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Live from the Viking Neptune World Cruise 2022-23

Mcobean

By Mcobean,
in Viking Ocean

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mbviking2023

mbviking2023

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, flowsue said:

 

 

20 minutes ago, flowsue said:
  On 4/2/2023 at 5:49 PM, Tawa2 said:

We will be on Neptune 23-24 WC & considering a Cochin-Delhi/Taj Mahal-Mumbai excursion. Most interested to hear from anyone on this cruise who did this.Thanks

wc2324 at outlook dot com

 

One of our friends did the Taj from Cochin.  Flew to Delhi, then had three days in Delhi with the trip to Agra in there.  Much less stressful for them, and they seemed to enjoy it.  I don't remember the company they used though.  I can ask if you want.

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Margaretwelker

Margaretwelker

Posted
Posted
On 4/4/2023 at 12:14 AM, spangler said:

To add to Mark's comments the tour was exceptional.  I wish to thank all the previous WCs that recommended Memphis Tours.  They were great to work with and did a excellent job pulling the tour together for the 27 that went on it.  I can share details of organizing the tour for a group if you have interest in doing the same on a future Viking WC.  

Please do share

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Mich3554

Mich3554

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, flowsue said:

We just did an up and back excursion (24 hours) and after doing it would not do it any other way.  We flew out early in the morning, Mumbai to Delhi, drove to Agra, saw the Taj Mahal and Fort Agra, had a delicious buffet lunch and got in a little shopping.  Drove back to Delhi and flew back to Mumbai.  Got back on the ship almost exactly 24 hours after we walked off. It was helpful not having luggage to check or carry.  We understand some in other overnight groups had their luggage delayed.  Hopefully, you will hear from them. Sure we were a little tired for a day, but we had a great day with no issues.

The reason we did not do this was because it did not leave a lot of wiggle room if there was a snafu.  By planning on getting back into Mumbai the day the ship docked, it gave us 3 days to get there before the ship left.  Then we’d be looking at 5 sea days and needing to fly into Jeddah (which I suspect is more difficult than most airports).  It’s important to look at where you’d need to go if all doesn’t go according to plan.

 

Just a word of warning, despite being gone 3 nights/2 days, we had only carry on bags.  I bought spices and wound up needing to check my bag.  A friend also bought spices and since she didn’t have time to go back and check her bag and the spices she bought at the spice market got confiscated.  This is NO WHERE in any of the listed contraband for carry on luggage at any airport.  

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DJVKN

DJVKN

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, flowsue said:

We just did an up and back excursion (24 hours) and after doing it would not do it any other way.  We flew out early in the morning, Mumbai to Delhi, drove to Agra, saw the Taj Mahal and Fort Agra, had a delicious buffet lunch and got in a little shopping.  Drove back to Delhi and flew back to Mumbai.  Got back on the ship almost exactly 24 hours after we walked off. It was helpful not having luggage to check or carry.  We understand some in other overnight groups had their luggage delayed.  Hopefully, you will hear from them. Sure we were a little tired for a day, but we had a great day with no issues.

Did you do this on your own or did you use a tour operator? Can you share who you used?

TIA!

Diana

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NY Nick

NY Nick

Posted
Posted
On 3/31/2023 at 1:19 PM, Heidi13 said:

I'm surprised you weren't aware of these conditions prior to arrival in port, clearly you didn't do much research prior to booking a World Cruise.

 

👍👍

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Heidi13

Heidi13

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, ldpetrillo said:

Another question I have if for those of you that go on the WC every year. Why? The itineraries are identical. Even our original itinerary from the 21/22 WC was the same as this year. What is the point of going to the same places? 

 

I've been to most of the World's ports before, some of them many times. With respect to Sydney, in the past 45 years, I have probably spent about 30 days in Sydney, but still find new places to discover and enjoy visiting old haunts.

 

If I didn't return to the same ports, I would never cruise again.

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Jim Avery

Jim Avery

Posted
Posted

Same as Andy.  We love living on a well crewed ship for 4+ months.  Ports are extras.  And if you didn't see filth, graffiti, and extreme poverty on the around South America part of the WC you were in some form of denial.  Most of what we were taken to see and most of our photos seem to be things built long ago by the Evil Colonials.  And yes, we are on Neptune in January.

