Mich3554

For lunches on excursions, they’ll usually ask at the beginning of the tour. One tour, they called out a list of cabins, which I’m assuming was given by the shore ex manager. I 9only know that because friends were in one of the cabins called out, and one is allergic to seafood, and mostly eat vegetarian….only some fish. Usually there is a vegetarian choice on most excursion lunches I’ve been on. I don’t remember anyone discussing gluten free though.

We were told that the dock was under construction. There were 3 cruise ships in town, Viking Neptune, Venus and AIDA Luna. Where we were tendered dropped us off in the middle of Kirkwall. No shuttle needed.

We only missed half a day in Mumbai as we left from Cochin. By doing this, we missed only Goa and a sea day. Our flight arrived about the same time the ship got into Mumbai. TBH, I could have used another day there. My concern leaving for Delhi out of Mumbai in that you have very little wiggle room if something screws up. If you miss catching the ship in Mumbai, there are several sea days, with the next port being Jeddah. I would not want to try to fly into Saudi.

We did the Singleton Glen of Ode excursion today. Very interesting excursion to a distillery, with a gorgeous tour through the Highlands. Both our guide and the distillery guide were excellent. We now have an additional 3 bottles of scotch to fit in our luggage. Sadly, there was a horrendous bus vs semi accident on the way back, where we got stuck in a very long line of traffic. We did finally get back to Ullapool, but an hour after the last tender was supposed to leave. The laundry room was totally empty this evening. All 4 washers were free on our floor. I took up 2 of them!

I’m very sorry to hear this, Andy. I appreciate your concise explanations, and hope that some day the problems you encountered can be resolved.

Yes, and everything else. Right now, DH has about 6 books he’s reading that are stacked in our cabin. We go some place, he forgets to bring reading material, chooses and starts another and adds it to the stack. There is also a shelf in the LR of books people brought, read and donated for someone else to enjoy.

Not always. We took a Viking tour in Singapore to a Night Safari just outside the city, maybe 45 min? Friends of ours bought tickets to do it on their own. They had a horrible time getting a cab (ride share was impossible) to take them out there, and had we not run into them and gotten them a ride back with us, they’d have been stuck there. Uber and taxi numbers are a fraction of what they were pre Covid and that ey are not bouncing back fast…..at least not in Singapore.

It is. We had a good chunk of time to wander on our own, but we did have a fabulous tour guide who pointed out parts of the city that we’d have been clueless about, had sh3 not told us the history. I think that there is a balance you need to hit with regards to imparting information, and giving free time. Since our guide was local, she knew where to taste and buy the homegrown ciders, and what other places to check out. That day, a very nice balance was hit.

The city is not far from the port, however traffic can be horrendous at certain times of the day. Also, the new airport is on the Black Sea side of the Bosphorus, so it can be a long ride into the city. A few years ago, we flew to Istanbul to meet up with Turkish friends and go on vacation with them. They picked us up from the airport, drove into the city. We could see our hotel, but we’re in such a traffic jam that it took us over an hour to get to it. My point is to just be aware and leave yourself a LOT more time than you think you should need…..especially if it’s during rush hour.

Yes. We have a friend who doesn’t eat meat. They switched any meat out on the menu for fish.

We are on this sailing on the BI cruise as holdovers from the World Cruise. About the food, in my experience the food in The Restaurant has been very uneven from the time we got on Dec 2022 until today. There have been fabulous meals, and meals that left me wondering where the rest of my meal went. TBH, we have found World Cafe to be much better, and usually the same meals. I do think that there are some switchover pains on the ship going on right now. We lost a large chunk of crew 4/30, in Barcelona. We lost an equally large chunk at the end of the WC a week or so later. I think that since they were such huge switchovers, since most got on the ship at the same time it first set sail in Europe, that the steady gain and loss of fewer staff that normally happens on established Viking ships has made the loss of staff (and resulting loss of service) that much more apparent.

Third for Honfleur. We did this a few days ago, and it was fabulous. We also went on market day, which was even better. We did not get near enough time there to do what we wanted.

We are in a PV with the 2 doors. TBH, I don’t get the preference of slider over door after having lived with a door for the last 137 days. It doesn’t matter to me.

I think the bed is comfortable, and I have enough scar tissue in my hips that it usually causes issues in some hotel beds. Viking beds do not cause issues.

For us, maybe if the route changes. We don’t want to do this route exactly the same again. Also for us, a lot of things had to wind up in perfect alignment. It wasn’t easy to put the pieces together, and there was a certain amount of tooth gnashing to get here.

Not at all. There have been a couple new Chef’s Table Menus. Manfredi’s has put out a new menu (I think) 3 times. The Restaurant always has a destination meal, along with the old favorites, plus a few others. We probably eat about 80% of our meals at WC. I do sometimes wind up eating some strange combos of meals (I think last night I had pizza, salad and king crab legs), but have always been able to find something to eat. They have also expanded the Asian bar in the back. In the morning, there is dim sum. In the afternoon and evening, there is usually a couple different soups and something stir fried. More than once, I’ve gotten rice from the main line and just put stir fry over it (there was a fantastic beef Szechuan stir fry a few weeks ago. Then there are times where I just want a burger and the Pool Grill does a decent job. Also have fabulous onion rings.

They do do this. However, what happens about onboard entertainment on sea days! The in house people are interesting. In addition, Viking frequently uses them to herd cats (passengers) on excursions. I’ve met a lot of the entertainment this way.

Absolutely. We booked it on our own. We did not go at sunrise. We got into Delhi at 2 am, and the driver was picking us up at 9. It was a 3+ hour drive there, and a very long day. I believe it was nearly 11 when we got back to the hotel. Very worth it, glad we made the effort.

Just be aware that if you stop at a spice market, the TSA equivalent in India WILL NOT allow you to fly with spices in carry on luggage. There is NOTHING in the New Delhi airport about this (nor was there in Cochin when we boarded) about spices being contraband. We were lucky in that I had time to go back and check our bag. I know at least 2 other people who traveled with us who got the spices they bought tossed. All 3 of our bags got snagged going through security, we were with 2 backpacks and a carry on bag. My tweezers got snagged. DH had an electrical adapter in his backpack, and the spices we had put in the carry on bag.

I had symptoms, was concerned and went to the med center and got tested. Idiot me, I forgot to throw tests into my bag before we left. No, no testing before or on board unless requested.

Luggage fits under the bed easily. There are laundry facilities you can use, or you can send your clothes out for a charge.

Notified I get sprung tomorrow in time for Barcelona. Thankful that my case of Covid made me feel crappy less than 24 hours. That is, unless you want to count the severe case of cabin fever I have right now, but at least I see light at the end of the tunnel. I can do another 12 hours.

I do, but I have/will missed Sicily, Naples, Rome, Monte Carlo and Barcelona. I wish they’d test me to see if I still positive and release me if I’m not. I have not had any symptoms other than the first day. They’re not planning on testing me again. DH, luckily has continued to test negative so he can go and do. Viking has refunded about $500 in excursions I had planned for my tickets.

5 days…..they are counting the day I tested positive as day 0. I get sprung 5/1.

Day 3 of cabin arrest. I tested positive for Covid on the 25th. I had one sick day and night (Sicily), but bounced back and am fine now. It truly sucks doing the right thing.