Cyber Kat

I always bring a little cover up - most of them are like quick drying dresses.  I use them for Caribbean cruises for beach days, also.  My husband uses a hockey jersey 😄

2 minutes ago, alwaysonaship said:

I wasn’t explaining anything to you. I replied to your statement. 

If you say so - I give up!

8 minutes ago, alwaysonaship said:

Well I speak from experience and we have always adhered to the dress code, but that doesn’t mean tuxes and ball gowns. 

I didn't say it did, but the dress code says suit or pants and a jacket.  We prefer lines that do NOT require a jacket and/or a tie.  That's our preference and luckily there are lines that fit our preferences.  I have no need to sail on Seabourn.  Not sure why you feel the need to explain their dress code to me.

25 minutes ago, alwaysonaship said:

To answer your question.. I don’t own a dress.  . I do have nice dressy silk pants, and no sparkly tops anymore. 

Well the post above says: "Formal

In the Restaurant, Men: Tuxedo, suit or slacks and jacket required. Ladies: evening gown or other formal apparel."  This is why we will most likely never cruise Seabourn.  Probably not Crystal, either.

I'm happy with Viking, Azamara and I will probably be happy with Celebrity as well.  We are in a suite, and I understand that Luminae doesn't do the Chic Nights, so smart casual will be fine.

9 minutes ago, alwaysonaship said:

What is an issue with the dress code. My husband takes a nice sports coat.  Basically he wears the same clothing and so do I as we did in The suite restaurant. If you look at the two I would say they are about the same 

 

Seabourn Sojourn Dress Code

Seabourn has a written dress code as follows: Elegant casual on most nights, after 6 p.m., in all restaurants and public areas. This means collared dress shirt and slacks for men, jacket optional; slacks or a skirt with a blouse or dress for women.

 

 

Azamara Journey Dress Code

Azamara calls its dress code "resort casual"; there are no formal nights. The line does ask passengers to refrain from wearing blue jeans in the main dining room and specialty restaurants after 6 p.m., and tank tops, ball caps, bathing suits and shorts are also not permitted.

 

Doesn’t Seabourn have formal nights? We have been looking at other premium and luxury lines and rejecting those with formal or very dressy requirements. I don’t mind pants and a sparkly top, but I draw the line at dresses and my husband’s line is jacket and tie. Smart casual is our preferred dinner attire. 

Our favorite line at the moment is Viking. I say “at the moment,” because we haven’t tried some of the other premium and luxury lines. We like a smart casual dress code and that’s what it’s like on Viking. 

We like to mix in some less expensive cruises because Viking is expensive. We did an Azamara cruise this past spring and we had a very good cruise with them. It left and returned to our local port and it was an unusual itinerary NY - Charleston, SC - Hamilton (docked in Hamilton) Bermuda - NY. 10 days and it was a very nice break. 

If you are going to cruise on Azamara, I recommend not reading the Azamara board. They will raise your expectations too high. All I kept hearing about was the stellar service and the wonderful interaction with the crew. We experienced neither. 

The stellar service seemed to be reserved for repeat customers, sometimes to the detriment of those of us sailing with them for the first time. There would be groups of wait staff frequently hanging around chatting with other tables, while we waited for food or drink refills. These other tables were clearly repeat guests. 

The service on the whole was okay - better on the whole than the other mainstream lines we have been on, but IMO not as good as Viking. 

We have a Celebrity cruise booked on Equinox for next spring. I’m hoping it will be a good option for us when we are looking for less expensive cruises to fit in between our Viking cruises.  We are booked in a Sky Suite, so we are hoping for a good cruise experience. We prefer the smaller ships, but Equinox doesn’t go over our 3000 limit, and having the suite will help. 

I mostly posted this to tell  @rollie about our Azamara experience.  I really do think the regulars on the Azamara board do the line a disservice by raising expectations too high, because there is a difference between the repeat cruiser experience and the first (or even second and third - we spoke with a few) time cruiser experience. 

We had very little interaction with the officers, but it’s not really something I’m looking for on a cruise. I’m happy interacting with my steward and the wait staff. I’d prefer the officers to be off doing their jobs 😁. Where do they find the time?

