Heidi13

We were also Elite for many years, but rarely used the minimal perks, as we mostly booked "Friends & Family" cruises on our son's ship, or through the online program, as we were signed up by one of the shore executives. Both those options only get blue cards. Another consideration is how Princess & Viking change ship sizes. The latest Viking newbuild will have a capacity for 988 pax, with the entire ship increasing size, so the public spaces and dining facilities are increasing along with additional cabins. Based on the new estimated tonnage, the pax/space ratio of the new Viking ship will increase. Therefore, more space per pax. Before the Carnivalisation, P&O/Princess designed and built the Grand Class, an exceptional class of vessel. After Carnivalisation, starting with the Caribbean Princess, they added an entire extra deck of cabins (500 pax) to the same hull. With no increase in public spaces, we found the "Super Grands" way too crowded. We suffered 1 cruise on Emerald, and never booked another cruise on that ship, or any of her Super Grand sisters. Our last Princess cruise was the 2015 WC and about 60% of the ship was Elite. In 15 weeks, they only replaced the mini-bar 3 times and the laundry service was a joke, due to the volume. Only usable perk was some internet, but that is always available to everyone on Viking. How we quantify Princess standards can also be relative to when we started cruising, with my first Princess cruise being in 1979, aboard the original Island Princess. Back in those days, Princess was a quality cruise line, but on our final cruise in 2015, the standards were decimated.

The reason for not permitting any lights fwd, or in the vicinity of the Bridge is that it negatively impacts the Bridge Officer's night vision.

Had never heard of them, so just checked out the specifications. Binoculars - at 12x, they are fairly powerful for use in the marine environment. Recommended magnification is 7x or 8x, with experienced users on cruise ships capable of handling 10x. They don't post the 2nd number, but it will be low, so they will have poor light reception. OK in bright daylight, not so good at dawn, dusk and at night. Camera - as previously noted, a 5 M sensor is pitiful. That is what I would expect on a toy camera for kids these days. May I suggest completing a needs assessment. What do you want binoculars for, this will help to determine specifications. Same exercise for a camera. Unless your needs are minimal, I'll suggest this is not a good option.

Spent 40 years both working for and cruising with Princess, with our last cruise with them being 2015, when their standards dropped below our minimum requirements. Princess would be the equivalent of staying in a Motel 6 and eating at a fast food joint, while Viking would compare to a 4-star resort.

If you are on Dk 7, in 7008, rather than the Bridge, you probably have officer cabins above your cabin.

In the event of an emergency, I'll suggest you should be caring about the rules, laws and the ship's safe operating practices. Some day, your life and those of other pax could be impacted, a fact sadly proven in previous incidents. I have no doubt they have places on the ship where scooters can be safety stowed outside the cabins, but in the photos posted above, I identified numerous hazards with those locations.

The reduction in culinary standards has been ongoing for many years and it is all cost driven. In addition to the obvious reductions in the quality of the ingredients, I have noted many other subtle differences. - Menus: the number of courses have been reduced considerably and also the number of options for each course. On one of my ships in the 1970's, we had a choice of 3 curries daily for lunch. Still had the usual other courses. - Another issue with menus is that many of the prime dishes are now included on the same evening menu. We used to have lobster night separate from filet night, etc. Now you often get the higher cost items in a single evening, so you can only order 1 of them. - Quantity: portions are much smaller, with minimal vegetables. On our last cruise we requested a bowl of steamed veggies every dinner. - Service: sadly, the days of exemplary silver service are long gone, as is the finishing of cooking at the table side.

Those scooters will definitely impact a fire party responding to a incident in a dark and smoke filled alleyway. At least one of them could prevent the free movement of a fire hose, as an attack team moved down the alleyway. Sorry, but I don't concur with your cabin steward's statement they don't block emergency exits. Every space on a ship must have at least 2 means of egress. Therefore, in addition to the primary route to the Assembly Stations, you must also consider the alternative options. The scooters may not be impacting the primary evacuation routes, but the primary evacuation route could be blocked by fire, the response team, etc requiring pax to use an alternative route, which those scooters could be blocking. You also need to consider that the scooters are restricting the egress into the stairwell. Computer emergency response simulations show these areas to be pinch points, where all the space is required to be free and clear. With a mass evacuation, the scooters also create a tripping hazard at the pinch point. In a seaway, one of them is blocking access to the handrail, which increases the potential for trips and falls. Rather than asking a cabin steward, who has limited training and experience in these areas, I suggest asking the Hotel Manager why they are not following the cruise line's published policy and permitting these potential hazards.

