Suggestions for New Itineraries

[Cienfuegos]

Viking Ocean has a 2024 trip which looks quite interesting. Barcelona - Marseille - Rome (standard so far) Sicily - Malta - Tunis - Algiers - Casablanca (IIRC) - Malaga - Barcelona.

 

Given the issues in north Africa, I would be surprised if the three stops are actually made.The US State Department Travel advisories are not encouraging.

[OneSixtyToOne]

5 minutes ago, Cienfuegos said:

Viking Ocean has a 2024 trip which looks quite interesting. Barcelona - Marseille - Rome (standard so far) Sicily - Malta - Tunis - Algiers - Casablanca (IIRC) - Malaga - Barcelona.

 

Given the issues in north Africa, I would be surprised if the three stops are actually made.The US State Department Travel advisories are not encouraging.

Viking had a similar sailing six(?) years ago and canceled it because of the unrest in the region.

[Jim Avery]

I'm with you.  Even when they stopped at Algeria and Tunis everything was very, very controlled and limited.  Don't know about Casablanca but I bet it's changed a bit since Rick's Cafe Americain. 🥃

[lackcreativity]

I was initially very excited about this new itinerary, especially with the overnight in Malta. At first, I was willing to gamble on Tunis and Algiers, even with their history of cancellations. My current reservation is based on the possibility/likelihood that those two ports might be canceled and replaced with two more sea days. Now I enjoy a sea day here and there, but that would create a quite expensive sixteen day cruise with six sea days. I realize that is a lot of "ifs" in that outcome, but it still gives me pause.

[JerryInIL]

One way to Hawaii.

[LisaDee]

We would love port stops in Maine (Portland, Bar Harbor) on the NYC-Montreal route instead of 2 days each in NYC and Boston.

[island lady]

38 minutes ago, LisaDee said:

We would love port stops in Maine (Portland, Bar Harbor) on the NYC-Montreal route instead of 2 days each in NYC and Boston.

 

Problem is Portland and Bar Harbor (especially) have very limited allowance for cruise ship visits.  Many Bar Harbor residents would rather see the cruise ships go away.  The little town is already flooded with too many summer visitors as it is.  We spend the summer up here, and will check ship visit schedules to be sure we don't visit Bar Harbor on a cruise ship day.  It's really nuts there with one tendered at port.   

[gincolo]

We recently returned from a very nice Mediterranean islands cruise that included Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Menorca, and Mallorca. Those stops are much more appealing to us than some ports in Northern Africa that might be likely to be cancelled.

[kcpvwill]

Gincolo, your ideas sound great.  Just what we would like, the more islands the better!  

[Escaper]

Circumnavigation of Ireland, with some extra stops at Isle of Skye, etc., would be a booking for us.

 

Love the idea of the some of the less-travelled areas in the Med, but NO to North Africa for us, wife would never even consider getting off the ship.

 

Hawaii to Australia would be lovely, too.

[harbourside]

On 6/30/2023 at 7:58 AM, Escaper said:

C

 

 

Hawaii to Australia would be lovely, too.

Would love to do Hawaii to Australia or New Zealand.  May happen.  Always asked why they did not do a Circle Australia tour, and now in 2025 they will do one.  Already booked.  

[island lady]

13 hours ago, harbourside said:

Would love to do Hawaii to Australia or New Zealand.  May happen.  Always asked why they did not do a Circle Australia tour, and now in 2025 they will do one.  Already booked.  

 

Me too.  "Sea" you on board in January?  🙂   Then we transfer over to Orion the next day after we end and disembark in Sydney to board the NZ route.  

[longterm]

I'd love to see a cruise through the Polynesian islands.

[OneSixtyToOne]

30 minutes ago, longterm said:

I'd love to see a cruise through the Polynesian islands.

 

Grand Hawaii & Polynesia

[longterm]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

Grand Hawaii & Polynesia

Hadn't seen that one--a lot of sea days but a nice route. We'll have to look at it. I'm not too crazy about 18 sea days though.

Edited July 1, 2023 by longterm

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, longterm said:

I'd love to see a cruise through the Polynesian islands.

 

1 hour ago, longterm said:

I'd love to see a cruise through the Polynesian islands.

A really good way to see the most of Polynesia is on the Paul Gauguin.  That's all they do.  Smaller ship with great service and lots of locally sourced food.  The only thing we did not like was the long flights on Air Tahiti Nui.  Bad service and very cramped.  If we were to do it again we would fly Hawaiian to Honolulu and maybe spend a night or two there then fly on to Papeete.  Avoids all the many sea days.  On the Inaugural WC on Viking we had 8 sea days between LA and Tahiti.  But then if you go on a WC you better like sea days....😎🍹

[longterm]

4 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

 

A really good way to see the most of Polynesia is on the Paul Gauguin.  That's all they do.  Smaller ship with great service and lots of locally sourced food.  The only thing we did not like was the long flights on Air Tahiti Nui.  Bad service and very cramped.  If we were to do it again we would fly Hawaiian to Honolulu and maybe spend a night or two there then fly on to Papeete.  Avoids all the many sea days.  On the Inaugural WC on Viking we had 8 sea days between LA and Tahiti.  But then if you go on a WC you better like sea days....😎🍹

I looked at it yesterday; it looks really nice, but I'm not excited about 23-25 hours flying each way. 

