Heidi13

For sure, we can meet up for a few pints. We are at our condo next to the Coast Harbourside, from June 30th to July 14th. I have an email address on the blog, so how about dropping me a note and we can arrange.

Enjoyed a hand-pulled pint of bitter at Spinnakers last time we were over in Victoria. As one of my Victoria regular haunts, we will definitely be heading back when we are over again in July.😁

DW is susceptible to motion of the ocean, so we only book lower deck cabins m'ships. We booked the best cabin available meeting those criteria. I believe a fridge is only available in suites, which are of no interest, even if they had some on lower decks.

Might be older tonnage, but it was built in the 1990's, not the 50's or 60's. Every other 1990's built ship I have sailed on had a fridge in the cabin. You may not consider it a downgrade, but having sailed with a fridge in every cabin for about 25 yrs, for me, it most definitely is a downgrade.

I wasn't the OP, but I posted earlier that we are booked on the Pole to Pole. Appreciate the information, but having worked in the industry, I am well aware of the standards of most cruise lines. In booking HAL, I can assure you we have significantly downgraded our expectations, which were again downgraded last week when reading the cabins don't even have a fridge. However, they will rent you one for $2/day. Having worked for P&O/Princess prior to their purchase by Carnival and then cruised as a pax I have experienced how the Carnivalisation process reduced standards. Since HAL was purchased in 1989, I expect the Carnivalisation of HAL, is comparable to that of Princess and have set our expectations accordingly. Based on the bar menus, I have already accepted that I will not be drinking beer onboard. Therefore, if they bring on some good craft beers, it will exceed my low expectations. Viking is our preferred cruise line, but we booked this entirely due to the brilliant itinerary and will enjoy the cruise regardless, even if the standards are as low as Princess.

The Bridge has a master control head that can over-ride all other audio sources. If the zone with the casino is selected on the Bridge, once the Tx button is pressed, all audio in that zone is muted. It would be the same in the Theatre when a show is taking place. If the Bridge selects that zone and hits the Tx button, the show audio is muted. If another station is using the P/A system, the Bridge system also has priority. You may have heard other announcements taking place and are cutoff, then an announcement comes from the Bridge. All per design and regulations.

1960's - SS Oriana/Canberra 1970's - SS Uganda 1980's - MV Island/Pacific Princess (Love Boats) & Sun Princess (Spirit of London) 1990's - MV Sun Princess 2000's - MV Island/Coral Princess 2010's - MV Diamond/Sapphire Princess 2020's - MV Viking Sun

Thanks. Having the potential for additional beers is great news. I figure it won't hurt to ask, if they will get some craft beers, as the bar menu choices are dreadful.

When I checked the bar menus the only beers were mass produced. Based on your post, am I correct in assuming they may also bring on additional local, quality beers that are not listed on the bar menus. Since I wouldn't drink any of the ones listed on the bar menus and have booked the 133-day pole to pole, do they accept requests for craft IPA's, stouts, etc.

Canada may be officially metric, but try to go into one of our local breweries and ask for 500ml of beer and you will be met by a blank stare. Out West, beer is sold by the pint or oz. Thankfully our grocery stores also still price fruit/veg/meats by the lb.

Neither UK or Southern Ireland are part of the Schengen Zone. A number of the Balkan countries are also not in the Schengen zone.

More than happy to book a cruise, if they open an independent Canadian Office, with no links to L/A managers, or even move Canadian bookings to the UK Office. If the status quo remains, then unfortunately no reconsideration.

If you call Viking from Canada or US you are talking to somebody employed by the L/A Office and managed by those managers.

As Ferry-Watcher mentioned, you will have no issues boarding the vessel in Seattle, as the cruise lines have no access to the database. Shortly after departure from the final US port, the ship transmits the manifest to Canada Border Services. They review the list and will advise the ship if they have issues with any pax. This can be a simple do not let ashore to requesting an interview onboard. What steps are taken is at the discretion of the Border agent. If an interview is requested, the steps after the interview again depend on the Border agent, which can be simply not being permitted to depart the vessel, to being removed from the vessel in cuffs. Not getting off the ship does not mean the person has not entered Canada, as they entered Canada when the ship entered Canadian Waters.

