JDincalif

Among the cruise lines we've experienced, Regent is closest to the Viking experience, offering a high quality experience without unnecessary stuffiness. We also enjoyed the Azamara experience which to be fair was also enhanced by the "halo effect" of two consecutive sunny warm weeks in the Norwegian fjords.

Thanks for this information - it'll be useful to us as we plan for our Great Lakes cruise on Octantis next May. Have to confess though that the 'World Cafe' wasn't the first thing to come to mind when we saw 'WC' 🤭

Didn't realize that this was a rhetorical question.🤭 We were on an Auckland-Sydney voyage (not with Viking) early this year where more than half the port stops were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, the sort of thing that's listed in the contract as ineligible for any compensation. Looks like Viking has offered you some voucher compensation for the missed ports? Not as gratifying as getting to all of the ports or a cash refund but more than many lines would offer.

Significant issues are hard to predict 😊. Without going into specifics we've found in similar circumstances that, working together with Viking and our TA, vouchers have been issued or reissued and honored without question. Refunds in any form apart from vouchers are rare. So we reapply our vouchers to new adventures (rather than risk losing them entirely). We've sometimes not had precisely the voyages we'd planned but found ways to enjoy the voyages that we got

Hi, OTJ! We're going on the Octantis from Milwaukee to Toronto next May, so we can give you an update then if you like!

We have Leki poles that have been priceless during icy winter excursions. We pack them in checked luggage.

Even with packing most things early, we're always adding something right up to the 'bags outside the door' deadline. So we don't mind packing one last reasonably nice outfit apiece on the last evening (not talking prom dresses or dinner jackets here). But that's just us 😉

We've noticed lately that some cruise ships and hotels are referring to those inroom devices as "chillers", not refrigerators. Probably a good reason to make arrangements with the medical center for cold storage.

We do enjoy dining on the final evening in whatever on that specific cruise happens to be our favorite specialty restaurant. There's something satisfying in packing for departure early, dressing up a little bit and saying farewell in a more intimate dining setting.

Having seen quite a few people in bathrobes on deck for an Azamara "White Nights" party, we wouldn't be taken aback by anyone heading to the hot tubs wearing bathrobes over their swimwear. Others may have a different attitude😉

Master and Commander and...pool attendant?

And here it is! 😁

The moral of this story might be that if no one on the ship can provide a definitive answer, it probably won't be found in a general discussion board...

Any response from chengkp75 is reasoned and informed by decades of maritime expertise, not mere speculation. His response may not be specific to this Sirena situation but will be true for other vessels.

We recall that you introduced the "Swiss cheese model" to all of us in the weeks after the incident. You and chengkp75 were at that time, and remain, reliable voices of expertise, calm and sanity. Team JD thanks you both!

Humans and the systems they create will always be error-prone and potentially fallible. It's the specifics of the failure, determined after study, and what can be done to prevent it going forward that we'll be looking for.

That point was accurate

Happy hour from "incarceration", May 2022. Requested only a martini but, as usual, Viking service went above and beyond

We happily returned to Viking in 2022 with many of our fellow 'survivors' and have two more Viking cruises (so far) in our future as well.

Clarification: In 2022 Viking did *not* require passengers to remain in cabin until test results were available.

Clarification needed here: Last year on Viking everyone submitted saliva tests each morning but were otherwise free to wander the ship and go ashore without limitation (except for precautions required by a specific port or tour operator). These test results were normally not available until early afternoon. At that time only if a test came back inconclusive or positive was a passenger requested to remain in cabin for confirmatory retesting. In our experience no passenger was dispatched to isolation based on a single positive test result.

We subscribe to NSIA update emails, and we know that some of you do as well. For those who don't, we just wanted to let you know that the Viking Sky investigation remains open and ongoing, along with a small number of other significant incidents. Hoping that all our fellow 'survivors' are thriving these days.

Per the CrewCenter website: "Our source said that the crew member fell when securing the gangway from deck 2 and hit the pier side."

The Gardens are lighted on some summer evenings with live music on certain dates. Photographs show some appealing scenery.

https://www.adn.com/opinions/2023/08/18/opinion-i-decided-to-give-an-alaska-cruise-a-try-then-i-got-fined/