bookbabe

@shmabbies

Saturn is at Galataport.  According to the Viking rep at the hotel, there is mobility assistance, just ask any staff member there and they can facilitate.  Hopefully his info about there being assistance is correct, and someone at the port will be able to help when you get there.

Also of note, IST airport is huge and modern, emphasis on the huge.  They have golf carts pre-customs to help with the distances as well as the usual wheelchair escorts (plus one really cool wheelchair/Segway combo unit that looked like a lot of fun).  The distance from the gate to customs is long, as is baggage claim to the Viking bus.  Baggage handlers will take your check bags on a cart from baggage claim to the bus if you have a transfer booked.  They were pulling off all the bags with the red luggage tags and putting them to one side, so if you aren’t taking a Viking transfer you may want to skip the red Viking tag.

16 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Which ship will the 2027 WC be on?

My Regent rep told me Splendor.  We are debating delaying our 2026 to 2027, so we are trying to look at all the variables.

17 hours ago, boobear1 said:

Are there any good snorkeling options around 7 mile beach that you can recommend?  Is snorkeling good at any of the beaches?  Previously we always went to Calico Jacks, but I've found they are no longer there.  Looking for new options.  All adults in our party of 6 and we love the water. 

The only beach club left is Coral Beach - https://coralbeach.ky

The spot where you went before still exists, there’s just no Calico Jacks there anymore.  It’s Public Beach, with the nearby Kimpton Seafire hotel having one of its beach restaurants near the former CJ spot.  See the various threads on Public Beach for more info.

However, the best snorkelling is usually at spots that don’t have great beach.

https://www.explorecayman.com/grand-cayman/things-to-do/snorkelling

47 minutes ago, ineedadisplayname1Vbbjhju said:

how far away is this from port 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/afsxPnqueN7Vucaw6
 

Our rep at Regent specially told us we didn’t need to bother with the specialty restaurant reservations, just tell your butler that morning where you want to eat that night.  Grand suite on Mariner.  Worked like a charm, even the one day that we forgot to tell her until later in the afternoon.

On 3/5/2024 at 2:22 PM, szinski said:

My wife and I visited Calico Jacks on a cruise back around 2011, we especially liked the jerk chicken that was cooked outside next to the restaurant (perhaps by a local). Is there food like that at Public Beach?

Possibly?  Vendors like that are scattered all over the island.  No predicting who might show up to sell on a given day.  Technically, they’re supposed to have permits now to vend at Public Beach, which would theoretically result in a standard set of vendors there, but it’s still a kind of messy bureaucratic battle so I have no idea what vendors might be operating there when.  Hopefully someone who has visited Public Beach recently will post with their experiences.

There’s a good seafood and bbq place, Duke’s, across the road from Public Beach if there isn’t anyone selling food right at the beach, or there’s the restaurants at the Kimpton Seafire hotel.  Those are about the closest options if you are having a beach day there.

https://biteclubcayman.com/restaurant/dukes/
https://www.seafireresortandspa.com/grand-cayman-restaurants/

Been reading the various threads on this topic, and just got curious because I hadn’t seen it mentioned.  Why aren’t the London to Amsterdam trains also cancelled during the station remodel project?  Or are they, and I’ve just misread the info?

1 minute ago, shmabbies said:

 

I guess we're at opposite wishes!  One of us will be happy!  Have a great time, especially if you haven't been to Istanbul before.  It's a great city!

We haven’t been there before, thus the pre-stay.  The whole Med is new to us, so it’s going to be very exciting.  How long are you on board for?  We are actually doing a back-to-back, and eventually disembark Saturn in Bergen, after 36 days.

1 hour ago, shmabbies said:

 

Actually, after I typed and submitted my post, I told Mr. Shmabbies about it, and he corrected me and said that years ago it WAS Dolmabahce Palace that we were docked nearby (and walked over to), not Topkapi, so I think the address provided by Viking IS that old port and WOULD BE a great alternative.  As far as checking with Viking, they are often clueless, so I don't think I would learn anything from them, and we did purchase a ship transfer from airport to port, so as long as THE TRANSFER DRIVER knows where he's going, the amount of walking is going to be what it is.  Since we don't sail until the next day, I guess I can take my time!

We’re on the pre-stay, I’ll ask the Viking rep which port when we get at the hotel and post here to let you know if it’s Galataport or not.  I hope it is.  Our embarkation day plan was to drop our bags and then head back out to do some shopping at the multitude of stores the website says are at Galataport, but that’s not going to work if we’re at some other port.

