OBX Cruisers

We were on the Viking Star in July 2015 on one of her first Baltic cruises. A brand new ship!  Were supposed to sail Stockholm to Bergen.  Shortly after St. Petersburg, she lost power in one of the engines but we were able to limp into Tallin, Estonia.  We sat there for 4 days before most of us were flown directly to Bergen for land tours.  Big inconvenience, but nothing like the passengers on the Sky are experiencing.  My biggest complaint was the lack of communication between headquarters and the ship.  We got a different story every few hours as to what our options were.  I felt sorry for the crew who weren't sure how to respond to our questions.  In Tallin, and again in Bergen, we were very well taken care of.  Afterwards, we were also very well compensated.  A huge help to be able to post on CruiseCritic during the whole event and afterwards.  We did enjoy one more Viking Star cruise - this time in the Caribbean not so far from home.  My prayers to the Sky passengers - your patience is going to be sorely tried!

Oops. Signed up through ship for Lulu Lobster boat tour. Really interesting and lots of fun! Dress warm though. Delicious chowder at West Street also best dessert of trip - blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. (We plan to return on own to tour Acadia when we have more time. )

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Just visited Bar Harbor on the Crown Princess. Signed up through ship for Lulu Lin

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Sorry I don't remember exactly. Think lunch was included. We used credit card in their shop at end. Faberge was so worth it!

You can't go back on your own but our TJ guide took the guys back to the ship at end of day and arranged for another person from their company to take the ladies shopping for a Pandora charm. Yes, days were long but nice break at lunch and got a catnap on the catamaran. THE best way to see St Petersburg.

We will be boarding the Oceania Riveria In May 2018 and are trying to decide whether to book their pre-cruise tour of "Timeless Barcelona & Medieval Cardona". The tour includes a 2 night stay at the Parador de Cardona, a hotel in a medieval castle. (We have stayed at paradors in Spain before and found them to be very interesting, excellent accommodations.) We will also visit the salt mines there which sound unique. Has anyone taken a similar tour? We have sailed out of Barcelona once before and are looking forward to visiting several of the sites we missed. The ship's tour gives us one day there. Would you recommend we visit Cardona or just concentrate on Barcelona? Thanks!

Thanks, Marazul! Am much too familiar with I-95 traffic in the Richmond to DC corridor!

Hmmm - how crazy would the driving be? At least they drive on the right side of the road.

We are considering a cruise on Oceania Riviera from May 3 - 10, 2018, Barcelona to Monte Carlo. Will arrive several days early in Barcelona to see sights we didn't have time for last time. Would also like to stay a few days post-cruise, but not in Monte Carlo. I fell in love with Eze and St. Paul-de-Vence on our last Med cruise and would like very much to find a "charming" inn or small hotel where we could spend a few days in that area before flying home. We could rent a car, but also wouldn't mind finding a guide who could do the driving. Any suggestions? As always - thanks!!

Will be on the Crown Princess in October, Quebec to NYC. Will definitely be wearing my "Reliefband." Don't want to get off topic as these are covered elsewhere on Cruise Critic but couldn't help bringing up this wonderful way to prevent seasickness.

Spruce 1984 - Once the AMA tour officially started, how many meals were there on your own?

Also, just to be clear - carry-on luggage with wheels is fine in the overhead of the planes? Sometimes I've been on trip where they required a soft-sided duffle bag that could actually be stuffed in the overhead. Did your carry-ons come in under the 15 lbs or were those weighed all together as well?

These questions by another cruiser were under a Roll Call for a cruise which is already past. I brought them out to the main River Cruising Board in hopes our Vietnam/Cambodia "experts" will see them. I'm particularly interested in advice on the luggage as we leave in one week! Thanks everyone!

Luggage:We are planning on taking 1 checked suitcase(44lbs) each and 1 carry/roll -on each, will these be OK for flight from Hanoi to Siem Reap? What did you use to pack for overnight on Ha Long Bay? Would carry/roll-on work ?

Packing: I have never mastered the art of packing light, any hints for this trip would be appreciated !

Insect repellent and Sun screen: How much will we need ?

Restaurants: Any restaurants that you particularly liked? Did you eat any of the " on your own " meals at the hotel?

Thanks so much everyone for putting things in perspective.:)

The Crown Princess doesn't sail until the next day so we're fine with that. Just hate to waste a whole day of touring while getting on board.

We would like to fit in a food tour that departs at 2:15 from the Tourist Information Center. Only problem is our check-in for the Crown Princess is at 1 p.m. We are staying at the Frontenac and were signed up for a ship's transfer. Would we have time to sign-in at ship and walk back to the Tourist Information Center (which is close to the Frontenac) by 2:15 p.m. OR should we leave our luggage at the Frontenac, take the food tour, and take a taxi to the ship to check-in about 5 p.m. Anyone else done this? Thanks so much in advance for any advice!

Meant to mention - if you go to Trip Advisor and search "Shipwreck Beach Bar and Grill" in St. Kitts, there's lots of pictures posted which should give you a good idea of what the area is like. (There are also pictures posted under Shipwreck Beach Bar & Grill.) If you'd like to look at the other more upscale option, perhaps Thenford Gray can tell you the name and you can look that up also.

