captainmcd

Any information from Viking Ocean on the progress of the Viking Star build is still lacking. If some regular cruisers happen to visit Venice, maybe they could visit Fincanti and check it out. I have called Viking, and the sales people tell me that they have no information. I have even posted on their Facebook page and had no response. I really think they are dropping the ball with their failure to communicate!

Inspite of this I have made the final payment for the Empires of the Med. April 10, 2015 cruise. I put it on a credit card so that I am protected if things do not work out as planned. If they would post progress reports or photos I would probably have paid with a bank check and saved 2%.

I have booked both standard veranda and club continent suites. I found the bathroom on the veranda cabins tight, but found the bathrooms on the suite to be comfortable with lots of storage and place on the vanity for things used regularly.

cabin 8058 (club continent suite)

Journey

October 2013

would book it again

no noise issues

normal balcony

I like the suites more than the standard rooms because the bathroom is a lot more spacious. I would probably have booked farther forward, nearer to misdship so that both forward and aft elevators would be nearby. I did not like the power points (plugs) which were under the desk and you had to crawl under in order to plug something in. There was also a small US plug on the hair dryer in the bathroom.

Since I am on the October 1 sailing of the Journey, I am glad to hear this. Although I signed up for the AzAmazing concert, I had lowered my expectations, and altered my plan for the day's activities. Now it sounds a lot more relaxing and enjoyable. Thanks for the confirmation, Bill

It's been quiet on the Viking Oceans board, and over two months since any news about the progress, or lack of progress on the construction of the Viking Star. I am happy that we have not gotten word of labor problems or general strikes in Italy, so I presume that things are going as planned. With the final payment due in just four months, it would be nice to have a progress report, and some photos from Viking.

Thanks Steirich, I was writing down some sea stories for my kids, who are now grown, but am glad they are useful to others.

Sjpo, it sounds like you had a great trip, and did it in a nice part of the world on a good ship. Sadly I think it would be hard to duplicate now days, with few breakbulk ships that spend days in port. Now I am at the village of Teopopo, on the North bank of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea, on a small medical ship with a team of medical volunteers. It is not a luxury trip, but a cheap way to see a part of the world not accessable to most people. The town has no roads, no electricity, although a copper mine up river built a cell phone tower there, nobody has a cell phone. It is to regulate river traffic from the mine to the sea. Last month I was the captain of the Africa Mercy in the Canary Islands. I still love ships and the sea, and even go on cruises with Royal Caribbean and Azamara when I want to relax.

We booked for the maiden voyage because I never sailed on a maiden voyage after more than fifty years at sea. I am not worried about delays and malfunctions, but believe that Viking has the experience and ability to handle problems well. Our favorite cruise line has been Azamara, but we are not married to any particular company. The loyalty programs are not really a big incentive for us, but good itineraries and a good crew are the most important things in chosing a good cruise.

I am not sure why a travel agent would steer someone away from the Aranui 3, but I had a similar reaction when I tried to book this wonderful trip. I had read about it here on CruiseCritic, and called CPTM (the onwers) who said I needed to book with a travel agent, and gave me the number of one (a cruise specialist) who told me that comparing the Aranui to a cruise was like comparing a motel 6 to a 5 star hotel. Since CPTM does pay a travel agent comission, I suppose that many agents think that it is safest to steer all clients to luxury products where they are less likely to get complaints. As far as the diesel smell, that is totally unfounded. All modern ships burn diesel fuel, but usually bunker C, and if you really wanted to smell it you would need to visit the engine room or climb up on the funnel. I never smelled a whif of diesel fumes on our voyage.

I mined the postings as best I could and came up with a list of cruisers posting to CC who are booked on the Viking Star. The list is contained in the attached pdf file. I'll try to update the list periodically until it either gets too large to be manageable or we get separate roll calls for each of the cruises. Please respond to this thread with any additions or corrections.

 

-- roy --

Captainmcd we are John and Ines McDonnell, and are on the maiden voyage. Thanks for your efforts in making this list. It seems like a long way off, but time flies!

The ship will travel from Norway you say? Why did I think they were building it in Italy? I imagine they'll have a few side trips along the way for travel agents and dignitaries, so at least a little experience before we get on board.

