranda guests, many of the offered shore excursions were already sold out (including one included one).  This means that two-thirds of the guests had no shot at booking many of the excursions that were “offered” in the pre-cruise information provided by Viking.

 

Also, specialty dining (The Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s) was completely booked before we were permitted to book a reservation (I tried minutes after our window “opened”).  Again, the upper one-third snared all the reservations meaning the other two-thirds are unable to make specialty dining reservations.  I understand from Viking that once I am on board the ship, I can talk to someone who can squeeze us into the specialty restaurants but I don’t know what flexibility there will be regarding dates and times.  Same with the sold-out included tour – we can check once on board and Viking will make additional spots available.  But why can’t they do these things before hand and save the anxiety in hassle?

 

[knoxclone]

Currently on star in lowest level stateroom. We were shut out of most everything ( mainly because I was traveling the day slots opened). Once on board. We were able to book everything we wanted and have eaten at manfredi 2 x and have Rez  for chefs table tomorrow.  It’s all a juggling act and guest change thier mind.  As far as included you are guaranteed so they will

asd in more guides if needed.  That’s been my experience. 

[lackcreativity]

We have completed four Viking Ocean cruises sailing in the Veranda cabins, so we are the last to book in excursions and have no opportunity to book restaurant reservations at all before boarding. On each of our trips we have been able to visit Chef's Table and Manfredi's at least once and usually twice during a 15 day cruise. We have to be flexible with days and times, but for us that is not a problem. Based on our experience, I would suggest not to stress over that. Hopefully you will enjoy the Restaurant and World Cafe as much as we do, and then be pleased where ever you dine.

Excursions can be a bit more of a problem in regard to the optional excursions. The included ones you are guaranteed a spot, and if the agents on the phone at Viking cannot get you booked on that one, then I recommend you email tellus@viking.com  (hope I am remembering that correctly, and if not someone will correct me). Give them your booking number, date of travel, your specific cruise and explain the situation. They will call you back within a few days. 

For optional excursions, I will say staffing issues and a shortage of guides may limit the choices more than in the past. However, keep checking back on MVJ as Viking often adds an additional bus or people change their minds and spots open up. We have had surprisingly good luck securing spots on optional excursions even from our Veranda cabin time slot.

Good luck.

 

[WNcruiser]

There is no "caution" needed. If you took just a couple minutes to look at previous threads you will find many that talk about this subject. You will have no issue getting in to the specialty restaurants once on board. You will not need to be squeezed in. We also had a DV and chefs table was full when our slot opened. We could book any night of the cruise once on board. Many nights had 6 or 6:30 open. Keep checking MVJ as your cruise approaches as openings kept popping in. 

 

Everyone is guaranteed to get on the included excursions so no need to worry about that either. 

[harbourside]

You are all missing the point.  Regardless of whether you can get restaurant booking on board, DV cabins are guaranteed 1 booking in each restaurant 60 days prior to the cruise.  If  bookings are available when on board,  then they should be able to be booked prior to boarding as per Vikings guarantee for DV cabins.  Otherwise, remove these false claims from cabin information.

 

[Peregrina651]

Shorex since the restart have been difficult -- extremely difficult. We are ready to get back to cruising but the the tourism infrastructure is not quite ready for us. Drivers and guides left the industry in droves during the pandemic and have been slow to return (because they need full time employment).

 

There are a number of things that you can do before you leave 7(?) weeks from now:

 

1. Viking does not keep waiting lists for shorex. E-mail the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com (don't bother with the chat or the call center). Tell them how disappointed you are that excursions you wanted (give a list of those you want to book) are sold out and ask them if will be adding more seats. Include your booking number and a phone number.

 

2. In the same e-mail, ask them about dining reservation. Tell them that you are equally disappointed that you were unable to secure any reservations of the specialty restaurants, especially since you are guaranteed 1 advanced in each restaurant. Ask them if they can help you get those reservations. 

 

Tellus@vikingcruises.com will do what they can to help you but even they can not guarantee results.

