Heidi13

Sadly, even shore-side, we haven't experienced Silver Service in about 20-yrs, probably provides an indication that we don't go out for fine dining. To get Silver Service, we would most likely have to head into the city, and we avoid the city just like we avoid mega ships - too many people, too crowded, too noisy......... Unfortunately, all the Captains I knew on QM2 have retired, so no way of checking, if Queen's Grill still provides this service.

How about the long-lost skill of "Silver Service", with highly trained waiters, who knew how to serve properly, including the correct side to serve food and the side to remove used dishes. Don't believe any of the supposedly "Luxury" cruise lines provide "Silver Service" these days.

I completed 2 seasons Alaska cruising from Vancouver, with a number more R/T as a pax. Even northbound, the side of the ship is irrelevant. When scenic cruising you have land on both sides most of the time and when in open waters you are so far off-shore all you see it tops of mountains. Best views are from a fwd deck or up top walking both sides of the ship.

With over 500 days as a pax, we fortunately have never heard the GES signal outside a drill, so have not had to proceed to the Assembly Stations. In my almost 30 yrs in command, I have only ever mustered pax once and that was when the ship was in port. In providing a negative response, I look forward to the responses from the great cruise critic contributors, on the Viking Board, that survived the Viking Sky, which was a harrowing experience.

Although Panama has its own currency, they do not print any notes, they only produce coins. Therefore, US dollar notes are used as legal tender in Panama.

Rob, We also consider the Viking Insurance as only trip cancellation/interruption, and as no other brokers would insure the World Cruise risk, we were stuck with the Viking insurance. Just checked my records and noted the coverage was as you posted above, so my post from memory was incorrect. The medical coverage was only $100K, which is totally inadequate.

It does include a small emergency medical coverage of about $250K, if memory is correct. Therefore, even with Viking insurance, we still require additional medical insurance to cover the additional foreign medical costs our Province doesn't pay.

I'll suggest that you will find the current Viking service levels are comparable to P&O ships back in the 70's & 80's, well before they were Carnivalised.

Haha - if you were on Titanic or Norwegian Sun, the Captain clearly expected more than $2 to avoid bergs😁

Yes, the 3.3% is a significant saving, but you also need to compare benefits received from your credit card. When I compared them, for travel rewards, we could get double the flights from the Visa points, over paying for flights from the cash saved.

The Viking insurance is priced as a percentage of cruise fare, rather than a risk-based assessment based on age and medical conditions. Depending on your age and medical history, the Viking insurance may be cheaper. CFAR also has a list of exclusions. If a CFAR claim is accepted you receive vouchers, which are only valid for 1-year. Viking's insurance also has very low medical coverage.

See responses from both the Chief & I

As a non-mariner, you may consider that sounding the General Emergency Signal and having the pax muster in the Assembly Stations, is step 1 of abandon ship. However, as the Chief and I have explained numerous times, going to the Assembly Stations places pax in safe areas that have sufficient structural fire protection to keep them safe, and it provides an opportunity for the crew to muster, count and most importantly identify if any pax are missing. With 28 years as a Master on Ro/Pax, when I sounded GES, I can assure you that this was not step 1 in abandoning ship. At that time, unless the ship had a catastrophic failure and was in imminent danger of sinking, with no beaching possible, abandon ship definitely wasn't on the agenda. It was to ensure my pax were accounted for and were in a safe environment, while the crew dealt with the emergency. Yes, the crew were preparing the Survival Craft, but that is a regulatory requirement - doesn't mean we intended to use them. You are correct that multiple things would go wrong before I issued the command to start preparing pax in the Assembly Stations, for a potential evacuation. At this point, the Assembly Station crew will move to step 1 in a possible abandon ship, which could include splitting pax into groups to fill a survival craft. In the marine industry, one of the first things you learn is the ship is the best lifeboat.

The marine industry is no different from the airline industry. How many times do the Chief and I have to explain the Muster Drill has NOTHING to do with abandoning ship, or even teaching you how to get to the survival craft. The Muster Drill is NOT evacuation practice, never has been. As a passenger, you learn the General Emergency Signal and on hearing the GES, go to your Assembly Station, following the directions of the crew. You also get a demo on how to don a lifejacket, similar to the airlines. In the airline industry, you are effectively at the Assembly Station continuously, when sitting in your seat, so you sit and watch/listen to the crew's safety briefing. In the marine industry, when operating the survival craft, whether that is for drills or timed evacuation trials, the passengers are NOT involved. No different than the airlines. For drills, only crew members participate. When completing timed evacuation trials of survival craft, we hire volunteers that must represent a cross section of humanity. Yes, I have planned and managed a number of these trials.

Similar to the Chief, when deep sea, we did not get paid to attend any drills. As a watchkeeper, I also lost many hours of sleep. However, when I moved to the West Coast, all the officers and crew received overtime for attending the drills. Being non-union, I was the only one that didn't get paid extra. Must admit, when I left P&O, it was a major surprise that crew were paid to attend drills.

