retiredman

https://rubenshotel.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=hotel-the-rubens-at-the-palace

Stayed here the week of the Coronation, older Hotel, but within walking distance to so much.

On 5/14/2023 at 3:54 PM, KaDarr said:

So happy to hear that you loved the tour with Boutique Tours out of Holyhead 😁 We will be on the Venus BIE on September 2 of this year. I booked John from Boutique Tours to take us on the same trip. I'm still hoping that someone else books it also as it is quite expensive for just the two of us. (600 pounds for just the two of us) I think I am looking forward to this tour more than anything. Thanks so much for the report!

We just returned on the 13th from the Venus. I booked Boutique Tours in Holyhead as well. Fantastic tour, John is excellent. If you haven't created or joined your roll call, do it now. That is how I easily recruited two more couples to bring the price down. We met in the Explorers Lounge a couple of days before Holyhead. Had a wonderful time. Also booked Grant Redfern of Shetland Minibus Tours. Wonderful!

On 5/13/2023 at 1:40 PM, Moonlion said:

The good, bad and unfortunate…

 

The quality of our meal last night in the Restaurant was again mixed. The swordfish was very good and the prime rib disappointing - thin slice, overcooked (not the medium rare we ordered) and half fat. It seems they can do seafood well but not beef (the Beef Wellington a couple of days ago was also disappointing). I think it’s difficult to cook such thin slices of beef to medium rare. From our experiences so far, the food quality in the Restaurant has noticeably declined compared to our Viking cruise in January 2022 on the Venus. We reported our concerns to the Restaurant Manager in the hopes that things may improve. 
 

There was a guest entertainer last night in the Star Theater, Ben Mills, who was excellent (did modern renditions of 60s to 80s music). The husband and wife “Contemporary Duo” in Torshavn were also very enjoyable and DH even danced with me (and he’s not the dancing type). Still no sign of Abba or Beatles performances. 
 

Day 5 (May 13th, Dublin): our final documents said we would dock in Dun Laoghaire but, once onboard, it was listed as a tender port. We had booked the early morning included tour and were instructed to be in the Star Theater at 7 AM.  So, we ordered breakfast through room service to arrive by 6:15 AM. Yikes, we were still in bed when our breakfast arrived at 5:45 AM!  The waiter apologized for arriving so early but apparently half the ship had the same idea to order early morning room service. They got most of our order correct and it arrived hot. 
 

We arrived in the Star Theater at 7 AM sharp and then waited and waited and waited… Because of dense fog in the harbor, the harbor master would not permit the tenders to run for safety reasons (completely understandable). We were finally able to start boarding the tender boats at 10:30 AM and didn’t get into Dublin until after 11:30 AM. Unfortunately, I had booked tickets online for a tour of Kilmainham Gaol. Our entry time was 11:30 AM which of course we didn’t make. The tickets were not that expensive so no great financial loss but we were really looking forward to this tour.  Since we got such a late start, Viking extended the ship departure time by a couple of hours. We had fantastic weather in Dublin, sunny and relatively warm. 
 

The included excursion, City Views of Dublin, was basically a bus tour around the city with 3 brief photo stops. It took about 30 minutes to get from Dun Laoghaire to the Dublin city center and the drive around the city took about an hour and a half. Our guide was OK, not terrible and not great. She pointed out a few architectural details and talked about Guinness and its role in shaping modern Dublin. Disappointing to us, she didn’t really cover Ireland’s turbulent history (e.g., the Easter Rising of 1916), Dublin’s rich literary history, Trinity College or the Old Library with the Book of Kells. We left the tour before the bus headed back to the port and explored the city on our own for a couple of hours. Viking had a free shuttle from Dublin to Dun Laoghaire. In retrospect, I think we should have taken the Dart train or Viking’s shuttle into Dublin and done one of the Hop on Hop off tours. 

My wife and I just returned on the 13th from the Venus doing the BIE. Maybe the only really disappointing meal was one of my favorites, Beef Wellington. Why was I expecting an individual filet with delicious pate wrapped in puff pastry? Because its Viking! They should be ashamed of what they tried to pass off as that wonderful entree.

We just returned from a Viking Ocean British Isles Cruise. In Holyhead, Wales I definitely suggest Boutique Tours of Wales. The owner and guide John, has a passion and love of his Country and it shines through. He will take you places the big busses could only dream about and at a much fairer price. 

In the Shetland Islands we booked "Shetland Minibus Tours". Grant is a pleasure, and we saw some fantastic scenery and visited some places that the Viking Tours could never reach.

Both are HIGHLY Recommended.

Got it. Thanks!

On 12/16/2022 at 12:54 PM, Moonlion said:

Since there's been some interest on this forum for information about British Isles Explorer excursions, I thought I would share the excursions that Viking is offering on our BIE cruise (May 9, 2023 - London to Bergen).  In My Viking Journey, shore excursions for our cruise were posted yesterday much to my surprise (almost 5 months in advance!).  I've attached a spreadsheet with the excursions being offered, times and prices. Of course, no guarantees that the same excursions and times will be available on the other BIE cruises, especially those traveling from Bergen to London. 

 

I also included (in the far right column) the 2022 prices when available.  On average, prices increased about $20 per excursion (usually between $10 to $30) in 2023 compared to 2022. 

 

For future BIE cruisers, hope this helps with your planning!

  

Viking BIE ShoreEx May-9-2023.pdf 115.57 kB · 70 downloads

I'm curious, you state you are on the May 9th 2023 BIE Cruise? Is that with the Venus? Because we are booked on the April 29th '23 BIE leaving from Tilbury. The Venus will be in Edinburgh on May 9th. Is there another cruise right behind us?

Buy your tickets in advance, it fills up. We took the early train and remember getting to the ship before 3pm. Lovely trip.