Editing to add, my final docs show this:

VIKING SATURN
Yeni Yolcu Terminali Salipazari/Findikli
Meclisi Mebusan Caddesi Salpazar Liman Sahas 1 numaral Yolcu Salonu Beyolu

Istanbul, Turkey

Anyone know where that is?

On 7/26/2023 at 1:42 PM, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

We've been in both 5108 and 5109. … IMO, these are the best suites on the ship - having the huge balcony is great.

As an FYI to future readers of this thread, those two awesome cabins have been “discovered” by Viking, and the equivalent cabins on Vela, 5118 and 5119 plus the two deck 4 aft ES, have been reclassified as ES1 cabins, with the corresponding price hike.  The only ES2 cabins left on Vela are the two deck 6 aft ES.

22 hours ago, debbrilacy said:

Thank you.  That makes sense.  Could a person ask for a life jacket if they feel uncomfortable?

Absolutely.  All of the excursion operators will have them, and most will encourage their use.

22 hours ago, shmabbies said:

Edinburgher, of course I will relate my experiences and information.  I'm really amazed at the lack.  My two theories are:  I'm worried for nothing (best option) OR people who have experienced it are still so exhausted they can't even post.   Like bookbabe, I will be at the port next week - too late for her to provide any information for me, and too late for me to provide any information for her.  BUT we can help others!

I’m on Viking Saturn, boarding March 13…I’ll try to post something that evening if there’s a chance you’ll see it before boarding.  If not, I’ll probably wait until the next evening after we’ve left Istanbul. 😉

Is this the right website for the Barcelona Day Tours company people have used and recommend?

https://barcelonadaytours.com

We will be at Galataport late next week, and can look around for info if no one has posted anything by then.  At the very least, I can take a few pics to add to the thread.

It can be very wavy, depending on the weather, and you have to climb up and down a ladder to get into and out of the boat.  Depending on where they anchor, you may have to swim a short distance to get to the sandbar.  
 

People regularly overestimate their fitness level or swimming ability (not saying you are, just that it happens) and so the cruise lines likely compensate for that to try to avoid having people run into difficulties. Every month or two I read another story in the paper about a water-related incident or death, and it’s generally a tourist who didn’t realize how strenuous ocean activities can sometimes be.

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Just be glad you didn't have to do it wearing armor!

 

 

Is that you?  If so, SCA or other group?

6 hours ago, sandiego1 said:

For our 1st WC (in 2019), our requirements were - not in priority order:

 

- full circumnavigation. I wanted to go completely around the world, not start in 1 country and finish in another (now not as important for future long cruises)

- East to West travel since it’s much easier to gain 1 hour every few days, than lose 1. Plus it’s harder on the crew. They still have the same amount of work to do, but only have 23 hrs to they lose an hr of sleep.

- Few, if any, included excursions. We are very active and much younger than a typical person on a WC. We don’t want to be stuck on a bus of 30-40 people. The tour can only go as fast as the slowest person. Plus all the long waits for people after a bathroom stop or “free time” when few people show up at the meeting spot at the designated time. We wanted to be independent.

- I don’t drink alcohol, coffee, or soda. Included beverages would be wasted on me and not worth the all inclusive price. DH does drink alcohol so he just pays by the drink or buys wine packages for dinner.

- Ratio of port to sea days. We wanted more than 50% port days.

- Price per day was a consideration, but not the driving factor.

- Availability and location of a desired cabin. Since we were newbies, we didn’t have preferential allocation of cabins (HAL allows current WCers the ability to book the same cabin year after year). We were very lucky to get a cabin we liked in the desired location.

- Ports - we wanted to experience as many new places as possible and not cities we had previously visited.

- Didn’t want to have to dress up for dinner every night in the main dining room. Some lines require a minimum of “country club” clothing. We wanted to be able to wear nice jeans (or capris for me) at dinner most nights and get dressed up for formal nights. DH didn’t want to wear a sport coat or jacket 

most nights.

- Size of ship - we thought ~1000 passengers was a good size. Didn’t want to go on a ship that only had 200-500. Many people are repeat customers and we didn’t want to feel left out since we didn’t know anyone. With a larger ship, we thought there was a greater chance of more newbies.

 

Hope this helps.

As Xerxella says, that’s pretty close to our list.  Who did you go with?

We ended up with Regent, in a bigger cabin so we can have any restaurant, incl specialties, delivered for dinner as room service.  The evenings DH doesn’t want to wear pants, we’ll just hide in the cabin.  Their itinerary was pretty perfect for us, so that was a big part of our decision-making.

