BluebonnetTexan

2 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Never considered hanging them from the ceiling! Smart! Thanks!

I recently learned that the magnets are generally stronger in that position! 

2 hours ago, Nanaby8 said:

Not to change to subject but I too booked with Viking for a cruise in June 2024 and have to pay for 

it by Oct 30,2023. I booked an earlier ocean cruise for January 2024 and have to pay for it by Sept

30,2023. Tried to get a later payment date but with luck.

Has anybody been on the Iconic Mediterranean Treasures cruise. Would like to hear from you on

the extensions. Our cruise starts in January.

@Nanaby8 I suggest you start a new thread asking about the Iconic Mediterranean Treasures cruise extensions along with any specific questions you have about them.

55 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

So they not only increased the number, but the size of all cabins.  
I wonder what this does to the door rooms vs the slider rooms?

Guess the first group of CC members sailing on her will have to crowd source the list of sliders! 
With the increased beam of Vela that seems to have probably added a couple of feet to the length of each cabin, but I haven’t done the exact math! It’ll be fun to see how efficiently those few square feet are utilized in each cabin type.

Here's my counts of the Original vs Vela class cabins:

Original Class        
Length 745' Beam 94'        
930 Passengers        
Cabin  Qty    Sqft
OS         1    1448
ES1       4    757–1,163
ES2       6    757–1,163
ES3       4    757–1,163
PS1     16    405
PS2       8    405
PS3       8    405
PV1     64    338
PV2     24    338
PV3     16    338
DV1     12    270
DV2     96    270
DV3     12    270
DV4     74    270
DV5     28    270
DV6     50    270
V1        22    270
V2        20    270
Total   465    

Vela Class - increased # cabins in Bold; decreased Red        
Length = 784'  Beam 101'        
998 Passengers        
Cabin Qty   Sqft
OS       1    1488
ES1    10    808-1215
ES2      4    808-1215
ES3      2    808-1215
PS1    16    432
PS2      8    432
PS3    16    432
PV1    56    360
PV2    24    360
PV3    16    360
DV1      8    288
DV2  104    288
DV3    28    288
DV4    74    288
DV5    34    288
DV6    50    288
V1       22    288
V2       26    288
Total  499    
 

Overall an increase of ESx by 2, increase of PSx by 8, decrease PVx by 8, increase of DVx by 26, and increase of Vx by 6. 

Definitely those of us who like PVx are most impacted with fewer choices overall. 

2 minutes ago, luvtosing said:

How do we follow it? 

https://viking.panomax.com/neptune - click the Overview Map link is one way. Or the CruiseMapper website is another. 

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Following particularly interested in the Saturn voyages 

Follow the current Neptune voyage as they just left NYC yesterday on the Iceland, Greenland, Canada cruise. They’ll be the first to try since the early summer itineraries.

I’ve loved following along with you on your trip! Thanks for the great reporting and pics. We did some of the Norwegian fjords on our Viking Homelands cruise in 2019 and will be on the Iconic Iceland, Greenland, and Canada in three weeks. I’d love to see more of Norway fjords and probably Iceland again, too, so may have to add this cruise as a future idea. 

@WanderingBrit thanks for such great reporting on your trip. Quick question, about what time did the ship arrive in Seydisfjordur?

@gers and @CastleCritic - thanks for the info. I'll definitely be reading those reviews. 

@deec - I hope you post a review when you go. I always enjoy the info you provide on the Viking Ocean boards. 

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

If you zoom out and panoramic it around you can see more but, not quite as good as usual. 

I’ve been watching it, too. It’s been flaky since around June 19, didn’t update for days, then next thing I know it’s back and definitely caddywampus! I think I used exactly that word showing my husband! 😁 Hopefully someone onboard will see this and let someone know people want to see the scenery without getting a crick in their necks! LOL!  That said, there are some pretty cloud patterns today! 🤣

27 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

With so many other itineraries available, the Mississippi seems to me to be one of the least desirable, especially at this price. 
I wonder who the target audience is? Americans without passports and/or the non-American market?

I’ve looked at these itineraries on other lines long before Viking entered the US market. They are all pricey, IMO. I just did a quick comparison of the NO to Memphis trip on Viking vs. American Queen for early Dec 2023. AQ has smaller cabins at the entry level than V, so a lower entry price for the lowest level cabins. To compare similar size cabins to Viking’s lowest priced cabin, the price is pretty close to the same. 
 

My understanding is that US labor laws require paying staff more than they’d make say on an EU River Cruise. Thus, the high prices relative to River cruises in the rest of the world. Probably some other factors, too! 
 

Market is probably what you indicated as well as those for whom $$$ don’t matter quite as much. 
 

3 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Thanks!

Wonder if it includes the usual perks?  No mention and since it says Free Business Class UPGRADE, I'm thinking maybe not.  
 

Also interesting that they the ad says complimentary stateroom upgrade but only accommodations available on the "dates and pricing" page are Verandas and Suites.  When I click on the "price and build" I get a spinning wheel so can't find out what is really available.  
 

Oh well it's a pipe dream at the moment anyway. 

I didn't even try the "price and build" but did see it was very limited on what seemed to be available - as you'd expect at this late date. It is a pipe dream for me, too, at this point. I suspect all the early booking perks are gone though. 

