DrKoob

You are correct about six, but they won't let you bring hard liquor. One of our party loves her Gin and Tonics but she has to pay $16 for each and every one of them even though there is tonic in her stateroom refrig. V would have let her bring on a fifth or two. And if you want to drink YOUR wine with dinner O charges you $25 to open and pour it. V charges you $0.00.

If you ever have the time and money, take X's Galapagos cruise on Flora. Out of 30+ cruises, it was the best. Best ship, best service, best shore trips. Incredible.

You are very welcome. Writing and taking pictures is something I love doing. Especially about travel. If you haven't seen my photos on my blog, you should take a look at jimbellomo.com. We just booked another cruise for 2025 so I guess that shows we like it enough to give it another try. the dinner we had in Toscana last night was enough to make us do that.

Great to hear from you. We got bumped out of Saguenay due to Vista not being "waste-water certified. Mariner has been pretty much following us back to NYC.

Considered them (and Seabourn, WIndstar, etc.) but not interested for a couple of reasons. The biggest being price but also the size of their ships. Much prefer 900-1000. More choices.

For wine yes they do. But not for hard liquor so if I want to bring a bottle of gin to make G&Ts, forget it. Also, if I take one of those bottles of wine up to a restaurant I have to pay $25 to have them open it. On Viking, that's free.

I promise to do that when I sum this up but here's a taste of my opinion. I use what I call the "Steve Rule" when it comes to evaluating specialty restaurants. My brother Steve wrote in his evaluation of our Viking cruise last September, "I always ask myself, it I dined in this restaurant at home, would I come back again." The answer to that with both restaurants on any Viking ship is NO. Manfredi's and Chef's Table were not impressive at all. But last night we ate dinner in Toscana and I can tell you as a grandson of a native Sicilian, it was one of the finest Italian meals I have ever eaten and we would go back in a minute if we could get a reservation. More later, I promise.

Switching is just a pain. There are seven of us together trying to coordinate meals and shore excursions. If someone is logged off, they don't get the text. Also, doing these posts and answering questions takes quite a bit of time. My bride does NOT like being offline that much. So, I get up at 4:30 a.m. to write. As to what I need the space for, I am tired of bumping into that bed every night when I get up in the dark. And no, I can't leave the nightlight on; we need complete darkness to sleep. On my side of the bed (close to the bathroom), there is less than 18 inches of space. Probably closer to one foot. And if you want to know why we spend time in our rooms, how about getting quarantined? It still happens. It happened to us last year. I want a room at least half the size of my bedroom at home. Right now, I don't have time to do the total calculations but I promise I will before the final post on this thread. I do know (I am a travel professional) that they just about equate out when you put them all together. That said, we just booked a 2025 cruise.

We are in an A-category stateroom on Vista and we can hear the TV next door so we assume they can hear ours. The real key here is not giving access to the Closed Captions. That needs to be done. They don't HAVE to do it because they are not US registered and under the laws of the United States where they would be forced to. Sadly, it's not an easy thing to give you the ability to access the Closed Caption commands on the remote without giving you access to other television menu items. And they don't want to do that.

Thanks a bunch said those of us with insomnia.

I do need to get around to my ship tour which would have answered your question. Yes, there is an Artist's Loft and yes, there are classes pretty much every day with an artist-in-residence.

I agree. We were trying to find some way to turn that on last night. But the remote we have does not allow you to access the TV menu, only the Oceania menu.

I have not tried the O spa. Not really a spa guy but one thing to note is that much of the Vista's therapy pools and hot tubs are outdoors as opposed to the indoor ones on Viking ships. And we didn't miss the Nespresso...not our cup of tea 😜. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

