Heidi13

Having completed 2 World Cruises on a mainstream mega ship line and a premium line, I can't imagine experiencing RCCL for 9-months. Since it is highly unlikely they have fully sold the ship for the entire 9-months, they require multiple segments to fill the ship. Depending on the percentage of World Cruisers, it has the potential of becoming a series of B2B cruises, with each being different, depending on the pax and segment length. This was our experience on Princess, when < 25% of the pax were on the entire trip. On the premium line, they routinely sell the entire ship for a World Cruise, so once it departs, all pax are on for the duration. This also has the potential for negatives, but in our experience it was only positive, compared to the segment cruise. The nickle & diming of mega ships could be a significant challenge on a 9-month cruise, having to manage a budget. Without carefully managing your onboard account, you could be faced with substantial costs at the end of each billing period. World Cruises are also a very special type of cruise, which cruise lines take time to learn. I am not aware that RCCL have completed a World Cruise before, so are the new kids on the block. I certainly wouldn't sign up for a 9-month cruise, if I have no background research on how they step up the experience from their basic cruises.

I'm surprised you weren't aware of these conditions prior to arrival in port, clearly you didn't do much research prior to booking a World Cruise. Many parts of the World are similar, which may even include some areas of your own country. Before the days of GPS, just ask any navigator how to find a port in India and some other countries on the same continent - head out onto the bridge wing and stick your nose in the air!!! Personally, I travel to experience these differences and are accepting of them. They may be different to what we experience, but who says your experiences are correct and they are wrong. With a population of over a billion people, clearly those conditions work for them. If you can't accept these differences, why did you book an expensive cruise to these areas?

Another consideration is what happens in the highly unlikely event of a vessel evacuation. I dealt with this issue daily as a Master, as although we only permitted certified "Guide" dogs on the pax decks, we had numerous pets remaining in cars on the vehicle decks. Personally, as Master I would have done everything possible to save a guide dog and keep them with the blind person, but the pets were unfortunately a different case. The almost 2,000 pax and crew were my primary concerns. If these dogs are truly emotional support dogs, if the ship is evacuated, the pax will have all sorts of emotions, while the dog remains aboard a stricken ship. Further proof that if pax need a pet for emotional support, a cruise is not a suitable holiday choice.

My apologies, but I don't share this address, as it was provided to me when we were aboard the Viking Sun on the World Cruise. I respect his position and am careful to limit any requests or issues I forward.

The challenge is in reference to the current issue of the complaints arising from the dogs aboard Viking Star.

Jim - same here, with the exception of properly trained and certified Guide dogs.

I received an encouraging reply from Basle. Paraphrasing, it basically stated we (Viking) will address this strongly and it will be the last challenge of this kind. We leave our pets at home, so hoping Viking can develop policies that ensure only fully trained and certified service animals are permitted onboard. Pets should be left at home, as we do with our pets.

I have also forwarded the photo to the Basle Office.

Haha!! no cats required, that's the cadet's job. Having been Chief Rat Catcher onboard a ship, I can speak from experience.😁

For the toilets not flushing, you can probably thank one of your fellow pax for flushing something that shouldn't be flushed, compromising the vacuum the system needs to operate.

Based on the ship's position, you are experiencing 10 - 12 kts of trade winds, anywhere from E to NE. This can provide flat seas, especially when if you don't have any swell, which can also negatively impact the opening of the pool deckhead. Therefore, based on the ship's speed of 18 kts, with wind fwd of the beam, you have about 20 kts of wind over the decks. As I explained in my previous post, if it is flat calm, as you posted, it is impossible to have NO wind over the decks of a moving ship.

Jim - probably not entirely truthful. If you were left in the FoW, you would probably become a resident.😁 What ship!!!

The only time you have no wind on a moving ship is when the wind is from astern and at the same speed as the ship. On a Trans-Atlantic, this would be highly unusual, as the prevailing winds are NE trades, which are normally from ahead of the beam.. When the sea is flat calm, with no true wind, the ship creates a wind across the deck equal to the ship's speed. The relative wind across the deck increases with any true wind fwd of the beam. Therefore, I would be very surprised to learn you had no wind across the decks on a E'bd TA.

Affirmative, your TA can book flights and transfers with Viking, if you instruct them accordingly.

