The Virtual Explorers' Lounge

[TayanaLorna]

On 1/27/2023 at 8:06 PM, farmecologist said:

 

Minnesotan here too ( Rochester ).   Winter is getting old fast!  We do have an NCL cruise coming up in a couple weeks...and a Viking river cruise this summer.  But this depths of winter stuff...no thanks!

 

BTW - We are considering a Viking transatlantic ocean cruise at some point.  Viking ocean seems like our kind of crowd. 👍

  

I really hope you have a better cruise then my girlfriend.  Loud, obnoxious, full of drunks day and night, crowded, awful food are words I would never use for Viking.  However, my girlfriend who recently returned from a NCL cruise, used those words exactly to describe their recent cruise on the Norwegian Epic from San Juan to the ABC's and back.  She also became very sick with Covid on disembarkation day despite being fully vaccinated with all boosters and masking other then when eating or drinking.

[farmecologist]

42 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

I really hope you have a better cruise then my girlfriend.  Loud, obnoxious, full of drunks day and night, crowded, awful food are words I would never use for Viking.  However, my girlfriend who recently returned from a NCL cruise, used those words exactly to describe their recent cruise on the Norwegian Epic from San Juan to the ABC's and back.  She also became very sick with Covid on disembarkation day despite being fully vaccinated with all boosters and masking other then when eating or drinking.

 

Oh lovely...not going to be good if that happens!  We have been on NCL before a couple times and liked it...but that was pre-pandemic.   Unfortunately, we booked this before looking into Viking ocean.  We do have our first Viking river cruise booked for this summer....which prompted a deeper look into Viking ocean.   We are seriously thinking about doing an atlantic crossing on Viking sometime in 2024.

 

I have heard a lot of good and bad things about NCL lately...and all cruise lines for that matter.  It usually comes down to expectations.  We will see what happens.  Viking is in the top tier though...I'm not expecting a Viking experience on NCL, that's for sure!  👍 

 

With that said...I am a bit worried about covid still.   I just don't get why pretty much the entire world isn't...haha.  But that is a talk for another time.

 

[TayanaLorna]

3 hours ago, farmecologist said:

 

Oh lovely...not going to be good if that happens!  We have been on NCL before a couple times and liked it...but that was pre-pandemic.   Unfortunately, we booked this before looking into Viking ocean.  We do have our first Viking river cruise booked for this summer....which prompted a deeper look into Viking ocean.   We are seriously thinking about doing an atlantic crossing on Viking sometime in 2024.

 

I have heard a lot of good and bad things about NCL lately...and all cruise lines for that matter.  It usually comes down to expectations.  We will see what happens.  Viking is in the top tier though...I'm not expecting a Viking experience on NCL, that's for sure!  👍 

 

With that said...I am a bit worried about covid still.   I just don't get why pretty much the entire world isn't...haha.  But that is a talk for another time.

 

Part of the issue on that particular NCL sailing could have been it was all inclusive for drinks and food.  There weren't many children on board so free drinks all day for 4,000+ adults contributed to the loud, drunk party atmosphere.  I have nothing against partying, but with 4000 people?

[OneSixtyToOne]

Took this picture in the actual Explorer’s Lounge a few days ago. It’s a rare view of  a snow covered Mt. Vesuvius.

[millybess]

We were watching Viking TV the other day and something we didn’t know is that Torstein Hagen and Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, the former owner and Chairperson of Silversea, are close friends. He helped design Manfredis restaurant and that is who it is named after. An interesting tidbit. 🙂

[Clay Clayton]

28 minutes ago, millybess said:

We were watching Viking TV the other day and something we didn’t know is that Torstein Hagen and Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, the former owner and Chairperson of Silversea, are close friends. He helped design Manfredis restaurant and that is who it is named after. An interesting tidbit. 🙂

If I’m not mistaken, prior to Silversea’s going under, there was a Dining facility named Tor’s onboard one (or more?) of their ships. 

[Jjg34219]

Silversea still viable isnt it?

