pavementends

With 'ya as I have never owned a dark suit, being neither a banker nor a penguin. I suggest having husband take a tie, which will make him OK anywhere except Atlantide and La Dame on formal nights, and maybe even there. I wore a tie with my jacket on formal nights. A truly exotic experience for me. We went to La Terrazza. I own several ties (not sure why) and if we continue cruising I may eventually be able to use them all.

1. The do-it-yourself laundry is always free. I was advised that machines were more likely to be free on the upper decks (with the big spenders are who get free not-done-by-yourself laundry). Detergent is available, again free. 2. SALT Kitchen, Atlantide, Silver Note, La Terrazza, and the Grill are no extra charge. 3. La Terraza, Kaiseki, Silver Note, and La Dame require reservations. 4. I recommended against Kaiseki on the Moon. May be different on your cruise. Scuttlebut is that Kaiseki is different and better on other ships. 5. The Atlantide menu seems to change some on every day but not completely. Silver Note seems to not change. La Terrazza changes, but again not completely.

I have thought about a similar calculation for a trip on another line with the difference that excursions were included. I decided that I probably came up a bit short in justifying the total price. But it came close. Then I thought: Not having to make a decision to spend money for every single item. Priceless. By the way, it used to be getting a nice multi-course dinner on land for $75 was quite possible. It seems not so anymore.

I have used the scopolamine patch and it worked. (Drake passage was a good test). There are also prescription pills (dramamine). I thought the ginger thing was bogus but it turns out there are actual published studies that say that it works. As far as the other ones- unless I see an actual study my suspicion is of a placebo effect. And the placebo effect works only if you think it's going to work. So it you decide to try these other things make sure you believe it's going to work. That is, don't go looking for studies and don't read this reply.

Some airlines allow seat selection at time of booking; some don't. The ones that don't usually charge for early seat selection. It sucks but that's how it is. Seat selection is another profit opportunity. It's more complicated that you might think because of code-sharing. For a recent purchase I had a choice between AA operated flights and BA operated flights with an AA flight number. Only the first allowed immediate seat selection without a charge. (For the particular fare class I chose, that is).

snakes on a ship... (there was a rather silly movie Snakes on a Plane. But weirdly enough there was a news item not so long ago...about snakes on a plane.)

About Cairo- I booked my own air (at a significant saving, by the way) and Viking offered to provide transfers with no charge.

The way I look at it- there are some activities that it makes sense to sell only if almost entirely full at a particular average price. These things include river rafting and small ship cruising (particularly Antarctica). These things do sometimes see discounts to fill available slots but- at least as far as I have seen- not extreme discounts. By getting the money up front Viking knows they will have enough customers. Presumably this allows them to commit for various purchases (food, fuel, etc.) at a better price. Yes, when I pay up front I forgo some interest income. Not that much these days but I figure that lost income is part of my cost. If, as a matter of principle, you object to this then you pay in potentially lost experiences. Your choice. Maybe you get lucky with last-minute bookings. Maybe not.

I think the square footage should be indicated cabin by cabin in a spreadsheet, and engineering drawings of the ship should be attached.

When I booked my first Viking cruise I asked for a couple of months delay in the final payment and that was granted. I don't have a problem with advance payment. The cruise was completely sold out a few months later so trying to book later would not have been an option.

I think that is confused. Muster drills are required for the passengers. Other emergency drills (always pre-announced, not involving passengers, and apparently not all the same) are for the crew.

It's the North Atlantic. You can be sure the weather will change. Many times, often in the same day. But cool, windy, and possibly rainy can be counted on. I think you will do some of the same ports on my reverse cruise. About excursions- we enjoyed several of the walking excursions although they would have been less enjoyable if it had rained. We were fortunate. Be aware that Glengoyne will be doing maintenance and not distilling right now. Oban distillery is right next to the tender dock and has a pleasant tasting room with several options. The Hillsborough Castle excursion might include a drive through the (formerly?) troubled parts of Belfast.