My other consideration is that I question whether a cruise, and the potential for an emergency, is an environment that is conducive to pax with emotional issues. If they have to abandon the ship, what happens to the pax requiring the emotional dog, as evacuating a ship drives numerous emotions. Does the dog get a seat in the lifeboat??? I know my answer.

Jim - we also liked the British menus, but they certainly didn't fit my definition of authentic.

There should be queues of pax at the Purser's Office and GM's office registering complaints. While well trained and certified service dogs and even emotional dogs can be approved by the cruise line, the owners should ensure their conduct is acceptable. Our dogs do have a chair in the house, if nobody else is using it, that is not acceptable in public. If dogs are accepted onboard, the dogs should be on the deck. For pax with dog allergies, having them on the furniture is not acceptable.

I'm not aware that any of us on this thread mentioned that in Alaska, it is all about the ports. In my post (#3) I mentioned Alaska is about the scenery and the experience, which is a comprehensive expectation and/or goal. The ports are only a single component of the overall Alaska scenery and experience. Having worked 2 full seasons in Alaska, standing on the Bridge for 8 + hrs per day, I have seen most of the coastal scenery, which I note changes by the month, as does the wildlife you can see. The itinerary is a critical component, as it is more than ports of call and time in port, as for pax wanting to see the scenery, the route, transit times and available daylight hours are more important than ship entertainment and cabin facilities. Cruising with Celebrity, you are also missing out on Glacier Bay. While it may not have the most spectacular glaciers, you are virtually guaranteed to see at least 1 glacier. In all my cruises to Alaska spanning over 30 yrs, both working and latterly as a pax, I have never missed Glacier Bay, but have missed Hubbard multiple times and only every got into Tracy Arm once. Glacier Bay is also about the experience of having the Park Rangers board the vessel and provide informative commentary throughout the day. The reason many of us that have cruised extensively, or reside in Alaska, place the ship well below the Alaska itinerary, is that most cruise lines charge a premium in Alaska. Pax wanting to enjoy the ship's facilities, entertainment, cabin, etc can get a cheaper shipboard experience in the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, you are causing them additional work, as it takes longer for them to clean, once they finally get access to the cabin. If they don't get access until turnaround day, expect to see your photo on the crew dart board, as having a backlog of cleaning to do is something they don't need on the already busy turnaround day. Lack of regular cleaning, especially dusting, increases the risk of fire, a fact that is hammered into us when we were new cadets. BTW - the do not disturb sign doesn't prevent access to your cabin, as the Master, or designate can search/inspect any space at any time.

The definition for "Perfect" can vary, so rather than considering everything must be flawless, my definition is more that everything is the best possible considering the circumstances. Our last World Cruise in 2020 aboard Viking Sun, definitely met this criteria. We were impacted by COVID, missed half the ports and the cruise was cut short, but onboard we were treated like royalty. We were upgraded to the best cabins on the ship and when flights from Dubai shut down, the remaining 8 pax were retained on board, with 465 crew. Yes, we did book the same cruise again.

I also drink lots of water and always travel with my 40 oz Avex (Coleman) insulated container. Before leaving the ship, I fill both our containers and grab an additional bottle(s) at the gangway. Haven't experienced a bus with a cooler, but often find the buses do have additional bottles of water available. While our water containers are heavy, I find them worth the effort, especially when carried in a backpack. With the exception of Petra, I have never experienced running out of water on a tour.

There is no easy way to find a good TA. When researching TA's, I employed a similar process to when I hired/fired employees - interviewing. First determine your requirements from a TA, which I agree with Don, should be more than just receiving OBC. With your statement of requirements, go interview multiple TA's. Similar to hiring employees, the amount of effort expended is proportional to the potential for success.

They are only cleaning the cabins once per day, so less hours per cabin. Since the scope of work is reduced they require less cabin stewards to service all cabins aboard the ship, within the same hours.

Affirmative, an excellent visit. We stayed at a B&B in Tain last time we toured around the Highlands.

The cabin stewards will have more cabins to clean, but that doesn't translate into longer work hours, which are regulated. The change also won't affect their ability to go ashore, as this is dictated by "In Port Manning", where a percentage of the crew have always been required to remain onboard.