Yeah! Thanks!

The more "laid back". Rustic decor, but still had absolutely everything we needed though including fresh water shower, good drinks (after we snorkeled), and fresh seafood tacos plus burgers. Fun vibe! Several small groups were gathered around the picnic tables really enjoying themselves. Others were around the bar in the shade or under umbrellas down a few steps on the beach. Beach didn't have a lot of sand, but enough. Also, there's a platform you can swim to and jump off. Beautiful views. Plus stand where you can rent snorkel gear, etc.

We were on the Viking "Star" in January and did a mixture of ship's tours (both free and paid) and independent tours. I've reviewed all our tours here on this thread, under "Ports", and duplicated some under the "Excursion Review" section of CruiseCritic.

I have been on ships before where those of us on private tours had to wait for the ship's tours to disembark. Definitely did not have priority for the tenders. We learned to just get in line among the tour groups at the tender door.Usually not a problem for those times we were docked.

We did have an unusual experience this time as the "Star" was 30 minutes late coming into Tortola. She was supposed to arrive at 7:30 but didn't dock until 8 a.m. and the customs officials didn't board until 8 a.m. to clear us! When we booked a catamaran/snorkel for the day, we knew it would be tight as the cat was sailing at 8 a.m. but thought we'd have enough time since they were docked in a marina close by. We were standing in the hallway just inside security getting ready to run to meet the Aristocat. Texted the cat captain and he said they could wait until 8:15 a.m. but had passengers from another ship and couldn't delay too long.

The Cruise Director noticed us and asked if there was a problem. When we explained, he said "just a minute" and disappeared around the corner to security. He was back quickly and said we had just cleared and we could go. We were first off the ship and running/walking made it just fine. Kudos to the Cruise Director for the extra help!

The "Star" was docked and ready for us to leave the ship at the stated time the whole rest of the cruise.

30 minutes between the dock time and any tour should be fine unless the distance to the private tour is further than usual. Probably good to discuss with your tour company. I've also found even when we are docked at an unusual location they find us.

Very convenient to also be able to drop off wet towels as we get back on board. They also have large umbrellas which we didn't need our whole time in January in the West Indies.:)

Was the Wifi free on AMA Dara?

Thanks for switching to this thread.:) As you can see there's lots of recent Q&A for AMA, Avalon, Viking, Vantage - all Mekong cruise/tour related.

I found this very recent info by "Tabber" posted on a "Roll Call". Evidently they sailed on January 10 so just back. Took a lot of digging so I thought I'd copy it here in case it helps others. This thread seems to be fairly active re Vietnam and Mekong cruises and is including other than Avalon.

Thanks to "Tabber" -

Get ready to hit the ground running! We enjoyed almost everything about our AMA land/cruise trip in Vietnam and Cambodia and it exceeded our hopes. We even loved the long flights over and back! If I have not already said it, take a good rain coat (but my wishes for you is that it stays in your suitcase).

One thing that surprised us was wifi availability. You have free wifi at all three hotels and on the ship. Sometimes even on the bus. You will not have wifi on the luxury junk, but we all had such a great time in Halong Bay, not having wifi did not bother us. I was able to send many emails with pics to my whole group of family and friends, so they could travel vicariously with us. Tip--If you exceed your capacity on the SIM card on the Amadara, the local telecommunications company screen will be the only thing that comes up on your device. All you have to do is tell the front desk or unplug the router and take it to the front desk (ours was plugged in behind the tv) and they will put a new SIM card in for you to be connected once again.

Clothing: You are on excursions during the day, so dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes that you do not mind getting muddy or dirty. Bring a good rain coat (and hope you do not need it!) and definitely a hat. Hanoi and Halong Bay will be cooler, but once you hit Siem Reap, expect 90s F and if the sun is out, scorching heat. Your tour director will let you know when the next day will have a dress code. Dress code=no bare shoulders or bare knees. And that is whenever you go to temples.

Evening attire runs the gamut from dressier clothing to "this is what I am wearing on tomorrow's excursions". T shirts, blouses and silks appeared on fellow travelers once we started buying things at the markets and at the silk factory in Tan Chau. And the elephant pants! You will see hundreds of tourists, men and women, wearing those funky, flowy, colorful elephant pants mostly starting in Siem Reap and throughout the rest of the trip. A lot of your AMA family will be wearing those in the daytime and the evening! Maybe even you!

Food: To us, the food was wonderful. We had pho every morning and tried every different fruit we could find. I had to ask how to peel and eat one spiky piece of deliciousness! At the hotels, breakfast and lunch are buffets. Supper is on your own, and the guides will recommend places to try. On the ship, breakfast is buffet and action station. The action station has eggs cooked to order and incredible pho. Lunch is buffet and menu. The action station is some sort of noodle dish. Dinner is off the menu, and everything was good. We are from Kansas-beef is in our DNA!-and the beef in Hanoi did not impress us. But on the ship, they have Australian beef and it is fantastic. I think everyone, from vegan to meat eaters, will find lots of tasty food to eat.