 

3. In the meantime, keep checking back on MVJ/Shorex. Viking will not announce when and if they add additional capacity. Moreover, people change their minds and places become available. Keep checking. If you find just one seat, book it (it can be cancelled up to 36 hours before the tour) and then contact Viking and see if you get another seat. Just remember, 8 days before you sail is the last day to make changes on MVJ; at that point MVJ becomes "read only" and no changes can be made until you board.

[photopro2]

17 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

You will have no issue getting in to the specialty restaurants once on board. You will not need to be squeezed in.

That was our experience previously. However on our most recent cruise (September 2022) getting the reservations that we wanted required a great deal of determination and good natured persistence on my part. I did very much feel that we were being "squeezed in".

Once seated in the restaurants there always seemed to be empty tables around and adequate wait staff, something that was particularly noticeable in the Chef's Table. This leads me to the suspicion that Viking are currently having difficulty recruiting sufficient experienced chefs to maintain the volume of service in the speciality restaurants that they did pre-Covid. As a result it seems they are penalising DV category passengers by reneging on the promise of one reservation in each speciality restaurant prior to boarding.

15 hours ago, harbourside said:

If  bookings are available when on board,  then they should be able to be booked prior to boarding as per Vikings guarantee for DV cabins.

Well put, I could not agree with you more!

[Capt_BJ]

Everyone is guaranteed to get on the included excursions so no need to worry about that either. 

 

This has been my experience both river and Ocean 

 

BUT

 

On Ocean there are often multiple departure times for the 'included' and those able to make reservations earlier CAN block out a departure from those 'less equal' <according to Orwell>

 

++++++++

our prior experience on V Ocean in DV left us confident enuf to book V for our next with no worries about disappointments of something missed ..... but true our prior experience means no surprises . . . 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Capt_BJ

[CCWineLover]

20 hours ago, harbourside said:

Regardless of whether you can get restaurant booking on board, DV cabins are guaranteed 1 booking in each restaurant 60 days prior to the cruise. 

 

I beg to differ with you.  I don't believe this is true.  Yes you are guaranteed an included excursion for each port, but NOT guaranteed a pre-booked specialty restaurant.   You certainly will be able to get reservations immediately upon boarding as so many are held back for onboard booking.

 

We are the example.  Our upcoming cruise in December had ZERO times available for any restaurant for any of the 14 nights and we have a DV2 (and we checked immediately when they were "available").  I called Viking and they assured me there were non available at this time but that there were so many that we could book the moment we got onboard, and at just about any time we wanted.  So we are NOT guaranteed a pre-booking.

 

 

[KBs mum]

We book ES and never book any dining before departure, and rarely book a Viking excursion. The ones we do book are for purely logistical reasons, such as a lack of available public transport and taxis being more expensive. Independent is allways better if practical 

 

Manfredis and the Chefs Table are not good enough to get worried about, they are only a couple of the options, including eating ashore. 

 

If you can't get something you are contractually entitled to, contact the service provider, in this case Viking. If that doesn't work report back, somebody will likely have a workaround or a contact

[vegasjandk]

I just randomly went on My Viking Journey, and to my surprise the previously unavailable specialty restaurant options were open for dates and times that work for us, so we booked.  We thought we would have to wait until we were onboard, so this was a pleasant surprise.  Our cruise leaves in 24 days.

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

but NOT guaranteed a pre-booked specialty restaurant. 

 

But that isn't what what it says on the Viking website. So who is right?

 

 

 

[NavyCruiser]

Just checked our mvj, it says we're 58 days out.

But both Manfredis & chefs table still still says reservations not available...

[lackcreativity]

21 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Once seated in the restaurants there always seemed to be empty tables around and adequate wait staff, something that was particularly noticeable in the Chef's Table.

I have seen this in the Chef's Table on every one of visits there, even pre-Covid. I have never seen that restaurant full. I often wonder how many people book reservations there and then change their mind without bothering to cancel the reservation.

