Any advice for traveling with friends?

[lackcreativity]

We will be travelling with friends on a Viking cruise this summer. We have often made friends on board, but this will be the first time we will be going with a couple we have known for many years. I anticipate the value of acknowledging up front that we don't have to do everything together, but any other advice? 

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

47 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

We will be travelling with friends on a Viking cruise this summer. We have often made friends on board, but this will be the first time we will be going with a couple we have known for many years. I anticipate the value of acknowledging up front that we don't have to do everything together, but any other advice? 

We, too, are traveling with 2 friends for the first time this summer!  We picked our tours and they picked their tours and we did book one together, but basically we decided that we would catch up in the evenings for cocktails before dinner to go over our day and then probably dine together. 

 

I was wondering what Viking cruisers do when they want to dine in the specialty restaurants with friends in other cabin categories.  We were able to make our (3 per restaurant) dining reservations, but they haven't been able to make theirs yet (1 per restaurant).  We tried to "Invite other guests" when we booked our times, but got an error, probably because they couldn't book theirs yet.  I'm hoping that we can just go up to the host and ask for our table for 2 to be made into a table for 4?

 

[kctwinmommy]

We've done about 5 cruises, all Caribbean, with another couple, sometimes with both our kids too. I think it's best to look at things you absolutely want to do and then decide if you want to do the together. And if not, then just go on your own. It's always nice to catch up at dinner about what you each did. On one we did 2 years ago, only our son came, it was his senior year of HS graduation gift, so for 1/2 our ports, we did something on our own. Our friends wanted to do different things. It was nice to have some family time, but then other days, be the 5 of us, as our son could do without always talking to just us. LOL!

 

I realize Viking is different than our previous line of choice, but I'm sure you'll find times that you want to do things on your own and times you'll want to be together. Just be up front, like you said, with things that are important to you. And have fun!! 😃

[carolinetodd]

35 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

I'm hoping that we can just go up to the host and ask for our table for 2 to be made into a table for 4?

 

We did this on Saturn last month - no problem.  

[WestW]

 

1 hour ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

I'm hoping that we can just go up to the host and ask for our table for 2 to be made into a table for 4?

 

25 minutes ago, carolinetodd said:

We did this on Saturn last month - no problem.  

I suggest checking with dining staff (World Cafe) to change your reservation to 4 rather than assuming they will accomodate your request at the last minute.  We were on the Jupiter in January and a couple tried to change a 2-top to a 4-top at a speciality restaurant (8 PM) and were turned away.  Both Manfredi's and Chef's Table were extremely busy on our cruise (South America/Chilean Fjords). 

[carolinetodd]

Sorry, I wasn't clear - we did this two days ahead of the reservation date.

[lackcreativity]

We will actually be on a Viking river cruise, but this thread is where I spend most of my time on Cruise Critic. I find this cohort of people to be the most helpful. At least we won't have to worry about coordinating dinner reservations!

 

I expect we will enjoy our Lyon & Provence cruise, since we did enjoy the first Viking river cruise we took. However, all our cruises since then have been ocean cruises, so that might take some adjustment. It shouldn't be too hard, since we accepted an offer made when the previously scheduled cruise was overbooked. They have moved us from our planned "aquarium class" cabin to the Explorer's Suite and our friends have the other one. Should be quite the experienced!

[DrKoob]

Back in 2005, we met a bunch of incredible people on a Cruise Critic roll call. We started cruising together. First, there were six of us (three couples), but as we cruised and others saw how much fun we were having, we added a few more each trip, and the new folks started traveling with us as well. We have lost a few over the years (some of passed away, others ghosted us) but we are still going strong. Our biggest group on a cruise was 17 on Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2017. That was fun. 

 

In all that time, we have never had a problem with "doing things together." In many cases, we would plan excursions together that we could never have done alone. Saved us a ton of money and were almost always awesome. We tried to always get together for cocktails and dinner. You should have seen us when there were 17 of us. A table for 10 and one for 7 right next to each other.

 

The one regret we have now is that we don't meet a lot of new people anymore but part of that is that Viking Roll calls are pretty sparse and we used to meet a lot of people who became good friends during early/late seating assigned dining. But very few cruise ships do that any more. 

[Peregrina651]

 

Best advice: you need some time off from one another each day. You can't be joined at the hip all day long. State it clearly early on in the planning process.

[CDNPolar]

We have travelled with friends (and family) many times now on cruise ships.

 

We have one rule only.  We meet every day for dinner.  That's it.  

 

We don't pick daily excursions together, in fact we encourage all to pick what interests them and book it.  If we end up on the same excursion great, but this vacation is not about being together 24/7.  Just dinner and the evening together to share stories and experiences of the day.

 

If we see them going to lunch, we will grab a table together, but if they are already in the dining room and no room at their table, then we eat separately or make new friends at another table.

 

If after coming back from an excursion someone says, let's go back into town after lunch, we will if it suits us, but we don't feel any obligation.  In fact if going back into the town or city is our plan we sometimes won't mention it because everyone has different wants with a shore visit like this and we have our wants mapped out already.  We will slip away and do our thing.

