Mich3554

We just did 6 months on the Viking Neptune. It’s amazing how crammed sea days can get and you not even touch the stuff you brought along with you! For example, I brought a knitting project along and the only reason I opened the bag and started working on it was because I had 5 days quarantined in my cabin with Covid. This happened about 2/3 the way through our cruise. I also had my iPad, a Kindle (which is loaded with more books than I could ever read) and we brought along a small Bose Bluetooth speaker so we could play music in our cabin. However, we wound up spending much more time socializing with new friends.

It poured on Whitsunday Island. We were out on a snorkeling boat, but it was a crappy day between the rain and the murky waters.

On the Neptune last spring, they shut all laundry rooms down for the gastrointestinal bug. I found out when I needed to wash all my long pants (I only had a few pair of warmer pants) and the room was locked. I sent them out to be laundered instead. We had a laundry charge on our account, then it was removed. While it wasn’t announced, the sent out laundry was being done gratis at this time. I did then send out a few more bags.

There is a laundry bag (usually used for sending laundry out), but it doesn’t hold much. I need to buy another (I tossed the ripped one) for our next cruise as the collapsible basket works much better. It really doesn’t take up much room in your luggage either.

I got back from my washer running 7 minutes early. The dryer had been stopped at least that long. I moved the dry clothes to the basket. It was at least 10 min before I did this. If you cannot be considerate enough to set an alarm to get back early, then you deserve to get your clothes moved for you. Your time is not more valuable than mine.

It was well worth the drive, the views were gorgeous. I wish we had more time to stop along the way though, but even from the bus window it was fantastic. We did get back in time to have a couple beers with DH’s old coworker.

I brought one of these on our World Cruise. Stick it in the corner and fill. Grab the handles and go. Dump your dry laundry in and dump it on the bed to fold. After 178 days, it started to rip, but it (along with the magnets) was the best $7 purchase I made. https://www.amazon.com/Mesh-Popup-Laundry-Hamper-Collapsible/dp/B00HZ0IOJ2/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2KZWVY7I6B1GD&keywords=Collapsible%2Blaundry%2Bbasket&qid=1693093867&sprefix=collapsible%2Blaundry%2Bbasket%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

We booked a 4 hour ATV tour in Isafjordur when we were there. It was the same outfit that Viking uses, only we scheduled our tour for after their tour. It was twice as long, and cheaper. The guide was very good. His name is Gunner and his email is info@atv-isafjordur.is

We flew out of Cochin, returned to meet the ship in Mumbai a few days earlier. We only missed Goa.

We took off for Delhi from Cochin, so got to do the Mumbai rooftop event too as we got into Mumbai at the same time as the ship. The rooftop event was incredible.

Below is the description of the included tour on Le Truck which sounds similar but doesn't look like it includes stopping at the beach or being able to stop and have a drink at Bloody Mary's. (Of course according to their website they are currently closed for renovations so this may be a moot issue). But in case they reopen, did any of you do this included tour and advice? Ride an Open-Air Truck Through Paradise -- Take in the crystalline turquoise waters, lovely small villages and abundant mountains, and learn about it all from your local guide. There are many photo stops along the way as we drive to the district of Faanui and scenic Faanui Bay. Here, you will see the ancient ceremonial site of the Faanui marae, Bora Bora’s biggest Polynesian temple, with a typical raised ahu altar. Continue your scenic drive and pause for a photo stop at one of the island’s famed restaurants. Here, you will have a chance to strike a pose in front of Bloody Mary’s Bar & Restaurant. A longtime island favorite of Hollywood royalty, it is the quintessential tiki bar with its thatched roof, open sides, white-sand floor, wooden slab tables and stools made of coconut stumps. It poured most of the time we were in French Polynesia, so that really colors things for me. We stopped at the Bloody Mary Bar (there is a list of celebrities who have visited it), but did not partake. We did do a snorkeling excursion out on an island, and did go to an area where we got to snorkel with rays. Soggy, but enjoyable.

We were joking that apparently some did not ever use community washers in their life. They didn’t seem to know the rules!

It dropped and picked up from in front of the opera house.

On the last WC, the laundry room was full of strife. 2 couples got kicked off when one guy, waiting for a dryer finally emptied a drier after waiting 10 min for the owner to show up. While he was waiting for his clothes to dry, he decided to fold the clothes he had taken out of the drier. Owner comes in as the guy was folding his wife’s underwear, hits him with his cane. Folding guy slugs him back. Both get tossed off the ship. As I was tossing my clothes into a drier from the washer, a woman comes in with an armful of wet clothes, demanding my drier. She was most unhappy (and let me know) that I continued to fill the drier, started it and left. I probably should have stuck around, but this was pretty early in the WC and the problems hadn’t gotten bad by then. A friend of mine was doing laundry, started the drier, set her watch to come back in 40 min and left. She came back to wet clothes, and a drier that had only advanced 4 minutes. There were a LOT of laundry room stories on our cruise. When we had Bubbles on the Bridge, the laundry room issues came up with the captain. He laughed and said those stories were only the tip of the iceberg…..he heard them all! He wouldn’t tell though.

I’d argue with you that this document is nothing to worry about. I needed it to show that I had paid for an excursion that was not in their system. I’m not sure where the foul up was, but it was sufficient.