If the itinerary was right and Viking wasn’t doing it, or Azamara was doing it much cheaper, I would absolutely do another with them. It’s true the cabins are small, especially when compared with Viking, but the space was more than adequate - except for the bathroom. That was tiny.  The balcony was fine.  It didn’t need to be bigger. We weren’t throwing a wild party out there 😝

Though there were only 690 guests, there were times when it felt a bit crowded - but nothing like the bigger ships. The food was good - sometimes fabulous, sometimes just okay. The scones for afternoon tea are scrumptious, and the tapas were excellent. This is afternoons and early evening in the Living Room. The gelato was fabulous. 

We never had to wait long for a table for 2 at 7-7:30.  Once they said the wait would be 15-20 minutes, so we sat down in the bar area and they came over less than 5 minutes later. Another time they said there would be a wait unless we wanted to share. We said okay, and the experience was okay, but less than optimal. We like socializing and meeting people, but I just don’t find the dinner table the best place for that. If you don’t care for the people you are chatting with at a bar, you can get up  and leave. At dinner, you are kind of stuck for the duration. 

The sea day trivia games were a step up from what we have done before, different and quite fun!  The pool has no cover, so unless it’s warm, there’s no swimming. The lounges are comfy and the Patio grill is open, but covered.  We often ate lunch out there. The 2 specialty restaurants were very good. 

So I hope my rambling tale helps. Looking forward to our Equinox cruise next spring.   Lots of firsts for us!

1 hour ago, Liz Masterson said:

I'm astonished by the number of posts about coffee!

 

Let's switch things up.

 

I like to enjoy a fancy cocktail before or after dinner.  I don't mean a simple glass of wine or scotch, though I enjoy them as well, but something fancy.

 

For example this summer in Vancouver I had a delicious Earl Grey and Lavendar Martini! And when I'm in Ithaca I try to stop by the Moosewood Restaurant for a Grapefruit and Basil Martini... yum yum!

 

Surely Viking has something to tempt me?

I was quite happy to find a Singapore Sling on their drink menu and I have heard that they will make a French 75! 

On 8/24/2019 at 4:45 PM, MISTER 67 said:

We avoid all that by requesting a table for 2.

BTW, dressing up for dinner is not putting on airs, my guess is you and I are from different generations, I'm a boomer who grew up in the 50s and remember when gentleman went to ballgames in suits and dress hats and ladies wore dresses, heels and gloves when leaving home. I don't ever remember my mother dressing any other way, we went to the 1959 World Series with my uncle at Comiskey Park and my uncle wore a grey shark skin suit and mother a beautiful dress and high heels, different day and age and to tell you the truth I miss it so very much.

I am also a boomer who grew up in the 50s and I don’t miss it at all. Nor do I miss the era of cruising when everyone had to dress formal for dinner. 

I much prefer to change with the times and for dinner I will be wearing solid color tee shirts and black pants long enough so no one can tell if my blingy thong sandals have a back strap or not.  

1 hour ago, Sunny AZ Girl said:

Perhaps you could use Uber or a cab?

 

We plan to use the HOHO Bus while we are there, and it makes at least two stops at the top of Mount Royal.  However, it ends at 4 PM.  Our plan on Day 1 is to take it around the city for a full loop tour and then repeat to go back as far as Mount Royal.  The bus stops at 4 PM for tours.  We were thinking of getting some evening pictures and then calling a Uber to get back into town for dinner.  I hope that is a workable plan?  I am open for suggestions.

We looked at the HOHO bus, but it looks like they only sell 2 day tickets.  We arrive at 4 pm, so that day is out.  We have a full day the next day, but we board our ship on the day after that.  Through the ship, we have a walking tour, a Food Tour, and the multi-media presentation at the Notre Dame Basilica.

5 minutes ago, Nitemare said:

Yes. Closer to Boston and closer to the park

Excellent - thank you!

Any suggestions on how to get to the top of Mount Royal (for the views) other than walking up?  I didn't see anything direct on public transportation and we don't want to do a tour for that.  We have other tours planned - a walking tour, a food tour and the multi-media show at the Notre Dame Basilica.  I would also like to ride the big Ferris wheel - I know that's not what it's called, but I forgot to look it up 😄

We are staying at Auberg du Viex Port.  I was thinking maybe we could get them to call a cab to take us to the Mount Royal Park.  We could probably walk down, or if there are cabs, maybe we could get one to go back to the Old Port area.  It looks like we could walk to the Ferris wheel.

