kctwinmommy

I would think it's usually a starter cruise for a lot of people simply because of costs. If people aren't sure about cruising, I can't imagine they want to spend $15K on their first cruise. We did MSC for our first one, it was a 12 day one, but it was in 2001 and it was a buy one, get one free deal! So it was still pretty inexpensive. We've done all Carnival since then, simply because we're used to it, get a few perks, and it's a decent bang for our buck. We did RCI for Europe because they had a cruise we wanted, but still feel that it was pretty close to Carnival.

Now, having said that, we're ready for something new and different now. Our son is gone at college, so he's not going on our next one. And we wanted a bigger, nicer Mediterranean cruise, so we are going with Viking. We just wanted something a little bit calmer, no kids, and really port intensive. But I would never spend the money we're spending on a first time cruise.

@SempreMare - well I also have to consider the fact, that our cruise is extremely port intensive. As in, every day is a port. And they're all like 10-14 hours. We're doing the 22 day Med. cruise. So the reality is, we may not even always eat on the ship as we'll be in a city every day. Which would be another reason to not even worry about reservations. I'm sure we'll be a little tired some nights.

I just read this post, which I found helpful related to dining reservations. We're also new to Viking, have ours booked for next year. I liked this person's advice though! With our cruise, we will be in port every day, and for about 10-14 hours/day, so I'm not even thinking about dining reservations. LOL! I know there will always be food to eat, so I know we'll be good. I still thought this was an interesting way to think about it.
 

Thank you for this! We're taking our first Viking cruise next spring, so we've got a lot of time to learn and research. Things like this are good to know. We've never done a specialty restaurant on any of our previous cruises (different lines of course). But we might want to on this one. I like your thinking though, this is all helpful!

I'll have to follow along on this post, and the one @shmabbies shared, as we have a similar stop there.

22 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Usually they will be on your invoice itinerary.  Subject to change of course..🍸

OMG! Thank you! I thought I was crazy not finding it anywhere. And yes, I do realize things can always change. But that totally helps me. Of course, I know there's nothing much I can do still, just wanted to know. 😃

Since our cruise is well over a year away, I realize they're not putting the port times up on the itinerary yet. I'm used to my other cruises, where we typically still knew it quite a ways out. When does Viking post the times we'll be in port? Or am I just goofy and totally not seeing it. I've looked on their website, as well as in MVJ, but it's just the dates, not the times we'll be there. And in general, about how long are we in a port usually for this kind of cruise? Again, I'm used to the Caribbean, where it's about 5-8 hours, sometimes arriving early morning, leaving in the afternoon. And sometimes midday, with an early evening departure. But that's because of the distance we're traveling there. This is certainly a different kind of cruising as the distances aren't as great.

I was just curious as I wanted to have some idea of our time in each place. I know we still can't even book anything, even on our own really yet. Hotels and airlines aren't even open for reservations this far out. Just more wanting to know at this point. Thanks!

3 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

 

I think there is a good chance my husband and I will do Virgin once our kiddo is out of high school and we start taking occasional trips on our own. It looks like the value I want is there and a good fit.  I just feel a bit "been there done that" about Carnival, though we have enjoyed it so much over a total of six cruises since 2017. 

Having been on Carnival Mardi Gras, Vista, and Radiance in the past 2 years, all of which looked great, I don't think the crazy decor and sometimes shabby look of the older ships is a big draw for us anymore. And my husband and I really enjoy good evening entertainment, where neither Playlist or Punchliner are wowing us at this point. 

We're in a similar boat. We've done Carnival for years, had fun for sure. We've often cruised with friends and it's fun to hang out with them. But we're tired of doing the same basic thing. We've done RCL to Europe, and we did enjoy that. However, we have made the big switch to Viking for our next one. This also has to do with wanting a very different vacation overall. We're going without our son, we're going to the Med., and we're doing just over 3 weeks. So we needed to have a different experience. It doesn't mean we'll never cruise Carnival again. We just needed a different style for this kind of trip.

I am excited as this will be much different than other cruises we've done for sure. We did a European one a few years ago, and loved it. We've also been to Europe a few times on our own over the many years. My husband was actually stationed in the UK before we met, so he traveled quite a bit over there.

I was also excited to learn that our ship is their newest one! It will be nice to be on a newer ship! We typically avoid them on our other cruises, simply because the latest ones are so big, more than what we really want to be on most of the time.

