millybess

Thanks much stretchcruz!

15 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Unfortunately, our time aboard the Viking Sun is sadly coming to a premature close. On arrival Dubai, in accordance with our kids wishes, we are returning home. They are becoming increasingly concerned with this crazy world we are currently experiencing. Further details are included on our travel blog.

 

Heidi13 I’m glad to read that your children have convinced you to come home and I’m sorry your voyage has ended this way. 
 

I’m sure you’re busy, so can anyone here give me a link to the travel blog please. 

We did the Baltic Cruise last July.  This was the itinerary at that time.

Day 1 - Overnight in Copenhagen

Day 2 - Depart Copenhagen 5:00 pm

Day 3 - Arrive Bornholm 7:00 am Depart 5:00 pm (This port was skipped due to rough seas.)

Day 4 - Arrive Visby 8:00 am Depart 2:00 pm

Day 5 - Arrive Tallinn 8:00 am Depart 2:00 pm

Day 6 - Arrive St. Petersburg 8:00 am

Day 8 - Depart St. Petersburg 6:00 pm

Day 9 - Arrive Stockholm 6:00 pm

Day 11 - Disembark

I found out today that Viking Sea will be in dry dock in December. 

We are on the Sea right now. It’s very comfortable and looks very good!  The upholstery in our room and in the public areas is very clean and showing no signs of wear. The gym is top notch. The only noticeable difference between the Sea and the Sky, which we sailed on last July, is that the windows aren’t as clean in many different parts of the ship. That is a little annoying, but it’s still a very nice ship. 

We were on the Baltic cruise in July in a PS1 on deck 8.  The sun rose very early (around 5am), and set late.  The curtain provides an excellent light barrier and in our experience was a very reasonable sound baffle.  We are travelling next week in the room on the opposite side. 

Has anyone else outside the US noticed a difference in the way excursions are billed? We paid for our first cruise in CAD, but had to pay for the excursions in USD. When we booked our excursions for our upcoming trip (using a USD card), we found the amounts had been converted from CAD. Credit card currency conversions always involve a slight disadvantage with the exchange rate so it cost a little more than it might have, but given that we thought we were paying in USD and it was actually CAD the total amount was less than we thought, so that was a nice surprise

Although ropomo has some good points, we were in St. Petersburg with Viking in July and booked our tours with Viking. Our tours also gained early admission to the Hermitage and the Gold Room (amazing!) and the Catherine Palace, the Yusupov Palace, Peterhof Palace and the Faberge Museum.  We never stood in line at all.

You asked about cost and that is probably a motivation to use Alla.  On our cruise we heard many good things and just as many bad things about Alla.

Many of our coaches were small with not very many people possibly because there were so many other tours offered in the same time slot.  Overall, we are very happy that we booked our tours with Viking.  We would very much like to go back to St. Petersburg and would book with Viking again.

I absolutely agree with Parsley Cruises on this.  The extra space and the “quiet retreat” is also important to us.  We also would amend our choice of cruise if the PJS wasn’t available — although we would take an upgrade (hehe)

Laundry isn’t important to us.

Knowing that we can get the excursions we want by booking early is important.  Dining choices: not so much.

On a cruise, I like to get up early, have coffee and go to the gym.  The curtain between the sleeping area and the  living room allows me to do that and my DH to sleep in.  It’s perfect for our lifestyle.

Our favourite was the Gold Room at the Hermitage Museum. Also the Faberge Museum. There was so much to see, we could have spent a whole day in each. Enjoy!

14 hours ago, azdrydock said:

 

Other then that deck 8 is great. No traffic,  "secret" door to explorers lounge and surprising stable for high fwd cabins

We stayed in 8001 in July for the Baltic Cruise on Sky.  The "secret door" is wonderful isn't it?  It's as though the top floor of the Explorer's Lounge is part of your living room.  We have 2 cruises coming up and we have booked 8001 for both.

You are right that it is surprisingly stable for a high forward cabin.  I have a tendency towards motion sickness and we were more than a little concerned after booking our first ocean cruise (again, July)  But I never felt even a bit nauseous.  Of course, it could have been the Meclizine.  😊

1 hour ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Thanks millybess - I’d never have thought this was the case, or found the info. The only sad logic I can come up with is a desire to drive passengers onto shore to enrich the local pubs, but that seems unlikely for the Feds!