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Cathyvee

Cathyvee

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I've been to most of the World's ports before, some of them many times. With respect to Sydney, in the past 45 years, I have probably spent about 30 days in Sydney, but still find new places to discover and enjoy visiting old haunts.

 

If I didn't return to the same ports, I would never cruise again.

I think returning to some amazing places again and again is great. I cannot get enough of certain places. Once you have been to a place once or twice, you really know what you want to do when you go back.

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Heidi13

Heidi13

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Same as Andy.  We love living on a well crewed ship for 4+ months.  Ports are extras.  And if you didn't see filth, graffiti, and extreme poverty on the around South America part of the WC you were in some form of denial.  Most of what we were taken to see and most of our photos seem to be things built long ago by the Evil Colonials.  And yes, we are on Neptune in January.

 

Jim - another benefit is going on a World Cruise for 4-months as a pax, is not having to get up at Midnight or 04:00 every day to go to work.😁

 

Mind you, I do miss the hopped beverages with breakfast, after working the 4-8. When I met Judi on SS Oriana, she just couldn't understand enjoying a few beers at 08:00.

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SantaFe1

SantaFe1

Posted
Posted (edited)

Another big perk is only paying airfare once for the equivalent of 5-6 2-3 week cruises.  If you are flying business air, that is a lot of money!!  And I agree, there is always something new to see in past ports, and always new delights!

Edited by SantaFe1
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Mich3554

Mich3554

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, mbviking2023 said:

 

 

One of our friends did the Taj from Cochin.  Flew to Delhi, then had three days in Delhi with the trip to Agra in there.  Much less stressful for them, and they seemed to enjoy it.  I don't remember the company they used though.  I can ask if you want.

We didn’t use a company.  We booked flights and hotels ourselves, and scheduled tours and car pick ups through Viator.  It worked well this way, it was a bit more work, but about half the cost from a tour company.  I think our 3 nights/2 days, including business class flights ran us about $1600 total for the 2 of us.

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Mich3554

Mich3554

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I've been to most of the World's ports before, some of them many times. With respect to Sydney, in the past 45 years, I have probably spent about 30 days in Sydney, but still find new places to discover and enjoy visiting old haunts.

 

If I didn't return to the same ports, I would never cruise again.

I know we have only scratched the surface of what there is to see and do here in many ports.  When we did the South America cruise in 2019, then again in 2021 we never overlapped anything there in what we saw.  The time we spend in port never is long enough.  
There are some places where I’d like to go back to, but not next year.  There are other places and things we want to do, but are looking at doing this again in maybe 2025-26.  

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mstadleraz

mstadleraz

Posted
Posted
Just now, Mich3554 said:

We didn’t use a company.  We booked flights and hotels ourselves, and scheduled tours and car pick ups through Viator.  It worked well this way, it was a bit more work, but about half the cost from a tour company.  I think our 3 nights/2 days, including business class flights ran us about $1600 total for the 2 of us.

It is a matter of perspective and understanding a country. For us, being new to India, we preferred a tour company. For an overnight and economy for 2 was about $800 through Memphis Tours. This included all transportation, hotel and breakfast. Viking provided a boxed lunch for the trip to Dehli; however, the meal on the airplane was fairly good if you like spicy food.

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Mich3554

Mich3554

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, mstadleraz said:

It is a matter of perspective and understanding a country. For us, being new to India, we preferred a tour company. For an overnight and economy for 2 was about $800 through Memphis Tours. This included all transportation, hotel and breakfast. Viking provided a boxed lunch for the trip to Dehli; however, the meal on the airplane was fairly good if you like spicy food.

I had never been to India either, but we did something very similar in Turkey several years ago, again on our own.  Someone else set this up and let us piggyback on his, which only took over my need to choose a flight or hotel.  

 

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Heidi13

Heidi13

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Pushka said:

I read that Viking Neptune is still implementing Piracy protection, even though the official warnings have been removed. Guess we will be seeing it soon on Mars in May. I think that's wise. 

 

I am happy to see that nobody on Cruise Critic is posting photos and describing any additional protection measures. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the site that can't be named. I guess some pax really don't care about their safety, as they find it necessary to provide photographic evidence of protection measures, to those interested in doing them harm.

 

Those posts also provide advance warning that a cruise ship is coming through the area.

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