czrunner

We purchased one day internet access for one device at a time for $25 on our recent Discovery Princess cruise. Just remember that when you switch devices, you have to sign in under the purchaser's name (otherwise they will charge you twice).

I agree that a receipt would be nice, but the advice to check with your bank is not so bad. You don't have to call; we just check the online status of our credit card payments (or debits). Unfortunately they may show as pending for a while, but should clear soon. As far as using OBC prior to departure, when you click on "pay now", it gives you the option to use the OBC. I was pleasantly surprised by this when booking an excursion, as at first I was hesitant to click on the payment button. The customer service could use a lot of improvement, but I am just trying to see the glass half full, and find work arounds. Happy cruising in 2024!

We did this excursion with Gray Line also on the ship departure day. The bus picked us and our luggage up at a bus stop near our hotel, and dropped us off at the ship in the port. Saved time and taxi fare.

I started following RCI threads on Cruise Critic when I was bored after a knee surgery. Some of the threads are so hilarious that now I can't stop, and keep wasting my time reading them. We have been on one RCI cruise, but that's enough to give me an idea about what is being discussed. BTW, we enjoyed the cruise very much. My question is: Should I sue RCI, because they are ultimately responsible for my Cruise Critic addiction?

We booked a cabin with the virtual balcony on our recent cruise, only because it happened to be cheaper than the regular inside cabin. I actually asked the TA if the feature could be disabled once on board, but we ended up loving it!

I would like to commend you on taking your young daughter along on the cruise, and visiting all the ports with her. We did only land based tours on our own with our two small children, but I believe that it is a great experience for the little ones, and it helps to expand their world view. Our travel style may now be considered child abuse (traveling on a local bus in Ecuador with a 2 year old on our lap when a ticket for him was not available, staying in a small hotel where he drank the unpotable water, etc.), but our kids, now adults, still have fond memories of our travel, and laugh about the experience. I enjoyed your interesting reviews. We are taking a slightly different cruise next month, but will also do the COSOL tour in St. Lucia.

While not including the word "ecological", the Webster definition is very similar to the Oxford dictionary. I don't care about politics, but I really don't understand how your water bill relates to the garbage collection.

You probably don't care, but what about all the water and electricity you use by washing your towels after each use? Do you do your laundry and vacuum during off-peak hours (e.g. late an night)? Perhaps we are a little more sensitive to the water and electricity use here in Southern California. Per the Oxford Dictionary. noun: sustainability the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level. "the sustainability of economic growth" avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. "the pursuit of global environmental sustainability"

Good point, Peregrina. We actually arrived three days before embarkation day, and also took a full day (10 hour) South Coast Tour with “Your Day Tours" the second day, after we recovered from the flight. That was another excellent tour. I thought that it was clear that we didn't take a tour immediately after arriving, since I mentioned being picked up near our guesthouse. But your reminder didn't hurt.

We did the same Golden Circle Tour with Grayline as Peregrina, except we did it on the embarkation day and utilized GrayLine to transport our luggage from the bus stop near our guesthouse to the ship. The harbor was GrayLine's last stop, and we got there just after 5 p.m. It worked out great, since at that time there were no other passengers and the check in was very fast. We were not too worried about the late arrival, because the ship stayed in Reykjavik for another day. I can't comment on independent excursions in other Iceland ports. We had a 125% voucher from a previously cancelled cruise and used the extra money to book all remaining excursions with Viking.

Srice, what spreadsheet (with the tab "Managing Data)" are you talking about? How do you find or create this spreadsheet?

Thanks. And the pricing quirk that would make it worth while to change my booking lasted only one day. But I am still curious why the interior cabins with virtual balconies continue to be cheaper than the regular interior cabins and why so many on deck 9 are still available. (Could be another quirk in pricing that will be caught later.)

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What is the problem with the virtual balcony cabins on deck 9 of the Voyager of the Sea? On the 23 April 2023 Caribbean cruise interior cabins with the virtual balcony are currently cheaper than regular interior cabins. There are many of these cabins available midship on deck 9, and they are cheaper that cabins located aft or forward. The mystery to me is the grayed out area on the deck plan in the center of the deck 9. Anybody knows what it is, and if it could be source of noise or any other issues?

Thanks for the responses. I particularly appreciate the advice to look at the walking directions on the Google map and noticed the yellow triangle for directions from the nearby hotels. We may just take a taxi to a hotel in Old San Juan, and spend another day in the area. We have been looking at the Fortaleza Suites; does anybody knows anything about this hotel? Any other recommendations for a hotel in an interesting area of San Juan, not necessarily near the port?

Are any of the hotels near Pan American Pier (where Royal Caribbean docks) within walking distance from the ship? We don't mind walking up to a mile with our carry-ons if it is safe. (We will be staying a couple of days in Old San Juan prior to the cruise, and want to stay one night after the cruise, just to avoid the expensive Sunday airfare going home.) Second question: What is the latest we can leave the ship after return from the cruise and prior to disembarkation? I would also appreciate any suggestions on reasonably priced hotels.

