Mich3554

8 hours ago, puppymama1 said:

Did you just walk out of the airport and follow signs to find the taxi line?  I know the 07000 taxis are recommended… do you just look for them in the line or do you just take the first taxi at the head of the line?  Thanks!

Yes.  That’s exactly what we did.

Our first cruise with Viking was a trans Atlantic.  What we discovered was that it really was relaxing to be able to sit back and read and watch the ocean go by without needing to get something done.  
Since that first day, both of us really relish sea days.  You can schedule yourself as busy as you want to be….or not.  There are usually an increased number of activities scheduled.  Sometimes we partake, sometimes not.  

We just got off the Orion in Vancouver, which we took from Bangkok.  It was 3 separate cruises, Bangkok to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Tokyo and Tokyo to Vancouver.  When we booked our excursions before boarding, Hong Kong and Tokyo only had excursions 2/3 days we were in port for these days…the first and last day.  Excursions for the second day were scheduled not long after we got onto the ship though a form we received from Guest services.  
On that second day, there were some of the same excursions that were available on days 1 and 3.  We did do some jockeying around of excursions, exchanging ones we had booked on day 1 for day 2 because the other ones we wanted weren’t offered on day 2.  In Hong Kong, DH and I decided to split up on excursions, so both of us got waitlisted for 2 different excursions on that first day.  It all worked out for us.  
Usually we for included excursions around what we want to see.  If we can’t fit it in, then we pass on it.

43 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said:

I noticed the description for my Kitchen Table in Stavanger says shopping in the morning, later in the evening you dine. Except the time for the tour is 1PM-3PM. I chatted with a Viking rep who is going to email me back with more definitive answers, but she thinks that we do go shopping in the morning, 1pm-3pm is when we are with the chef and learn how to prepare the meal, and then we'll eat the meal they make for us later in the evening.

 

Does it usually work like that, with 3 different aspects all through the day? I was hoping that we might have time to also do something else in town, but with the ship sailing at 4pm I'm guessing that's a no. It seems like it would be nicer if the 1-3pm learn to cook segment started after all-aboard time, but perhaps the chefs are too busy preparing dinner at those later hours?

Very likely.  Usually there is some behind the scenes support during the cooking during a regular (sea day) Kitchen Table.  When we did a tour of the kitchen around 2:30ish after we had eaten, we saw food being prepped for Tea in Wintergarden and desserts being made and prep work being done for dinner service.

We took a taxi last Jan.  It was about $50 or so.  There is a bus we could have caught that would let us off between the Clarion and Raddison.  It was a pretty ugly night weather wise when we came in though.

We have stayed here twice.  Exit the hotel, turn right at door and make another right.  Follow the road, you really can’t miss the dock.  It’s probably 1/2-1 mile to the dock.  
 

We took an Uber in Jan as there was about a foot of snow on the ground.  

5 hours ago, biggerbearmom said:

To clarify, it is a total of 30 days. As an example, if you were to deviate 7 days prior to the start of your cruise, you would then have 23 days to deviate at the end of your cruise. It appears there is no exception to the 30 day rule. We are doing the GE in December and I asked for a 45 day deviation at the end of the cruise but was denied. 

That’s strange.  I was told by Viking that it is no more than 30 days at either end.  So you can deviate 29 days at the beginning and 29 days at the end, but you cannot deviate 45 days at the end.

I had to verify this for our Circumnavigation of Australia we are doing next year.

26 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

Look out for listed ports, such as Brisbane, not being where the ship actually stops

Right now, Viking has Brisbane as the port on this cruise.  On the WC, we were in Mooloolaba instead.  Not sure why it changed.  

Yes, 30 days at each end.  

I know I went to at least 2 cocktail parties in there on our last cruise.  It was also used for crafting at a scheduled time.  I do remember seein* quite a few meet ups there for other groups too.

We have booked a room at a hotel for the day when we had late night flights (we did this in both Buenos Aires and Santiago).  We dropped our luggage, went sightseeing, had a good dinner, came back to the hotel to shower and change and got a taxi to the airport.  Both of us bypassed meal service and just slept.  This was one of the better long haul flights.  
We had booked our own flights both times.  The second time, we did use Viking’s offer for a private car to take us to a Santiago hotel (we had a lot of OBC to kill from missed ports).  This was during Covid so Viator didn’t have much available.  The other time in BA, we got a taxi.  
Previously (pre Covid), getting from Santiago to Valparaiso, we used Viator for a wine tasting tour and dropped us off at the dock afterwards.  I’m sure it would work in the other direction too.  

18 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

We are doing this after the NewZealand cruise. What excursions did you like and which ones should we avoid!

 

thank you for any advice. We are doing the extension after the cruise. 

About half these ports are new.  We are on it too, so will wait to see what new excursions pop up from the excursions we did on the 22-23 world cruise.  
We are planning on staying later, so DH can go diving on a liveaboard after.

23 hours ago, JM0115 said:

It's difficult to find travel insurance for that long a trip. One option is annual trip insurance. 