5 hours ago, Nitemare said:

And I suggest you exit at the Kenmore Square station for Fenway Park.  Do not aim for the Fenway Park station (further away) or the Fenway station (Commuter Rail train).

Thanks!  Is the Kenmore Sq station closer?

17 minutes ago, 138east said:

Not sure why you want to pay for a shuttle to Quincy Market first when you’re going to Fenway Park.  The public transit fare is $2.90 regardless if you go from Black Falcon or Quincy Market.

 

The Silver Line has 2 stops on Black Falcon Ave by the pier.  Silver Line should be empty since this is the end of the Line.  Ride to South Station.  On the platform go to the right to the end of the platform following the signs for Red Line Direction Alewife and go down a flight of steps or take the elevator.  On the Red Line platform walk to the back end of the train, which will position you well for the transfer to the B, C, or D Green Line trolley at Park St, which is 2 quick stops from South Station.  As advised by others, get off at Kenmore.

 

When you get back to Quincy Market later, you can take an Uber or Lyft back to the port for less than you would have paid for the round trip shuttle for 2 people.

 

We won't have to pay for the shuttle - Viking provides them.  And we don't want to have to change trains.  We just want a straigt run.

2 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

 

Thanks so much for your in depth review of the West Indies Explorer. Maybe it would be something we would enjoy, and it could open up an entirely new area for us. Some of the architecture shown in the Viking video looks charming, and while I didn't see a castle anywhere, there are apparently some old plantations and churches to keep me interested.

 

The price is reasonable, plus, a non stop flight from Baltimore to San Juan would be much easier than that trans-Atlantic overnight economy flight!

It was the short flight that partly sold us.  The homes are very colorful and there were some pretty churches.  Lots of flowers, pretty scenery - different, but worth seeing.  With the exception of Guadeloupe, Viking picked the islands well.  Many of the towns were very quaint.  Different look from Europe, but charming in their own way.

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

Cyber Kat,

I noticed you have done the West Indies Explorer. What did you think of that one? I just happened to watch the Viking video of that cruise, and was tempted to consider it.

 

All of our trips so far have been in Europe, by land or river or ocean. From Scandinavia and Russia all the way to Greece and Turkey, my travel interests are focused there. I have loved every trip we have taken. Beaches are not my idea of a good time. My (perhaps unfair) perception of Caribbean cruises is all large cruise ships with partying crowds getting off ships to sit on different beaches each day. 

 

Before our first Viking river cruise, which led to our first Viking ocean cruise, I used to think I was not a "cruise person". Could I be wrong in thinking I'm not an "island person" too?

 

P.S. We did Trade Routes last fall. I wish you better weather than we had, but we loved that cruise in spite of it. Bruges and Malaga were highlights, and we missed Falmouth because of storms, but every port was a treat. We went to Honfleur instead of Paris, and skipped the Alhambra (one of the best sights ever) since we had been there previously. Enjoy!

We really enjoyed the West Indies cruise.  On the whole cruise we went to ONE beach and it was the last day in St Thomas.  We did the Champagne Catamaran cruise to St John - which is wonderful!  No party crowds in site - just miles of unspoiled beach.

We did mostly optional tours.  Viking didn't quite have the Caribbean down for the included tours, but it might be better now.  Most of the were the "panoramic" bus rides - which we aren't fond of.

We went to St Croix instead of Tortola because it was not long (March 2018) after the devastating hurricanes in 2017.  The Viking tour was a walking tour, and I really enjoyed it.

In San Juan we wanted to do the rain forest horseback ride, but the rain forest was really badly damaged, so we did the walking tour - which again was very interesting.  We really saw and learned a lot.

In St Kitts we did the St Kitts Railway - great fun!  An excellent way to see the island, the narration was fantastic, very informative.  They had a local a Capella group that sang Caribbean songs and there was the ubiquitous rum punch or fruit juice.  We also did the included tour of Basseterre by bus which ended up at the appropriately named Fairview Estate - awesome views, bougainvillea in bloom everywhere, interesting house tour and gardens.

