dburns1231

Yes, you cross the Arctic Circle. No, there is no ceremony. If you want a certificate, see guest services.

Not in my opinion. But I don't suffer from motion sickness either. If in doubt, skip it.

RIB is a Rigid Inflatable Boat. It was fantastic! Bumpy and wild! You were secure in your seat and they provide you all the clothing and gear to keep you warm and dry but they do bounce over the waves. Loud music to go with the ride. The absolute best excursion ever! We were 66 and 69 respectively and loved it! But we are also active sports people and we do adventurous excursions so nothing bothers us.

Don't miss Vigur Island! The lady who lives there (Felicity Aston) gave us the tour. She's the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica. She wrote a book about it. Do the walking tour in Seydisfjordour so you can see the blue church with the rainbow road. If you are lucky enough to be able to stop in Heimaey (the ship before us and after us didn't due to bad weather), take the RIB boat ride. Fantastic! Best excursion of the whole trip! Also, when you cross the Artic Circle, you have to request a certificate from guest services. There is no fanfare and they don't automatically hand them out.

Yes, we did it in August of 2021. It was an all day trip by bus and back with a couple of hours at the actual excursion. The excursion itself was ok. Basically, you got into a zodiac with a lot of other people and floated around close to some icebergs while listening to the guide. A nice lunch was provided prior to the zodiac excursion. I personally would opt out next time due to the long day in the bus to get there to and from. But your excursions are limited at that particular stop as I recall. We had much better experiences with RIBS in the Westman Islands.

No. There is a discount however. We went to one on a recent Alaskan cruise with Viking. We had the silver spirits package. There was a charge but silver spirits package cruisers got a discount. I think it was in the neighborhood of $30 each. The bourbon and martini tastings were free. They just fill up fast and you need to book as soon as you get on the ship.

We just got off the Orion on our recent Alaskan cruise. Plenty of salmon daily as well as days with king crab legs, shrimp, etc. In fact, I had salmon eggs benedict every morning in the World Cafe. Lobster tail was offered one night in The Restaurant as I recall but it was paired with a steak and it was small. Lobster is more of a New England (Maine) thing in my opinion. Everything was available in the World Cafe and in The Restaurant. The food is great and there is always a lot of variety. I noticed on this trip there was always a large sushi section in The World Cafe which I haven't see before. It was very popular.