You are right. Yesterday I asked the Viking booking rep. where it was being built, and he said Norway (I do know there is a yard in Starvanger) but now I find out the following information from "Cruise Inc." a trade publication:

Viking Ocean Cruises agreed with Italy’s Fincanteri to build two new ships earlier this year. It looks like the decision was well like so far by both parties because they just agreed to build two additional with an option for one more. This could bring the total fleet for Viking Ocean to 5 ships!

That means the trip to Istanbul will be a lot shorter. It also means that the construction is more likely to be delayed by labor trouble.

Carol, like you I just booked the maiden voyage from Istanbul to Venice. The weather may not be great, but I wanted to be on a maiden voyage for the first time in my life. Of course the ship will have gone through sea trials, and then a 3600 mile ocean passage from Norway to Istanbul before embarking passengers. I hope that all goes well in the shipyard, and that things stay on schedule.

Check out this message board:

 

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises

Good luck and hope you find more information here.

Ship: Quest

Cabin 7046

Date July 2012

Noise not an issue

I would book it again

Balcony, standard size, unobstructed view

between the fwd. elevator and the laundry

Last year we joined the Quest in Istanbul for the Black Sea cruise. The ship was docked right across from the Golden Horn in the Uskudar side of the bridge. You could see the ship from the roof of our downtown hotel. We boarded on a Sunday and it took only 30 minutes from the time we left the hotel until we were in our cabin on the ship.

Hi; I have a friend who's considering the Aranui cruise. He's been on Caribbean cruises and says he's sensitive to 'rocky seas'. Can anyone give insight to the sea conditions as the Aranui 3 travels between Tahiti and the Marquesas?

Sorry to respond so late, but I made the sailing in 2011 and had a great time, but we did have some rough days. I wrote about it in my blog: http://www.captainmcd.com/id38.html

If someone is sensative to motion, I would recommend a cabin on the lower decks. Our trip was a lot rougher than what I have experienced on a regular cruise ship, it is more like a real freighter.

Regarding bridge simulators, they have been around for nearly 40 years, although simulating a ship at sea is more difficult than an airplane in the air, due to the fact that a ship maneuvers with respect to two mediums, the air (winds) and the sea (current and waves) so that although beneficial, simulator time is probably not as effective as a training tool as it is for aircraft. I have spent time in a number of simulators, and they are getting better, but it is still a lot different when you are on a real bridge.

I still can not understand how the Concordia went so badly afoul of existing rules, since Italy has signed on to all the applicable conventions, SOLAS, ISM, ISPS, STCW, all of which are monitored by their class society, flag state, port states, etc. It just shows no matter how many rules and regulations are made, there are ways to get around them, and to just do paperwork to satisfy auditors and inspectors, and not really follow the intent of the regulations.

Regarding checklists: In the past decade we have enacted ISM requirements and do indeed have contingency checklists that we practice on a weekly basis. If a problem is found during a drill, those checklists are revised, and during audits if an out of date checklist is found, it is a "non-conformity" and you get in trouble. Although training does help, it is never quite like the real thing, but we try to make it as close as possible. I saw the Nova program and thought it was well done, but the shipping industry's navigational problems are a lot different from the airline industry, in that things develop a lot slower and you have more time to think and correct errors.

The program on NOVA last night brought up several interesting aspects of ship sinking, among them crew training and ship design. The similarities between Smith on Titanic and Schettino are striking-- they both froze largely because they didn't know what to do. If they had had crew training using emergency and hazard checklists they likely would not have frozen -- they wouldn't have needed to know how to respond because the checklists provide a uniform , practiced response to most emergency situations. That is what is meant when someone states that "your training kicks in" -- you don't need to know the details of your response--all you need to know is how to execute the checklist, and that is why the military and airlines use them frequently for crew training in simulators. Also, because of your periodic training, you have executed the checklist(s) many time, so the checklist actions are routine and familiar. So having the passengers muster before sailing is only one small part of a response to an emergency. Crew training is the other, larger, part. Unfortunately the maritime industry, unlike the airlines and military, do not require such training.

