PatriciaF

Seems like a lot of money--does it include airfare from Madrid to Barcelona?

I think you could do it on your own cheaper.

We have stayed at the Embassy Suites (which charges for the shuttle to the port) and Springhill Suites--free shuttle from airport and to port--but this was 3 years ago.

SIXT has a location at the airport and near the port--we picked up at the airport and returned near the port. Free shuttle to the port.

We love Princess, did not care for NCL--at least on the ship we were on as freestyle meant for most of the cruisers to wear clothes I wouldn't be seen wearing walking the dog--and that's a really low standard. Like our one Celebrity cruise but we sailed Aqua Class.

Never bring soda on board--but I'm pretty sure for decaf Diet Coke, you will need to bring it on yourself. The refrigerator is more a cooler--but perhaps in the suites on a new ship--may have more cooling power.

Enjoy your cruise!

Hey, if it's a shirt and it's got a collar it's a collared shirt ! Go with it. It's his vacation, polos are fine.

I believe that is my husband's plan--we certainly don't need to take dress shirts.

Our cruise starts in Athens on December 4 and sails at 6 PM on December 5. Our shore excursion was to include the Archeological Museum--which is now not open in the mornings and has been switched to another museum.

We are disappointed as the only other time we were in Athens had the same problem.

I know on 12/5 Viking will be running a shuttle to and from the pier--but does any one know if it will be doing that on 12/4?

Thanks!

Thank you for the great tour!

Can't wait for our Dec 4 Athens to Venice cruise. Love reading the previews here.

So being on a 'Wait list' doesn't assure you'll be going on that cruise? If so, I'll stick with what we have booked.

Thank you.

That's how it works with Princess--which is our most frequently cruised line.

If you want to guarantee you are on the cruise, you need to have a guaranteed or confirmed cabin

Wait list with other cruise lines means that you are notified if and when a cabin in that category comes available. Works great for those that live near the cruise port--not so well for those that have to travel by air.

Sounds like you have a booked cabin at a higher rate but are hoping to switch to a less expensive cabin.

A guarantee means you are guaranteed a cabin on that cruise at what you paid for or perhaps a higher category at the cruise lines discretion.

For those of you who have been on the Viking China trips - when we tour a bit before getting on a plane or arriving at our hotel what did you do with your carry on bags?

 

Leave them on the bus? Take them with you? We plan to have in our carry on's our prescriptions, our larger camera, iPad, chargers and possibly other high price items.

 

I'm wondering if they should be locked if we will be leaving them on the bus?

 

Thanks for any answers - we are leaving in 3 days! YIKES! It's taken me weeks to go through this tread and it has been very helpful.

The buses are either locked or attended by the driver. We had no problem leaving our carry ones on the bus and taking only what was needed for the tour.

One of our best vacations ever...enjoy!

Thank you for your insightful review.

Can you tell what ports, other than Santorini, are tender ports?

On Saturday, Oct 22nd we'll be cruising out of San Pedro. My plan is to rent a car in San Diego Friday afternoon, leave San Diego around 9am on Saturday, drop the car at Avis in Long Beach (Enterprise had no cars for some reason, and Hertz was $50 more). From Avis we'll Lyft or Uber over to the port. My guess is that we'll arrive at the ship between 12 & 1pm, does that sound reasonable? Is the destination 100 Swinford, the World Cruise Center?

 

We're from Virginia, but, I'm attending a conference in San Diego that runs through Friday, so I was able to piggyback this cruise (hurrah!).

Always nice to piggyback a vacation with work paying for the air fare--yes, very doable.

There is construction between downtown Long Beach (is that the Avis location you are using or the one at the airport?) and the World Cruise Center. I assume that the roads/bridges are still open/working on the weekend due to the port traffic. If you are dropping off at the airport, the driver would take the freeway (or I would) and this wouldn't be an issue.

From downtown, you go over one bridge to Terminal Island, home to most of the Port of Long Beach (which replaced the Terminal Island Naval Base and Shipyard) then over another to San Pedro, the home of the World Cruise Center (San Pedro is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles.)

I assume you have a personal reason to be in Santa Clarita but I think your plan is very doable. Unless there is a major accident or rain, your times are reasonable estimates. Santa Clarita is probably a 90 minute or more drive to the port.

Have a great visit and cruise!

I am a little lost when trying to plan a cruise with Princess that is sailing out of San Pedro.

Everything that I had read made me think that the port was really close to Los Angeles. I had also been told that there was a Crown Plaza and Enterprise location close to the port.

When I finally plugged addresses into Google and Map Quest, it has the port, Crown Plaza and Enterprise in San Pedro as being almost two hours away from Los Angeles.

What am I missing?

