CCWineLover

Have been an Alaska Air frequent flyer for 30 years up and down the west coast. Alaska does not have wide body planes. However, I beg to differ slightly, and it may be just semantics. Alaska Air has moderately nice first class seats on their 737's and A320's - certainly at least as good as UA and DL and AA. When you travel business class on a code share, if you have an Alaska leg, it is in their first class (which is more like business class without flat beds, on other airlines). I've done this many times and have one coming up back from Iceland, where it is bus class from KEF-SEA on IcelandAir and then first class on Alaska Air SEA-SFO - and it's sold as business class tickets. I personally would choose Alaska over Delta, but that is mostly because of what I perceive as superior service (and I flew Delta often to DFW).

Interesting notes on the types of people (a decently large group) that either cannot (allergic) or will not eat cilantro ..... According to a 2012 study published in the journal Flavour, the aversion was determined to be most common among East Asians (21 percent), followed by Caucasians (17 percent), those of African descent (14 percent), South Asians (7 percent), Hispanics (4 percent) and Middle Eastern study subjects (3 percent). Scientists were able to pin down most cilantro haters as people with a shared group of olfactory-receptor genes, called OR6A2, that pick up on the smell of aldehyde chemicals. Aldehyde chemicals are found in both cilantro and soap. Uh, yummy? I had indeed heard we can't help ourselves - the dislike is in our genes. Believe me I wish I could eat it, it would make things simpler, since it seems to be found everywhere nowadays.

KLM does this as well (but it is also a code share with Delta). We did Viking Air and KLM Economy Comfort to Europe with a stop in Amsterdam, non-stop from SFO. We sat in the Economy Comfort Seats SFO-AMS on the big plane and then the Premium Economy (more leg room, front of plane) on the short 737 flight (with no first class or economy comfort). And yes - we did priority check in at SFO and also on the return flight (thank goodness!).

Just read your follow - on post. I think you did quite well. We paid $4400 (before gas inflation), as we returned on BA Business via Basel. All in all we were quite happy with the results. I am usually not prone to Viking Air, but even though we might have gotten a couple hundred cheaper on our own, we viewed the premium like a COVID insurance. (This was back when testing was mandatory to go and return).

oskldunker - In late April this year, we flew using Viking Air Plus, business class from SFO to get to Bergen (BGO) for our Fjords and Shores cruise on Viking Jupiter. Our TA worked with Viking to get us Business Class on the SAS A330 flight SFO-CPH (Copenhagen), connecting to CPH-BGO on SAS as well. It worked quite well. We were on SK936 leaving SFO at 4:25 PM. We had a long (and safe) layover in CPH. Had use of the very nice SAS lounge. Then a short flight 5:00-6:20 CPH-BGO. We stayed at the very nice Thon Rosenkrantz Bergen (on our own dime), got a great night's sleep and boarded the ship the next day at 11:00 AM. The long flight had 1-2-1 seating and lie flat seats. This may or may not be available for you as airlines have had many changes. Also, it was a couple hundred more than horrible connections (short) via BA and LHR or LH and FRA. Although at the time they all were non-stop to Europe (no US East Coast).

I can't remember where I got this from, but this is a useful chart that shows F (Fore) and A (Aft) for bed facing in each room on Viking Ocean Ships. Bed directions fore and aft-Viking Ships.pdf

Try Frank’s AsadoAdventure. Don’t know if he’s still operating but we had an incredible time in 2020 BC (before Covid). Google him.

I hope that you recover quickly and get healthy soon! Interesting, they must have different policies on different ships. We were on Venus in late July and the trays were definitely pink wrapped. And they were not picked up right away. Every morning we'd head out early for breakfast or to see the approach to a port, and there were always many pink wrapped trays in the halls, same as the late night before, and at the same rooms. Seemed like about 10 on the 6th floor alone (both sides). They were picked up finally by the time we returned (7:30 ?). We all got to talking about those pink wrapped trays - saying at least they picked a nice bright happy color like pink and not a danger color like red 🙂 People also quarantined in their rooms and were not split apart. We again had a woman sitting next to us at Manfredi's (well, near) who was eating alone since her husband was still positive and she was negative so she could go out and mingle but he couldn't. Half to admit, I personally didn't like that policy. We tried to avoid those people.

We did the walk from the Ocean and then River "terminal" area on the sidewalk to Centraal Station last April 28. It was wide open and an easy walk on the sidewalk. We entered midway down on the river side (northside), and then up the escalators. Would be easy to roll bags. Here's a shot I took approaching the Station along the river side.

We’ve had similar issues with cilantro, which these days seems to everywhere. So we’ve learned not to go to Mexican night at Chefs Table. 😉

Twichly - I would still do it on your own. Take the tube to the historic Hampstead station. One of, if the the deepest tube stations in London; used for bomb shelter in WWII. Marathoners train by running up the many many stairs (there are lifts as well!). Hampstead is a really quaint, nice town in itself. Lots of pubs and outdoor eateries. We walked only the southern end of the Heath (which is larger than NYC Central Park), but didn't make it to Highgate Cemetery. Would definitely do it!!