Just got an email with promo code WCS23 on World Cruises. Here's the link for more info that was included: https://www.viking.com/promotions/us/ocean/WCS23/20230224.html 

Well, I'm interested in the Panama Canal cruise someday and have been tracking prices to see how they run. Interestingly, the Dec 2023 cruises which are part of the J4S deal have the same cabin pricing as they did in June, so the only deal here is the free airfare. We typically book our own, so not a deal for us. I checked the prices with EBD also and they are same as J4S, just that airfare is listed as from $799 for those dates. As always, YMMV, and it might be a good deal for some people, but I saw cabins disappearing as I was checking and many more categories are now sold out than just a month ago. 

On 6/23/2023 at 9:46 AM, gers said:

Thank you for your informative posts on the water level of the Danube. We are set to leave for Bucharest as our Viking cruise from Bucharest to Budapest on the Vidar is set to leave on June 28.   Hoping our cruise doesn’t turn into a bus trip!  Do you have any idea how the Danube is doing down at that end of the river?

I hope you will report back on how your cruise went. We are looking at this one for 2024 or 2025, but it might have to be late summer. Thus I’m curious how often this segment experiences low water levels as compared to the west of Budapest. Maybe you can ask the some of the staff about typical conditions? I’ll try to follow the info at the site helpfully posted by @notamermaid, too. 

5 hours ago, CharTrav said:

By the way -- I got thinking last night that some of you more geeky types might be interested in the hidden mechanics of this spreadsheet.  It would be a separate document I'd post to DropBox.  Would have to wait until after we get back from our cruise starting end of next week and getting back in mid-August,. If you're curious -- folks like @BluebonnetTexan for ex -- I'll do it.  Just say the word.

Word! 😉

Glad to see a good report on Skalanes excursion as we have booked that one for our cruise in September. Thanks for the tern warning, too!

Biggest question I have for @CCWineLover and any others on recent Iceland cruises is whether you’ve needed any ISK cash for bathrooms or anything else where a credit card wasn’t accepted? 

We did 4 days in Stockholm in 2019 before sail out and loved it. Would love to come back for a week and still wouldn’t be able to see and do everything! 

@CCWineLover thanks for live blogging your trip! We are doing the same NYC-Reykjavik route on the August 30th sailing. I really appreciate your posting the wine lists, although I recognize they could change by the time we go, but gives me (and others) a relative idea what to expect. I was hoping you (or someone else on the trip) might also be able to post the daily schedules - especially the sea days and any special events like lobster night or that type of thing. If not as you go due to slow wi-fi, then when you get back. I know the guest speakers will change, but I'm mostly looking for what all might be happening and relatively when. 

Glad to see that Viking was able to work out the stop and excursion in Louisbourg. Travel is always an adventure and the best travelers stay flexible, sounds like the current group on Saturn is doing just that!  

On 6/6/2023 at 6:58 AM, notamermaid said:

The Zasavica III has picked up the Gentleman II at Regensburg and is now headed to Kelheim where she will enter the Main Danube Canal. Here are some photos of the pushboat and previous hull transports. Notice the additional bow attached to the hull: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:4160846/mmsi:244730011/imo:0/vessel:ZASAVICAIII

 

The Gentleman II´s long journey through Europe brings me to a quiz question. Quite a few of you also embark or have embarked on long itineraries, a very popular one is Budapest to Amsterdam. That means you are on the Danube, the Canal, the Main and the Rhine/a bit more Canal/Waal/Nederrijn and the Canal towards Amsterdam. Correct, yes, but here is the nerdy, über correct question: which two other rivers do you also sail on?

 

notamermaid

 

We were on Viking’s Grand European in 2017, without cheating and looking at a map, I think the answer is The Inn River and The Moselle River. I know we did an excursion on Moselle, just can’t remember if the cruise vessel itself was on it. Am I close?

I remember back in my working days, it I was going to have to do something more than once, maybe twice, it was going to pay off in the long run to take the time to automate (or somehow make it easier) for the future! 

In case no one has mentioned it recently @CharTrav, you rock! 😀

Well, I think a lot of that 90 number are combinations of B2Bs. For example, there are 4 8-day cruises in the Mediterranean from Barcelona to Rome to Venice to Athens to Istanbul. Then Viking markets all the combinations of those which comes to 10 “different” cruises you can buy, but really it’s just 4! That’s the most extreme example I can think of off the top of my head, but I know there are some more combos that would add to the count. I do tend to agree that some new port combos need to be added and it looks like they are trying with the recently added Mediterranean cruise including Morocco, Malta, etc. 

I totally agree with @aungrl. Pretty much when we weren't sleeping, eating, or on excursions, we were in the Explorers' Bar and not always drinking, either!  We just liked the overall ambience there. Also, I described "my" drink to the bartender and he made a better version of it than my normal! If they have the ingredients, they can make it or suggest an alternative that's similar. 

Happy cruising, whichever line you ultimately go with!

Duh! I kept missing that line about the Group column in the ReadMe! I thought I'd remembered you had the multi-segment cruises covered. I never scrolled far enough right recently either, obviously! It might be a good idea to add the info to the ReadMe, since the info is so far back in the LogNotes now, and hidden by default. 

Also, there's a new group - the Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Beyond cruise, is actually comprised of the Iceland & Norway's Arctic Explorer and Iconic Iceland, Greenland & Canada. Might be some others, I'm just aware of this one because we are doing Iconic Iceland, Greenland & Canada later this year. 

Again - you do an awesome job on compiling this info for us!