Thanks for the memories! I just happened to come across this thread, and didn't expect haggis to be mentioned. I experienced haggis during Bob Burns's nights at the residence hall of Dundee University in Scotland, where I was a foreign graduate student in the 1970s. I enjoyed listening to Bob Burns's poems, but haggis was not the highlight of the night. It was definitely the proper Scottish haggis, and knowing the ingredients I can't imagine having it for breakfast. But I appreciated the explanations above.

Any available fish and cheese, and a bowl of berries in the WC. Omelet on sea days or when time before excursions. No bread of any kind, no waffles.

The only other thing I can think of is using the voucher to add the overpriced pre or post extension.

Just my experience with Viking Air and Viking transfers: We just returned from the Iceland Majestic Landscapes cruise. We had Viking post extension from Bergen to Oslo, followed by our own independent extension to visit family in Prague. Since Viking couldn't get me to Prague, I bought my own plane tickets from Oslo to Prague via Amsterdam. Because we were not flying on a Viking flight, we couldn't use Viking transfer. That was not a big deal, as we just took an express train from the train station situated next to the hotel directly to the airport. The train was inexpensive and faster than the Viking transfer by bus. From Prague to Los Angeles we used flights provided by Viking. The flights were by Austrian Airlines (that I knew nothing about) via Vienna with only 55 minutes between the flights. That made me a little nervous, but we had the Viking emergency number in case of air travel issues, and at the end we had no problem catching the second flight from VIE to LAX. At the current state of affairs, you just never know if the airlines can adhere to their schedules. We arrived at LAX on time, together with all our luggage. That didn't happen on the flight that I arranged myself, even with ample time for the transfer in Amsterdam. One of our suitcases didn't make it to Prague with us, but was delivered by KLM the next day to my brother's house. I reserved aisle seats on all our flights ahead of time directly with the airlines. That included the flights provided by Viking. We were flying standard economy and despite being quite tall (my husband is 6"3" and I am 5"10", but with longer legs), the flights were O.K. I checked the seating online and on the 12 hour flight to LAX, I found aisle seats in a two seat arrangement behind three seats, giving us room to stretch our legs. I don't know if it is harder to reserve business class seats. In summary, we were happy with the flights arranged by Viking, and can live with the Viking transfer policy.

I really appreciate everybody's input. We would very much prefer to travel independently, and in the past have done so frequently all over the world. Only recently we decided to go on cruises, mainly to places that would be difficult to see on our own (e.g. a Russian River cruise) or for the convenience of covering many ports better accessible by a ship (e.g. Hawaii). We have rented a car in ports and traveled to out of the way places even in Hawaii and Alaska. On cruises we preferred independent excursions, but after painfully getting refunds for our cancelled 2020 cruise, this time with all the pandemic restrictions we were not sure if it would be possible, and used our vouchers to book mainly Viking shore excursions. I have no idea what the excursions in Iceland will look like and any insight from those of you who were there on a cruise would be helpful. After reading all the helpful comments, I decided to pull out my hiking boots. To make sure that they are water resistant (if not entirely waterproof), I plan to spray them and even some other shoes with a waterproofing agent. We have done that previously successfully with cross country running shoes. My husband will do the same, and we both can probably tolerate wet feet for a few hours. Again, thank you for providing an insight into the conditions we can expect. We very much look forward to visiting Iceland in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the fast response. Did you reserve the Flybus ahead of time? If so, how much time did you give yourself after landing?

We will be on a Viking cruise from Iceland to Norway next month, starting July 18, 2022. The pre-excursion in Reykjavik has been shown as sold out for a long time, so I suspect that it is either limited to very few people or is not offered at all. Consequently, we and several others are staying in Reykjavik for a couple of days on our own, unfortunately in different hotels. If you have been to Reykjavik, what is your experience with shuttles from the airport to Reykjavik? Currently I am trying to decide between the Flybus and Grayline, unless there is another better option. We will be staying two nights at Eric the Red Guesthouse, and I would request to be dropped of at the nearby bus stop #8. Is anybody familiar with Eric the Red Guesthouse? I asked for an input on our roll call, but I think this site has a wider audience. I also wonder if we can get by with running shoes with good traction (supplemented by hiking poles) on the cruise. Thank you for any advice you can offer.

I wonder if we REALLY need hiking shoes on our cruise if we are only taking mainly Viking shore excursions. Even their optional excursions seem to include mostly bus rides, with limited walks or hikes. I have done a lot of hiking in my running shoes/sneakers, and plan to bring two pairs to switch between, while one pair is wet or muddy. I think that as long as I can find an old pair with good thread, my feet would be happier. Also, I plan to bring my hiking poles. Do you think that I would be O.K. with this solution?

This is interesting. We are on the Reykjavik to Bergen cruise (Iceland's Majestic Landscapes) on the Jupiter. We are arriving at Bergen a day after you, July 29, 2022, and our post extension to Oslo, starting Saturday, July 30, still has openings. I wonder if you could stay an extra night in Bergen and take the Viking Oslo post extension with us. I know that it is overpriced, but It should be in Viking's interest to work with you to fill up the extension. (And we would love to meet a wine expert from Paso Robles.)