[Heidi13]

57 minutes ago, Jjg34219 said:

Silversea still viable isnt it?

 

Affirmative, owned by RCI

[bookbabe]

23 hours ago, farmecologist said:

 

Oh lovely...not going to be good if that happens!  We have been on NCL before a couple times and liked it...but that was pre-pandemic.   Unfortunately, we booked this before looking into Viking ocean.  We do have our first Viking river cruise booked for this summer....which prompted a deeper look into Viking ocean.   We are seriously thinking about doing an atlantic crossing on Viking sometime in 2024.

 

I have heard a lot of good and bad things about NCL lately...and all cruise lines for that matter.  It usually comes down to expectations.  We will see what happens.  Viking is in the top tier though...I'm not expecting a Viking experience on NCL, that's for sure!  👍 

 

With that said...I am a bit worried about covid still.   I just don't get why pretty much the entire world isn't...haha.  But that is a talk for another time.

 

Off-topic for this forum, other than the comparison factors, but…

 

We have done a ton of NCL cruises, including four since the shutdown and we’ve got PoA booked for November.  We haven’t had the experience the PP mentioned, and one of our four cruises was even a rock music charter and one was a weekend cruise to Bahamas and back.  Did we see the odd person who had overused their beverage package?  Sure, but it was by no means drunks everywhere.  Was the food as good as pre-shutdown?  No, but nothing is the same, that’s a fact of life.  We had mostly great service and good but not great food.  They weren’t the horror stories that seem to be floating around online, that’s for sure.  Go in with reasonable expectations and you’ll be fine.

 

Our upcoming first Viking cruise (in a couple of weeks) is the one we are worried about.  If I take all of the attitudes and info that’s posted as gospel, I’m going to be stuck on a cruise ship full of judgmental cruisers criticizing my wardrobe choices and complaining about their dining times.  Hopefully that isn’t the case, but it illustrates that you have to take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt…things are rarely as bad (or as good) as the internet makes them out to be.

[Clay Clayton]

19 hours ago, Jjg34219 said:

Silversea still viable isnt it?

My bad. Sorry. It was Crystal I was thinking about. But am I correct than Manfredi sold Silversea to RC and is now part of the group that is restarting Crystal?  
 

There is a fine example of how having too much information in my mind can discombobulate it all!😂

[UWDawg]

6 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

There is a fine example of how having too much information in my mind can discombobulate it all!😂

[CharTrav]

On a completely different topic but one that is dear to my heart and I think others --- internet speeds onboard VO ships (can't speak reliably for VR or VE ships).

Am thrilled  to report that on the Orion (where I am now) we are getting......hold your hat and be still your beating heart....download speeds over 200 Mbps in the World Cafe and in the 60s in our cabin on the 7th deck. Decided to run a speed test today using the Ookla app. Apparently Viking is taking advantage of the SpaceX satellite system to connect to the nearest land based internet provider - in our case Sydney - that we won't reach until noon tomorrow. I am impressed! Also - we are no longer limited to 2 connected devices at a time. We have 4 devices connected right now. For you techno geeks (am proud to include myself) I think this is great news. 

 

Don't ask why I waited until now (14 days in) to run this speed test. 🙄

Edited January 31, 2023 by CharTrav

[CharTrav]

7 hours ago, UWDawg said:

Reminds me of a teacher I had in 7th grade who gave a little talk on the difference between a pupil and a student.   Was an artist too - drew a picture of a kid with a hole in their forehead to drive home the point that a pupil is simply a hole. And we shouldn't be one. 😁

[Iloveketo]

On 1/30/2023 at 9:24 AM, bookbabe said:

Off-topic for this forum, other than the comparison factors, but…

 

We have done a ton of NCL cruises, including four since the shutdown and we’ve got PoA booked for November.  We haven’t had the experience the PP mentioned, and one of our four cruises was even a rock music charter and one was a weekend cruise to Bahamas and back.  Did we see the odd person who had overused their beverage package?  Sure, but it was by no means drunks everywhere.  Was the food as good as pre-shutdown?  No, but nothing is the same, that’s a fact of life.  We had mostly great service and good but not great food.  They weren’t the horror stories that seem to be floating around online, that’s for sure.  Go in with reasonable expectations and you’ll be fine.