In St Lucia we did one of my favorite tours - a whole day, Land and Sea tour.  Apparently there was a portion of it that was a bus tour.  This was cancelled because people complained that the roads were in poor condition.  Fine with me - we really just wanted the boat trip.  It was a large catamaran, but not crowded - lots of room to move around, and a great crew.  We sailed up the coast with a cruise through Marigot Bay and past the Pitons - which you have to see from the water.  They are very impressive.  We docked in Soufriere, where we boarded vans to go up to the Morne Coubaril Estate.  Very interesting tour, we learned all about coconuts and chocolate production - which is what the estate was known for.  After the tour we had a very nice Creole buffet lunch in their open air restaurant.  From there, we went back to the boat, and anchored in a little cove for a swim, then we sailed back down the coast while dancing with the crew, drinking the usual rum punch and fruit juice.  We pulled into the pier singing Sweet Caroline and everyone on the dock joined in.  An all around very enjoyable day.  

In Barbados, we chose a Photography Tour.  It was a small group tour - 10-12 in a van, with an excellent guide, who is a well-known photographer in the islands.  He took us to all sorts of off the beaten path spots - lots of photo ops.  He gave tips - even for casual picture takers using phones.  He was very knowledgeable about Barbados and it's history.  It was a fantastic tour.

Guadeloupe was the only island and tour I wasn't wild about.  I think Viking has substituted another island for this.  I'm guessing that a lot of people complained.  Our original excursion - a trip to a distillery and a waterfall - was cancelled.  We should have just stayed on the ship 😄 - but I booked the Jacques Cousteau Reserve that I had also been considering - bit mistake!  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what we got was not it.

First off, the bus they put us on to get there was worse than the worst budget airline.  I have never been in a bus with 6 across seats before.  It was very claustrophobic.  On the way out of the port, the local French police, decided to pull a surprise bus safety inspection.  Every bus was stopped and there were other ships in port that day!  We all had to wait until the inspection team got to us and inspected our bus.  Our driver was fined because we weren't wearing seat belts - but they inspected EVERYTHING.  Sorry Guadeloupe - do this when the buses are not filled with tourists who paid for an excursion, not to sit in the hot sun waiting for you!

It was kind of downhill from there.  The bus ride was really long over winding mountainous roads, the guide was supposed to use the Quietvoxes but he didn't and he didn't speak English very well.  If he forgot a word, he would lapse into French for awhile - great if you speak French. but otherwise, not so much. 

When we got to our destination, we had to pay to use the most disgusting bathroom in a supply closet!  The Jacques Cousteau Reserve was an island that we went to on a glass bottom boat.  There wasn't a fish to be seen - not one.  Some people got to scuba dive - we don't, so we just stayed on the boat.  The scenery was lovely - I'll give them that.

Then we had to reboard those horrid buses for the trip back.  Back at the boat, I realized I had dropped my sea pass card in the bus, and couldn't get the driver to understand why I had to get back on to look for it.  I could find it.  But someone told me that someone else had found one.  Instead of leaving it with the guard, the person took it back on the ship, so I had to wait until someone could go get it and bring it back.

The only thing that saved that day, was the Viking crew welcoming us back with a line of smiling faces, music and champagne.  They had no idea how much I needed that! 

If Guadeloupe is on your itinerary - don't get off the ship!

Antigua more than made up for it with another great day.  We did another Land and Sea.  The first part was the included tour to Nelson's Dockyard (very interesting), Shirley Heights (awesome views) and a multi media presentation of the history of Antigua, that I thought would be hokey, but was very well done.  After that we boarded a catamaran - again, not crowded, and sailed out to a reef where some people went snorkeling.  The crew prepared a wonderful bbq lunch and we had a lovely time sailing back to the pier.  Definitely better than the day before!

I was really looking forward to St Maarten, but they were still recovering from the hurricanes, so we just did the included tour.  It was a bus ride, but we made several stops at interesting spots and had a fantastic tour guide.

In St Thomas, as I mentioned before, we did the Champagne Catamaran out to St John, and had a nice relaxing last day of the cruise.  St John is gorgeous!

So as you can see - no "partying crowds,"  no sitting on beaches all day - though you probably could have if you wanted to.  I would absolutely do it again, but we have so many other itineraries we want to do, that I can't justify doing the same one twice 😄  Maybe if I win the lottery or someone gifts me with a free Viking cruise!
 

