pavementends

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.

On the Moon, arriving about 7 AM. I have not found any offers for this on the web. Any advice or recommendations? I understand the cruise terminal is a bit out of town. Most of the offerings seem to leave from the BSI bus station. Looking for a moderately priced option.

Maybe you could start here https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2398 Although I have a feeling the article is a bit old and there might be some things that have changed.

I intend to pay only the "recommended" gratuity until I am convinced that not paying additional tips is grossly unfair. Two reasons: (1) I want to make purchasing decisions based on a good idea of what something is going to cost and (2) the need to make many decisions about when and how to tip turns a vacation into something less than a vacation. There are services I don't use almost entirely because of the complication and annoyance of tipping (take out delivery? No thanks).

1.5 hours to Buenos Aires is extremely conservative in my experience. Although the consequences of getting it wrong on the way back are severe. If at all possible stay in BA because it's worth it. And the blue dollar thing is very weird. Bring crisp new 100s. This is a case where 5 twenties does not equal a hundred.

If you think you might want masks at some point definitely bring KN95s. Easy to get these days. Most places I don't bother but I definitely wear a mask during the scrum for boarding planes, waiting for immigration, etc. And on general principles I don't use elevators on the ship.

I was able to drop off luggage a couple hours ahead in Seward. My guess it "it depends."

You do you. But I wouldn't want to take 6 hours on a bus to get to Paris only to get on another bus. Consider going to ONE site (Eiffel Tower?) and walking around and maybe sitting in a cafe. Actually, for sure sitting in a cafe. That way you'll always have Paris, or at least a couple hours of Paris.