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Paul73

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Everything posted by Paul73

  1. Hi Fellow Viking Cruisers: we're finishing up a 60 day Longitudinal World Cruise on Dec 1, then taking a private tour to Iguazu Falls. Since we've been onboard for 60 days we've brought a lot of clothes. Is there any luggage storage lockers at the Buenos Aires EZE airport? Otherwise we'll have to pay the fee to take our bags to Iguazu and return. Thanks Paul
  2. We've sailed on both Viking and Regent: Viking in the Med, Baltic, Norwegian coast and a Viking world cruise. We took a 60-day Regent cruise around South America this Dec/Jan. We have future cruises booked on both cruise lines. There are differences in the decor, specialty restaurants, and onboard lectures. Viking is great at moving people on and off the ship for embark/disembark and tours. Viking crew seems to take "happy pills" because they always seem to be smiling and greeting you as you walk around the ship. Viking evening entertainment is rather low-key, whereas Regent puts on energetic shows with singing and dancing. Regent is the same size ship but with about 200 less passengers, so Regent seems more spacious. Regent offers a selection of included excursions, whereas Viking only offers one free included excursion. The reason we'll pick one over the other is where they go. We're taking a Viking Northern Lights cruise in January. Regent doesn't do that. We took Regent to circumnavigate South America, Viking doesn't do it. We'll take a Viking river cruise to see tulips next spring. Regent doesn't do river cruises. So there are lots of similarities, several differences, and we're happy with both cruise lines for different reasons.
  3. Viking runs online "sales" all the time, but they only seem to offer free air or the silver beverage package. Stateroom prices don't seem to change except for current season unsold cabins. The benefit of booking onboard is usually an onboard booking discount, onboard credit on your current cruise, and onboard credit on the cruise you're booking. You probably can't get a better deal than booking onboard.
  4. I can log into MVJ with my laptop using Microsoft Bing. My wife can't log in using iPad and Safari. I called Viking and tech support said there's a know issue with Safari (but why didn't they tell us?) My wife has about 8 emails from Viking with her log-in code, but her iPad Safari webpage has a circle that just keeps spinning. Not a great day for Viking tech support.
  5. After multiple Vikings cruises, including the 22-23 world cruise, we took a 60 day Regent cruise this winter. We loved it and have booked both future Viking and Regent cruises. IRT the promenade deck, I enjoy running on the Viking deck, 4 laps per mile. Regent Splendor and Grandeur have a sports deck with a similar rubberized walking and running area, 8 laps per mile. A shorter track but has a great view.
  6. Kahuna21: since you're new to Viking, you get the best price when you book onboard. If you look at the current Viking LWC VI price, the difference between list and sale price is $4k. Onboard Neptune we got a $4.5k price reduction plus an additional $1000 price reduction for booking onboard, plus $100 shipboard credit (all per person). We've taken over a dozen Viking cruises and you can't get any better price than by booking with the onboard cruise consultant. I'd be happy to continue this conversation off-line. paulryan73atgmail
  7. We booked LWC IV while onboard. It already includes business class air, silver beverage package, $2000 SBC up front, plus another $1000 SBC for past guests. We received a significant reduction in base price plus the standard past guest discount. If you're currently onboard you should ask about discount code FC524. It was recently sent out to past Viking guests who have another cruise booked. Gives you double past guest discount plus $1000 SBC per stateroom. Booking onboard is also supposed to give you 100-200 SBC on your current cruise. Good luck.
  8. There's a scale in the fitness center. It can be adjusted to read in pounds or stone.
  9. Quick question: we board in Miami for the cruise around South America. On previous cruises I run first thing in the morning and then stop by the coffee bar and get two lattes "to go" to bring to our room. I've heard that Regent no longer provides "go cups" for coffee. Is that correct? I hate to have to balance two coffee cups walking around the ship at 7am. Thanks
  10. The geo-location function of my iPhone pictures says the port city was Hiep Phuoc. Hope this helps.
  11. We were on the Neptune world cruise this year. We moored in a container port about a 30 minute drive to downtown Saigon. I'm a runner and there was absolutely nothing outside the gate to the container port. I ran a few miles into the hinterland, then back to the port. We took the overnight stay in Ho Chi Minh city. Great city tour, very nice dinner, nice hotel stay with high speed internet. Viking also ran a daily shuttle from the ship to the Opera House, right in the center of the downtown area. Hope this helps. Paul