On 6/30/2019 at 10:11 AM, 138east said:

The transfer at South Station from the Silver Line bus to the Red Line direction Alewife is free.

 

Are you planning to walk all the way out to see the Constitution?  If you’re not planning to walk all the way back, I can make other suggestions.  Usually what I recommend is to take a cab first to the Constitution.  The museum opens at 9 am and the ship at 10.  This will get you through the museum and ship before any crowds.  Then take the MBTA water taxi (on mbta.com) to Long Wharf (short mini cruise through the upper harbor) and walk through the Christopher Columbus park to the North End to pick up the Freedom Trail again.  Walk the trail backwards to the Boston Common where you can pick up the Red Line at Park St to take any Braintree/Ashmont train to South Station for the free transfer to the SL2 Silverline Bus.

 

There is nothing sacred about the Freedom Trail in and of itself.  Basically it’s a marked walking route through the old streets of Boston that enables tourists to find all the historic sites that are located among the more modern buildings and could easily be missed.  IMO the section of the trail between the North End and the Constitution is unappealing.

This is very helpful for me as we want to go to the Constitution Museum (we toured the ship on our last visit to Boston, but didn’t have time for the Museum).  We walked out there from the Quincy Market last time, but we don’t want to do it this time.  

Is it difficult to get a taxi at the port?  We would like to get out there as close to opening as possible. Our ship sails at 2pm, so I assume we will have to be back onboard by 1pm. We would like to take the water taxi back because our ship will have shuttles to the Quincy Market. 

We don’t use Uber but I have heard it’s better than cabs in Boston. We have heard other stories from friends about not getting picked up, and in NYC we took a cab and a colleague took Uber. We beat him and the cab was less money. 😁 But I’m considering it for this trip. 

We will be in Boston overnight and the first day my husband wants to tour Fenway Park. I thought we would take the shuttle to Quincy Market and I understand we can take the green line to the ball park from there. After the tour we want to go back to the Quincy Market. 

On 7/24/2019 at 5:24 PM, zitsky said:

I just did a search, didn't find anything.  But I remember reading maybe 1 or 2 threads where people were successful in getting extra excursions added.  Whether same or a different time I am unsure.  Has anyone had any luck in getting into a sold out excursion?  I am on both sides of this.  One of my confirmed excursions is sold out (Gaudi Architecture).  The one I'm trying to get into is sold out (Croatian Delight Wine Tasting).

 

I know the key is.... "keep checking".  I wonder how well this has worked for anyone?

 

For me, it's not a critical, because we will use the time to walk around town, have lunch (AND wine!) somewhere.

 

I did email tellus this morning but no response yet.

Since this has gone adrift 😁 I will answer the original question. This is only our second VO cruise, but even though we got all the excursions we wanted, I keep checking just to see if they have added any.  They did. And yesterday, I noticed that a bunch of sold out excursions are now showing as open for booking. So there is hope. Maybe not for your Alhambra, though because of the limitations. 

I’m keeping an eye on all Alhambra mentions because we are doing the Trade Routes itinerary next year and that’s high on my list. There are 2 listed in the potential excursions. One during the day and one private access at night.  We are in a PV1 so I’m hoping to get one of the 2. 

I got some of the most spectacular cruise photos I have ever taken sailing into Portland at dawn. I usually just take a couple of photos and go back to bed, but I just couldn’t stop. Not only the lighthouse, but the sun coming up over the hills and the sailboats anchored in the little coves.  It was just wonderful. Try to catch the light in your photo as it turns. It’s supposed to be good luck!

Enjoy your visit to Portland. I’m looking forward to a return visit next month. 

3 hours ago, lonagarr said:

This is a great idea, but there are alternative avenues to addressing this problem. I was double charged for an excursion, and instead of calling Viking, I went on line, clicked the dispute button and it was all handled by the credit card company. No fuss, no muss and I barely had to do a thing!

I’m aware of that, but I chose this way with success. 

21 hours ago, Homosassa said:

 

This.

 

On our recent Star cruise, there was a very slight motion of the ship (enough to let one know one was on the ship).

 

The motion was noticeable the higher up and the more aft or forward that one was.

 

We traveled with two other parties that were prone to motion sickness.

 

Being experienced cruisers were were as low (deck three) as possible and as amidships as we could be.

