Breckski

We're on-board now as well and have been very satisfied with the ship. I think one has to compare the Venture to other expedition ships, and I think the Venture delivers as much luxury as any, exclusive of a private expedition yacht.

When did you travel through EZE and experience such delays? We've traveled in and out of EZE a handful of times and never had serious issues other than a cancelled flight with irrelevant to the arrival time discussion. But our travels were primarily 10 years ago - sounds like things may have changed.

I don't think we were as turned off to Viking as you, but we wouldn't be considering another Viking cruise at this stage in our lives except for the vouchers. Our parents live in SC and there's a rather large tour company called Christian Tours. Both sets of parents toured with them once a year for years, and they said they would never tour with another company which reminded us of most of the Viking passengers. Very content & pleased with the predictable product Viking offers. We understand that we are much more active than most people regardless of age, so the tame excursions were expected. But everyone has their own definition of tame. @millybess mentions a night, jungle safari which some would consider adventurous, and others tame. And there's broader differences in levels if hiking. But that's not my real concern as we'll do our own thing if we take the West Indies cruise. We're mainly just hoping for a different overall atmosphere. There are no sea days on this cruise, so I the atmosphere may not really matter that much.

Sorry if I was confusing, but the cruise wasn't cancelled. We received a voucher for an unexpected, missed port mid-cruise.

We're on the same return flight as @sfvoyage. We didn't book the flight through Seabourn but had updated our flight information on their website. Our flight home leaves at 21:30 so I'm assuming they assigned us to the later flight based on that information.

Completely disagree. Sea days have fuel expenses that port days don’t. There would be more cruise offerings with a large amount of sea days if there was demand. And I feel certain cruise line pricing models rely heavily on what the market will bear vs cost-plus.

Can't argue with deec on the activities available. But even so we do not enjoy sea days. Don't hate them, but don't enjoy. Everyone is different. We book cruises with as few sea days as possible. Many other places in the world I'd rather spend a day than on a Viking Cruise ship. There's a reason the cruises with a ton of sea days are cheaper per day & I think it's about demand. But you'll enjoy the cruises. You'll see if you are one who loves sea days or one who doesn't.

We'd be considered adventurous travelers by most, but we're not taking on this risk. You state a very valid reason not to visit Rome on the day the ship departs (with private transportation) - an overnight port would be a bit different. Just so many things that could go wrong. Big, crowded tourist city with poor transportation infrastructure an hour and a half from your ship. And like @mexicobob stated, if visiting Rome a day trip from Civitavecchia simply isn't worth it to me.

We've never been to Cartegena but can discuss Colombian safety in general having spent about 20 days in Colombia on a motorcycle. From Medellin south to Ecuador with a lot of the time on remote, mountainous dirt roads. This area included many areas where the cartels used to operate. We never had a concern for safety. We didn't get drunk at bars late at night or travel down roads that were clearly sketchy. Who knows, maybe we were just lucky. We talked to several locals who led us to believe crimes against Americans were punished more severely than crimes against Colombians which I thought was sad. Just one person's opinion on safety in Colombia. But I would have zero concerns about another trip there. We truly loved our time there.

That's exactly why we went with 13 - call it whatever you like - better odds, insurance, pleasure....

As you know, you're looking at $52,500 in advance.

We took this cruise while still living in NC so our cold tolerance then was probably similar to yours. We packed way too much. I'd recommend whatever you'd take when skiing. Base layer, insulating layer and shell. Simple as that.

1 out of 3 days are at sea. That ratio would rule us out. Just too many other places I'd rather be than at sea. Everyone is different though.

Like sitting on a cold, frozen chairlift?

