TayanaLorna

Just bring your dressing stick. My first pair of trekking poles were 25" long and they would fit diagonally in my checked luggage. Bag total dimensions equalled the 62" max required by airlines before bag is considered oversize. I did buy a smaller pair that fits lengthwise in checked luggage, into carry on or in my backpack for excursions.

People in V 1 or V 2 cannot make any advance reservations at all. Not even through someone with a higher cabin category. Both Manfredi's and Chef's Table have private dining rooms that seat 10 to 12 and may be reserved when on board. Go first day of the cruise to inquire. Aft in The Restaurant are large round tables but I don't think they seat 12. Good luck.

Oh what a disappointment! Just saw on news last night that SAS declared bankruptcy. Well there is a lot to do and see in Bergen.

LOL, we live in Puerto Rico and don't get to much in the way of winter coats in the stores. Seasonal change over is to long pants, shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters mostly.

Great trip report! Thank you so much.

I see the closet was outfitted with drawers since we sailed the Sky in July 2021. Its true and good news!

The outlets are in the end tables. So unless you want to lay in bed to use your tablet while charging it, you will not need extra long cords. When it is a queen size bed configuration, one table is next to the closet and the other is up against one of the two chairs in the seating area. There is actually a little space between that table and the closet door. The space alongside the closet is narrow but plenty of room to get into both doors of the closet. If that table was left intact and the chair abuting table was placed in-between the beds, it would be perfect. You can request this configuration and your room steward will make it happen. If the tables are left in their normal one bed position but the bed separated into two twins with a small walking space between them, then the table alongside the closet would have to be moved right up to the closet door narrowing the access space to the closet. The Mars should have the 3 drawers inside the closet on one side with a shorter hanging space above. The other side of the closet should have full length hanging space with floor space for shoes or laundry bag. What we do to minimize closet usage by two people is the person who gets the bed alongside the closet gets the drawers inside the closet. The other person gets the drawers in the hallway under the coffee maker. We both use the hanging space inside the closet. Each person has a drawer and shelf in their bedside table too. I think all Viking Ocean ships have been built or outfitted with the 3 closet drawers now except the Star and Sea. Heard the Sky was outfitted with them last fall.

I found that many country entrance requirement sites give info for arriving on plane or train and then traveling around. The requirement for boarding a cruise ship can be different and often that kind of travel is not on those government sites.

Try Patrick Watts for the best excursion to see the penguins - 3 different kinds. They will have their young by January. pwatts@horizon.co.fk

Great, thank you. We have a new Old Navy nearby. Doing a Caribbean and Amazon cruise in February. Its going to be hot and humid. I find dresses the coolest apparel.

I love all your dresses.

I believe cruisemapper also has future itineraries of a ship.

Our favorite cabin location is forward near but not at the elevators and yes closer to the laundry. Love just going up and being at the Explorers Lounge or down and walking to the spa in my robe. Question - do you still need a reservation to use the Spa facilities? When we had 4111 we were in Iceland and doing all day excursions with lots and lots of walking so we got tired of walking so far on the ship in order to get anywhere.

Love all your photos. Thank you for writing this. It is interesting to learn how things on board have gone back to normal. I noticed the Nordic Bathing Ritual is being offered again. It was not during our 2 Covid times cruises. Happy to see you still get masks and hand sanitizer.

Ha, we had 4111 summer of 2021 for an Iceland cruisecon the Sky. I understand since then it was upgraded with 3 drawers inside the closet. Did not like the long walk to the elevators especially when we were forgetting something and having to walk back. Love the Sky though.

Well i wouldnt say the ports are small. Santarem is over 306,000 people, Parintins over 115,000 and Manaus is at 2.2 million people. No city or village we visited in Iceland even had the population of Santarem and some were less then the 800 or so we had aboard our Viking ship. We had an ample amount of excursions from which to choose. My understanding is the Boi Bumba performance in Parintins is THE thing to do and see, that Viking gets everyone there and you still have time for a bit of a walkabout in the town if you wish. We are doing this cruise February, 2023 and because the ports where Viking stops are so big, we decided it was a shame to go so far and not go further upstream to experience the tiny flooded streams and the small native villages. So we will disembark Viking in Manaus and go further up river on a smaller boat. Part of the reason we are doing this rather then stay at a Manaus hotel and doing day excursions is we feel we will be safer on another boat having all excursions included and not having to deal with security issues.

Yes the back of the Viking Daily is your daily time source. I found the greatest deviation was WC breakfast opening time varying from 5 to 7 AM. The Restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch on sea days or if port arrival is not until noon. Dinner time in all restaurants is 6 to 9 pm, however on one Covid social distancing cruise, the WC and the Restaurant opened at 5:30 some days.

Thank you so much. Your English is great. What time of year did you travel? Will we have a problem being English speakers with a little bit of Spanish and very very little Portuguese?

I brought my Keene hiking boots and Rebok sneakers. Neither are completely waterproof so i figured if one got pair really wet then i would have dry shoes for the next day. It depends on what you do. I was glad to have hiking boots for the Djandi waterfall hike and some of the walks on the Northern Treasures excursion. Hiking boots were the shoes of choice with locals and most non Viking visitors.

Personal favorite = Lotus Want to try = Asian Panorama (can never seem to get a reservation for this one) Wish they would create = New Orleans

Same here. Once I booked a cruise, the offers stopped. And that was in 2020. Great idea.

Impressed by photo also. Saved it as a screen shot for further reference. Thanks.

You are correct, the one in the middle certainly looks different and like a lifeboat. I never saw it lowered for tendering and never observed the crews emergency drills.

Seafood might be a lunch entree but i have only seen the sushi bar open for dinner. Ditto the cold shellfish display. The Pool Grill has ahi tuna steaks grilled to order for lunch. There is always salmon - smoked or not - at breakfast.

Lifeboats are the tenders for shore excursions.