odblnt

It's been a pleasure following along on your cruise, and gazing longingly at the ship when you docked here. Safe travels home and on your future adventures.

Pete

I had the opportunity yesterday to do a "ship tour" of the Regatta while it spent the night in port. They hosted one of our local travel agencies as well as the local AAA office and they, in turn, invited interested customers. Now this was one of their old, small ships, but I really noticed several of those items in your review.

We started out in the lounge, and it sure was dark (granted, they were showing a PowerPoint presentation, but...). Even the stairs going up from the gangway level to the lounge were like an old hotel. We then split into small groups to see a variety of cabins. I noticed what you meant about size. I thought it was about European riverboat cabin size on some of those. I haven't been on VO yet (we are going this October), but we did do the Mississippi which has the same categories of cabins and we loved our PV. The V-Miss is sort of "VO Light" in its layout and we loved it. Last night I was looking at the website for the VO ships and we just loved the Scandinavian design. 

They did take us in for a very delightful lunch. If I was on an Oceania ship for any length of time, I'd have to spend a lot of time in the fitness center.

It would have to be a very good itinerary that would woo me away from Viking.

I notice that Walvis Bay is on your itinerary. Please be sure to read the following trip report from the "infamous" Sailorjack:

On 3/20/2024 at 10:12 PM, Hockeyump said:

What happens if someone wants to use the ladder?

It's only around one vertical bar of the ladder, but I would normally stop so they could use it safely.

I plan on bringing my ankle swim tether (leash). You can look them up on Amazon. Fasten them to your ankles, loop the bungie through a ladder on the side of the pool and paddle away. I use them at hotel swim pools to get my exercise.

On 2/4/2024 at 7:38 AM, lackcreativity said:

I am not the original poster, but since this is the River Cruising thread and Viking is the line, I suspect the cruise is from Avignon to Lyon, France. Perhaps the OP has only heard the names and never seen them in print.

Or they were on their phone with voice "recognition". 

@GTXgal01

Hope you made it back to the ship ok and met up with your cousin (?). It was good to help a fellow CC member.

Pete

Being there overnight will give you a tremendous opportunity to do a manta ray snorkel dive. Can't really recommend an operator, but it's worth checking out.

Looking forward to gazing longingly at the ship in less than a week. Unfortunately, it's just over 9 months until we get to set foot on it's decks.

Clay & Mike - did you finally figure out what you're going to do here in Honolulu?

Pete

14 hours ago, dfish said:

 

 

Thanks to both of you.   We won't be doing sunrise or sunset due to our time in port, but I'm a volcano nut and want to go to the crater.  I take it that the drive is not too difficult.  

I don’t think it’s difficult at all, just a little curvy. The Halemaumau Crater on the Big Island is more impressive (and active) though. 

1 hour ago, dfish said:

Has anyone made the drive up to Haleakala on their own?  We have a car reserved, but wonder if we should find something else to do.  The ship excursion was sold out.

I've done it several times. Sunset is a much more civilized time to visit instead of getting up in the middle of the night to go up there for sunrise. I've even done the bicycle ride down once. 

And of course for Honolulu - the Arizona Memorial.

Looking forward to following your journey and seeing your wonderful ship when you dock at my home on January 14th.

On 12/7/2023 at 6:44 AM, duquephart said:

 

How 'bout the lotion, shampoo, etc.?

I wouldn't mix that with the champagne at all. 🙄

20 hours ago, cccole said:

Hi,  We will arrive at HNL 3 hours before our daughter on 11/23.  Thinking of lunch and walking to the lei stands before she arrives.  Any recommendations for lunch near HNL? La Mariana Sailing Club and Restaurant 604 the closest and best?  If we lunch outside the airport we will have the taxi take us to the lei stand before meeting our daughter.  I will arrange a car from HNL to our hotel in Waikiki.  Thank you,  Cherie  

La Mariana if you like kitch and Magnum, PI. Restaurant 604 food is better. 

I just realized that you are talking about Thanksgiving Day. Always look up their phone number (Yelp) and call to make sure they're open!

For Maui, I have had good experiences with B&B Scuba out of Kihei. It looks like a lot of the dive scene is on hold due to the fire that wiped out Lahaina. Not sure when you'll be here on your cruise, but going out of Kihei to Molokini Crater is a wonderful dive.

On Oahu I second Island Divers Hawaii out of Hawaii Kai. Their afternoon dives do the shallower reefs and are wonderful.

On 11/4/2023 at 8:01 PM, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

We met a couple from our cruise when we were heading back to FCO and got their

feedback on where they stayed? 

They stayed at the Hilton AT the airport. (NOT the Hilton Garden, that is farther away)

So when we were driving into the FCO, we could See the Hilton AT the airport, and boy

is it AT the airport!  Like a short walk into the Terminal!  That looked so easy!

 

To be honest, I wish we stayed there, and took the train or taxi into central Rome to

walk around the sights..... then be closeby the airport when it was time to leave.

We would have gotten alot more sleep!

The couple said they really didn't hear the planes... couldn't have been any worse than

the street noise we got all hours.  Even with our windows closed, we heard Everything.

 

So, If you have a short stay pre or post cruise? 

You might consider Hilton AT the airport, instead of staying in town in Rome.

Thats what we plan to do if theres a next time.

Happy travels all.

 

 

That's where we plan on staying after our Western Med cruise next year. We're even going to add an extra day so we can take the express into Termini for a day tour to Pompei.

Pete

Suggest you ask your questions in the following forums:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/340-river-cruise-ports/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/

I notice both have threads dealing with Amsterdam.

Check out this website:

https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/transport/cruise-port/ships/viking/00-viking-cruise-ships-barcelona-port.html

I set it to look at Viking ships since I don't know which one you're on. I know the roll call that Liz was referencing in November is at dock B/Adossat (that big long pier).

There's a lot of good information about Barcelona in general and the harbor in particular. I'm glad I found it for our trip next year.

It doesn't help right now on the Mississippi with all that corn in the more northern states being harvested and shipped downriver, thereby increasing the number of barges heading south.

Thank you very much. We're taking this trip next fall (in the opposite direction) and are looking forward to it. 

On 9/7/2023 at 4:20 AM, boblerm said:

We did the Memphis to New Orleans cruise last June. While the reviews do seem to be at best, mixed, my wife and I have no regrets about taking this cruise. The biggest issue is with service, for a variety of reasons, this is a big issue for this ship. But for us, the quality of the itinerary, the excursions , the cuisine, and entertainment /enrichment outwayed the downside. 

Despite the issues, we are actually considering doing the upper Mississippi on Viking. 

 

Just got back from the upper Mississippi and it was wonderful. Lots of locks and great scenery. 

On 7/24/2023 at 2:50 PM, Treasure Hunter said:

Internet is poor ( in and out). Cell service non existent . Very scary if you have an emergency at home.

Regarding the cell service, is this upper or lower Mississippi (or both)?

38 minutes ago, TiiiSailor said:

Just common sense and courtesy.

Neither of which is always common when you're traveling. 

While you're in the upper Mississippi, could you post the daily itineraries? We are taking the St Louis to St Paul leg in late August and DW is wondering how much time we are going to be spending in each town. We do have our excursions picked out (including the ones we're paying for), but she is curious.