We made it into Bar Harbor and got to see it all! The headline says it all for our group. When we did a New England cruise in 2018, we could not get into Bar Harbor due to sea conditions. The winds and the waves were really blowing. And when our buddy Mike went earlier than that, it was in the middle of the last government shutdown, so he was not able to get into Acadia National Park. But this time...calm seas and a fully-funded federal government (at least for now). Starting next year, Bar Harbor is limiting the number of cruise ship passengers that will be allowed to disembark all vessels to 1,000 per day. Many cruise lines have taken Bar Harbor off their itineraries. Can you imagine being on a LARGE ship (like Caribbean Princess with more than 3,000 passengers who was in port with us yesterday) and being told you couldn't get off the ship until someone from the first 1,000 came back on board? So, yes, we were thrilled to be able to visit Bar Harbor. Our day started with an immigration line. We had been informed the day before that Customs and Immigration agents would board the ship at 8:30 am when we arrived in Bar Harbor (Our first US port) and that everyone on board would need to come up to the Horizons Lounge on deck 14 forward and meet with them face-to-face. We had to bring our keycards and our passports. We had a tour of Acadia National Park with Oli's Trolley booked at 10:30, and rather than be late or miss it entirely, Mike called and rebooked us for the 12:30 tour. From past experience, we knew this could be a long slog. The letter about the inspection stated that we would be called in deck by deck but that Oceania shore excursions would go first. We imagined long lines in the hallways when they announced a deck could go, followed by long lines at the elevators. Happily, that is not what happened. First, we got into Bar Harbor early and they were ready to start the inspection at 8:00, so we gained half an hour then. Then we went to eat breakfast at Baristas, which is also on deck 14. They started with the lower decks first, so Jocelyn, being on deck eight, was the first one of our group to be called. My brother walked her over to the line and texted us back that there was no one there (Decks 7 and 8 were just about over) and that the young crew member supervising the line said that we could come right through. So we jumped up from breakfast and walked over, expecting at least a small line. And there was a small line for some of the people on board—the US citizens. In fact, there was NO line for us. We were in and out of the entire thing in less than five minutes. It was amazingly organized and totally efficient. The Immigration office had sent a number of people, and they just looked at our passport, looked at us, we got a green dot on our keycard, and we were good to go. I should add that there was about a 15-20 minute wait if you were a non-US citizen. Now we were done and ready to go, and we realized that we could have easily made that 10:30 tour. But that was OK. Mike, Cathy, Steve and Jamie headed into the village on the first tender, and Kathleen, Jocelyn and I waited about an hour and then took the tender in. One major rant about some of our fellow passengers—when a cruise line tells you that there is a MANDATORY immigration interview that you MUST DO before you can get off the ship in any port on the rest of the cruise—BELIEVE THEM! Do the interview. As usually happens, right around 10:30, when everyone else had gone through the interview process, the cruise director started making announcements asking those who had not come up (about 30) to please come immediately so that the Immigration officers could get off the ship. They not only had to make this announcement three times, they had to call out individuals who had not shown up. I heard people talking later that they thought because they weren't going to get off in Bar Harbor, they didn't have to do the interview. But this interview cleared them not only for Bar Harbor but for Portland, Martha's Vineyard, NYC, Charleston and finally, Miami. People, please—get with the program. We met the early tenderers (is that a word 😁) for lunch at a really great place right at the end of the pier—West Street Cafe. I need to say a word here about this place. The food was great, the service superb, it was clean as a whistle, and we had a great time at a big round spot on the end of the bar, just about a perfect port lunch. We all highly recommend it. Mike and Cathy had the clam chowder and blueberry pie and said it was a great New England culinary experience. I should also mention the tender ride into the harbor. Being the first of three ships to anchor and be ready to start tendering meant we got the prime landing spot right at the base of the village. It also meant Vista got the prime anchoring spot. The other two ships that were anchored were much further out, and while our tender trip was under 10 minutes, theirs was at least 20 or more. And because the Immigration inspection was faster than most thought it would be, it was easy just to walk down and get on a tender. Once done with lunch, it was on to Oli's Trolley (using that word in a singular fashion makes you think there is just one trolley—don't worry, there's more) for our tour of Acadia National Park. We had chosen the 2.5-hour tour. They also did an early morning tour that lasts 4 hours, but it is basically the same tour with longer stops. Ours had 15-minute stops, theirs 30. To be honest, 15 minutes sounds like a long time, but it isn't. I just about had to really run at every stop to get the pictures I wanted. The stop where I also used the restroom was a mad dash. Our guide was a very nice man named Fred, who got us on board and off right on time. The roads were PACKED, but he kept us moving, and we did the entire tour and returned only 10 minutes late. I would detail the tour for you, but my photos will do a better job. I think I did OK with them, considering two things. First, we had fog yesterday, and it was a bit cold. That meant that instead of using the open-air trolley, they used one that had windows. By the time we got there and the fact that almost everyone had a jacket or coat (that they quickly shed on the hot trolley), they could have used the open-air variety. Which, for me as a photographer, would have made for a lot more photo opportunities. Shooting through glass is not fun. Your biggest enemy is reflections from the glass. Or if the glass is dirty at all, the camera focuses on the glass window and not on the subject that is far beyond it. The windows on this trolley did open a little bit (just enough for me to stick my lens out), but I couldn't get low enough to see what I was shooting through my viewfinder. So when we stopped for just a minute or two so our guide could point something out, I got very few shots. But I am happy with what I did get. My best fall foliage photo was shot while the bus was going around 35 miles an hour, and I just pointed at the scene I was seeing and clicked the shutter a bunch of times, hoping that one of the shots would turn out to be a good one. I call that photography by pure luck. You will have to judge for yourself by my photos if you stop by my blog at www.jimbellomo.com. That was just about the end of our day. After the Trolley ride, everyone except Mike and I went back to the ship. Mike went to take a photo of the ship, and I went to roam the streets of the village. I got a few shots, as you saw above. Our day finished up with an amazing meal in Toscana, Vista's Italian specialty restaurant. More about that in an entire food post coming later. One last note: while I was coming back on the tender, I got a call from our tour company in Portland, our next stop. We were supposed to do a small boat tour around the islands off Portland. They informed me that because Hurricane Phillipe was headed to Portland, they were canceling all tours. That made me both sad and apprehensive until I got back to the ship and looked at the National Weather Service website, and then I was just perplexed. Here's the map from this morning. As you can see, the hurricane (now a tropical storm) is not scheduled to be near Portland until 8:00 a.m. on Sunday. We are currently in Portland Harbor, and we have had no bad weather as of yet (it is supposed to rain). Oh well, they gave us a full refund, but now we have to find something to do in Portland today. I guess I better get on that—more tomorrow.