 

Many of the beaches in the Caribbean are really beautiful; it's hard to justify the expense and travel time to the Pacific, when we can get to Cancun in about 3 hours from Dallas; we go every winter and like it a lot. I'd love to see the Polynesian islands, but so far we've resisted the extreme flights--although we're going back to Africa in 2025, and it takes a good while to get there (3-4 hours to Washington, then 16 to Johannesburg).

Edited July 1, 2023 by longterm

[SJD117]

3 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

 

A really good way to see the most of Polynesia is on the Paul Gauguin.  That's all they do.  Smaller ship with great service and lots of locally sourced food.  The only thing we did not like was the long flights on Air Tahiti Nui.  Bad service and very cramped.  If we were to do it again we would fly Hawaiian to Honolulu and maybe spend a night or two there then fly on to Papeete.  Avoids all the many sea days.  On the Inaugural WC on Viking we had 8 sea days between LA and Tahiti.  But then if you go on a WC you better like sea days....😎🍹

We have friends who are on the Gaughuin right now. I want to get a full debrief from them when they get back.

 

From my limited research, an advantage of Gaughuin over Viking is the inclusion of the Cook Islands (Rarotonga and Akureyri) in the itinerary. We’ve been to both the Cooks and French Polynesia, though not on cruises, and like the former islands for their very relaxed vibe.

[longterm]

1 hour ago, SJD117 said:

We have friends who are on the Gaughuin right now. I want to get a full debrief from them when they get back.

 

From my limited research, an advantage of Gaughuin over Viking is the inclusion of the Cook Islands (Rarotonga and Akureyri) in the itinerary. We’ve been to both the Cooks and French Polynesia, though not on cruises, and like the former islands for their very relaxed vibe.

They have some really interesting itineraries; I priced one the other day, but when we looked at flight times, we decided to stay more local for our beach vacations. As I mentioned earlier, we go to Cancun every winter to an all-inclusive, are trying a different one this December, hoping we'll find the perfect spot for us. 

[dd57]

2 hours ago, longterm said:

They have some really interesting itineraries; I priced one the other day, but when we looked at flight times, we decided to stay more local for our beach vacations. As I mentioned earlier, we go to Cancun every winter to an all-inclusive, are trying a different one this December, hoping we'll find the perfect spot for us. 

When I think of French Polynesia,  I don’t think of beach days.  We've been there twice and going back again next January on the cruise OneSixtytoOne mentioned.  There aren't a lot of beaches there.  There is fantastic snorkeling, sailing, and a wonderful mix of Polynesian and French culture.

 

The first time we went, we did a Tahitian Princess  smallerish ship (for them) cruise similar to Paul Gaughain's itinerary.  The flight back on Air Tahiti Nui about killed us - Jim Avery hit the nail on the head.  The second time we did the current Viking itinerary but on Princess (before they got really bad).  I've been to the Caribbean many times, east and west, sailed around in the BVI islands 5 times, and I have yet to find a place in the Caribbean that compares to French Polynesia in beauty.

Edited July 1, 2023 by dd57

[Azulann]

Having just returned from Scenic Scandinavia cruise in the Baltic,  I could easily do each of these ports again and  explore something different.

Any new Itineraries should have overnights on both ends , it makes a great  difference overall to the  cruise experience.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Azulann

[wine-wine-wine]

1 hour ago, dd57 said:

When I think of French Polynesia,  I don’t think of beach days.  We've been there twice and going back again next January on the cruise OneSixtytoOne mentioned.  There aren't a lot of beaches there.  There is fantastic snorkeling, sailing, and a wonderful mix of Polynesian and French culture.

 

The first time we went, we did a Tahitian Princess  smallerish ship (for them) cruise similar to Paul Gaughain's itinerary.  The flight back on Air Tahiti Nui about killed us - Jim Avery hit the nail on the head.  The second time we did the current Viking itinerary but on Princess (before they got really bad).  I've been to the Caribbean many times, east and west, sailed around in the BVI islands 5 times, and I have yet to find a place in the Caribbean that compares to French Polynesia in beauty.

We are also considering Windstar for FP. 

[SJD117]

As long as we're submitting wish lists, I wish Viking stopped in or departed from Seattle. It's unfortunate for Pacific Northwesterners like us that Viking bypasses Seattle for its Alaska cruises and every other cruise on the West Coast. Now, I know there are practical and legal reasons why Viking does so. Still, it would be nice if Tor gave HAL a run for its money!

[SJD117]

8 minutes ago, wine-wine-wine said:

We are also considering Windstar for FP. 

Windstar has always had a strong presence in French Polynesia. I remember seeing a Windstar ship anchored in Cook's Bay in Moorea back in 1987.

[wine-wine-wine]

2 minutes ago, SJD117 said:

Windstar has always had a strong presence in French Polynesia. I remember seeing a Windstar ship anchored in Cook's Bay in Moorea back in 1987.

We are also intrigued in a repositioning cruise on Windstar from Central America to FP. Unusual but well priced. Luckily we like sea days… 😎