[claranda]

We took our first Viking Ocean cruise last year and were surprised to see that because we were in a Penthouse Junior Suite we had THREE guaranteed slots in EACH speciality restaurant. I therefore booked three time for Manfredis and three for Chefs Table - on a SEVEN night cruise. This is ridiculous. On Seabourn or  Regent Seven Seas I can book just ONE reservation at each speciality restaurant on a seven night cruise. I can then try if I wish to get another slot once we’re on board. This is fair.
 

Viking needs to acknowledge that this topic is - judging by the posts here - the one that causes most consternation amongst new and existing customers. Taking something away from customers is never easy, but allowing those in PS/ES, say, three guaranteed slots in total and four in total for the OS, would open things up. V could have one guaranteed, PS/VS two.  Or something similar. This would be in line with other cruise lines. Someone on this forum will surely have an algorithm showing how this would work?

[CCWineLover]

12 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

But that isn't what what it says on the Viking website. So who is right?

 

 

 

You know - I don't know Peregrina.  I had thought this was the case too, but twice we've had this situation where there were non available at 60 days for our DV rooms.   This is no doubt left over from before COVID.

As noted, post COVID, they have so many tables open upon boarding, and have closed off the pre-boarding booking availability so much, that their web statement no longer seems to apply.

 

Wondering if it is staff issues?  Or they wanted to space people about (not ever have a full restaurant) or whatever . . .

Again, I asked Viking when on board and they told me they only do about 30-50% of the tables for pre-booking.  No wonder it fills up before 60 days.  They also said that about 50% of reservations do get cancelled or have no-shows.  That is why there is never an issue getting in.

[Peregrina651]

33 minutes ago, claranda said:

We took our first Viking Ocean cruise last year and were surprised to see that because we were in a Penthouse Junior Suite we had THREE guaranteed slots in EACH speciality restaurant. I therefore booked three time for Manfredis and three for Chefs Table - on a SEVEN night cruise. This is ridiculous. On Seabourn or  Regent Seven Seas I can book just ONE reservation at each speciality restaurant on a seven night cruise. I can then try if I wish to get another slot once we’re on board. This is fair.
 

Viking needs to acknowledge that this topic is - judging by the posts here - the one that causes most consternation amongst new and existing customers. Taking something away from customers is never easy, but allowing those in PS/ES, say, three guaranteed slots in total and four in total for the OS, would open things up. V could have one guaranteed, PS/VS two.  Or something similar. This would be in line with other cruise lines. Someone on this forum will surely have an algorithm showing how this would work?

 

When Viking Oceans was in its design stage, they did not envision itineraries shorter than two weeks. When they introduced one week cruises a few years later, they did not bother to change things.

 

12 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

hey only do about 30-50% of the tables for pre-booking.

 

If this is true, then they don't have to revamp the entire program, they just need to change the guarantee for those on the shorter cruises and open up more tables for pre-booking on all sailings.

 

And, of course, if we are really upset about this and want to do something, we can express our annoyance directly to Viking: tellus@vikingcruises.com.

[janetcbl]

46 minutes ago, claranda said:

We took our first Viking Ocean cruise last year and were surprised to see that because we were in a Penthouse Junior Suite we had THREE guaranteed slots in EACH speciality restaurant. I therefore booked three time for Manfredis and three for Chefs Table - on a SEVEN night cruise. This is ridiculous. On Seabourn or  Regent Seven Seas I can book just ONE reservation at each speciality restaurant on a seven night cruise. I can then try if I wish to get another slot once we’re on board. This is fair.
 

Viking needs to acknowledge that this topic is - judging by the posts here - the one that causes most consternation amongst new and existing customers. Taking something away from customers is never easy, but allowing those in PS/ES, say, three guaranteed slots in total and four in total for the OS, would open things up. V could have one guaranteed, PS/VS two.  Or something similar. This would be in line with other cruise lines. Someone on this forum will surely have an algorithm showing how this would work?