 

Our upcoming first Viking cruise (in a couple of weeks) is the one we are worried about.  If I take all of the attitudes and info that’s posted as gospel, I’m going to be stuck on a cruise ship full of judgmental cruisers criticizing my wardrobe choices and complaining about their dining times.  Hopefully that isn’t the case, but it illustrates that you have to take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt…things are rarely as bad (or as good) as the internet makes them out to be.

Our first cruise with any cruise line was in January of 2020. I had the same concerns about judgmental people due to comments on FB Viking groups, especially concerning dress codes. I quit those groups. People, for the most part, feel free to be nastier online than in person. 

Before our next cruise in December of 2021 I rejoined those FB Viking groups only to discover them complaining about people like myself who prefer to travel with carry on only. So I have quit those FB groups again and only do Cruise Critics!

BTW We have done 5 Viking cruises and have met many very nice people!

[Tom.in.nc]

10 hours ago, CharTrav said:

On a completely different topic but one that is dear to my heart and I think others --- internet speeds onboard VO ships (can't speak reliably for VR or VE ships).

Am thrilled  to report that on the Orion (where I am now) we are getting......hold your hat and be still your beating heart....download speeds over 200 Mbps in the World Cafe and in the 60s in our cabin on the 7th deck.

I can report the same on the Venus as we crossed from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale.  There was just a day or so when we fell back to the old satellite (Spain ISP) when we were too far out of range for Elon to see us.

 

Tom

This was in my cabin!

Edited January 31, 2023 by Tom.in.nc
Added screenshot.

[Heidi13]

On 1/30/2023 at 11:25 AM, Clay Clayton said:

My bad. Sorry. It was Crystal I was thinking about. But am I correct than Manfredi sold Silversea to RC and is now part of the group that is restarting Crystal?  
 

There is a fine example of how having too much information in my mind can discombobulate it all!😂

 

Clay,

 

I believe you are correct, as I recall reading that the Crystal assets were purchased by A&K Travel Group, with a Manfredi company being part owner.

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay,

 

I believe you are correct, as I recall reading that the Crystal assets were purchased by A&K Travel Group, with a Manfredi company being part owner.

Here is an article that I saw this evening, about how they are enlarging the staterooms/reducing capacity on two ships.  Not a cheap proposition I would suspect. 
https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/new-crystal-cruises-launch-bigger-rooms-familiar-faces?NL=ST-002&Issue=ST-002_20230131_ST-002_229&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_campaign=STRADE_News_Seatrade Cruise News Breaking Headlines_News_NL_01312023_4160&utm_emailname=STRADE_News_Seatrade Cruise News Breaking Headlines_News_NL_01312023_4160&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_MDMContactID=db60c4e4-0afe-4832-ad88-83806cef368f&utm_campaigntype=Newsletter&eM=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d&eventSeriesCode=ES_SEATRDCRSCTNT&eventEditionCode=MTM00SCC&sessionCode=S_STRDCRSNWSBRK&sp_eh=fe6114d63ee1af637c116a68ad60731963dbb02f790981a727f86217fc60c39d

[CharTrav]

Question for @Heidi13, @chengkp75 regarding Jones act and Cabotage rules. Am looking at doing a back to back that starts in New York ends in Toronto and then continues from Toronto ending in Milwaukee. Is this permitted? Legal? I'm really just interested in the St Lawrence piece but hubby would like to extend thru thru to Milwaukee. I'm afraid it's not legally doable. Thanks in advance!

[Heidi13]

2 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Question for @Heidi13, @chengkp75 regarding Jones act and Cabotage rules. Am looking at doing a back to back that starts in New York ends in Toronto and then continues from Toronto ending in Milwaukee. Is this permitted? Legal? I'm really just interested in the St Lawrence piece but hubby would like to extend thru thru to Milwaukee. I'm afraid it's not legally doable. Thanks in advance!