If you have the pdf copy e documents Viking sent you 2 weeks before you sail, you have an electronic copy on of the contract on your electronic device of choice.

I had 5 pair of shorts, 3 pair of khakis, 2 pair of jeans, one dress, 2 skirts, one dress pants. I had a combo of 10 sleeveless and ss t shirts, 2 ss linen sweaters, 3 swimsuits, 2 coverups. I had 2 weeks worth of underwear and socks, 5 bras. One raincoat, one fleece, 3 sets of workout clothes. I took a pair of NB sneakers, waterproof Merrill hiking shoes, a pair of Tevas, water shoes, dress sandals and a pair of flats. DH had 3 pair of long pants, 4 collared shirts, 10 t shirts, 6 shorts, 2 swim trunks, He brought his deceased dad’s Merrill’s, which he buried in Liverpool, a new pair of Merrill’s and a pair of Tevas. I think he brought 2 weeks of underwear and socks too. We also stayed on the ship for 6 weeks after, so I picked up a couple sweaters along the way (badly needed in Norway and Arctic). DH collects t shirts, and I think he brought back maybe 15 new ones? I expected to lose underwear and socks along the way, but didn’t. There were days where we went through at least 2 sets of clothes. There was nothing unworn, I was happy with what I took.

Sadly, yes. I got to look out on everything going on in Monaco from our cabin while I was on Covid arrest. It was the most painful port for me to miss because we were not docked in a shipping harbor, but in the middle of things.

I think we ran out of OBC for booking excursions somewhere around India. We had a lot of jockeying for excursions, as some got canceled, some ports were missed. DH dumped several as he had the opportunity to dive instead. By my best guess, the order you book your excursions on MVJ is the order they are debited from your OBC. That meant all the excursions I missed on Covid arrest were refundable. By the time we got to the end of the WC, most of the balance in our account was refundable credit. Moot point, we went on further, but had we left the ship in London, we’d have gotten it all back.

When we got on board, there was a lump sum in our onboard account. We could not use it before boarding (but the OBC we received covered a very big chunk of the excursions we chose when they opened up for us). Yes, you could buy excursions with this money. When we left the WC, we had a good chunk of it left. Viking let us carry it over in our account for the British Isles cruise, Norway and Arctic and Iceland to NYC. The money we had left was sufficient to pay the gratuities and alcohol tab, and send a bag home from London for 2/3 cruises we took afterwards. It did help that the 5 excursions I missed as I was Covid + got refunded to our account. That added another chunk of $$$, as did booking the Iceland to NYC while onboard. Another thing to note. When we chose our excursions, we changed our mind while we could still make changes in our excursions while home. Unfortunately, the excursion we wanted was sold out (it was for Egypt…..? segments into the WC). So one of the first things I did on boarding in FL was get on the waitlist for this excursion. Sometime through the cruise (not sure when) the home office in LA had decreed that changes to excursions could only be made within the segment you were currently in. Luckily, we got the excursion we wanted before the segment, so released the excursion we had booked. According to one of the managers at the Explorer’s desk, this caused a bunch of problems because they could not see on computers what was coming up, I guess because people only had a short window to make changes during the WC. Only about 2 weeks was seen in advance on the TV, so it felt like there were a lot of segments.

Nope. Everything is very well documented. We didn’t see the Missouri because we didn’t have enough time.

We just went to the USS Arizona on our own. We Ubered there and back from the Neptune, no tour guide. The whole complex is VERY strict as to what you can bring in…..no bags at all (not even my small purse).

We were port side. I found it really didn’t matter. We got a spectacular view sailing into Sydney Harbor at sunrise, but not on the way out.

On the world cruise, we had to present hard copies of all our visas to Viking’s Explorer desk.

I could not ever choose a favorite cruise, because I would do all of them over again! We have done: Atlantic crossing, Lisbon to Miami. First cruise, we were hooked! Wonderful, sunny sea days. Introduced to the idea of a world cruise. DH response ‘no bloody way!’ (Uh huh) Trade Routes. Almost a port every day. We’d do it again. South America. OMG! Utterly spectacular. DH wanted to go back in the other direction! <Covid hits, cruises get punted> Finally get on a cruise ship again in Oct. 2021. ‘No bloody way’ becomes ‘we need to take a longer cruise to make sure I don’t want to jump overboard on a world cruise’. I piece together 3 cruises. Med Antiquities (Athens to Barcelona), South Atlantic Crossing, and South America (we had the voucher, why not?). 54 days total. Brazil wouldn’t let us in, Morocco and Senegal cancel. We pick up Madeira and Cape Verde. Argentina won’t let us dock for 14 days since we had been in Africa. We had 9 consecutive sea days. We are allowed to pick up passengers (finally) in Argentina. No Falklands. More sea days. DH wants our cabin steward to hide us in the crew quarters, he doesn’t want to get off after 54 days. Grand European river cruise. Wanted to check out this. Have another scheduled next year. World Cruise. Scheduled when I caught DH at a weak moment during Covid restrictions. We started in FL, and tacked on British Isles, Norway and Arctic and Iceland to NYC, so a total of 178 days. Again, DH wanted to stay on longer. I had 2 days of BP meds left when we got to NYC! We tacked on Iceland to NYC while on the cruise. <we have 5 cruises booked, 1 a river cruise for 2024-25> I would repeat any of these!