benjaminnicholas

You've never sailed them, so you wouldn't know.

Not on Virgin. Not on Viking. Not on many lines. Which is why I tend to sail on those lines.

Frankly, and I have enjoyed 6 cruises with VV, I don't see their current pricing as anywhere near what you get when you're on-board. There's no correlation. I can no longer drink the kool-aid when they price themselves like this. At these prices, you can get into much higher end ships with MUCH better service. While it's not an apples to apples comparison, I'm doing Viking Expedition in late April when I had originally thought about doing another VV cruise. While I'm paying more with Viking- but not much more, honestly- I'm getting a lot more that I wouldn't have gotten cruising on VV. We shall see how this all shakes down for VV.

I'm in HK on a monthly basis. It's fine. Go see the world.

If you had done your research, you'd have known not to book that early with Viking based on their terms of carriage. Viking is in this to profit, plan and simple. I can't blame them for getting as much as they can from early adopters and then offering deep discounts when rooms don't fill. Some have reported getting courtesy OBC from them, but I think that's only if you have a good amount of loyalty with them to begin with.

Good lord these brands are weak. Even MSC is stocking Hendricks and Goose in the Yacht Club rooms.

Unless it's a private yacht, a true butler does not really exist on a cruise ship (big or small). In all of the cruises I've taken that tout 'butlers,' they've all been... Window dressing. I prefer the understated luxury that Viking provides, especially on the Expedition ships.

I've done both and prefer the design, service, food and spa on Viking ships. O, even the newer ships, feel stodgy. Especially the tech. It's woefully behind the industry.

It's trivia that's not as bland and boring as other ship's trivia

More likely the MSC Meraviglia, as Red Hook is their home port for that ship.

Always read your rules of carriage

It's ALL shtick. Appealing to anyone on television, especially any specific group, is theater. It's producers/agents/talent/marketing sitting around and figuring out segments of the population who will tune in, buy merch and support the brand.

Ah, but as others have already said, the US is a country of immigrants. It's our strength. I can take you to many Indian spots in NYC, San Francisco and Chicago that would rival the best curries in India. Having traveled extensively through India, I can attest.

I couldn't agree more. Very well-said.

This. 100%

People here have already talked about how to cast or stream from a self-brought device. That way, you have exactly what you want.

I was on that same sailing. Let me clarify something... TV had more than one channel. I counted at least a dozen, not including varying channels of foreign language content. This is a European line, after all.

And frankly, better for it. Everything doesn't need to placate to the American ideal. Americans can expand their horizons. This is what makes an intrepid traveler.

For the money, I'd rather take YC than a larger suite in the regular area. There's no comparison. Top Sail and YC restaurant are total game-changers.

The problem with how they designed that pool deck is that the shady areas aren't really shade... You're still getting UV through tinted glass. Direct sun can easily be found on either extreme side of the deck. Fully open. No shading.

From what you've read, yeah. That's called 'good PR' His whole shtick is appealing to middle America.

Queens native here. I said what I said 🙂

The pizza on the Mera is solid, but for a New Yorker, it's nothing special. We had it delivered up to YC today and it was a nice change of pace, but nothing like the slices you can get in Queens or Manhattan. That said, it's better than 95% of other cruise ship pizza I've had.

Have not seen Duncan, but have had multiple convos with Hugh, who's the current director of YC guest experience. A affable, kind gent from Scotland.

It's dreary, rainy so the lounge has no less than 30 pax here now. Busy afternoon. Duncan, no. Larry has been taking care of me. Weather until yesterday and today has been swell.