Mich3554

We stopped at a winery for lunch after going to visit a huge colony of seals. That excursion was in Napier, and we did another one the following day in Wellington. Between the 2 wineries, we had about a case of wine we brought back to the ship. I know the first winery, it was fairly close to the port but a long haul to visit the seals. We stopped on the way back. Both wineries were pretty good, but don’t remember the names….sorry.

It is very easy to get a glass of wine in World Cafe. We asked for a particular one, and the waiter that night continually topped off our glass. Did I mention we did not have the Silver Spirits package? Despite having provably 5 glasses between us, we were charged for 2. The waiter brought it from Aquavit to his station, and kept it nearby to top us off.

Since I have mobility issues, ship travel makes it easier for me. We have a land trip planned in Sept (which does include the Bordeaux River cruise) and am starting to dread the land portion as it is much harder on me. At least renting a car ameliorates it some, but hauling luggage multiple places (even as light as we pack) is just harder.

Love the beds here too…..maybe too much!

We are still on the Orion, got on in Bangkok, will get off in Vancouver. We did not fly directly to Bangkok, but flew to Bali so DH could dive for a couple weeks. Then we took a flight to Bangkok. We were there 4 days, on our own. We stayed at the Okura hotel. 4 days was about $800 total, including a very good breakfast buffet. Taxi to the hotel was inexpensive, as were local dinners. We did catch a flight out to Chiang Mai to meet up with friends. We had a car booked to take us to Laem Chang to meet the ship and I think it cost about $50 total. Our 4 days in Bangkok, transport (not including the side trip) and food included probably cost us around $1000. Extensions provided by Viking are really not worth it. We did it once, last year before the world cruise and it just was not a good value for our $$. We could have stayed at the same hotel (or better) for less. The only difference is that there is some research involved.

Temple Street Market did not. It was cash only.

Just pulled into Hong Kong this morning. Everyone had to get off the ship and do a face to face with immigration before they’d let us back on. I went on the hunt for an ATM while waiting to reboard (my excursion doesn’t leave until this afternoon). The port is attached to a very upscale mall. Name a designer, the store is there. After quite a bit of walking (and acquiring others on the hunt for the elusive ATMs) we finally found the single bank that had a bunch of ATMs. Anyone looking, it’s on the third level back in a corner. Then I had to find myself out of the maze of the mall. I had a couple of wrong turns to get my way out. We were told in the port talk that the markets mostly accept cash, not plastic. I’m guessing the mall was the exception!

For us, no.

We were offered an upgrade from a DV to a PV for peanuts. Maybe $100 pp? Viking knew what they were doing when they made their offer because we now book a PV. I did just meet a woman on this cruise who got upgraded from a PV to a PS. She told me that this cruise was for their 40th anniversary. Maybe it happens more frequently on a milestone occasion?

We are currently in a PV with a slider. We did the world cruise with a door, and TBH I really don’t find it that much of a difference. I find slider is harder to open and harder to secure.

We had a LOT of $$ left in our account at the end of the 22-23 WC. Other than some shopping, we shipped back a bag out of London and then since we were continuing on to NYC, Viking carried our OBC over until it ran out. The balance left paid our alcohol tab and our gratuities for 2/3 of the separate cruises it took to get us to NYC.

This is a better deal, not worse. If the credit is not used by the end of the cruise, it’s refunded to them.

This is what we did for our first cruise. We booked a trans Atlantic (only cruise with rooms available) in Sept for Dec. Payment was due almost immediately, but while we were on that cruise, we booked the next for a 6 month payment date. Since that cruise, we have always had at least one cruise on the books. I am embarrassed to say we currently have 4 in the pipeline right now, and DH is talking about booking another while on this cruise!

So much this! Very well said. We are on a 50 day itinerary right now, Bangkok to Vancouver. When we booked it back in 2021 and are at $620/pp/day in a PV.

We are on the Orion right now, and will be docking in Vancouver in May. We try to tip out (only Viking staff, not guides) in USD in all but European cruises, where we tip in Eiros. We will be doing it on this cruise.