If you have read my posts from the start, the reason I am making this comparison is that we are trying to find a new cruise line. We like being loyal customers. We like knowing where things are on a ship—it makes us feel like we are home when we cruise. We have boiled our choice down to O and VO. So comparing the cost depends on what kind of cruiser you are. If you are what I call a "bare-bones" cruiser, you are right. O will be cheaper, but if you want or need the extras, it's about even. With V, I get all the internet I want as many devices as I can bring. With V, I get a FREE shore excursion in every port. I agree that you can get inside staterooms cheaper, but V has no insides—every stateroom has a verandah. If you don't drink, O wins every time, but we do, and with V, I get free wine or beer at lunch and dinner. V's cocktail package and the price of individual cocktails are about half of what O has charged me on this trip. And if I want to have a cocktail or glass of wine in my stateroom before dinner, in PV class and above, V gives me free spirits in my mini-bar. Plus, they treat me as an adult and allow me to bring as much wine or hard liquor on board as I want. And there is never a corkage fee in any of the dining rooms. We did 21 days in the Med last year, and so far, the cost for us has been about even for 14 of those days with all the V perks. Not saying I like V better. But I liked my stateroom on V a LOT better. In comparison to my Concierge Veranda, it was huge. So you would need to compare a PV on V with a suite on O to get the same size and the same perks. And so far, the food on O is about a mile and a half ahead of V.

You are correct. Don’t remember there being any windows at all. Polo Grille was surrounded by windows. Beautiful space. We are doing Toscana tonight.

No, the rule is if you have one booked and paid for, you can then have any others you book have six month final payment due dates.

We have one cruise paid for with Viking right now. We have two others booked. We don't have to make final payment until six months prior to those cruises. If your TA or Viking rep can't do this for you, try another one.

Pizza Night on Vista Last night (after our Shelburne adventure), we decided to have a pizza party. In the evening, Vista's Wave's Grille (where you can get burgers, paninis and hot dogs during the day) turns into a pizzeria. So we decided to grab our usual table in the back of the buffet and have a pizza night. It was awesome. We started with salads from the buffet. Then we headed to the pizzeria to order. They make eight different pizzas and will customize those for you. So we ordered seven of them, plus a BBQ beef flatbread (that was amazing), some Chianti, and a beer for Mike, and we had a great meal. I have never tried so many different kinds of pizza and I have never been so stuffed. But everyone agreed it was a superb way to do dinner. It's just something to think about doing on Vista.