I've enjoyed looking through some of the photos and videos of the ship as well. It's nice to see those too.

16 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

That would be in your roll call I presume….?

Yes I know where to find it. I guess my point was that this entire thread really was off the rails with people complaining about things, and talking about things I didn't care about. I was just trying to be polite about it. 😉

Wow! Not quite sure how my original post seems to have really gotten so far off track! A lot of posts are people in their own conversations, not really anything related to our particular cruise, planning things with our ports, etc.... Just kind of weird!

Anyway, I'll be sure to read other posts for information related to the cruise we're taking. We're looking forward to this for sure!

Good to know! We noticed they are included in our cabin, but we didn't think we'd really need them anyway. And now that I've read this, I realize we shouldn't count on them either. LOL!

Soo... we already turned down the insurance through them, it asked us when we booked. We are booking our own air, I like to have that control. I don't like flying to begin with, so I want that to be handled myself so I know exactly what I've got. We do plan on flying in at least a day or two early, and then staying a day or two at least at the end. The pre & post excursions are all booked, which is fine. A little on our own will be good too. @L11- thanks for posting that, someone shared that with me about 2 months ago as well. I'll still be skimming through it. I also read someone's review that covered part of the cruise we're taking and that helped.

We already know there's a big difference between Viking and Carnival. Carnival worked for us for many years, and for various reasons. We'll still cruise them again at some point I'm sure. We often go with friends of ours. This is totally different trip and different thing we want to experience. My parents have also cruise Viking a few times, both river and ocean, so they've given us lots of tips.

I'm looking forward to planning things and researching what we really want to do. This is a very big trip for us, almost a month, the longest we've ever done, so we want to make sure it covers the things we really want to do. And still give us time to relax and enjoy it all.

17 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Decide on what you want to see in each of these cities and then look at hotels that are somewhat in the middle of all of them.

 

If you are sightseeing on your own, figure on two major sights per day to give yourself plenty of time explore the sights and to wander/wonder around the neighborhoods.

 

Old/historic Barcelona is particularly amenable to such wandering.

 

 

For sure! We'll be looking and reading over the next month or so, and get hotels booked at least.

18 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

And why would I want to make you do anything other than smile over your choice of vacation?

 

BTW,  there is a way to deal with a 450ish day wait: book another cruise for the interim. (Since you have another cruise on the books already you can ask for final payment to be  6 months prior to departure.) I'm in the same boat (468 days wait🥴) and I'm looking for something to fill in the time.

LOL! Very true! It was the grasshopper quote that did it.

And unfortunately, can't really do another cruise in between. We actually have a dang college freshman in private school. 😜 Sooo... that's cutting into our finances right now. We'll do other things in the meantime though. It's all good. I like planning too, so this gives me time to read and research.

2 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Hello again!

Thank you for being so very sweet.. I'm thrilled that my happy review prompted you to book this cruise.

You are going to have the best time ever.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!🤗

You bet! And you bet we will... now it's just a lot of waiting! And some planning too. We still have to figure out hotels before and after for Athens and Barcelona. I know we can't book flights yet though. So just lots of reading before then.

On 12/11/2022 at 10:47 AM, Sleep7 said:

Oh yay!! So glad you are finding my review helpful.  It was such an amazing week.. you truly will want to pack your bags this moment.

We only took a 7 day cruise since DH had to go back to work that Monday.  A longer one (like Empires of the Med) would be even better especially if you have the time to add on a few days on either or both ends.  We kind of zipped in and out in a week.. fast but fantastic. 

Also.. spring might be a better time to visit too.. it was beastly hot when we were there at the end of June.🔥

Just wanted to come back to you, and your posts. Since your review is one that I loved and had me ready to go right then. We ended up doing the 22 day one!! 😃 I'll definitely go back and read your review again, and share it with my husband.

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

You have chosen wisely, Grasshopper. You will love it. Three weeks of pampering! Who could ask for more!?

 

 

Somehow, just based on the tone of your other posts, I had a feeling you would make me laugh/smile. LOL!

Now I just have to count down 450ish days! LOL!

Wanted to come back to this, we booked today!! We went for the big one! Well, not the full 29 day one that starts in Istanbul, but we're doing the 22 day one, Athens to Barcelona! We did the Deluxe Veranda, so just up one category, just gave a few more perks. It's the Mediterranean & Adriatic Sojourn one. I'm very excited about this!!! 