There is a certain something that keeps us at Viking. The no children, no casinos, no hard sell is a big chunk of it, but the other part is when we got onto the ship yesterday, the second Viking employee on the ship said ‘I know you!’. Dinner last night, at least 3 waitstaff welcomed us aboard, they had been staff on previous cruises we have been on. We could cruise cheaper, inevitably. But we are happy for what we receive and are comfortable with the familiarity. If stuff happens where we feel we aren’t receiving what we want, we may look elsewhere. Right now, not really interested.

Anyone going to Thailand, be aware that Thailand is NOT moving towards cashless. We switched SIM cards at the airport….cash only. Same with taxis. Even the car and driver we had that took us from Bangkok to Laem Chabang wanted cash only.

We pretty much exclusively use ATMs to get local currency. Since we have been traveling, I have kept track of what we receive vs what the bank charges us and it is very close to what the actual exchange rate is (provided you don’t do the idiot move I did the first time and accept the ATM’s conversion rate……lesson learned!). Towards the end of the trip, we try to use up remaining cash. We probably have about 2,000,000 rupiahs left (little over $100). We will probably use a good chunk to help pay the hotel charges we made when we check out tomorrow. As to what we take out, in Europe we usually take out 200€ for a couple weeks. We split it between us, as we don’t always go in the same direction.

Yes, DH and I made liberal use of the Asian station…..both on the Neptune and the Venus. Morning, there is usually some sort of dim sum. Evenings, usually a stir fry and noodle soup.

3 of my favorite excursions were on this cruise. We did Stonehenge and the Magna Carta (it poured this day), Giverny and Monet’s home. We had a fabulous day, even in October and I’d do this ne again….if only to see it in the spring. Finalky, Monserrat in Barcelona. The trip up to the monestary is spectacular, and well worth it. My only disappointment is Alhambra. The last time we finally managed to get tickets, the excursion got canceled as the ship was only provisioning and leaving ports due to storms coming in. We will try again.

Thank you so much for doing this! I am still impressed by the considerable number of really helpful people here on the Viking thread. I have been considering trying another line, predominantly related to more varied Mediterranean itineraries, but my ties here remain strong! I heard back from my friend. Galataport does have a wheelchair available to use, but no runner. When we were there last year, her daughter used to work next door, so this would be an easy find. Her daughter got another job, so asked a friend to check it out for her. Hope this helps.

We did this last year. The elephants were hysterical. Feeding them, they wanted the good stuff at the bottom of your basket, and threw away the grasses. They were like little kids eating dessert before dinner. I also got a matching picture of an elephant scratching his butt on a tree. I have a matching one of a rhino doing the same thing taken in South Africa. Guess when you’ve gotta itch, it’s any port in a storm! Agree about the pad Thai…..it was quite good.

We did Iguazu Falls on our own and it was far cheaper than Viking. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what tour company we went with, but I seem to remember that it was about $600pp for flights, hotel, tour guide, ground transport…..both Brazil and Argentina sides. Hotels were ok, nothing special. That was ok, it was only 2 nights. I just found the old email. The tour site was Ecouruguay.com. As I remember, they were fairly responsive to my emails with info. However, this was in 2019 so can’t be sure they are not a Covid casualty. We went to Iguazu the evening we got off the ship. Next morning Argentina side. Next day Brazil side. We had an evening flight into BA, caught a taxi to our hotel and spent the next few days seeing BA (highly suggest seeing the Opera Hall, it’s spectacular, and was incredibly disappointed that there were no shows while we were there).

If you have not been to Iguazu Falls, I highly suggest you take the time and go. It’s a short flight from BA through their domestic airport. This really was a side trip of a lifetime. When we did this trip (we have gone in both directions), Viking set up a hospitality center at one of the hotels in BA. Those who had earlier flights went there, those with later flights got a tour. We flew AeroMexico to Seattle to Santiago through Mexico City the first time, Delta the second. The Delta flight through ATL was a much longer day. For getting from Santiago to Valparaiso, we spent a few days in Santiago, then hired a private driver who took us to vineyards and wine tastings, we got a tour of Valparaiso, then dropped off at the ship. In BA, we used the hospitality room to catch our domestic flight out of the airport (not EZE, it was a short cab ride) to Iguazu.

As I remember from last year, roads exiting the port were……rustic. It was a good haul into the city.