Sydney: - Opera House - I suggest booking the behind the scenes tour. Starts at 06:45 and includes brekky - The Rocks - easy to do on your own, or you can book a guide - Parramatta - catch a ferry from Circular Quay for a round trip up river. You can also explore Parramatta before the return. - Hunter Valley - full day tour to wine country - Blue Mountains - full day tour, suggest using Anderson Tours - Darling Harbour - walk around, lots of attractions, cafes and restaurants Melbourne: a spectacular city to visit - Investigating the CBD on your own is easy. Assuming you dock at Station Pier and not Geelong, the local trains have a station at the end of the pier. You can take the train to the CBD, where local trams are free. Lots of cafes and restaurants along the river. - Yarra River cruise and downtown drive is a great overview, especially if it is your first visit - Koalas & Kangaroos - this is planned for our next visit - Trains, Wine & Wildlife sounds interesting - For private tours, I would consider a full day tour to the great ocean road with Eco Platypus Tours (https://daytourmelbourne.com.au/1-day-great-ocean-road-tour/. They also have a Yarra Valley Wine Tour. Shore Trips & Tours also have wine tours Hobart - Another great port for just wandering around the harbour, with a number of cafes and restaurants. Also has a craft brewery across the road from where the ship docks. - The included tour is good, giving you an overview. - To go further afield, I suggest Tasmanian Sojourn or Historic Tasmania, Countryside & Winery Dunedin I suggest a private tour with Back to Nature Tours – https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/ The Royal Peninsula Tour - https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/tour/royal-peninsula/ was more comprehensive than anything Viking offers Christchurch We did the punting on the Avon Wellington The dock is a fair distance from the downtown, but Viking do operate a shuttle bus. The included tour is good for an overview. We were considering the Seal Watching, then getting a taxi to visit a few craft breweries Tauranga Rotorua is definitely worth visiting. Unfortunately our preferred vendor retired, so we would have to research another option, or use Viking Auckland An easy city to walk around or take the local harbour ferries.

Those were our top 2 choices in Napier and we opted for the wine tasting. It was a couple of years ago, so can't remember the reasoning. Just a quick heads up for Napier. It is a tricky port for docking cruise ships, as it has a narrow entrance and is exposed to the winds, which often blow in the 30kt + range. I have only ever docked in Napier in a cargo ship, as none of our cruises managed to get alongside. In summary, don't be too disappointed if it is too windy for a safe docking in Napier.

Received the confirmation by mail last week and expect the cheque within a couple of weeks, depending on the efficiency of Canada Post.

I have attached a list of Viking shore-ex from 2019/20 that includes posts in Aus/NZ/Meddy. ShoreExcursions List to Mar 27th.pdf

I'm with you Jim. My first trip through the "Desert Ditch" was at night, a few years after it re-opened. Next one was in daylight, when I realised, I didn't miss much at night. Panama is a different story. Even though I have well over a couple dozen transits through Panama, I'm still one of the first out on deck. Still haven't done the new locks and really no interest in seeing them, as we won't sail mega ships and I'm not going back to work.

When we cancelled the WC, I submitted a claim for the retained deposit of $2,000. They received the documents on 29th Aug and approved the claim on 8th September. Due to the cost of both the WC deposit cost and total cost, no local or online broker would accept the risk, so we had no option other than Tripmate.

Not a problem; however, in a real emergency when you need directions from the crew, in accordance with your fee for service model, you will need to pay to receive directions from the crew for a safe route to the Assembly Stations. The stairway guides will all be carrying card readers, so no cash is required. I suggest you pay, as the option of opening the wrong FSD could be fatal. BTW - the cost would be significantly more than your $500 OBC. Since with your model, training requires a fee, you will also be charged should you require assistance with donning your lifejacket and then additional training on how to go to the Survival Craft.

Unfortunately, I haven't sailed up the west coast of Africa, as we always used Suez, so I haven't been to Ghana. I worked for P&O/Princess as Navigator, then spent almost 30 yrs as Captain on our local Ro/Pax.

Sorry, but the size of the ship has very little to do with the seakeeping ability in rough weather. The key factors are the design/scantlings, stability and skill of the Bridge Team in reading the ocean. I have sailed worldwide on many of the smaller, older steam ships such as SS Oriana and SS Canberra, those ships were smaller than most current cruise ships and handled seas way better. Even with 1960's stabaliser technology, they were better than the modern mega cruise ships. Have also completed 2 full Alaska seasons on the original Sun & Island Princess and those ships were way more comfortable than the new cruise ships.

Sadly, as with most maritime procedures, it will take another accident and more deaths to realise that the current system doesn't effectively prepare pax for an emergency response. I guess memories of Costa Concordia are long since forgotten.