Heidi13

Here is a link to the media announcement https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/news/glacier-bay-issues-new-contracts-for-cruise-ship-services.htm Note - RCCL have declined to use their permits. Viking do visit, but not on all cruises, as they have a 10-day schedule.

Typical NCL, sorry that isn't a port visit for pax to enjoy a port, that simply a stop to comply with US Cabotage Laws. Even the 20:00 arrival is never guaranteed, especially if you experience any seas in the Pacific Ocean, or winds off the Victoria breakwater. Other than a scenic drive in the dark, you have a few pubs and craft breweries providing great beers.

You can use any of the multitude of 3rd party sites, but their accuracy is never guaranteed. Personally, I prefer a google search for the actual port.

You can check out the 2020 WC at our blog - www.AndyandJudi.com and the 2021/22 WC at Rose and Ted's blog - https://roseandtedsexcellentadventure.com/

Although the paper currency will no longer be legal tender for use in shops, they can still be exchanged by the BoE in perpetuity for the new polymer note.

Here are the Viking Ocean standards for each of your questions. 1). Laundry - the suites and mini-suites receive complimentary laundry. Leave it in the bag for the cabin steward in the morning, and it is returned about 16:00 the next day. Other cabins have access to the self-service pax laundry, with each deck having one. Most have 4 washers and 4 driers. The self-service laundry is free, including the soap. In 4 months, never found much of a delay waiting for a machine. 2). As Viking World Cruises always include their drinks package, glasses of wine are included 24/7. Available at all meals, from any bar, or the included 24/7 room service. If you wish to purchase a bottle of wine, you receive a 10-15% discount. With the discount, bottles of wine were about 50% above our liquor store prices, which was considerably less than shore restaurants. They had an extensive selection of included wines, by the glass, probably at least a couple of dozen. Even if you did have to pay for drinks, their bar prices are reasonable and they do not add 18% tips, as do most cruise lines. 3). Viking treats all pax like adults, especially as the minimum age is 18. You can bring any alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages aboard, in any quantity. Viking does NOT charge any corkage fees and the crew in any restaurant or bar will willingly open any bottle you brought onboard - wine, beer or spirits. They provide the glasses, pour and since the beverage package is included, even provide the mixers. 4). Viking guarantee each pax can attend 1 included shore-ex per port. Most ports only have a single included shore-ex, but some ports do have a couple available. While most are walking tours, or bus tours, some ports have the best tour included. In Komodo Island, Viking includes the walking tour with the dragons. In Safaga (Egypt) the included tour is a 10 - 12 hr trip to Luxor. 5). Negative, Viking does not maintain a shore bubble, unless it was required by the local authorities.

In our experience, the Viking ships have Trivia around Noon on sea days. They don't normally have other types of games, unless on long cruises with lots of sea days. Evening entertainment is the standard shows performed by the 4 singers and Viking band, guest entertainers and individual shows performed by the Cruise Director and assistant. On longer cruises you may also experience solo shows from the 4 singers. You also have the resident duo, pianist and guitarist performing in various venues throughout the ship, then late evening the band in the nightclub. Late afternoon you may have the entertainment staff performing songs to the piano in the Living Room. Affirmative, once you have paid the deposit, the next payment is at "Payment in Full"

I happen to agree that pax shouldn't find issues with the cabin, but unfortunately, when humans are involved, the potential is always there. The first thing learned in "Human Factors" training is, "To err is human". Rather than complaining about issues on here, I prefer to deal with issues proactively and advise the cabin steward to have the issue addressed. If s/he doesn't, the next call is to the Purser's Desk and if still unresolved in a reasonable time, then a visit to the GM. In 4-months on a Viking ship, I've never had to progress past step 1. Every company has issues, the difference is how they deal with the issues. The good ones resolve issues in an expeditious manner. This has been our experience with Viking, as every issue we mentioned to our cabin steward, he advised he was aware, and had already had a work order raised.