12 minutes ago, Travel Lady in CT said:

Many of the WC haven't opened bookings yet.  For example, Oceania mid-March and HAL in May.

Weird.  Our 2026 Regent WC was booked in April, and the Viking has been out for a couple months, I think.  Didn’t realize that there were other lines that hadn’t released theirs yet.  

If you are looking for 2026, see which cruise lines are not sold out in your desired cabin class.  The cheapest and most expensive cabins are likely sold out already, and on some lines the majority of cabins may be gone already for 2026.

We have Trade Routes booked for April, and our excursions are there (they lock MVJ tomorrow, so good timing, I can still see stuff).

The shortest Stonehenge tour is 5 hours and leaves at 8:30am.  (There’s also a longer full day option, which is the one we are on.)

The Mary Rose excursion is 4.5 hours and leaves at noon.

You could maybe do Mary Rose on your own after getting back from Stonehenge, it sounds from the description that it’s not too far from the port, but as I haven’t been I don’t know for sure.

39 minutes ago, Ilovesailaway said:

bookbabe, what beach or access point would you recommend? I will be visiting on a cruise with a buddy. We are just looking to maybe buy a few local beers at a store and head to 7 mile beach. Not sure where we could go to hang out and maybe rent chairs. Can we bring beer to the beach?

You can likely BYO to any of the public beach access points, with restroom facilities and chair rentals that would be Public Beach.  None of the other beach access points along SMB have facilities, AFAIK.  There’s access points every couple hundred yards, if you decide you are okay with just throwing down a towel.

If you are okay with a beach club to buy drinks at rather than BYO, you’ve got Coral Beach.

https://coralbeach.ky

Or one of the dozens of bars or restaurants along SMB if you just want to hang out and drink watching the waves as opposed to actually swimming.

As long as the weather cooperates, you tender right into downtown.  Lots of shopping, mostly high end or tourist stuff, lots of restaurants, plus a small museum.

21 hours ago, zqvol said:

Regent is not at all dressy. A pair of slack and a collared shirt for men nd you are good to go. 

See my previous post.  Dressy is in the eye of the wearer, IMO.  If you never wear long pants, putting them on every evening is a big change, and yes, DH and I consider that Dressy.  
 

One of the things we love best about NCL and the Haven is the ability to have a good meal in shorts and a t-shirt and not be forced to hide in the cabin so our wardrobe preferences won't offend people. 😉

On 2/23/2024 at 9:19 AM, tubeamps said:

Regent is not as dressy as some make it out to be. Evenings inthe dining room you only need to wear a standard button shirt with collar and no jeans…..that’s it, I wouldn’t call it formal by any stretch.

 

 

We live on a beach.  T-shirts, shorts and sandals are our way of life.  DH owns a couple of pairs of long pants, bought specifically for cruising, and puts them on at the last minute before dinner and takes them off again immediately afterwards.  For us, the lack of an evening casual option for dinner is why we consider Regent "too formal" to cruise on much, and why it was worth booking a Grand Suite for their world cruise, so we can have good food delivered to us while we are forced to hide in our cabin due to a lack of interest in pants. 😉

13 hours ago, chill6x6 said:

Thank you, thank you!

 

That was exactly what I was wanting to know.  I did not realize there were no casual spots to eat dinner on Regent  It would also be VERY hard for us to not wear shorts in some public areas after 6pm on a Caribbean cruise. We could probably do it. It sure would be a change. I was actually leaning in the Regent direction. 

 

Might be best for us to go the direction of Viking or maybe even Oceania.

 

You have some amazing cruises planned! Enjoy your cruises!

 

Thank you again for your response!

Yeah, that's the part that kills us too, the Regent no casual spots after 6pm.  Dressed up for work for years, no desire to do it on vacation, and we live on a beach so formal wear isn't really a thing for our lifestyle.  Our solution was to book a Grand Suite, which includes room service from the specialty restaurants for dinners.  On our 7 night cruise, we only went out to eat twice.  We aren't into hanging out in the bars and such, so it worked for us.  A little worried about the world cruise, but DH loves the itinerary enough that we decided we can suck it up for six months and he'll put on long pants.

Viking's buffet in the evening is a good one, with a lot of the same dishes as the main restaurant, and you can go in shorts.  Viking is also no passengers under 18, if that makes a difference to you.  No casino, as the PP noted.  No photographers or art sales either.
 

Haven't tried Oceania or Royal Caribbean yet, we might at some point when we have a gap in the schedule.  Have done Carnival, but only when traveling with friends or family that insist on it.  Disney is good but pricey and there are lots of kids, depending on how you feel about that.