The tap water on the Amadara goes through a triple osmosis process and is tested every hour. You can brush your teeth and drink it, if you choose.

On the ship you can have burgers and salads on the sun deck for lunch. But here is where AMA gets weird. If you want a glass of wine with your burger on the sun deck at lunch, you have to pay for it. But in the main dining room, it is unlimited wine at lunch. Wine drinkers, prepare to be irritated! In the hotels at lunch, a beer, soda or juice is included. If you want a glass of wine, you pay. I don't get it and we are not beer, soda or juice people. But we did not go to SE Asia for the wine!

Just remembered, we wished we had brought our binoculars with us. Sailing down the Tonle Sap and Mekong, we were far enough away from the action on the shores and the other boats, that I would have bought binocs from the gift shop if they had them for sale!

Yes, you will most likely go through Vietnamese money purchasing museum tickets and, depending on where you eat, dining at restaurants. Many places do accept credit cards. We were warned in HCMC to make very sure of what amount you are signing for on a credit card receipt in case an unscrupulous vendor adds an extra zero to the amount. It was not brought up in Hanoi, but stay aware! (By the way, even though the weather conditions were rainy and cold, we super enjoyed Hanoi.)

There are a lot of zeros in VD. For US currency, $1 is roughly equal to 20,000 VD. A lot of times in restaurants, they leave off the last three zeros on the menu pricing. (So an item for 240,000 VD shows on the menu as 240.). Our flight got into Hanoi near midnight and the currency exchange desk was closed. We exchanged currency at the front desk of the Sofitel the next morning, so if you do not get any in advance, it is nothing to worry about.

We took $50 in ones and it would have been better to have $100 in ones if you are going to do any amount of trinket, beer, water or ice cream buying. We also took $50 in fives and $100 in tens, and we still have both denominations in our pockets. We also had several hundred in twenties, and gave those out to the wonderful local guides who were with us for many days in a row, and to our fabulous director who was with us the entire trip.

I stressed out a bit about not getting Vietnamese dong before we arrived in Hanoi (not for the lack of trying, I just did not realize how difficult it was going to be to get some in the US or in Japan). We ended up getting $40 in Vietnamese currency at the Sofitel, and turned all of it back in as partial payment for our Amadara bill towards the end of our trip. It seemed like even the Vietnamese vendors we dealt with wanted US dollars.

Cambodia uses US currency everywhere. Nobody seemed to care if the bills were new or not.

So much helpful information ya'll! I've already starting reading Tom Mangold's book on the tunnels on my Nook. Our one free morning we're taking the Les Rives trip by speed boat to the tunnels.Have also added the Artinus 3D Art Museum to our list for Saigon. Sure hope we're able to get there. Looks very unique and lots of fun! Wonder if they have these anywhere in the U.S.

We had narrowed our choices for Vietnam and Cambodia down to AMA and Avalon. Hard decision but choose AMA because they include an overnight on Ha Long Bay in a junk rather than at a hotel. Also thought we might like a bit larger ship and preferred the hotels. Maybe not room for absolutely everyone, but the AMADara does have a large lounge at the front of the ship.

One of our concerns was the bus trip around Tonle Sap and you have really put my mind at ease.

Starting to pack - only 3 weeks out - and just a few more questions.

I'm bringing small washable Crayola magic markers for the school children. Should we hand out individually or give to our guide?

Did anyone use Hanoi Kids for a tour? Trying to decide what to bring them as a gift as they don't accept tips. Since they are university students practicing their English, I had thought of Doris Kearn Goodwin's biographies - perhaps "Team of Rivals" (Lincoln). Heavy to carry, but then that would leave room for shopping.:) Other ideas for something lighter?

Would we choose these tours again?

Antigua - Glad we got to see Shirley's Heights and Nelson's Dockyard and really enjoyed our guide in the morning. In hindsight, maybe a bit too much time on catamarans this cruise (as much as I love a cat) and morning at sights a little rushed. Friends purchased a tour through Costco - "Panoramic Antigua." They were with only 2 other couples and got to spend more time at Nelson's Dockyard and beach time in the afternoon at Sandals. Only $62 per person! I've also seen good reviews for Scenic Tours Antigua.

Guadeloupe - I'd go on this tour but lower my expectations. It is a free included tour after all. My research before hand didn't turn up any other interesting options. Our "mutual friends" took a local bus on their own to Sainte Anne. Didn't turn out like they'd hoped.

St. Thomas - Our first time on the island we were with friends who knew how to quickly take a ferry to St. Johns for beach time. That was lovely so we were looking again to go to St. Johns. No snorkel time was a disappointment. Maybe next time we'll just take a leisurely day to shop. Not enough shopping on this cruise.:) We stayed really busy and no sea days to relax.

Deec - Thanks so very much for the link to "The Guardian" article on Angelina Jolie's new film. I read "When Broken Glass Floats" and we also saw "The Killing Fields" in preparation for our AMA Waterways tour which starts in Hanoi March 7. The article provides still another perspective on how the country is recovering from this terrible tragedy.