After nearly 20 years of cruising, MSC, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival - we decided we needed to up our standards a bit. LOL! I joke, but we really did want something a little different. We also decided we wanted to do a big one. So we are officially booked on the Viking Mars, doing the Athens - Barcelona (April 2024) - Mediterranean & Adriatic Sojourn! We did book a middle of the road Deluxe Veranda, gives us a few more perks, but not another $4000 in costs.

I know I'll be back many times before that to get advice and learn from all the previous Viking cruisers. I did do a lot of reading of previous posts before booking too, so I had some help beforehand.

Looking forward to planning this whole adventure and experiencing something amazing!

We always got it for our son, because he could get pineapple juice with it too, instead of the free juice on deck. When he first started cruising with us, around age 10, he wasn't much of a soda drinker. But he could easily go through 3-4 juices during the daytime. And like others mentioned, it was nice to have it at the table when we got to dinner. I also got it for myself as I'm not much of a alcohol drinker. I would easily drink 3-4 sodas just hanging out on deck during the day. Now, keep in mind, they had ice in them and would sometimes get watered down, so I'd get a fresh one. Meaning, I wasn't exactly drinking full 12 ounces of soda each time. They do seem to give you the can now more often, which they didn't pre-Covid. Again, for us, it was just easier not having to worry about it. Oh, and we never have a car pre-cruise, so we didn't feel like trying to walk or Uber somewhere for a 12-pack of soda.

Another vote for Caye Caulker! We did a Carnival excursion. We'd read a lot about some of the issues in Belize, and just felt it was safer for us to do a Carnival excursion. It was a long one, and so much fun! We had the tender to the port first, from the ship. Then we took a boat, clipped along at a pretty good speed at times, to Caye Caulker. It was nice, because on the ride out, our guides took our food orders. Then we stopped at The Split in Caye Caulker, where they dropped off our orders at the restaurant right there. Then we continued on, just past there, to do some snorkeling. Then we got back on the little boat and moved to the area where we could swim with the sharks. After that, we headed back to the Split and had our lunch, which then was ready like 5 minutes after we got back. We had a little time to walk around and such, then headed back to the port. It was without a doubt, one of our top excursions!

In Mahogany Bay, we did a Catamaran snorkeling trip. They picked us up at the port, about a 20 minute drive, hopped on the Catamaran, did some snorkeling, then got back on and had some rum punch and lunch - which was quite good!

These are from Belize...

My son, looking out the front of the boat, where we did our snorkeling.

The sharks to swim with. I only stayed in because I was tired from snorkeling, it was only my 2nd time doing it, and it was a lot more work than I though. LOL! We were out for a while. Plus I wanted to get pics!

My son and husband, with the sharks

The restaurant at Caye Caulker

Lazy Lizard

The Caye is split in half, so they have this ferry to get back and forth, it's like 200 feet. LOL!

A "little" house someone built on an island, saw it on the ride out and back. I can only imagine the cost for bringing everything you need there to build it!

OK, so I'm obviously not familiar with this area, as I had never heard of this place. Instead, I was thinking, "is someone asking about a channel on TV that only shows things about Beagles?!" LOL! Sorry, hadn't have enough caffeine yet to get my brain functioning and truly took a second or two thinking, Huh!

5 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

Meeting new people is one of the things I really enjoy about traveling. I figure my husband and I have had dinner together almost every night for the past 45 years. Some new dinner table conversation is usually most welcome!😉

Totally agree! Although we often cruise with another couple, and our son, so we don't do it for dinner. But we would for this one. And in most other situations, we typically have no problem socializing with others. Heck, I lost my husband on a teeny, tiny island, in the San Blas Islands, but then found him in a bar. LOL! The island was no bigger than a city block!

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

Technically it was two legs of a 29 day cruise called Mediterranean's Iconic Shores. It can also be viewed as four consecutive one week cruises between Barcelona and Istanbul. We are doing it in two halves.

There is some changing of passengers along the way, but we made friends with one lucky couple who were doing the entire itinerary at once! I imagine there were others too. The second portion of our trip (from Rome to Venice) was a more lively crowd than the first group, but to some degree each cruise we have taken has had a slightly different personality. For us, I would not say the changeover impacted our experience in any negative way.

Thanks! I realized that's what I should have said, I've read more posts and gotten more info to realize that like you said, it's multiple legs. I'm sure we'll find people along the way, we're fairly talkative. I've been known to lose my hubby in places because he ends up talking to people. LOL!