 

Hi Char,

 

The US PVSA only considers your ports of embarkation and disembarkation, they do not take into consideration if you booked multiple cruises.

 

Boarding in New York and disembarking in Milwaukee will require a stop at a distant foreign port, which unfortunately is not possible. Therefore, this is in contravention of the PVSA.

 

If you continue from Milwaukee and disembark at a Canadian port, it would be legal.

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Hi Char,

 

The US PVSA only considers your ports of embarkation and disembarkation, they do not take into consideration if you booked multiple cruises.

 

Boarding in New York and disembarking in Milwaukee will require a stop at a distant foreign port, which unfortunately is not possible. Therefore, this is in contravention of the PVSA.

 

If you continue from Milwaukee and disembark at a Canadian port, it would be legal.

I know this exists in the USA but why does it? 

[CharTrav]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Hi Char,

 

The US PVSA only considers your ports of embarkation and disembarkation, they do not take into consideration if you booked multiple cruises.

 

Boarding in New York and disembarking in Milwaukee will require a stop at a distant foreign port, which unfortunately is not possible. Therefore, this is in contravention of the PVSA.

 

If you continue from Milwaukee and disembark at a Canadian port, it would be legal.

OK. Toronto in the middle doesn't count because I haven't formally disembarked. If say...ha ha.. I sailed from New York to Toronto - actually left the ship - and boarded again even a day later - and sailed to Milwaukee that would be OK. But of course - that's impossible. So...ç'est la vie. Thanks for the quick response. I'd be happy with a 2 wk cruise  mostly in the same time zone too! Think PEI etc are on the Atlantic time zone. Just an hour difference. Easy peasy. Nothing compared to the time zone shift we went thru last month returning from a wonderful Australia/New Zealand cruise followed by the Best of Australia extension. 

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

I know this exists in the USA but why does it? 

 

The US is discussed frequently, but most coastal nations have some type of Cabotage Laws. In Canada we have the Coasting Trade Act, which in some cases is more restrictive than the US.

 

I haven't studied Australian Laws, but I suspect you have a similar law, as foreign flagged ships when cruising around Australia all stop in Bali, or another foreign port.

[Pushka]

9 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The US is discussed frequently, but most coastal nations have some type of Cabotage Laws. In Canada we have the Coasting Trade Act, which in some cases is more restrictive than the US.

 

I haven't studied Australian Laws, but I suspect you have a similar law, as foreign flagged ships when cruising around Australia all stop in Bali, or another foreign port.

I don't think it's the same. There's sometimes a stop in Bali or similar so that goods purchased (alcohol etc) are duty free. But the majority of cruises are internal to Australia. So Aus port to Aus port only. 

[CharTrav]

29 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The US is discussed frequently, but most coastal nations have some type of Cabotage Laws. In Canada we have the Coasting Trade Act, which in some cases is more restrictive than the US.

 

I haven't studied Australian Laws, but I suspect you have a similar law, as foreign flagged ships when cruising around Australia all stop in Bali, or another foreign port.

Ah ha!!!! That explains why the new circum-Australia cruise in 2025 starting and ending in Sydney does what I have thought is an odd jog up to Bali. Makes sense now. 

 

Also why the Viking Mississippi that travels within the US had to be built in the US and owned by a US based  company that leases it Viking. Similar to what we see in Egypt, Vietnam etc. 

Edited March 5, 2023 by CharTrav

[Pushka]

30 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Ah ha!!!! That explains why the new circum-Australia cruise in 2025 starting and ending in Sydney does what I have thought is an odd jog up to Bali. Makes sense now. 

 

Also why the Viking Mississippi that travels within the US had to be built in the US and owned by a US based  company that leases it Viking. Similar to what we see in Egypt, Vietnam etc. 

They go to Bali so it can be declared Duty Free. Most Australian cruises don't touch international soil.