San Pedro is a community within the city of Los Angeles. The Crowne Plaza is probably 20 miles from LAX and downtown Los Angeles and without looking at the map, perhaps 30 from Hollywood. If you are taking public transit it could take two hours during rush hour (and an hour plus in the car). The city of Los Angeles is huge and many communities go by their original name before the municipality joined Los Angeles. I live in Long Beach, which is near the southeasternborder of the city of Los Angeles. My son lives in Woodland Hills, which is in the city of Los Angeles. We are 65 miles away and it can take more than two hours to get there.

Love your review and beautiful pictures. We are doing this cruise in reverse in December.

Are any of the ports tender ports? Or is the Sea small enough to dock?

Sabatinis delivers breakfast? Wow thats new. When did this start?

No--I was answering another question. Suite passengers can order an expanded room service menu.

Looking forward to your review we are on the December 4, Athens to Venice cruise. We have been to Athens, Santorini, and Venice--but none of the other stops and it will also be our first cruise on Viking Ocean.

We will be staying at the unglamorous, but easy to get to, ca'Doge in Piazzalle Roma which is the transportation hub in Venice. It is suppose to be a short walk from the People Mover to the hotel. (We had stayed there almost 10 years ago, but we needed car parking and did not want to put it in one of the big lots and deal with hauling our luggage around.)

I will be selling two on eBay today--will post the link later today.

Two coffee cards, unused, unstamped, plus a "wallet" for it and your cruise card--$60 including shipping.

It's been a while since I was in a suite. But, on a voyage to Hawaii, I wanted room service breakfast (oatmeal) before we docked in Honolulu (6:30 AM). Continental breakfast from Room Service arrived. Never got the oatmeal. I was told that I had to wait until the MDR opened for anything hot.

 

Has this changed? Were you able to order a full hot breakfast before 7 AM?

The very sweet young woman that usually delivered our breakfast said that anything on the card hangtag could be delivered before 7, but if you ordered something off the dining room menu that wasn't on the hang tag, she had to wait to 7 AM to pick it up. But each ship could be different. We were in a Fiesta Deck window suite, so close to the dining rooms/kitchen.

We just returned from the 12 day British Isles cruise. Many times we needed to meet for our excursion at 745 or 800 AM--Sabatini's doesn't open earlier if the ship is in port earlier. BLU on Celebrity opens an hour before the ship docks, so it is always an option.

I have mentioned this on our two last cruises and was told 630 AM was just too early.

We just ordered room service, which could be delivered by 630 AM!

This is always a much discussed suite amenity but Princess could be more responsive to its passengers needs.

As the buyer(and part owner)of a large food service company, I found the beef to be of "select" and lower quality. Not bad, but certainly NOT "Prime" or even "choice" quality.

After eating twice in Sabatini's and once in Crown Grille, I agree, grade of beef is select.

We think the meat at Crown Grill is pretty good--better than I buy/cook at home (choice but sometimes splurge for prime). Is it Ruth Chris? NO--but you aren't getting a steak with everything else for $29 (and I would think the budget for dinner is perhaps $10).

We were on a cruise with friends on HAL and ate at its steakhouse/specialty restaurant. Cost more and not as good as the Crown Grill. (But we thought the main dining room food was a little better than Princess, which has not been my HAL experience). What is funny to me, these people have a $20 per person limit when we eat out at home (and the wife has to ask permission to order a glass of wine)--always eat in the specialty restaurants aboard ship and were disappointed that we weren't willing to try more of them with you.

We are sailing this itinerary in a few months. In your opinion, are there any must do excursions or any don't waste your time on. Thank you for taking the time to answer questions and live review.

Dave & Amy

Thank you so much for doing this. we took are on this cruise in a few months, and would also like a review of the shore excursions.

Thank you all for your advice.

I won't worry about until we get aboard ship next week.

My travel agent did call me back but I was out at an appointment. By the time I got back the office was closed.

Sent an email saying I would take care of this upon getting to the ship.

We have $750 OBC, so the credit card may see very little use as none of our excursions are through Princess.

We did this HAL a couple of years ago on a bus. Yep--its about 3 hours to Berlin, with 3 hours in Berlin, and 3 hours back. There were pit stops about 1/2 way, each way. We felt it was really worthwhile, had a great guide that had pictures of the major sights before WWII, after WWII, and you could see how they look now. Some have been amazingly restored. My daughter was in Berlin in 2003, she was amazed by the changes in the old East Germany section.

We did it as we had no idea when we might be in the area again, if ever. My husband has family in Bavaria--but it too is quite a distance from Berlin.

Friends we were travelling with did Scherwin(?) Castle on their own using the train.

Awaiting a call back from the travel agent--but thought I would get an answer here faster.

Just printed out our Cruise Travel Summary. I completed all the information quite some time ago. Realized I no longer have the credit card I used for on board charges. We are 5 days away from sailing. I cannot update this on line now.

Can we just present a different credit card at check in? 3 hour time difference between and the TA, not open Sunday. We aren't home on Saturday.

Thanks for any help on this.