millybess

Thank you so very much! Class of service First or Business -- definitely lie-flat. I will no doubt be back at you once we research all of the options you have given us. Thanks again. We really appreciate your input.

Has anybody had any experience flying from Bali to Toronto? We are finding it a bit complicated. At the moment we are thinking Bali-Dubai-Toronto with Emirates. Any info would be helpful. Also, @FlyerTalker

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Thanks. We did look at Britomart, which was very nice. We will be in Auckland for several days before we embark Orion and we would like a suite. Britomart has The Landing Suites -- very beautiful! But they are très expensive.

Please, this might help: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2-ports-of-call/ 🙂

We were looking at the Social and then the Park Hyatt. They are both still possible. We're also looking at The Sebel Viaduct Harbour.

Thanks much!

That sounds very nice and I'll watch out for it on our cruise in April. Thanks!

🙂 Me too! And the A&W Diet Root Beer has no sugar -- an added bonus.

A&W Diet Root Beer is caffeine free.

For our M&M last month, we just organized it on the roll call. Just first names, no cabin numbers, no invitations and no mention in the daily. Viking, unexpectedly, put something together very quickly. But I think our circumstances were different. It was a very active roll call mostly due to the difficulty in obtaining the Brazilian visa. So, besides going on the same cruise, we all shared an additional bond. We will see if they have been able to put together something more formal on Orion for the remaining segments. The roll calls are not very active.

I will add that we are on one of the Orion segments so we do have a personal interest in an organized M&M. It is now my understanding that in the end, on the Orion, Viking did publish the information for the informal gathering in the Viking Daily. Also, DH and I aren't on the other site.

We really like the idea of doing that because it does make a big difference to the voyage to be able to casually chat with people and to know their names, etc. We were fortunate last month that Viking took it on without being asked for anything more than a venue in which to gather. I would like to see Viking formally bring it back on Cruise Critic, but I have noticed that there are other lines that have also paused CC Meet and Mingle.

That's one way of doing it. Viking has our TA's information on file and after we book they ask if we want it transferred to that particular TA. We then follow up with our TA.

Yes, we do this all the time. We book directly with Viking and then have them transfer the booking to our TA.

This might depend on the ship. On our cruise last month I had the Diet Coke switched out for Coke Zero.

Question for you Jim. We will be in the area next year for the first time, so we don't know it at all. You mentioned there is a shuttle boat. Are you tendered in White Bay?

Last year in Florence we disembarked and re-boarded in Naples. We had to have permission to do that. However, when we re-boarded in Naples, our key cards had been erased and we had to wait for someone to bring us new ones before we could board. It was explained to us, that it is standard procedure that a departure be treated like the departing passengers have left the ship for the duration, and they might, or might not, be back. That makes sense to me. And your preference also makes sense to me. You might want to ask tellus@vikingcruises.com.

We have done this a number of times at dinner in the alternative restaurants. Viking's bottles of wine are much nicer than their wine by the glass offerings with many more choices. Even without the discount, Viking's prices per bottle are very good. The SSBP discount just makes it that much better.

I will add that Viking’s tenders won’t be used. It was explained to us by the Viking GM that all the tenders are local and are operated by the Santorini Boatmen’s Association which is a union organization in control of transferring passengers. Their tenders are also larger.

The ship is Viking Orion. And, yes, it might well be because there are multiple segments. It was suggested on the roll call that there would be a meet and mingle for every segment.

That would be lovely! I wish we could get there in time to join you. Beautiful photo BTW. Enjoy!

Not necessarily. The organizers on the Grand Pacific Explorer roll call thought they could get something organized. They had an extensive, ongoing spreadsheet with first and last names, embarkation ports, home cities, cabin numbers, etc., but yesterday Viking said no to the meet and mingle. They are planning to have an informal meet and greet in the EL 8th today. I hope it works out for them because a lot of work has been put into this. It's a multi-leg voyage and we've been following it because we are on the Hong Kong to Vancouver legs. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with some of them.

Will do! Thanks. 🙂