I concur regarding London. We were just there in July ahead of the Midnight Sun cruise. Spent a week in unusually hot weather. London Walks is fabulous! We did prebook a day ahead and did several of them. Hampstead and the Heath was likely one of the best we've ever taken. London Walks has quite a number of very interesting specialized tours on every day of the week. Another interesting visit, if you like gardens, is to Kew Gardens, just SW (near Wimbeldon) and on the tube line. Absolutely beautiful place to wander about.

Well long time, Joe! How are you and Bridget doing? Glad to see you posting and back to cruising again. We've done a few cruises since things opened up a year ago and have enjoyed it immensely and were simply lucky to still be safe and healthy. (Bermuda, Rome to Barcelona, Panama Canal, Uk/Norway). Funny - we took a river cruise in April/May and had the same experience with white asparagus. Seems the Germans absolutely love them. I agree, the service was fantastic on our Rhine River cruise. And so were the white asparagus! Kent

We shall do, Linda! Again, looks like we'll just miss you. We'll likely leave for home from KEF June 27/28. We're actually in Seattle into next week - was with Vashon friends Wed, Seattle hot day Thursday and today the temp really dropped! So is Saga class worth it for our trip home? Would be interested to hear what excursions you thought were worthwhile as well.

Hi Coljack - We do have a Roll Call already set up for the June 7 cruise on Saturn. Hope you take a look and will look forward to meeting you all!

Thanks, Andy, for this update. We are also on the June 7, 2023 Saturn New York to Iceland cruise. I have full confidence things will be just fine. No doubt previous ship delays were due to COVID and the downstream affects (supply chain, labor shortage issues, etc). We look forward to being on a new ship!

as far as Lisbon is concerned, to add one more possible nuance . . The airport is old and doesn't have enough gates for all the planes arriving and departing, so there are numerous planes (we saw possibly 30-60) that have to park out on the tarmac. Then they bring buses out to ferry passengers back to the terminal and bring passengers from the terminal to the plane by bus. (Have seen this at Heathrow as well). If that happens to you, it can easily add 30 minutes extra or more . . .

Confirm. On 10 Ocean cruises we've never seen any cream pods. Just non-flavored regular caf and decaf coffee pods. 9 of the cruises (including the one we just got off of) had decaff #10 pods and regular #4 pods (the exception had regular #6 pods). We like strong coffee (#8 and above) so we always bring several sleeves of Nespresso pods with us (and none make it home!). We don't use cream, but I would assume you'd have to bring your own pods or ask room service for cream. We don't do flavored coffee, but again you could bring your own flavored Nespresso pods.

Lisbon airport is a zoo. Was just there. I'd feel comfortable with a bit more time if you can do it. Especially if you have to go through any passport control. We had long lines there.

Lorna- yes they all are still in Tv. Lots put on there which is great! 3 cruises in 2022 and we’ve never gone to the Star Theater!! The hotbed of Covid! that along with washing our hands diligently after every visit to the food at World Cafe, I attribute to our remaining members of the no Covid club!

That's great. May I ask - exactly WHEN is your cruise and which itinerary?

Ask Viking. tellus@vikingcruises.com

Yes indeed - I can also confirm. We just recently did that. There is some slight construction going on but we have no issues at all. And there are escalators and lifts to go up once inside the station water side. It was an easy walk for us including dragging luggage.

Michelle and Lorna - We also did a river cruise end April/early May (Rhine River). They were still testing and pulled people out of dinner off the ship to quarantine. Scary. But personally I think it is more scary now with all the people selfishly coughing, hacking, and spreading their sicknesses everywhere. We did not like the dining arrangements on River Cruises. The Dining Room was always packed on our cruise so there was no place to sit "by yourself" at end of a large table. As such we sat in the Aquavit Lounge all the time - fortunately found 2 people from California who felt the way we did (being safe) and ate with them almost entirely. We started with 172 and ended with 154. Our lounge was moderately full during the day and packed at port talks and before dinner, as well as the after dinner bar crowd. Was just too much for us. Won't be going on a river cruise for a long time, if again. Just not enough places to spread out, but everyone has their own opinions. We so much have enjoyed the ocean ships instead during COVID. The last one, post masking, post testing, however, was probably more tense due to passenger behavior, but we were able to find lots of places away from people and be "safer" - avoided the Star Theatre like the plague, as well as the bars and The Restaurant. And stayed healthy.

Perhaps the confusion is this. Most of the time, past guest discount is $200 per person. Sometimes (not often) as a promotion, Viking throws out a $400 per person past guest discount. So you could see 2 different ones. We've mostly had the $200 but 2 times we got the $400 only because it happened to be featured that month (and we didn't even know it).