Clay Clayton

None that I’ve been offered…but not sure I expect any since I’m staying aboard and getting world cruise just to different parts than I expected. Biggest difference is that rather than being about 50/50 old and new ports for us, it’s now about 80/20 new ports to old!😀

So it’s official, Bruce isn’t coming back🥲. Verity Brown was just introduced as our new Cruise Director. She said she had a message from Bruce earlier today and he is hopeful to get out of the hospital in Singapore on Friday. Wonder why they didn’t just make Roseanna the new CD?

Crazy! I for one hate to see most segmenters leave but there are a couple I’d gladly help pack😳. I’m sure there are also many on board who wouldn’t mind if I was leaving😂

Reminder time-if you’re able to have a FaceTime/Speaker phone call in a public area, it is also possible to have it in the privacy of your stateroom.

No but Frisky, sounds like a great idea, let us know when you have the spreadsheet ready for us to fill in! 😂

I have added a suggestion to my usual list of recommendations (I include this in the final survey) that port talks be taped and made available in MVJ for exactly the reasons CDNPolar mentioned. We happened to go to the Living Room after the port talk on Ho Chi Minh City and there was a line for Guest Services almost to the Chef’s Table podium. When I asked what was up, found out it was everyone who had heard about the difficulty in getting in and out of the tiny boats on the Mekong Delta as well as finding out how claustrophobic the tunnels were all trying to change their excursions. It sure would be easier for those who aren’t like us and go down a YouTube rabbit hole most nights (we watched 2 minutes of some 20 yo influencer’s video about the tunnel and KNEW it wasn’t for us😂), to be able to hear the port talk in advance.

There weren’t on Sky. No reason for Viking to encourage guests to leave. We didn’t need to discuss any details, but from what I could gather, it appeared that all financial arrangements for those who decided to leave would be handled by the “office after you return home”. Presumably a prorated return of the monies paid on a voucher, perhaps the WC credits also?🤔 I know that our friends who left were relatively pleased with the air arrangements and such so Viking appeared to be doing everything they could to make the guests happy

Wow-we had figured not as many would be leaving Neptune as have left us.

I think for some, it was the strings of multiple sea days that was the deciding factor. Rather than “doing” Africa which is typically a land trip, the World Cruises have become more like a transatlantic repositioning cruise-some interesting ports but further apart. If I remember my count correctly we only have four or five more sea days, but they are more bunched up than on the original itinerary.

Forgot to mention the great (and final until we get to Greenwich) tendering system here in Phuket. The larger local comfortable tender boats being a floating platform out to the ship which makes getting aboard a breeze! Sorry I failed to take any photos from the shell door or on the tenders but here are a couple of the tender taking the platform back to shore.

Great included excursion in Phuket today. The south point was beautiful and the 1000 Elephant Buddha amazing. The big temple complex was incredible albeit crowded and of course hot. The cashew stop was interesting-now I know why they are so expensive. Upon our return to Patong Beach we had a great (and too big) lunch of Coconut and Chicken Soup (Tom Kai Gai), Pad Thai, Tom Yum Fried Rice, morning glory greens (my epiphany from this trip-I LOVE them), complimentary fruit, mango & sticky rice, and a Thai milk tea. All was yummy and only $18US. I’m sure it would have been half of that or less if we had of walked away from the beach but it was hot so…. Love the beautiful colors and sights here-if they could just get the air conditioning to work I’d be ready to move 😂 Looking forward to two and a half sea days to recover before we get to Sri Lanka.

So what’s the Neptune’s population after leaving Singapore. Sky reportedly now has 620 with over a hundred doing the Indian overland.

Breakfast of Champions-grilled lamb chops, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns and a side of hollandaise at The Restaurant.

the tree with the baby in the trunk is entitled, “The Last Tree”

Oh, the caftan is Verr-Sache

Enjoyed the included tour in George Town this morning. For those on Neptune, go as early as possible-it’s again crazy hot. The excursion included a walk through the colorful and artsy old section of town and then photo stops at the bridge to the mainland (we didn’t get off), the Kek Loc Si Temple, and the Botanical Gardens. The temple is pretty amazing looking and would be great to visit except for those 1200 steps! The stop at the gardens is at the parking lot and you can only see the lily pads out front. We again didn’t get off since we could see these were nothing special compared to the Lotus pond we saw in Vietnam #jaded Made an impulse purchase of a caftan in the terminal - first time something fit! I can now attend one of those Mrs. Roper bar crawls and be comfortable in the summer time at home. I won’t be joining the many ladies who wear them around the ship. Happy St. Patrick’s Day-for some reason we are having a BBQ tonight 🤔 but at least they have some Guinness.

Fine by me!

Yep, that’s what I’m thinking. We will be sightseeing with our niece and her gf and will plan on doing the trip up the Thames or maybe back, see the Observatory, Neptune out in the river (hmm, wonder if we could come on as guests?), and meet anyone who is interested at a Greenwich pub.

Can somebody on Neptune confirm that y’all arrive in London on May 8 and disembark on the 9th. TIA

Just back from the included tour-I enjoyed it as it gave me an overview of rice growing. And since there was a breeze, it didn’t seem quite as hot…and the bus had fans in addition to AC😀. The stop at the big ol Eagle was fine but sorta shows there isn’t a lot here to see but it apparently a big beach resort town. Both Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton have properties-$400 or so a night-pretty cheap for them, the resort that you walk around to get from the ship to the pier has king seaview rooms starting at $50/night. While the heat wasn’t as awful as yesterday it did make me sad when I saw this picture from Venus doing In Search of that our friends are on right now-sure wouldn’t mind being cold for just a bit.

It does and they do. I can only remember two, though there were more-sautéed spinach with garlic and Parmesan (very tasty-better IMHO than the creamed version), and grilled veggies. Mike seems to recall, Rosemary potatoes and a salad with walnuts and gorgonzola.

I don’t know if it’s just for WC. We presume not since it’s been added to the newer ships and lets the pool grill not sit idle. FWIW, it doesn’t seem to have as many choices as the ones in the newer ships.

I highly recommend trying to arrange “goodwill” guides in the Japanese ports. These are guides who in exchange for practicing their English tour you for free. You are expected to pay for their meal if you share one and for any admissions to museums or the like. When we did it in the before times, the maximum group size was 6. We had a great guide in Tokyo and at the end of the day, it cost us each $8 but the best part was having someone with whom we had a real conversation about their life. While the two of us were in Kyoto, we booked one for our day trip to Hiroshima. The cost there was higher as we didn’t have anyone to split it with and we requested to go to a specific restaurant. Still was such a great day. Here is a link to where we requested ours: https://www.japan.travel/en/plan/list-of-volunteer-guides/

Here is the current hours on Sky. Note pool grills quits lunch at 2:30 but has snacks with exactly the same menu after that until 5pm.