If anyone is concerned over video surveillance in China, do not visit Laos. When visiting there about 15 years ago, an armed (handgun only) member of the military followed us the entire trip. Stayed overnight where we did, ate where we did... We had a small group of motorcyclists, and the Laotian followed in a truck. No issues whatsoever, but I imagine if we did something unwanted, he would have intervened. We've only visited China twice, but safety (be it our person, items or digital tracking on devices) was never a concern. I would never tell folks to avoid China due to any safety concerns. Now if they have issues with how the country is ran (human rights, geopolitical, etc.)???

I understand but you originally said from inexpensive up to $200. I'm talking about the inexpensive ones that are like the workers pants. They meet the restaurant requirements on most lines but are never criticized. I know there are nicer khakis, but that's not what I'm talking about. I've seen many people wearing painter's pants or very similar on cruises and never see people complain about them on this forum, but constant criticism of jean. I'm simply pointing out what I view as hypocrisy. Or my favorite hiking pants the zip off legs - but they are not made of denim.

This is exactly my issue when I hear people complain about jeans. It seems many will criticize jeans while seemingly being fine with a pair of khaki painter's pants (work pants) because the material isn't denim.

repetitive comment deleted.

We're going to Antarctica in December, so my comment isn't based on experience. We plan on taking our normal ski wear with the exception of leaving our shell jackets and puffers at home. The temps in Antarctica are warmer than what we normally ski in so whatever we normally wear as bottoms (waterproof, shell pants) should be fine. If you don't ski in a windy area, I imagine the wind on the RIB's may create a need for additional layering. As for sizing, we wear Arc'teryx gear (in case that's what you have) and there's a HH store in town. We tried on the HH stuff before submitting our order request. The HH sizing was the same as our current gear. HH isn't sized for tall, skinny folks like some European brands, especially Norrona.

Exactly, but more likely to occur in an ES due to the size of the decks. In a regular cabin one couldn't move the furniture as much as we heard. I think they were routinely moving the table and chairs around for the best view. Just dragging them from one side of the deck to the other.

We haven't stayed in an ES on deck 6 but have on decks 4 and 5. We've never had an issue with noise from above until our most recent cruise in June to Norway, Svalbard & Iceland. On this cruise the couple in the cabin above us moved chairs and/or loungers around a lot. The screech from the sliding of the chairs was pretty loud even inside our cabin. Unless there's better sound deadening between floors 6 & 7 since deck 7 has more movement/flow, I'd say you have a risk of folks congregating on the terrace above and moving furniture around. Would likely be dependent on the scenery. In our case it was much worse while cruising the fjords. It seems the couple above were really excited at the views (we could also hear a lot of their conversations, likely hearing impaired) and simply moving stuff around a lot. The noise certainly lessoned the enjoyment of our deck on this cruise. We normally spend a ton of time on our deck (breakfast, lunch, sunsets and the rare dinner) when in an ES. But not as much on this cruise.

We enjoyed the night stroll. It was slow paced, but there were many sights to keep us amused. And everyone in our "tour" had a beverage or two - a good time by all. We're from a climate that is very much opposite of San Juan - cold/dry vs hot/humid. It's been so humid the couple times we've been to San Juan that we pass on day excursions. Given your location, I'm guessing don't enjoy hot & humid either.

I can't give any info on WS's excursion but have been to both places during a solo overland trip. Unless you've already seen the Hassan II Mosque, I wouldn't do the Marrakech trip. The mosque is very unique and nothing like typical religious sites. In addition, it's a long drive to Marrakech, and one really needs to see Marrakech at night to get the true experience - see the market lite up at night & the atmosphere at night.

My thoughts exactly. Dockers, hiking pants with zip off legs, chinos, etc... But designer jeans are the wardrobe of the Devil to many.

Gotcha. You can buy a global, annual insurance & evacuation policy for very cheap. That'll cover items 1-3. For item 4, I'll certainly do me. I simply responded so folks don't think one example is a reason for them to buy trip insurance. I firmly believe in only insuring something that is significant to one's finances. And I firmly believe a vacation should never be significant to one's finances. But a lot of people buy these policies. Like I originally said, two sides to every trade.