 

It made a difference.

 

As an aside, I always laugh to myself about the passengers who shell out big bucks for what, in their minds, is the better location of being high and either forward or aft (especially on those lines that have their exclusive enclaves in those locations).

 

Come even slightly rough water, and those passengers are miserable while those of us in "steerage," as the location has been snidely referred to by some, are in good shape.

 

 

One is only miserable If one is prone to seasickness.  For those of us who don’t get seasick those “exclusive enclaves” are quite lovely. We love the aft section, and I don’t usually even look at other areas. - and yes I have sailed in rough weather.  The only reason I don’t look at high decks is because I like cabins above and cabins below so I don’t have the Lido or a dance floor right above. 

Our favorite spot on a Viking ship is aft on deck 5. 

9 hours ago, Flyer55 said:

I made an inquiry with my TA about the time excursions would become available.  According to the information she received from Viking, they are changing the time when excursions can be booked from 12:00 AM PT to 12:00 PM PT.  I hope her info is correct because I'd rather book at 3 PM than 3 AM.

This is correct!  We just did excursions for our upcoming cruise last month and our window opened at 3 PM. I had no problems, but people have been reporting that they had issues with the system crashing.  

If you look at My Viking Journey, it should have listed when your window opens. We had time and date listed, and we had the actual excursions for our cruise with prices well ahead so you could plan. I grouped mine on paper, did the must have ones first, then the rest, then I selected time slots for the included ones we wanted to do. 

23 hours ago, Lorizack said:

We are on Trade Routes next month, and although the Thon Opera was listed as the possible hotel, it has now been confirmed to be the Radisson Blue Plazza. It too is in a good location, but just be mindful that your plans may be changed.

Long as they don’t change the train ride to a bus I’m good! 😁

18 hours ago, zitsky said:

Is the living room big enough that there is room for dancing?  I thought you would keep tripping over people.  (asking for a friend)

The musicians who play in the Living Room are the Classical Trio, the Guitar soloist and the pianist. They don’t generally play music conducive to dancing, though I guess you could dance there if the mood struck you 😁

Torshaven is where the house band plays and that dance floor was adequate for a decent number of dancers. There was also a lot of dancing around the pool at the Beatles tribute. 

7 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

1. Contact the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com and see what they can do for you. Give your name, phone number and booking number.

 

2. Keep checking back to see if space opens up on the tours. People change their minds. People have to cancel at the last minute.

 

3. House rules say that we have to look for people to share a tour with us in the roll call for our sailing. You said you were on the Jupiter', so you should look for the roll call here; scroll down until you find your sail date:

Viking Jupiter Roll Calls

 

 

You missed the fine print at the bottom of the page; it is on the bottom of every page that shows the tours that may be offered in each port of call. I wish they would put it at the top of the page: it would make for fewer disappointed people: Shore excursions vary by departure and are subject to change.

 

Another thing to note is that just because it is not showing as one of the tours now does not mean that it won't show up later. Sometimes it just takes them longer to nail down the contract with the provider.

I agree!  We had issues with the one excursion we really wanted to do on our West Indies cruise - the St Kitts Railway. It was showing on my Viking Journey, then just disappeared before any of the booking windows opened. I had several frustrating phone calls with reps who insisted it was because of hurricane damage. The back to back hurricanes of 2017, had not come near St Kitts, but I couldn’t seem to convince them. 

I wrote to Tellus and two days after the window for DV cabins opened it showed up and I was able to book it. 

On our Grand European river cruise I booked the Vintage Barge excursion in Kinderdijk. It was on my calendar. It was on my cc bill. It disappeared from the calendar and the listed excursions. Once again I contacted Tellus and they said it was still a go. - not cancelled. They finally got back to me. - computer glitch and it magically reappeared. They need some new IT people. 😆

10 hours ago, lonagarr said:

We're on the Trade Routes of the Midde Ages cruise, and our pre extension is a day touring Oslo and then taking the scenic train ride to Bergen the next day. We are really excited and so looking forward to it. I will be glad to post a review and pics once we return. Hope you have a great time, too! Happy Travels!

 

We are doing the Trade Routes next September and Viking has the Thon Opera Hotel listed for us as well. Looking forward to that train ride!  I am eagerly awaiting your review 😁