Pushka

Thankyou for that. I'm hoping that as Viking offers 13 hour excursions in several ports (Middle East, distant ports to the sights) that their hours will change. Pretty much everyone will be off the ship by 8am and not back until 7pm. If it isn't, maybe off topic, rather than go with the masses all at once trying to get an early breakfast, assuming breakfast venues open early, maybe grab some late night pastries and hot water to make our own in the morning? Any other suggestions? Thinking the only other cruises like this is Passage to India (the reverse of our itinerary) and the world cruises.

We have some very early tour starts on our cruise, 6 am on the dock. Would room service be available from say 5.15am (ship tours leaving at this early hour as well) and is it reliable as to time? Likely it would just be cereal fruit and tea

this is indeed what is happening on our next cruise which is Bangkok to Mumbai then Mumbai to Athens. Nothing on the arrival day for current cruise ( 2 night stop). But there is on the day after embarkation. The issue I have with excursions is that those on the combined cruise get their full excursion selection even before the PV on ours.

I could get a travel card with USD loaded but it isn't much different to physical cash. Still need to order it and am a bit wary of e failure of the card when processing. I think they also might add the 3% to the cost thinking it's a card card and it won't be the time to negotiate. 10% of the amount - maybe for the price of 1 but not 10% of both. The Viking one to Petra is super expensive. Valleys of the Queens sold out almost before lower suites got the chance, so on principle I'm not doing the other Viking offerings but a local provider. Same in Israel, Cairo and Aqaba. Myabe I should have called it Guide for Mummies 😂 (in Egypt, not the parent kind)

Thankyou. That's helpful. It's a bit more complicated for Aussies as we have to buy in USD in Australia beforehand so just want to make sure I've ordered enough.

I detest mock! 😂 I only buy Haighs (SA Great) or Lindt chocolate. I used to buy whittakers. Not anymore.

Yes. We buy these in Moonta SA, a Cornish settlement for the mines. Still have the curly pasty on top for the handle. We live in the area.

Our Passage to India cruise in May requires some currency preparation as most travel agencies require USD so I need to order some in. I've sorted out the tours (going private on many as I can see several selling out on Viking before we get to pick them) so the tours are covered but have no idea a reasonable tip for those really long trips (12 hours) from Safaga (Luxor), Aqaba (Petra) and Port Said (Cairo) all of which is a 7 hour drive. The operators seem to be avoid answering my tipping question 😂. We will have a guide on all tours. So reasonable tip for both driver and guide for two people please?

It is good to hear you were happy with Guided Tours Israel and those particular two tours. We are doing exactly the same in May.

In SA pasties are only savoury and have vegetables not sweet things.

No more Diet Coke in Australia. It's all zero.

The honey might be the issue in NZ. Our latte powders were taken as they had honey particles listed as ingredients. Even though dry. If you were coming to Kangaroo Island in South Australia the same issue applies as KI has a pure colony of Ligurian bees. No honey anything allowed. Need to declare everything like this especially in NZ.

We will have the 5th vaccination before cruise in May which is overseas. We will likely wear masks in Mumbai airport, but that's it. I don't think they make a difference to be honest. Just need to touch something, touch your mask and potential infection. I don't like wearing them. Others can do as they wish.

I guess both are in play.

It will depend on the ingredients. We lost some chai tea packets as they contained honey. Even dried. We have also lost commercially packaged muesli bars. They will inspect the ingredients. Must be declared.

People will simply be able to make their own decisions about masks. I'm sick of seeing them around peoples necks, on tables while eating, being fiddled with, people taking them off to sneeze or cough. At this point I think they are irrelevant.

I just looked up Flo Travel and can't take it as im on anticoagulants. Oh well.

Bali is probably the one port where I've been frisked the most. Had deep luggage searches. God knows what they were looking for. They ripped open presents I'd wrapped for a wedding. They could have xrayed them but nope, rip rip.

It's the passengers who suffered for the hull issue so I have every sympathy for them. The cruise industry halted for almost 3 years from early 2020 in NZ and Australia. So likely issues for starting up again.

There has been major disruptions to Viking Orion in Auckland with passengers coming from the US being turned around mid flight. Some made it through as they'd arrived before the cyclone. Some are not able to get to NZ at all, others are flying into Wellington but losing a lot of ports so they are cancelling. It's a major topic on Viking F pages. Viking are telling people simply to claim on Insurance as flights are out of their control. I'd say the ship will sail only half full. It's been a wicked season for Orion in NZ, they did the cruise to nowhere in January because of the hull issue. An awful year all around for NZ. The flood damage looks dreadful. Still, much of the lower lakes in SA are still flooded due to rains coming down the River Murray. Not a cruise destination though.

I've made some absolute rocks!

Keep it simple. Get a letter from your Doctor. Bring the original scripts. Take the original bottles and keep them in that until use. Don't use the packing trays. Only take enough for your needs on the trip plus a week or so spares.

Yes, understood. Kind of a pointless regulation then.

Isn’t vaccination a requirement on all cruises? It is on some cruise lines.

I remember that rush. Getting Plaquenil was really hard. Shame on Trump and also Palmer who bought up so much as well. Interesting about enovid. I'm also on a blood thinner and the one symptom I guess I did have was a blood nose. I never get blood noses. One day it will all be linked. I'm on 400 mcg which I think is the dose, but now also steroids. We are going to Israel. Hmmm.