 

i too thought it might be a provincial anomaly, but Newfoundland would have been my last choice for restrictive liquor laws!

 

Maybe we can make this a key issue in our current federal election, and restore our reputations as great hosts 😈

 

Thanks again for researching this. 🥌🍻🇨🇦

Haha!  Cheers Curler Rob🍷  I think you are correct on all of your points.👿

From this website:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/cscp-pdnc-eng.html

Liquor outlets and bars must be closed while in port. Under no circumstances should liquor be given or sold to visiting Canadian residents, shore personnel, or stevedoring personnel while the ship is in port.

While in port, one bar per 1,000 passengers, or one bar per deck that provides hospitality services (whichever is greater), may be allowed to remain open. For example, if there are four decks providing hospitality services, four bars may be allowed to remain open.

A letter requesting permission to open bars must be submitted to the FPOA inbox at the beginning of the season. This letter must include the bar location, the time it will be open, and, once suitably endorsed by the CBSA, will act as standing authority to open these bars, while in port, for the entire season. For any amendments to the original request, or if special circumstances exist that require additional bars to be open, another letter must be submitted to the CBSA.

The CBSA will conduct spot checks to ensure compliance and this privilege will be revoked if any bar is open without permission or if any Canadian resident visitor, shore personnel, or stevedoring personnel is served in a bar. In addition, monetary penalties may be assessed to the cruise line.

 I am thinking of going on the "St. Kitts Panorama" excursion.  This is a paid excursion as opposed to the included excursion.  In particular, I'm interested in observing "the local artisans as they produce the batik fabrics for which the island is known."  However, I would like to spend some time there.  Can anyone tell me how much time is spent observing this particular activity?  Thanks!

Another vote for Deck 8.  We were on Deck 8 on our Baltic cruise in July.  We are going on the West Indies Explorer in January and we are again on Deck 8.  We really like the proximity to the Explorer's Lounge -- a very quiet and relaxed atmosphere.  

Thanks for that info helenandfrank.  We used the laundry machines for our undies and socks.

Thanks so much for the information!  Now if I can pick your brains once more:  I am thinking of going on the "St. Kitts Panorama" excursion.  This is a paid excursion as opposed to the included excursion.  In particular, I'm interested in observing "the local artisans as they produce the batik fabrics for which the island is known."  However, I would like to spend some time there.  Can anyone tell me how much time is spent watching this particular activity?  Thanks!

We were in a PS in July.  We had our laundry bag and the form on our bed as helenandfrank mentioned, by around 9:00.  Our laundry and dry cleaning were hanging in our closet by the next afternoon.  

Can someone tell me if the Viking Sea docks at Havensight Pier in St. Thomas?  Are there shuttles to/from the centre of Charlotte Amalie from the pier?  Thanks!

We were on Viking Sky recently and stayed on deck 8. No noise from above or from the corridor. As cocopico said, most people enter the Explorers Lounge via deck 7. We had the same issues as you when we booked this last cruise, but this location suits us perfectly and we have booked the same room for our next 2 cruises. 

It is working for me too, but it is very slow. @5:50pm

53 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

There is no standard location to look for it and sometimes it is burried among all of the papers that are waiting for you when you arrive.

 

I suggest that if you don't find it by lunch on the first day, that you go to the Explorer's Desk and ask for the details. If the front desk has no idea what you are talking about, ask them to find out from a supervisor.

Maybe it would be easier if the invitations were placed in the same location as other notices. For example, tucked in behind the room number sign. With the excitement of embarkation, unpacking, getting to know the ship, making spa appointments and checking our excursion slips, etc., it didn’t occur to either of us to chase down the invitation. 

We attended a Meet and Mingle 3 weeks ago, but we almost missed it.  One of the members posted that she was looking forward to meeting all of us and I received an email notification about her post. We finally found the invitation, but we had to look for it. 

On 7/2/2019 at 5:32 PM, ViennaLover said:

We will be on the July 21 cruise leaving from Copenhagen.  I have assumed that there was only self-serve laundry service but I just read a post about the problem with the laundry stickers.  So, is there laundry service and, if so, what are the prices like?  Is there a laundry package which includes unlimited laundry service.  I had this with Windstar and loved it.

We are on the Viking Sky now. Here are the current laundry prices.

We are currently on Viking Sky and our coffee machine is a Krups Nespresso.