Shelburne—the little village that couldn't Yesterday, we were in the tiny village of Shelburne, Nova Scotia...for about 20 minutes. In fact, I think the time we stopped there was less than the time we took to tender in from the ship. Okay, I am exaggerating. But not by much. But even in his daily talk, our cruise director said that Shelburne "is a cute little village you can see in under an hour." He was right. We arrived off Shelburne around 11:00 a.m., and the ship had the first tenders running into the port within minutes. Most people, like us, had lunch on the ship and let those who wanted to rush in get off before we went down to get on the tender. We headed down around 12:30. Kathleen decided to stay on board (I should have stayed too.) Once we got to the port, we did a kind of cool thing that might be the best thing that happened yesterday. Mike had found a FREE app called PocketSites. You download it to your phone, and then it gives you free walking tours of thousands of ports around the world. Now, this isn't going to work for big ports like Barcelona or Athens, but it might have a neighborhood walk you could take in some of those places. BTW: If you don't want to use the app on your phone, you can also do it online. Their website explains how it works for the town and for you, the user. Besides the app is free, there are no ads. They make their money from towns that want to post tours of their attractions. We had all downloaded the app, and when we arrived, we just started walking the route. At each historical site, we could see a photo (to make sure we were at the right place), and there was a description of what we were seeing. Some of the sights had some in-depth stuff as well. As I was reading one aloud to some of our party, a local woman walked by and asked me to repeat what I said about a particular place and then told me, "Really? I had no idea that was what it was used for." So, the app really knows its stuff. The entire tour of Shelburne has 24 stops. When we got off the tender, we were right in front of number 11, so we started there. The entire tour took us under an hour. Mainly because there really was not that much to see. There are a lot of historical buildings painted with really interesting colors that date back to the 1700s. There are two pioneer museums, but both charged admission so we decided to skip them. The buildings that housed them were pretty small, so we weren't sure of the value. Others I spoke to after we got back on board had done the museum and told me we were right to skip it. The locals did try really hard to make everyone feel welcome. A few dressed in period costumes and led tours. I kind of felt sorry for my fellow cruises who purchased walking tours here in Shelburne from Vista. They, too (like the folks who paid to get in the museum), probably did not get their money's worth. I felt bad for the village because if cruise ships coming there were supposed to boost the city economically, it wasn't working. There were very few shops and restaurants, and most were empty. Especially since the ship had arrived so late and people had eaten lunch before they left the ship. Usually, when I get back on a tender, there would be all kinds of people holding bags of stuff they had purchased in port. Yesterday, I saw one person with a small bag who told me she bought two small bars of homemade scented soap. Most people who got off walked the waterfront, took some photos and went back on the next tender. And speaking of photos, I had hoped to get some super photos in Shelburne based on pictures I had seen. Sadly, many of those photos I had seen were taken from a boat in the middle of their small harbor. I didn't have a boat, so those wouldn't work. Not to mention the fact that the skies were the blankest shade of white. Nothing flattens out a day of photography like flat, white skies. Here are the few I feel comfortable showing you. You will need to pop over to my blog at www.jimbellomo.com to see how bad the photos really are.

Update to yesterday's Cape Breton post First, I need to update yesterday's post and give you the correct contact info for our incredible guide, Dan the Man. After looking at Dan's business card and talking to Mike, it appears that Mike booked the tour with Blackwell Tours, but Dan just contracts with them. He has his own company, Sydney Adventure Tours. His name is Dan McKinnon. Do Dan a big favor and book him on his own website (that's the link in red). That way, he and his family get the total amount you pay for the tour as well as any tip you give him. And, of course, I know you all tip your guides very well 😁. Also, if you book him there, you are guaranteed to get Dan. If you book with Blackwell or through a company like Viator, you can get any guide they contract with. You want Dan.

I am a retired graphic designer. I need to work with software that lets me add media when I want it. For instance, when designing for print, I never use Word for my text, I do my creation of everything in Adobe InDesign. Doing it in another app just doesn't work for me. Another reason I can't work offline is that I am constantly looking things up while I write this. I need to be able to grab links, look at maps, and get names spelled correctly. I have tried using Word or Pages to do this but it just doesn't work to be offline. And my point really was that Oceania's internet policy is ridiculous in this day and age.

Sorry, I knew there was one more. 😁

Thanks for your comment. You may not know that once you have a cruise booked with Viking Ocean, you don't have to make a final payment until six months before the cruise. And it is fully refundable up until 120 days before. Also, when people tell me this I tell them that Viking does this...because they can. They are not sailing empty ships. In fact, a cruise we have with them this November has been sold out for more than three years (when we purchased it). I know because I want to upgrade our stateroom and I check once a week. Their current pax grouse about it but they pay it.

I almost forgot another thing that drives us crazy about the internet on this ship. They throttle everything unless you upgrade to their most expensive package. That means no YouTube or any other site that shows videos. If you try to go to a site that might have videos, the system scans it and then says, "(your browser name here) can't open the page because it can't get a secure connection" which is crap. I get secure connections to these sites all the time.