When comparing the Premium/Luxury lines to a mega ship, the base cost of the fare on the mega ship will definitely be less. However, having completed World Cruises on both Princess and Viking, by the end of the cruise, the daily cost was virtually identical.

From memory Grand Cayman uses EST year round, so they don't use daylight savings time. Should only be 1 hr difference to ports within a day steaming and if there is a 2 hr difference, the cruise line's itinerary planning dept screwed up. In addition to ensuring the ship has sufficient speed to make the ETA's, they should also ensure the ship can adjust the cloxs in the time available. I've crossed the ocean many times at 20-25 kts with 1 hr cloxs every night. It really wasn't challenging, so just can't understand Masters that want to be at a different time from the shore. The risk of errors escalate when you have to factor in a time differential.

So unprofessional to arrive at a different time than the shore. I did Mexican cruising for 3 months, stopping in PV every week and never had an issue arriving at the correct time.

In over 35 yrs at sea, I never arrived in port where ship's time wasn't local time. Not getting such a visible requirement correct would incur the severe wrath of the Master, so we always double and triple checked the times. I am aware, some Carnival ships may not change the cloxs in the Caribbean, might also be others, but they are definitely a minority. Your tour vendor will also know the ship's arrival time and especially the departure time, as future business depends on getting you back aboard.

I haven't used P&O's Visa Service since I worked for them back in the 1980's, so my info is definitely not current. However, I have used a Visa service multiple times and for the fee they charge, they should be answering all questions. With our previous World Cruise, we used the cruise line's Visa service and they took care of all issues. When a Visa application could not be submitted before the cruise began, they recorded details of our passports and once they were received, forwarded the Visas to the ship. With respect to Egypt, on every previous visit and I have made many, they issued Visas to the pax when the ship arrived in port. However, I have read multiple articles where cruise pax now require an eVisa before arrival. This only changed within the past few months. You should not need to research these requirement, as the Visa service should be aware of the current requirement and advise accordingly. Here is a relevant website https://www.egyptvisaspro.com/news/egypt-visa-for-cruises#:~:text=Yes%2C you will need a,during your stay in Egypt. I would call the Visa service on your dad's behalf and ask them how they plan to acquire each Visa and provide the required documents to your dad. If they advise some will be sent to the ship, I would call P&O and confirm this is acceptable. If the Visa service won't acquire the Visas once he is aboard the ship, I expect some of the Pursers will assist him with the application. Since the WC has an older demographic they will deal with these issues on a regular basis. Good luck getting it resolved.

As others noted, there is no better side of the ship to transit the locks, as each lock has 2 lanes and assignment is based on operational requirements. Even on the Bridge you don't know until approaching the locks and you see the direction of the arrow. With well over a couple dozen transits, by far the best location on the ship is the Bridge. Since it isn't available to most pax, the next best spot is any unobstructed fwd open deck. It is also important to stroll the Prom Deck to get a perspective how close the ship is to the lock walls and also to watch the stern gates open/close. On all our transits as a pax, I don't believe we have ever used the balcony during a transit.

I'm usually out on deck by 05:00 or 05:30, at the latest.

Totally agree, but for avid photographers they will miss some great shots coming through the buoyed channel, under the bridge and the channel to the first locks.

Personally, I don't seek advice on travel insurance policies from my TA, I discuss with an insurance broker, but always thoroughly read the terms and conditions, specifically the definitions, what is covered and most importantly, the list of exclusions. Unless you purchased the insurance from the TA, they can't possibly know the wording of your actual policy.

In Victoria, best seafood we have found is at the Finest at Sea Seafood and Market and Food Truck. Only a short 1/2 mile walk from Ogden Pt, it has way better seafood than you get at Fisherman's Wharf or any of the usual pubs. They have tables and chairs along Erie Street, or you can walk across the street to Fisherman's Wharf Park.

The 3 of us responding are providing first hand information and have close to 100 yrs combined experience at sea, in senior positions. I didn't dispute the working condition and don't believe the others did either, what I disputed was your statement that the cost of living is lower for seafarers. Yes, room & board is mandated, as is medical care, to/from the ship, etc. but many also have to maintain a residence at home. Cunard's contacts used to be similar to P&O/Princess, who both myself and our son worked for, and if a hotel rating on a 6-month contract, she is probably European.

