Twitchly

That might be one way to convince Viking to start providing them!

That’s a bummer. We found the beds too hard, too, but didn’t know about the toppers at the time. I was looking forward to getting one next time we sail.

On our cruise last fall, there were trivia games and “name that tune” games in the Explorer Lounge. Not heavily attended. On another cruise I attended a class on different ways to tie a scarf. Scintillating stuff. Viking onboard life is pretty quiet overall. We like that about it.

The beds have duvets, no top sheets. (I think this is more typical in Europe, though it’s also what we do in our house.) The duvet cover gets washed with the sheets. I should add this was on our cooler-weather cruises. Haven’t been on a warm-weather Viking cruise, so I don’t know if they differ. As mentioned above, if you want a top sheet, just ask. Ditto for a mattress topper if you find the bed too hard.

Hmm. We see a lot of grass-fed pastured beef in restaurants these days, and that’s also what we buy for home. Is this all that’s available in NZ? No grain-fed feed lots? If so, good for them. I wonder how the price differs. I know we pay more for pastured beef.

Genuine question: do service dogs ever need to be on chairs in public spaces? I get that they might sometimes need to be on chairs at home. But in restaurants or public lounges?

Panoramic downtown Milwaukee?

I think I need to know more about these.

not to worry. I’m not assuming anything. Just pointing out that statistics don’t always tell the whole story.

I believe that is a probiotic made from yeast.

That may not be the reason for the low statistic. It’s possible the ship’s crew is underreporting illness. In the article quoted in the first post in this thread, it says: —— Recent federal studies show that sick employees were behind a majority of food contamination and foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. The CDC found that among outbreaks where a contributing factor was identified, 41% were caused by food contamination from ill or infectious employees. “If a food worker stays on the job while sick and does not wash his or her hands carefully after using the toilet, the food worker can spread germs by touching food,” according to the CDC’s website. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. […] In the cruise line context, many waiters and food handlers, who are paid almost exclusively by tips, are often reluctant to go to the ship infirmary when they are ill. No cruise line, to our knowledge, provides paid sick leave to their crew members. Unfortunately, there’s an incentive to work while sick on a cruise ship in order to be paid. ——

That’s lovely, nicely framed. Well done.

If you’re up for a taxi ride and want to splash out a bit for great food and ambience, we highly recommend Pond. It’s on a pond (thus the name) and we try to get there whenever we’re Chicago. The Museum of Art is excellent. And we loved the architecture boat tours, especially those run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Very knowledgeable volunteer guides.

We cruised with Viking in 2018 and again last fall. No discernible difference in quality. Lovely both times.

That puffin shot is magical.

As others have pointed out, there are multiple layers of actors here. That’s why I much prefer to book our own flights whenever possible. When we’ve booked flights through a third party, it adds a layer of complexity and reduces my control by another factor. The airlines may indeed change schedules, but at least they’re the only player I need to deal with.

Great idea. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082

Same with us on Mars last fall. Admittedly, we don’t have hearing issues. Closed captioning and/or the ability to use wireless headphones would be a good solution. Better than cranking up the volume and annoying the neighbors.

Ideally Viking could provide wireless headphones in the room. That would be a much better solution than turning up the volume further. We found the walls to be on the thin side on our first Viking cruise a few years back; we could hear every word on our neighbor’s TV.

How do they differ?

If you like licorice, Iceland is licorice Mecca. I loved their licorice yogurt (found in grocery stores, which is where we sourced many of our meals due to the eye-watering price of restaurants). Sounds weird, but it’s marvelous! Don’t let anyone talk you into trying the fermented shark. Just don’t.

None on Mars in the fall. We were desolate.

I’m glad you explained that. I thought it meant they rarely posted!

I wondered how that went. Now we know.

I second this. If it’s at all possible, try to fly into Venice a day or two early and stay there. The evening and early morning hours are magical.