 

We acknowledge this rule at the beginning of the cruise and it has worked well for us.

 

Dinner is always looked forward to and enjoyable.

[TayanaLorna]

We've done 4 cruises with friends and 2 without.  We meet new folks without friends.  With friends we agree to not be joined at the hip.  If we happen to want the same excursion, we book the same time and meet beforehand to be sure we are on the same bus.  We usually have dinner together meeting for cocktails beforehand.  Breakfast, lunch, lectures, tea, port talks we don't usually pre plan to be together.  The best part of cruising with friends was when we had 6 of us.  For that cruise we did private excursions with either 4 or all 6 of us depending on our interests.  This was the SA Round Cape Horn cruise and it was so nice to get away from the busloads and quiet vox.

[lackcreativity]

16 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Best advice: you need some time off from one another each day. You can't be joined at the hip all day long. State it clearly early on in the planning process.

Are you talking about my husband or our friends?😁

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

Are you talking about my husband or our friends?😁

 

Yes.

[mariners]

We have sailed many times with friends and family.  Over the years, I have learned what works best for me (which means it also works best for my DH 🤣). 

 

We frequently choose where, when, and times to meet:  before shore excursions we are taking together; pre-dinner cocktails; Bloody Mary, English Mary, Mexican Mary times; special events; etc. 

 

We also choose times where only one of us will meet with someone else:  yoga, walking the deck, card games, etc. 

 

We agree that if there is a "do not disturb" sign on a door that includes friends and family unless it is an emergency. 

 

We agree that any of us can choose to dine on our own, or not join others, but will always try to give a "heads up" so that other people can make different plans if they choose. 

 

We always choose one night just for the two of us. 

 

If one of us is ill, we make sure that we let others know.  As well, we choose to self isolate if one or both of us is ill until we/unless we know it is not an issue. 

 

We share photographs and take "sticks" with us as it has been the easiest way for us to share the photos while we are onboard rather than trying to do it once we are home.  

 

Wishing you a fabulous cruise and wonderful memories.

[CDNPolar]

15 hours ago, mariners said:

 We agree that if there is a "do not disturb" sign on a door that includes friends and family unless it is an emergency. 

 

 

 

We don't invite friends or family to knock on our door.  In actual fact, they may not even know our cabin number.  

 

If you want to be in touch, WhatsApp is the communication app of choice on the cruise ship and if there are more than 2 others with us, we will put a group chat in place.

 

I would never want a knock on the door - do not disturb sign or not.

[mariners]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We don't invite friends or family to knock on our door.  In actual fact, they may not even know our cabin number.  

 

If you want to be in touch, WhatsApp is the communication app of choice on the cruise ship and if there are more than 2 others with us, we will put a group chat in place.

 

I would never want a knock on the door - do not disturb sign or not.

CDNPolar, your response, which is not the same as my response, is one of the reasons that CC is such a big help to other passengers.  Passengers/posters can choose what works best for them.

 

We never use WhatsApp so that would not be an option for us.

 

The friends we sail with on most sailings have been our friends for over 30 years+.  In fact, the couple we are sailing with on our next Viking Ocean Cruise have been our friends for almost 50 years.  We would not hesitate to give them our cabin number, or have them knock on our cabin door (no sign, of course). 

 

When we sail with family, it is all about spending time sharing experiences with the family.  We respect the privacy that any family member chooses at any time, and that's why a sign on the door, "please do not disturb", works well for us. 

 

I understand why our approach would not work well for other people.  I have shared your post to give a different perspective on group travel to friends and acquaintances we know who sail with others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

45 minutes ago, mariners said:

CDNPolar, your response, which is not the same as my response, is one of the reasons that CC is such a big help to other passengers.  Passengers/posters can choose what works best for them.

 

We never use WhatsApp so that would not be an option for us.

 

The friends we sail with on most sailings have been our friends for over 30 years+.  In fact, the couple we are sailing with on our next Viking Ocean Cruise have been our friends for almost 50 years.  We would not hesitate to give them our cabin number, or have them knock on our cabin door (no sign, of course). 

 

When we sail with family, it is all about spending time sharing experiences with the family.  We respect the privacy that any family member chooses at any time, and that's why a sign on the door, "please do not disturb", works well for us. 

 

I understand why our approach would not work well for other people.  I have shared your post to give a different perspective on group travel to friends and acquaintances we know who sail with others.

 

 

I appreciate the difference between your way and our way of looking at this.

 

I will also say that we are so rarely in our cabin and only there during the day to nap, shower, change, or sleep, so the DND sign would be on the door anytime we are in the cabin.

 

We use WhatsApp around the ship to connect for Tea at 4pm if the mood strikes us or if we are in the lounge and offering to join up for a pre-dinner drink.

 

I guess that the way we cruise, we do not spend time in the cabin where we would be open to visitors at the door.  If we are in the cabin it would not be convenient to answer the door.