After dinner the Salt bar is usually quiet and very enjoyable. Before dinner fahgetaboudit. I think there is also a Silver Note on Dawn. It has a small bar and personally I enjoy the music.

I returned a week or so ago from the reverse trip (Southampton to Reykjavik). Had a great time and I expect you will also. Oddly enough my trip was not sold out. I'm not sure why. I found the itinerary most enjoyable.

Surely the dress-up crowd with the real tuxes and bespoke shirts will sneer at anyone wearing a bargain basement tux. That must be a much more serious violation of "standards" than, say, sports coat and tie.

Expect wind. A lot of wind. I think there was more wind than Alaska. Apart from that an adequate amount of warm and waterproof clothing.

Turns out I had a discussion with one of the manager types about the food at Kaiseki. He was at pains to point out that it was not intended to be purely Japanese (this despite the fact that the menu I had was titled Omakase- another Japanese word). My disappointment was not that it was not authentic Japanese, but rather that it was not an elevated Asian-influenced cuisine even interpreted broadly. Just not good enough, even had it not incurred an extra (although trivial in the scheme of things) charge. And the final disappointment was that I missed a very enjoyable meal elsewhere on the ship. I hasten to add that this is not one of these things-are-bad-and-have-taken-a-terrible-dive posts. I was quite happy eating elsewhere. This is one restaurant not measuring up to standard.

I am recently returned from a trip on Moon. For what it's worth, this is only my second Silversea cruise. Kaiseki dinner was uninspired and very disappointing, particularly since all the included restaurants were very good and enjoyable. The bright spot at Kaiseki was the steak, but the accompanying lobster was much over-salted. (Details: first course was strange although at least pretty. Subsequent courses seemed to be served on a bed of the same cabbage-carrot-onion stir fry. A course called "tempura" wasn't very good tempura. If I remember right the promised ice cream on the menu wasn't available??) My advice is to give this restaurant a pass until some changes are made.

I never HAD formal attire. I haven't owned a suit since my first job interview in 1980. In my profession (teaching) jeans were acceptable attire. I usually went the extra mile and wore a sports coat, that I removed once I got warmed up. Look- all you have to do is bring a sports coat and a tie. I went the extra mile again and bought a pair of black travel slacks, and got the old black shoes out of storage. This kept the packing down to the point where I could go carry-on only. For novelty value I brought (and wore) a tie. Haven't worn a tie in ages. I don't recall actually seeing ANY guests in tuxedos. The only tuxedos I saw were on butlers. I've never wanted to look like a butler.

My reading is that P2P is available only on less fully booked cruises (and maybe only for some cabin classes??). With david63, I agree that the savings can be substantial although the cancellation terms are much stricter.

1. The (minimum) floor area of Vista and Panorama suites are virtually the same. It appears that some of the Vista suites are larger and intended for handicapped use. 2. From my experience cabin assignment is less than 12 days out. Ask me tomorrow and I can say whether it's less than 11 days out.

Yeah, it's been downhill ever since Trimalchio's dinner party.

Well that's what we have left. The reality is that vaccines work best when most of the population gets them. But (appropriately for this board) that ship has sailed.

Yeah, got the email yesterday. Not crazy about this change. This was, I think, inevitable and (as they say) Viking has been slower to remove this requirement than many other lines. Think about it this way. There was Covid on the ships before this. I was on an expedition cruise (not Viking) where there were about 5% Covid cases by the end of the cruise. This was WITH a vaccine requirement AND a PCR test requirement. If you are concerned (and you should be, not least because of the potential loss of some of your vacation experience) there are things to do. Mask in risky areas (can you say airport, bus, and airplane? Elevators?). Get the boosters you are entitled to and time to get the most protection when you need it. Avoid crowded bars and discos (probably not a problem with the Viking crowd). And maybe there is a degree of protection in using the "better" cruise lines, where the customers managed to accrue enough bucks to afford the cruise, which is not usually done by being stupid.

Looks like a neat itinerary with visits to many of the smaller islands. You get to peer across the water into Russia, for now inaccessible to most of us. Have a great time. Be sure to do a walk around the harbor and stop in the old market building.