Annual trip insurance doesn’t work on a world cruise.  We found that out last year when looking for insurance.  We were on the ship 2 days less than 6 months,  

However, we did get a medical policy for our world cruise last year.  It was a Berkshire Hathaway policy bought through the tripinsurancestore.com

2 hours ago, jgrahamiii said:

Hi All. I know this is an old topic, but we just booked a PV stateroom on the Star, and want to be sure we are in a sliding glass door room. My first email to Viking asking resulted in a phone message that all PV rooms have the slider. I know that is not true. Just did a chat and moved rooms as the person said we were not in a slider room.  I'd really like to find the PDF file with the complete list of rooms, but it is no longer available on this chat. Does anyone have it? Note, we have rooms 5088 and 5090 if that helps. Thanks!

I would assume slider as I know 5089 and 5091 are both sliders.  5093 and 5095 both have doors.  We have stayed in all 4 rooms, and I’m assuming the ship is symmetrical.

On 5/16/2024 at 2:41 PM, MikeyB said:

Just off the Orion two days ago.  Wifi was good in Alaska.

TV- horrible.  Many days we had nothing while in port.

Agree with this.  Even the connection of shows/lectures to the TV during the event fuzzed out some during this route.

3 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

More clarification. Picking up in LA if from Bellingham. Cabin number?........ love to buy you guys a drink to talk about Bellingham!!!!!!

We are in 5034, I believe.  

1 hour ago, WAVTAM said:

Clarfiy ..You are on the Sky for the Jan 2025 World cruise either out of FLL or LA. 

Where do you want in to continue too. ....NYC.

Graduated from Sehome High.

We were on the Neptune from FLL to London in 22-23.  At this point, I believe the Sky is the only ship scheduled for this year’s WC, but we will be getting off in London this time.

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

My understanding from reading CC these last years is that each ship is refurbished every five years and taken out of circulation for a few months for that purpose.

The Orion is probably slated for refurbishment.  We got off it on 5/14 as well and don’t agree with what was said totally.  In fact, meals in Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s were some of the best we have had.  We had excellent cabin attendants, and mostly ok service in WC.  
While we were on board, the carpet was replaced in the corridors.  DH noted that the floor in the Explorer’s lounge was buckling, near where it opens to the outside deck.  However, we noted this on the Jupiter as well, so suspect that there may be design issues with these 2 ships, since they were built about the same time.  

We are booked on the 25-26 world cruise and got the announcement that our cruise has been changed.  I was hoping the new itinerary would continue on.

We are getting into Vancouver on Tuesday.  On the Alaska leg of this trip, I have pretty much worn jeans/heavy khakis, my Merrill waterproof hiking shoes, a sweater and a puffer jacket (ironically, bought in the Viking shop during a Covid cruise when we had tons of OBC to spend).  I have one Dale sweater with me, and 2 cashmere ones.  I also have long sleeved cotton shirts that I wore under the sweaters as another layer if needed.  I’ve been comfortable.  I have 2 pair of leggings that I wear around the ship on sea days, and a pair of black dress slacks that I wear for when I can’t wear jeans.  
 

We have been on this ship since Bangkok, and I’ve not touched most of the clothes I have needed for the warmer weather since Japan.  

5 hours ago, KBs mum said:

We went in, out of curiosity, they tried to get me to upgrade my watch. Didn't work, was wearing my retirement rolex.

It seemed to us to be standard cheap jeweller stuff at a premium

The jewelry they do carry varies considerably.  On this cruise, there really isn’t much that struck my eye, but a few cruises ago there was a guy on from Columbia who brought emeralds.  He had a pair of gorgeous earrings I coveted, but not at $30k!  
They also had some work that was replicates of Faberge that were gorgeous.  Apparently it was work that was done by his grandson.  Those were gorgeous too.  I saw something similar in a jewelry store in Auckland, about the same price.  

I use one of the felt bags we got on our first cruise that I use as our local medicine chest for cruises.  Last cruise I was on, I got charged $24 for a handful of OTC cough drops and thought that was for the birds.  I always carry:

Ibuprofen

Dayquil/Nyquil capsules

Sudafed (the good stuff)

Benedryl, both tablets and topical

Cough drops

Tums

Antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes and band aids

Keflex and z packs 

Allergy eye drops, moisturizing eye drops

My visit to the ship doctor when I had a bad cold (not covid) was $124 (including the cough drops).  I was offered ibuprofen, but had my own cold meds of choice with me, so turned them down.  I had forgotten the bag of cough drops sitting on the bathroom counter at home.  

We have been to Chef’s Table 4x, Manfredi’s twice on this Bangkok to Vancouver trip we are currently on.  We did not have a single reservation when we stepped on board for dining.  Most of the reservations were made 2-3 days in advance.  
 

We have never booked restaurant reservations before any cruises and have always eaten at them several times.

Viking will book a one way ticket.  We are on a cruise right now where we only needed one way airfare to Bangkok.  The ship is docking less than 100 miles from our home.  
 
We did not use Viking Air as their business class was considerably higher than what I was able to book our flight at ultimately, so I canceled the air on our itinerary.  However, when I booked this cruise, I mentioned we only needed one way fare and they complied.   

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.