FW on ships is predominantly from evaps or RO's, so zero sodium content. This is consistent with most, if not all current cruise ships. Viking has a potable water tap in the World Cafe which can be used to fill a flask. They request you do not fill it directly to eliminate potential for cross contamination. The cabin stewards also deliver a fresh jug of potable water to the cabin twice per day. They also supply unlimited bottled water at the gangway to take ashore.

Haha!! Next time you're back here, rather than touring the countryside, I'll take you on a craft brewery tour, visiting the ones with hand-pulled ales and/or nitro taps.

Rarely send a drink back, but have never found a problem with them making it differently or an alternative. The product cost is so cheap, the cost of making the customer happy is minimal. Remember, the cost of a single drink more than pays for the cost of a bottle.

Great to see you enjoyed your recent World Cruise. The luxury yacht market is normally significantly > $40K/wk, as many are over $ 1 million/wk. Our son's most recent charter was over US $2 million per week and that was bareboat charter, so fuel, food, drinks, etc were extra. Therefore, World Cruises on cruise ships are reasonably affordable.😁

My bad, since cans/bottles are my least favourite way to drink beer, I use them synonymously.🙂

We thoroughly enjoyed both levels of Explorers and Torshavn, but based on my experience, they couldn't be further from your typical cosy British pub, which is what OP is requesting.

Having both worked for and cruised with P&O/Princess for 40 years, I have a fairly good idea of your expectations regarding a cozy pub atmosphere and better beers. Prior to our first Viking cruise, I researched the company and ships extensively, as the simple Nordic decor was a complete contrast to what we had experienced at sea on almost all other ships. The clean, simple Nordic design is definitely about as far from a cozy British pub as you can ger, but I actually enjoyed the differences. With respect to Viking's beers (lagers), most of it is mass produced, yellow, and low alcohol, but they did have about 3 beers I found acceptable - Norwegian IPA, Porter and Amber Ale. Unfortunately, all were in cans, not even CO2 taps, never mind nitro or hand-pulled. Note - some ships may have Carlsberg Lager on CO2. Cunard is probably closest to what you are looking for, but they are still rather formal and you need a higher grade cabin for the best meals. Haven't been on a P&O ship for many years, but since Carnivalisation, they don't meet your expectations for quality meals, nickle/diming, etc, While I haven't sailed Fred Olsen, my dad was a regular with them. The have an older demographic and a more of a Brit onboard experience. They may be worth checking out. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any cruise line that has the equivalent onboard standards as Viking and also has a cozy British style pub with quality beers and cocktails.

That is applicable to the other Glaciers, but with over a couple dozen cruise ship visits to Glacier Bay, I have never failed to get reasonably close to at least 1 glacier.

It isn't only the Bridge that can access pax cabins, that is available from any of the main control stations, with the Bridge being one of them.

Since all areas of the ship must be able to receive emergency announcements, the P/A system should not have the ability to isolate specific speakers. Emergency announcements must be able to be heard in the cabin, hence the reason you cannot turn off the speaker on new ships. The P/A system has multiple zones, which can be selected from any of the control heads. Prior to making a P/A announcement, you select the zones, which can include - crew, public spaces, outer decks, dining areas, pax cabins, etc. Standing orders clearly state what type of announcement can be made in pax cabins, most of which require Master's approval. If an officer selects the wrong zone(s) and puts a non-essential announcement through pax cabins, the Purser's Office is immediately bombarded with complaints and said officer is researching new employment. OP - you may want to hear them on the cabin speaker, but from having worked on ships, most pax do not. As others mentioned, they are available on the TV.

Not sure about any newbuild expedition ships, but one of the 2 current ships is scheduled to cruise the Eastern portion of the NW Passage. Although only Polar Class 6, which is the lowest of the PC designations, it is still well above the ice class of the Ocean ships. Therefore, the Expedition ship has a higher probability of maintaining the schedule when operating in ice.