  12. We just returned from a Viking Pharaohs and Pyramids trip to Egypt with a post-cruise extension in Jordan. We didn't see any anti-Israeli or anti-American graffiti or demonstrations. We felt safe the entire trip.
  13. On the first day they stock the fridge with one bottle each of scotch, bourbon, gin and vodka. We asked our cabin steward to change to 2 scotch and 2 gin and that's what happened for the rest of the cruise. There are also a few beers, sodas, mini-bags of peanuts and a chocolate bar, which can similarly be modified to meet your desires.
  14. For the average 2 week cruise it's in the low 60s. For longer cruises the age goes up because it's harder for working people to take 4 weeks or more off. On the recent world cruise the average age was about 70
  15. We're taking the Pharaohs and Pyramids River cruise in Oct. After our post-cruise excursion in Jordan Viking booked us on Turkish Air out of Amman Jordan to Istanbul to change to another Turkish AIr flightd. So yes, Viking books passengers on Turkish airlines..
  16. We were on a 3 day port visit to Mumbai this spring. 20 of us contracted a private trip to Taj Mahal with Memphis tours. They did an outstanding job. Memphis tours met us at the pier, drove us to the airport, provided the airline tickets and facilitated check in. Flew to New Dehli the afternoon our ship arrived. They had a bus waiting for us there and bussed us to our hotel in Agra. We were at the Taj for sunrise in the morning, then returned to the hotel for breakfast and pack. Bussed to Fort Agra, guided tour, then back to the airport and ship. Total cost was under 1000 per person. The following day we booked a small group tour of Mumbai, also with Memphis Tours. Most highly recommended.
  17. We went from Mumbai to Agra/Taj Mahal with a private group of about 25 and it was never an issue
  18. Cruising Denise: if you like rocky coastlines similar to Maine and Big Sur, CA, it's an interesting trip. Yes it's a long day. You make 2 stops where you have about a half hour to walk around and photograph rock formations. We did a lunch stop in a small town where we had the opportunity to walk around a bit and pick our own restaurant for lunch. We stopped at a quick stop and saw some koalas high up in a tree. The drive down was scenic and sit on the left side of the bus. The ride back was on a highway and much faster than the ride along the coast. Beautiful country, but a long day on the bus.
  19. The port is in an industrial area with nothing in the immediate vicinity. I went running in several ports and this one is pretty desolate.
  20. There were wine tastings about every 2 weeks during the WC. No charge. They did fill up quickly, but several times we put our names on a wait list and they did a second wine tasting the next day. We did a rum tasting and a scotch tasting. No charge. I don't know about mixology classes.
  21. Deec: The Tripmate summary mentions you're not covered for a loss due to "financial insolvency." When you read the detailed policy on-line you find: "FINANCIAL INSOLVENCY means the total cessation or complete suspension of operations due to insolvency, with or without the filing of a bankruptcy petition, whether voluntary or involuntary, by a tour operator, cruise line, airline, rental car company, hotel, condominium, railroad, motor coach company, or other supplier of travel services which is duly licensed in the jurisdiction of operation." So Tripmate does not cover bankrupcy. To simplify travel insurance I buy an annual policy from Allianz. It covers travel before, during and after a cruise. Max reimbursement is selectable up to $15k per person (covers spouse, too). More than adequate for a river cruise. I purchase a supplement for a higher cost cruise if I'm not willing to risk the difference between cost of the cruise and insurance coverage.
  22. We just finished a world cruise and joined after the first segment. All the people who started on the first segment got to select their excursions before we did. We got about 75% of what we wanted and waitlisted for the others. Of the waitlisted excursions we got another 20%. In 4 of 53 ports we did private tours. Another consideration in joining later is that the world cruisers have formed friendships for drinking and dining. You'll be the "new guys." But I assume there will be more people joining with you so that may not be a negative and may not matter to you. I recommend you make a list of your "must do" excursions and call Regent to check availability.
  23. We're at-sea on Viking Neptune. Entry door opening is 6'8". Ceiling is 7'. Bathroom door is 6"4" Shower spray is adjustable. Full up is 6'6" and it's removeable so you can spray whatever needs more water.
  24. Viking uses a company called GenVisa in Washington DC. We called GenVisa with our questions and they were very helpful. We traveled internationally in early November and worked with them to process our visas before boarding our WC in Jan. GenVisa was very easy to work with
  25. We're on the Viking Nepture World Cruise. Neptune is the newest Viking ocean ship and has the standard 4 washers and 4 dryers that we've used on past Viking cruises. (I can personally vouch for the launderettes on decks 3 and 4)


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