We use Viking Air or book our own flights depending on what works best for that particular cruise. However, even booking your own flights, at this time, doesn't ensure smooth sailing. DD & SIL just had their flights to UK cancelled by BA.

Please see responses in red, as that is not our experience.

Here is a link to the Govt of Canada requirements https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise#pre-embarkation-test

If there are maintenance issue in the cabin, our Steward had reported them before we even noticed them. However, in the unlikely event your cabin steward is not so diligent, if your mention the issue to him/her, Engineering are often present within the hour.

When reviewing a ship, I look for 2 details - the ship's Gross Tonnage, which is a measure of the total internal enclosed space, with 100 cubic feet = 1 ton. The other is the passenger count, which most ships post as the cabins at double occupancy. Note - many ships have 3rd, even 4th berths in many cabins, so the total pax could be higher. I find this information is readily available for most ships from a simple Google search, either from the cruise line's website, or Wiki. To determine the pax space ratio, I divide the Gross Tonnage by the total pax. We only consider ships with pax counts between 750 and 1,250 and a pax space ratio of >50.

While exploring the Viking option, I agree with Hallasm in that you should also explore the Hurtigruten options. Please don't be put off by the experience of the poster above, as if you do your research and find one of the newer ships, they are just as comfortable as a cruise ship. Their ships might be ferries, but some are very comfortable.

Cabin 4010 was on the port side of the ship. Even numbers to port and odd numbers to stbd. Personally, I've never found much difference in port/stbd side, as when cruising between ports the ship is so far offshore that you see little. When scenic cruising, I want to be up top, otherwise I miss 50% of the view.

The Viking ships only drydock every 5-years at present, which is a regulatory requirement for special surveys. The cruise lines also incorporate hotel upgrades/maintenance into these periods. However, the ship's crew, supplemented by shore-based contractors provide continuous maintenance. As an example, when we were on Viking Sun, the entire carpet in the Main Restaurant was replaced while we were sailing. Upholstered items can also be repaired by the crew or shore-based contractors.

Although she was the first of the ocean ships she is still only 7 yrs old, out of an expected lifespan of 30 yrs +. She was drydocked for her 1st Special Survey in 2019, when they did some work and they also completed additional work during the COVID layup and prior to the 21/22 World Cruise. In general, the Viking crews work diligently to keep these vessels ship shape, so I expect you will find Viking Star in an acceptable condition.

We also won't drink tea from anything used for coffee. Best tea on the ship was from the Living Room Bar. We both drink multiple cups of tea daily and for 4 months on Viking Sun, we never found a need to have a kettle in the cabin. Gave the cabin steward the coffee machine on day 1, so we had extra storage.

Of the 3 options you are considering, Hurtigruten would provide the best cultural experience, as they are a Norwegian company that operate small cruise vessels and a fleet of passenger Ro/Ro ferries. While most of their fleet are primarily ferries, they do provide some excellent pax services aboard the ships, including cabins. However, you should also research the in-port times, as many Ro/Pax have shorter in port times than cruise ships. The ships will have a local Norwegian design, be crewed by Norwegians and have a Norwegian bias in the meals. The onboard pax experience will be comparable to a premium/luxury cruise ship. Seabourn & Silversea are 2 of the smaller ship luxury lines, but they are your typical international cruise lines, with ships operated by international crews and flagged in a "Flag of Convenience" state. If you are considering an international cruise line, I would also research Viking Ocean, who are a privately owned Norwegian company that flag their ships in Norway. While the Masters and Deck & Engineering Officers are Norwegian, the hotel crew and ratings are international crews. They are rated by many organisations as the # 1 premium cruise line and the ships have a clean modern Norwegian design. They have great food, exceptional service, included spa/sauna/therapy pool/gym, a resident historian, exceptional lectures and an extensive catalogue of shore excursions. Similar to Hurtigruten, Viking will provide a more authentic Norwegian cultural experience. You can check out our travel blog AndyandJudi.com for daily reports from the 2020 World Cruise. I do not moneterise my blog, so gain no benefit from visits.

