philw1776

RH was once a 5 star. It has declined from its glory days but is still a fine hotel. Our double bed room was small but it faced the river and the London eye. We loved it there. Location is superb. Enjoy the gardens on the river facing side of the hotel and be sure to walk along the embankment to view the monuments to the RAF pilots and the defense of London. Everything is within walking distance; cradle robbing wife is 80. The nearby river boat excursions are not expensive and worth the money. You view the dock where the Mayflower left. Recreated Shakespeare's theater, Tower of London and Helen Mirren's home plus many other sites along the river.

Thank you. Going on that cruise 8 September.

Stayed in London pre cruise at Royal Horseguards in Westminster. Wonderful time viewing the many WWII historical monuments along the river. Churchills War Room which Viking advertises for this cruise and a major expectation for us was mysteriously “not available” for this sailing. So thankful we were able to see it on our own. Enjoyed Thames river boat tour from Westminster to Greenwich & back. SUN JUN 25 London 5:30PM Sail out TOWER OF LONDON 4H 9AM-1PM This tour was ok at best. Also guide was unclear where to meat up after self-tour. Instead of traffic limited bus rides to & from Viking should use an UBER boat to take us to the dock there & back saving time and adding tour value. Missed the afternoon’s excellent Greenwich walking tour because we were exhausted. Winds kept Venus in port missing the 5:30 PM sail out and even rising at 6:30AM we missed the very early AM sail out start. What we did see was very nice. D4: TUE JUN 27 Edinburgh, Scotland EDINBURGH HIGHLIGHTS 3H Typical panoramic bus tour. Unfortunately somewhat rainy. Fun time limited walk along Top of Royal Mile. Good guide with interesting information. ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA Did this very pricey Viking tour on our own. Despite fairly long walk to & fro in moderate rain the self-guided tour was excellent. Seems like there were bars everywhere on the ship. Good times. D5: WED JUN 28 Orkney Islands, Scotland ORKNEY’S STONE AGE 4H Outstanding tour with great archaeologist guide. Only complaint was way too little time at Ring of Brodgar stones. Skara Brae oceanside site was excellent and had enough time. Gorgeous Orkney countryside. Learned much on bus ride as well. Highly recommended. D6: THUR JUN 29 Shetland Islands, Scotland ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE SHETLANDS 4H Another outstanding tour with an outstanding guide. 5000 year old Jarlshof site was fascinating with surprising opportunities to crawl inside the stone structures by the beautiful seaside. Inhabited for centuries by different cultures through Iron Age and then Viking Longhouse remains. Learned about, saw and went inside remains of multistory Broch towers. Scenic countryside drive to & fro but not as pretty as Orkney. Not to be missed. D7 & D8 : FRI & SAT JUN 30 & JUL 1 SEA DAYS Some of the roughest sailing I’ve ever experienced on 1st day but settled down the next day. Love hanging out and eating too much on Viking ships. Lectures continued to be excellent especially those by the ship’s resident historian. She was entertaining and informative. D9: SUN JULY 2 Honningsvag, Norway DRIVE TO NORTH CAPE 3.5HR 8:45AM-12:15PM Short but scenic bus ride to North Cape monument & museum. I was dressed for the cold and had good weather with some blue sky for picture taking. Great views. Museum was decent, not great, but very comfortable. As we left for the ride back to the ship it clouded over ruining this picturesque tour for the afternoon folks. HONNINGSVAG BY FOOT & PLAY 2HR Punted on this planned tour as it was pouring rain and guest services said it was an over 20 minute walk to the play. Enjoyed reading in Explorers Lounge instead. D10: MON JULY 3 TromsØ, Norway PORTALS TO THE ARCTIC 3.5HR Outstanding tour this morning. Good weather & good guide. Started with visit to the A frame Church, then onto the Excellent Arctic Museum with plenty of time to tour. Then off to the cable car ride to the mountaintop with fantastic vistas. Again, plenty of time. WALKING TOUR OF TROMSØ 1.5HR Afternoon included tour was informative. Young lady resident was a good guide. D11: TUE JULY 4 Lofoten, Norway LOFOTEN VIKING EXPERIENCE 3.5H Informative fun tour of a Viking longhouse replica. Large. Enjoyed a typical Viking snack with mead while the re-enactment host told us how women ruled the roost while raiders were away. Many actors doing crafts etc. and stuff you could touch. Then the on-site museum was OK but very comfortable. Funny, entertaining 6’8” guide. PANORAMIC LOFOTEN 2.5HR 2:45PM-5:15PM Others rightly rate this tour highly but our guide was way below par. Could not put 2 sentences together and drifted off topic. Then long silences. The overlook site views at stops were gorgeous but at the end she insisted on stopping the bus so she could stand up face us and deliver a long uninteresting monologue which I forget and which made us late getting back by 20 minutes. Received back at the ship by crew singing & dancing which deeply offends some on cruise critic. D13: THUR JULY 6 Geiranger, Norway KYAKING GEIRANGERFJORD 3H 9AM-12PM We cancelled this at deadline 3 days before because of rain forecasts. 3 HRS rained on in a kyak did not sound fun. Of course the real weather that morning was excellent. EAGLE’S BEND OVERLOOK & PANORAMIC DRIVE 3H Switched to an early morning tour but arrival of a 4,000 passenger tour ship delayed our tender departure by half an hour. Bus ride up the fjord along exciting switchbacks with outstanding vistas. First stop also included a waterfall where we could stand in the spray for photos. Luckily not killed by traffic. Multiple stops ending with a lake back in the hills and a lake side Inn. Got great photos, a tour not to be missed. By that time weather had turned overcast. Good guide. Gorgeous sail out by the Seven Sisters and numerous other photographic waterfalls even in the rain. Watched from our veranda. Geiranger is a gem. D14: FRI JULY 7 Bergen, Norway Been to Bergen twice before. Toured on our own again and went up the funicular for city and harbor overviews which were good despite overcast skies. Checked out the fish market, etc. After lunch the dreaded packing task began. Viking Venus crew was excellent without exception. Food was good with good service. We were unable to get any Chef’s Table reservations even while onboard. We don’t dine at 8 or 9PM. But no big deal. As previously stated, the lectures were excellent, a great feature on Viking. Wife enjoyed a massage and I was too lazy to visit the spa pool as I have done on previous cruises. Internet was poor. Could not send even one photo. Nearly 2 hour hellhole in line waiting for Amsterdam passport control in extreme heat and humidity. Stressful. Missed our early boarding flight perk. Otherwise flight back was great.