 

NOVA also partially debunked the earlier Discovery program as far as ship design. The Discovery program experts stated that the ships were inherently stable because most of the weight is in the bottom of the hull, pulling the center of mass down. But as the NOVA program showed, as the ships are built up, the center of mass also rises resulting in a greater swing when the ship lists in high wind or during a violent manoever. This could result in the ship heeling over and capsizing more rapidly. The NOVA program also questioned whether the ships were inherently unstable because of their size, but really didn't document why this is so.

 

I tend to agree with Carolyn Spencer-Brown's editorial in January that Concordia was a systemic failure resulting from breakdowns in many areas.

Can I assume that most freighters will have very limited, if any, vegetarian food to offer to passengers?

I think that it is likely that many freighters would be able to serve many vegetarian acceptable meals, I survived for years on red beans and rice, although there were sometimes pieces of meat in the beans. Many crew members are from India and prefer vegetarian meals, and most of the crew are from the Far East, where meat is not as much of a staple as it is in Europe and the Americas. However I would not expect the cook/steward to cater especially to your preferences, you will have to pick and chose things that you want from the menu.

The following link is a photo of the S.S. Keenora, which made a one week cruise around Lake Winnipeg, which really got me interested in ships. My family made the trip back in 1952 on this ship that was built in 1898. http://www.manitobaphotos.com/Marine/marine001.jpg

NukeTim, here is a link to the latest thread about the Aranui cruise: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=864344&page=6

I made the trip back in July and thought it was wonderful. John

MM DownUnder, thanks for that review. I made a similar cruise about 55 years ago as a youngster on a ship called the North Gaspe that sailed from Quebec. My room mate was a French Priest who did not speak English, but we got along O.K. The new ship looks really nice. Here is a link to their Englsih website: http://www.ctma.ca/traversier-madeleine/index_ang.cfm

DoctorSmudge, Thanks for a wonderful video. It is so much better than my writing. It does take a long time for me to download, and I am watching pieces at one time. It is nice that my wife can see what she missed. I think we will get back there again sometime. It looks like our trip insurance policy may come through for some of the money we lost, but we can never get the time back. Jim in KCmo, I hope you are getting rested after your trip and can let us know the details. Leah and the Doc, I wish we could be there with you, even if we had to stay in the dormitories! I am back on the Ohio River again, but tomorrow I expect to hear that my job is abolished, but that will be no big loss for me.

Hi Jim, Thanks for your update, I had been thinking about you, where you were on a particular day, etc. I hope you can give a detailed report soon. In one sense, being isolated from the outside world can be a plus. In my years of sailing, I found it made my life less stressful. I remember recording some music in 1968 on a tape recorder, and playing it back about ten years later. On the music track came the news broadcast, and it talked about fighting between Israel and Palistenians in Gaza. It was not until news of the Democratic convention in Chicago came on that I realized that it was not a live broadcast! We spend time worrying about problems we can do nothing about, and that is not good for us.

Hi Leah, On the islands it is best to have Pacific Francs. On the ship at reception you can change euros or dollars to francs between 6 and 7 p.m. daily. There is no ATM machine on the ship, but there are ATM machines on some of the islands that issue only francs. The only thing I saw on the trip that accepted euros were the washers and driers in the coin operated laundry aboard the Aranui. The machines were imported from europe. The polynesian coins are so large and heavy they don't work well in coin operated machines. I did not see much of a difference in exchange rates from bank to bank during our trip. When I withdrew from an ATM I just put in my card, entered the pin, and it asked me how many francs I wanted, nothing about exchange rates or fees, and no possibility to chose any currency other than Pacific Francs. ATM's are pleantiful in Papeete, but no so common or as reliable in the Marquesas, and few places accepted credit cards, so keeping a load of francs on hand is advisable on the islands. Credit cards are commonly used in Tahiti and you can pay all your ship accounts with credit cards. Jim, Bon Voyage!

I now have my report of our voyage on the Aranui 3 posted on my web page http://captainmcd.com/id38.html

I am still working on the problem of getting the correct photos in the right place. It looks good in MS Word, but it is hard getting it to look good in html.