Wow, very interesting. Is this something you noted recently, or have you experienced these charges for many years. I also haven't lived in Australia, but have visited many times on both cruise ships and cargo ships, starting in 1977, completing the entire Aussie cruise season. We were in Sydney every 2-weeks and unless on the 12-4 watch headed ashore for lunch every turnaround. On the cargo ship we were in each of Sydney,, Melbourne and Adelaide for a week, and went for a run ashore every evening. Our last trip was in 2020, when we spent 3-days in Sydney. One day we did a pub crawl through The Rock and another day took the ferry out to Manly for lunch and a walk around. Don't ever recall any of the additional charges you mentioned, and I check my bills carefully. I don't like restaurants that add a mandatory "Service Charge", so would be right ticked off with the extra charges you experienced.

I believe you previously posted that your preference is for an Inside Cabin. Since the only inside cabins on Viking are crew cabins, comparing prices you paid Costa to Viking is not comparing apples to apples. The base level Viking cabin is a 270 sq feet balcony. I believe the base inside cabins on Costa are about 1/2 the size, at 155 sq feet. My calculations are based on 2 pax and will not be applicable to solo cruisers. As a solo cruiser you are impacted by the single supplement, which tends to vary with supply and demand. On the 23 Viking WC we booked, the entire ship was fully booked for the entire cruise (no segments) within 6 months and they increase prices by about $12,000. Therefore Viking had no incentive to provide discounts to single pax. Even after numerous cancellations, they filled the ship at the higher price point. In 2024 they have 2 ships sailing a World Cruise and the price is now $20K pp more than we booked in 2023. Compared to when the cruises were first published, I believe the cabins have increased about $8K. One ship has 2 cabins left and the other has about a dozen cabins remaining, which will be late cancellations. With this level of sales, they again have no incentive to provide solo pax discounts. The only cruises Viking tend to offer solo pax discounts are repositioning cruises, which are often discounted to fill the ship. Other cruises can be fully sold out 1 year before departure, so again, no incentive to offer discounts. Since I am Canadian, I quote all costs in CAN$, so if you work in US $, in addition to addressing cabin categories, I hope you also factored in exchange rates, when calculating your $30K airfare. At least my comparison, based on our actual experience of completing 2 World Cruises, used the same currency and similar cabin categories. My numbers are also based on the real costs for both cruises, not quotes from 1 cruise line and actual costs for the other.

We normally had eggs benny on the days we breakfasted in the buffet. We always requested freshly made, which similar to a fried or poached egg, I don't consider as a special request, as the cooks are present to cook to order. After a few days we didn't have to order, as the cook said to us, 2 eggs benny with runny yolks, then started making them. The ones under the heat lamps were for those that wouldn't wait a couple of minutes for freshly made.

P&O were exactly the same. I joined Wild Auk for 4 months in January 1977, finally got off after 9 months in September. The company wanted to keep us on for the upcoming drydock, but the Master took pity on us and directed the Agent to get us flights home from Yugoslavia.

The Queen Mary 2 was initially registered and flagged in UK (Southampton), but about 10- 12 years ago she was reflagged to Bermuda, which uses the same Red or Blue Ensign as UK Flagged tonnage. I believe the change from UK to Bermuda is due to the Master of a UK Flagged ship is not authorised to facilitate weddings, whereas the Master of a Bermuda ship is authorised. The QM2 is NOT registered and flagged in Bahamas. The collective name for the alternative ship registries is Flag of Convenience. Yes, they are less rigurous, but if signatory to IMO their Shipping Act & Regulations must meet the minimum IMO requirements. The "Jones Act" is a US Cabotage Act that only refers to the shipment of goods. It does not include passengers, which are covered by the Passenger Vessel Services Act, often known as PVSA. These Cabotage Acts, also require vessels to be crewed by Americans and the ships maintained in the US.

The Cruise Line may be registered in a different country from their tonnage, so they can receive advantage from corporate friendly laws, but ships must display the Ensign of their Flag State. Every ship's Flag State is where the ship is registered. I may not be a Lawyer, but with almost 30 yrs as a ship's Master, I learned and experienced significant parts of the very specialised area of Maritime and Admiralty Law. This included an annual presentation of the Certificate of Registry to the attending Flag State Inspector/Class Surveyor. When a cruise line selects a Flag State for new tonnage, upon application, the ship is added to the Flag State's Registry. The ship is issued with a Certificate of Registry, which resides with the Master. Once added to a Flag State's Register, the Master must fly the Ensign of that country. New builds are different in that the shipyard owns the vessel until she completes sea trials and is accepted by, and then delivered to the owners. When owned by the shipyard, ships built by Fincantieri use the Italian ensign, then when delivered, the vessel is reflagged to the owners preference.