An excellent question that requires some research to determine what is the best option for you. We have completed numerous B2B cruises and a couple of World Cruises, so here are our thoughts. I'll suggest the first decision is do you have a preference for a specific cruise line(s), or are you happy to book any Line, based on itinerary. Personally, we tend to have a preferred cruise line that meets our expectations, with regards to the cruise experience - small ships, great service, great food, no casino, no photogs, all-inclusive, etc. If you're like us and have a preferred Line, your options are B2B2B...... or a World Cruise/Grand Voyage. On the mainstream mega ship Lines, I find the menus repeat every cruise. Example - when I worked for P&O and Princess on 7-day cruises, for a 4-month contract, we got exactly the same menu every day of the week. That gets really repetitive. I've also seen it where all ships within a Line that are completing the same length cruise have exactly the same menu on each respective day of the cruise. On visiting a number of cruise ships in port, as a local contractor, I often found the same menu across a cruise Line. The entertainment also tends to be repeated each cruise, often on the same schedule. Therefore, if your preference is staying with a preferred cruise line, I'll suggest a World Cruise or Grand Voyage is the better option, unless you are accepting of the repetition. If your preference is jumping on various cruise lines, I would always leave a few days between cruises, even if using the same port. Although very few cruises are delayed at the turnaround port, it does happen. If you want to limit flying between ports it will be quite some planning exercise, especially if visiting some of the more remote areas of the world.

On a WC, the atmosphere is so totally different from a shorter cruise as upon embarkation, it feels like you have moved into your home away from home. Since you are onboard for 4 to 6 months, you don't find the need to try everything on the menu, as dishes will no doubt return before you disembark. Although we don't get any menu repeated, we will see some of the popular dishes repeated. We also take most of our meals in one of the full-service restaurants, so the galley manages portion control. We only manage the number of courses ordered. In the Buffet, with everything looking so good, it is just too easy to fill the plate. I'm also out walking about 06:00 every sea day, for a couple of hours, so that also helps. Even moving around the ship to the various venues and using the stairs, rather than the lifts, help to increase exercise.

Since I've been to Juneau way too many times, I get the shuttle out to the Alaska Brewery just outside town and enjoy a couple of hours of refreshments. On return, I'll visit the 2 tasting rooms in town.

Others have responded regarding testing, so I wanted to ensure you have completed your research and are aware of the challenges of cruising to Alaska in mid-October, then cruising down the West Coast. I completed 2 entire Alaska seasons as Navigator with P&O and there are a number of reasons why we left Alaska, which was out highest revenue region, by mid-September. None of the experienced Alaska cruise lines leave ships up there in October. Weather After about mid-September, the weather is unpredictable and the potential for storms increases significantly. I experienced a 70 kt storm each year in September. In addition to wind, it is also colder and wetter. Daylight You are already past the Equinox, so the light is fading fast. Sunrise is not until about 07:30 and sunset about 18:00. Therefore, you will miss one of the Alaska highlights, which is scenic cruising. Business/Tour Operators Most of the business are also shutting down in September, so you may find few options when going ashore. I believe the ship is bound to L/A, so you will steam down the entire West Coast. I've worked this coast for 35 years and October is when the winter storms start rolling in with a vengeance. Hopefully, you'll be lucky, but my experience indicates it could be a rather lumpy transit down the coast.

If we can resume travelling next year, we are considering the 70-day Longitudinal WC from Milwaukee to Ushuaia that also visits the Falklands & S/Georgia before heading to Antarctica. By moving to Canada, I missed the trip to the Falklands in 1982, as had I not left P&O, I had a good chance of being on 1 or the 2 ships seconded by the RN. Have chatted with a number of Officers on both ships, so it's a place I have always wanted to visit. If we do book, hopefully the weather co-operates.😁

Negative on the WC. Due to a health issue, we cancelled the T/Atlantic in June and then the WC and UK/Scandinavia at the beginning of last month. The repeat WC'ers are dropping like flies for the 22/23 WC.