We also had a PJS and booked 6 reservations. After one meal at each, we cancelled the remaining four…Nothing wrong with them, we thought the food, etc., was excellent, but we preferred The Restaurant or the World Cafe.

[CCWineLover]

3 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

We also had a PJS and booked 6 reservations. After one meal at each, we cancelled the remaining four…Nothing wrong with them, we thought the food, etc., was excellent, but we preferred The Restaurant or the World Cafe.

Thanks.  That helps explain why, combined with less reservations open to start with, that reservations are often "full" before DV people even have access.

Perhaps like Peregrina says, just a tweak in their programs/processes would help - and it is up to us to let Viking know how we fell about it.  I plan to communicate this several times in the upcoming weeks and on our December cruise.  Hopefully others will as well.

[FetaCheese]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

Thanks.  That helps explain why, combined with less reservations open to start with, that reservations are often "full" before DV people even have access.

Perhaps like Peregrina says, just a tweak in their programs/processes would help - and it is up to us to let Viking know how we fell about it.  I plan to communicate this several times in the upcoming weeks and on our December cruise.  Hopefully others will as well.

CCwine,

 

Are re you on Sea for TA ?  Saw your post on its roll call.  

[KBs mum]

The impression I get is that there are a higher number of new to Viking cruisers than in the past, who think booking is essential to get table service, combined with the covid booking needed chaos. 

People who aren't new to Viking seem less likely to bother booking dining. 

 

[KBs mum]

2 hours ago, claranda said:

We took our first Viking Ocean cruise last year and were surprised to see that because we were in a Penthouse Junior Suite we had THREE guaranteed slots in EACH speciality restaurant. I therefore booked three time for Manfredis and three for Chefs Table - on a SEVEN night cruise. This is ridiculous. On Seabourn or  Regent Seven Seas I can book just ONE reservation at each speciality restaurant on a seven night cruise. I can then try if I wish to get another slot once we’re on board. This is fair.
 

Viking needs to acknowledge that this topic is - judging by the posts here - the one that causes most consternation amongst new and existing customers. Taking something away from customers is never easy, but allowing those in PS/ES, say, three guaranteed slots in total and four in total for the OS, would open things up. V could have one guaranteed, PS/VS two.  Or something similar. This would be in line with other cruise lines. Someone on this forum will surely have an algorithm showing how this would work?

Easiest would be x guaranteed per seven days, say 2 for a 7 night, 4 for 14 nights, devided 50/50 manfredis/chefs table. 

[Haworth]

14 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

The impression I get is that there are a higher number of new to Viking cruisers than in the past, who think booking is essential to get table service, combined with the covid booking needed chaos. 

People who aren't new to Viking seem less likely to bother booking dining. 

 

Totally agree, our thoughts entirely, bookings open on Friday for our January trip we will go with the flow, besides it’s the Panama Canal and Central America cruise, we will eat most/all meals in the outside part of the World Cafe and grab a chefs table or two if we can and once we have seen the menus

[millybess]

2 hours ago, janetcbl said:

We also had a PJS and booked 6 reservations. After one meal at each, we cancelled the remaining four…Nothing wrong with them, we thought the food, etc., was excellent, but we preferred The Restaurant or the World Cafe.

We’re the same. We might do Chefs Table once, Manfredis twice and we usually cancel the rest. We enjoy dinner on the Aquavit, especially during sailaway, and then depending on what we have going on the the next day, we like to spend the evening in the Explorers Lounge. 

[CCWineLover]

56 minutes ago, Haworth said:

Totally agree, our thoughts entirely, bookings open on Friday for our January trip we will go with the flow, besides it’s the Panama Canal and Central America cruise, we will eat most/all meals in the outside part of the World Cafe and grab a chefs table or two if we can and once we have seen the menus

Haworth - agree with you!  We are on the Dec 21 Panama/Central America cruise on Star.  Will be doing the same thing - eating most/all meals outside of the World Cafe.  Will also do a CT or two (or three) once on board to see the menus.

Will be odd though to have warm days that end at 5 PM !!