On 8/8/2022 at 8:59 AM, Twitchly said:

Nice. What cruise was this?

Icelands Majestic Landscapes. I believe this was on the way to Flam.

The view from an aft cabin isn't that bad

Thank you, Had an aft cabin for our sailing to Montenegro as well.

We had 5111 on the Sky on our Norway/Iceland trip in '19. Love the perspective while sailing the fjords.

Worked out great for us. We sent our large bags to Bergen when we flew in to Oslo and stayed for a few days. Took the train to Bergen to meet the Sky travelling with just our carry on luggage.

Great, but I will feel a heck of a lot better when I can even schedule an appointment to get vaccinated! We live in the Pharmaceutical Center of the Country and the system of scheduling is a disgrace! Not saying our State should get any preference, just that it seems so ironic.

We were in cabin #5111 on the Sky, August of '19 taking the Icelands Majestic Landscapes trip. We always like the perspective from the aft cabins. On the 5 deck, the DV1 cabins are under the Infinity pool, which can provide a bit of shade when needed or shelter from rain. You can see the edge of the pool at the top of one picture taken at dusk sailing from Seydisfjordur.

We used luggage forward last summer on our Icelands Majestic Landscape cruise. We sent out large case to Bergen (about $300), since we went to Oslo for a couple days and did not want to deal with luggage on the Oslo to go Bergen train trip. It worked out well.

Regrettably, we advised our travel agent that we wished to cancel our planned cruise on the new Venus in April 2021. We felt the cruise experience will just not be the same at that point in time. Almost one full month passed with no word from our agent or Viking. Curiously, after contacting once again our travel agent and voicing our concerns, we received our full refund into our account today. We love Viking and wish it well, hope it survives, and if it does we will be aboard again. Right now, we feel better about our money being in our account.

    I had flights scheduled with TAP in June for a tour in Italy. The flights were canceled by them and I specifically requested a refund. They thanked me for requesting vouchers (which I cannot possibly use) and emailed them. When I disputed, they had me call Portugal. After being on hold, I just gave up and filed a dispute with Capital one.

    Still waiting for a refund from Aer Lingus after 2 months.

Cinnaminson, along the Delaware, across from northeast Philly. Happy Anniversary!! We enjoy that "Trenton style" DeLorenzos pizza now in Robbinsville whenever possible!

15 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

My NJ shore favorites are the Shrimp Box (Point Pleasant) and the Lobster House (Cape May). Never heard of Twisties. But my all time favorite is still the Lobster Box in City Island (Bronx, NY). Been going there almost 50 years.

If you have been to the Deauville, Twisties is a stone's throw south on the bay. An old Jersey shore speakeasy, rum running joint from prohibition times. A fun place with fun people, not as well known among the "shoobies".

Squawkman, I guess fine dining rules out Twisties lol.  Might I suggest The Reeds in Stone Harbor? Beautiful setting and fine dining.

Oh sure, they will ship it. But you can get it much cheaper at home on Prime. 

I loved the solar powered revolving globes! Then I asked if I could carry it on our flight home. Nope. Too much trouble for something I found on Amazon. Very cool.

19 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

You sound like a good candidate to watch "The Heavy Water War' ----- nothing short of excellent!

 Read "The Winter Fortress" by Neal Bascomb if you are interested in the subject. Fascinating!

It seems like yesterday but was actually this past August 5th. Dear wife and I were on the Sky doing Icelands' Majestic Landscapes and sailing out of Geiranger, Norway. We had attended a guest lecture by Mr. Joseph Micallef that afternoon. He spoke on the WWII resistance of Norway and Denmark, a fascinating talk. Afterwards, having had a wonderful dinner, we retreated to the Explorers Lounge for a few after dinner libations. Sitting at a table enjoying the fabulous view and a nice straight up Makers Mark, I notice Mr. Micallef sitting solo at a table next to us. Having read a few books on the subject of his lecture, I told him how much I enjoyed it. It started a long discussion about the subject , which I enjoyed immensely. A most enjoyable evening, but then every evening was entertaining. I make final payment on our April 2021 "British Isles Explorer" cruise in a few days. It was nights like that which give me faith Viking will survive. I need those in my life!

7 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

Interesting - because we just booked this cabin for a Caribbean cruise next spring.  We have been booking PV1s but we were looking for something cheaper and close to home for that spring cruise.  I’d been looking at other lines (shhh don’t tell) because Viking usually leaves the Caribbean by the end of March. We did the West Indies Explorer a couple of years ago at the end of March and we had some stress about a late season blizzard back home.  My husband said he was never cruising in snow season again 😝

 

I wasn’t finding anything interesting, so I expanded my search to March thinking maybe I’ll find something at the very end into April.  I found an Iconic Southern on Viking Sky. I mentioned it, but the price for our customary PV was more than we wanted to spend.

 

The very next morning I get an email from Viking with a special offer for guests booked on another cruise.  (They really are psychic!) I looked again at the price.  The PV was still too high, but the DV was doable.  I mentioned it again.  My husband said, “On Viking?”  My answer was, “Yes, but it’s March 9, and you didn’t want to cruise in March.”

 

He said, “but it’s Viking!”  I said, “yes, but we have to do have to do a DV with no couch, no liquor in the mini bar, and the closet by the bed.”  He said, “but it’s Viking!”  
 

I said, “It’s ports we’ve done before.”  He said, “but it’s Viking!”
 

LOL I found 5110 was available and we love the aft or aft wraps, and that was the clincher for me.  My husband simply said, “but it’s Viking!”

We booked it!  Hoping it’s a good room. We do like deck 5!

I understand what you mean about the weather in East Jibib! It can be really terrible that time of year! Have a great time!