millybess

Has anybody seen the movie Stepford Wives? This thread is starting to remind me of that movie.

Hahaha Peregrina, you are so right!! Your optimism on this Viking forum has always been so uplifting. We, like so many others, always look forward to your contributions 🙂

My advice, if you are going to the Dead Sea, is do not shave your legs just before! My first time there, I had done just that and had to be carried out — so painful and so embarrassing! 🫣 On subsequent trips, I saw this time and time again, but I had learned my lesson and just floated around, enjoying the day. It really is a beautiful time there and highly recommended. 😊

Right you are! In May, we were to fly Santorini-Athens-Toronto. I went online to choose our meals for Athens-Toronto and the flight wasn’t there! It took a lot of scrambling to change the Athens-Toronto flight to Rome-Toronto and then to get a flight from Athens to Rome. It was only after all that, that we received an official email from the airline that the Athens-Toronto flight had been cancelled. 🙄

Thanks for this. We will definitely want lunch before we board for London. Any other ideas out there?

When we were in Norway in May of this year, we did the Norwegian Forest Hike -- a Viking excursion. We had a lovely, elderly, knowledgeable Norwegian guide who was able to answer all of our questions. However, it was pretty obvious that we were in the way of the early morning runners and bicyclists in the forest. There were many sweaty scowls and stops and starts. It was a small trail and there were only about 20 of us, but I felt a little sorry for them. The guide had to keep telling us to stay off of the trail. There is certainly a positive and a negative to being a host to a Viking ship.

This is very helpful! I went on an online hunt for these after DrKoob posed the question, which was unfortunately unsuccessful. Thanks for this. 👍

When we boarded in San Juan in January 2020, all embarking passengers had to wait outside the gate until all disembarking passengers were off the ship. We were there for some time and we didn't board until shortly after noon.

Indeed, it's splitting hairs. From our normal location the chairs are on the way to the coffee. 🙂 I agree with you about 2 chairs being saved in such a manner and that the 2 people are probably on their way to an alternate activity. But, it seems that on this thread, that isn't the only issue.

Nice to hear from you D. I have been wondering how you are doing. Best wishes for a full recovery.

Absolutely agree with all you have said, but what is all over the place on this thread is the time limit of “the bit”. And to everyone “the bit” is different.

Calling people “piggish”, “rude”, “bad mannered”, “selfish”, “grabby” is just a form of bullying. This person asked a legitimate question and was verbally abused for doing so. Why not have a mature and substantive conversation about a topic which is of a concern to many others without throwing out belittling or disparaging adjectives? If you want to contribute, come up with a plausible solution!

Agreed! It’s “the bit” that nobody can seem to agree on 😊

In Covid world I wash way too much. You should see my hands 😢

Hehe. That seems to be exactly what’s going on here. IMO if you eye a chair that you want, and you watch it for an hour or so (like you have nothing else to do) and you see it’s still empty, complain and ask an attendant (?) to remove their stuff. We all have our different opinions on what is an acceptable time limit. “Be right back” from breakfast for me is probably less than 20 minutes which is acceptable to you, but not to others!

But what if I go to the washroom and then to the bar and the bartender has to make a complicated drink, like a mojito with Splenda and he/she has to go search for the Splenda. Is it my fault that I was gone for 16 minutes?

Totally agree with you about Carnival. Nor have I travelled with them. In fact the above photo reminded of a “beach club” in Vegas — one and done. But as both Curler Rob and I mentioned above, some pax would put up with 1 hour, some 30 minutes, others 15. How does Viking come up with a time limit that would cater to all?

We posted the arbitrary comment at the same time and you get my point. Although I have never used a sea facing lounger, it struck me during this conversation that it would be on my way to get my morning coffee and I don’t travel lightly — kindle, iPad, phone, etc. 😊

The time limit seems rather arbitrary. According to the photo above, Carnival says 40 minutes, duquephart says 30 minutes, you say 15. So no matter what would be mandated, nobody would be happy.

Ok, I can definitely grab breakfast in less than 30 minutes in the World Cafe and be right back. Or lunch in the WC or Pool Grill in less than 30 minutes.

Just curious. By these definitions, is one allowed to throw their stuff on a sea facing lounger, go to the World Cafe, grab a cappuccino in a cardboard cup and head back to the chair? Or should one take all their stuff with them to the WC to grab the morning coffee? Would this qualify as “grabbing a drink”. Just wondering 😊

I am saying that I have never heard of anyone paying more for a cabin for the perk of early booking. In most cases it costs substantially more and it just wouldn’t make sense. I would think that most people would book their cabin based on size, location and price. In regards to your opinion about Viking being discriminatory, I can’t think of a cruise line that is less so. I can guarantee you that once you board a Viking ship, everyone is treated the same no matter what your cabin category. That is probably what we like most about Viking!

Personally, I have never heard of anyone booking a more expensive cabin so they have more excursion choices. We always book a PS1 or PS2 (with one exception) because we like to be close to the Explorers' Lounge and we like to have more room (and no, we're not noisy chair hogs - lol). And, we usually book private tours.

Which is precisely why we cancelled the cruise. In this case, it cost us nothing to do so.

Respectfully Andy, I have to take issue with this. We have never had to pay for a flight 2 years in advance. We currently have 3 cruises booked with Viking. We were going to book the Grand Pacific Explorer for September 2024. Full payment is (was) due December 2022 — 22 months in advance! For us, Viking’s terms are becoming unacceptable for many of their most popular voyages.