I was aboard Venus on this same cruise. Good crew. Good service. Will add my review with our different excursion choices once I have time this week.

THIS ^^^^

Had a different experience 3 years ago. Stayed at Albergo Terminus in Lake Como and Hotel Academia in Verona. Terminus was right at the lake. All meals were terrific with lunches and dinners at very fine restaurants. Not at the hotels. Cooking demo was at a different hotel across the lake. Weather was down pouring rain with streets flooded ankle deep. Nothing is perfect.

Despite ~10 Viking cruises I have received no brochures for the last 3-4 years except one for Expedition ships. I must have done something quite unacceptable on one or more of my cruises.

I think so but my 2 cruises had no formal nights. Yah, that's a deal breaker for me. The bathroom is superior with huge shower and jacuzzi tub even in lowest cabin.

Silversea has small ocean ships ~ 600 passengers. I've enjoyed my cruises with them. They have many different itineraries.

Yes they do.

Enjoyed our 2 Silversea cruises very much. 1st butler was a disaster. Eager to serve he kept pestering us, ringing the doorbell time and again despite us telling him we did not need constant checking. There was no way to stop him. As cruise end neared, we made a big mistake. Accepted his offer to pack our bags. Came back from dinner and found to our dismay that he failed to see our 3rd bag under the bed and had jammed everything into the 2 bags. Quite a feat! Had to repack to get under 50LB weight limit. 2nd cruise the butler was unobtrusive. I remember him taking care of restaurant reservations for us and our travel companions and also dealing with an excursion issue. Helpful. Our always excellent Viking room stewards have always provided enough service for us.

Booking onboard is usually a good deal but terms vary. WARNING: The 1st time I did this my cruise had not yet been officially listed. As it was coming out the next week, the onboard agent called LA and got the pricing for me so I could book onboard and get the onboard deal. When I got home I saw that the $ deal posted on Viking website was better than my onboard deal. Viking's response was "Well each month we have a promotion deal. You booked last month" Even though the unlisted cruise had not been published that month and the onboard viking guy called for next week's pricing. So be very very careful booking any yet to be listed soon to be listed cruise. Since then, booking onboard has worked well for me.

People who wash your dishes and people who launder your sheets, the deck crew and many, many others that you do not interact with receive much appreciated money from the gratuities charge. Do not pay this gratuities charge in advance as if cruise is cancelled or shortened it's a mess to claw it back. And your onboard credit can be use to pay some or all of it.

Took daughter & our 18 yr old granddaughter on the Welcome Back cruise around Iceland. They loved Iceland & the ship, especially the tea. Granddaughter went off on her own climbing fjord walls & took the Icelandic Ponies tour on her own. She can't wait to be old enough to go back rent a car & tour. We missed Westland and the puffins because of weather while spending big bucks on the all day tours. Would go back.

Astronomy

Did the extension but with Silversea. Same deal. The hotel is very basic but clean. A time warp back to the 70s. Our room faced the parking lot but the views from elsewhere on property were great. Restaurant had great meals with very fresh fish, etc. The park tour is a hoot. Unfortunately ours was in total rain. The train ride alone is worth the trip. On that day we could see the mountain. This was the best extension for making pre-cruise friends ever. Hated to leave the fellow guests at cruise end. Photos on 1st page show Denali pre cruise.

I'd absolutely look into first class if doing train on your own. Many windows in the not first class Viking cars were a bit age occluded but we lucked out with our assigned seats. Bergen to Oslo sit on the left but not a disaster if on right. Thon hotel had decent bar food. Hotel right next to train station. Agree that Italian restaurant in train complex was decent. It's located at end of a beautiful structure that sticks out away from the trains. Many fast food restaurants there as well. Hotel well located to harbor. We were with family's 1st VO experience in Iceland. Wish we could have spent more time with you guys.

Stayed the well located Thon Opera and took the train in the opposite direction. Really enjoyed Oslo and the train ride.

As to small ships Silversea has 600 pax ships. Very nice ships but a bit ornate with less windows. Bathrooms are huge with tub & shower. Butlers, which to me can be annoying if you get one who insists on helping Younger more active demographic; not all Americanos Great food but a couple pricey specialty restaurants; not a problem because included ones are great Annoying requirement of dinner jacket

Still doesn't work for me. Nothing under Account.

Doesn't work for me.

Nope

Do not see my TA OBC there.

My 3rd attempt to visit Herculaneum coming in September. Can't wait. Please let it happen. Loved Pompeii. The Museum is a world treasure. Day well spent there. They show Pompeii columns & wall in full color as it appeared 2,000 years ago. Would impress even 21st century folk never mind my barbarian ancestors of the day. Ostia was another fav. Toured it with Viking Historian who began his Oxford carer there.

I had forgotten. A sobering reminder.