Celebrity for Northern lights?

[OnTheJourney]

21 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

when compared to going on a similar Celebrity cruise

Don't get me wrong, we DO enjoy going with both X and RCL, and will continue to do so, but if Viking offered comparable itineraries from our local ports, we'd probably go with them most of the time. 930 passengers compared to the Summit's 2,158 (let alone 3,400 on the Edge!). Biggest ship we've ever been on is the RCL Adventure with 3,800 pax. Felt too big and crowded. By the time I felt I knew the whole ship the cruise was nearly over! Also...no kids on Viking. That works for us too.

Edited June 8, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Overall, I like the smaller ship feel better. It just seems much quieter and more relaxed. Quite honestly, I'll take Viking's dining room food over most of what I've had on either RCL or X.

 

We are not interested in probably 90% of the evening (or for that matter even the daytime) activities that are on the daily schedules. We very rarely stop in at a lounge in the later evening, don't do the various game-like and/or other social activities, don't do casino either. Sea day = just taking it easy and spending time on the balcony reading or else just taking some walks around the deck. So in that regard - X works just as well.

 

Not anymore. Viking is going more mainstream in terms of what they are offering. While a smaller singer/dancer cast, there were several production shows that were very well done. What I really like also is that if we don't get to a lecture or similar presentation on Viking, all of that stuff is shown on the stateroom tv, so often (since you asked about evenings) - we'll catch up by watching a recorded port talk or similar. Plus, there was a pretty decent movie channel selection. The map on the Viking tv is interactive and far superior to what was on the Summit recently. I couldn't believe how non-functional it was. Most of the time it even showed the wrong itinerary path and there was virtually no way to zoom in. With Viking, you can really zoom in and see in detail where the ship is going.

 

Now, in all fairness to X, we've only ever been on the Summit and Infinity - never on any newer ships. Our one cruiser friend, who has done lots of X cruises, says great things about the Beyond and Edge, but we've never been on those. What I like also about Viking is that ALL the ocean ships are exactly the same, so it becomes very familiar instead of spending a few days till we finally know the layout of the ship (I still often wind up going the wrong direction anyway).

 

Hope some of that helps clarify. Viking, for us, is just a more desirable product, but the big drawback is that except for going with them out of NY (which we've never done with any cruise line), every other embarkation port involves flying - which we'll do also but not near as convenient as driving to Baltimore or Bayonne.

I've always wondered what the attraction was to Viking Ocean which you summed up quite nicely. Thanks for your insights.

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Not even sure I'd to this again - at least on the Summit. They took away a few of the amenities that we really enjoyed the first time we did it. Blu didn't quite impress us as much this time either. I only generally get to the Persian Garden once, so, not sure it all justifies the extra money.

I remember reading about the issues you encountered on your last cruise. Since we had no desire to sit at one of those window tables, that wasn't an issue for us. In fact, the two reasons we book an Aqua cabin on an M-class ship is to get an aft-facing cabin with a walk-in shower and enjoy Blu's anytime dining option where we usually sit at the least sought 2-top in the restaurant, which are usually near the far back left corner of the dining room.

[tserface]

On 6/6/2023 at 9:25 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Princess also does a Northern Lights cruise every year in the Fall.

 

Cruise Details - 14-Day Search for the Northern Lights - Princess Cruises

 

Cruise Details - 14-Day Search for the Northern Lights - Princess Cruises 

 

We took this cruise last fall (Princess) and really loved it.  One odd thing though.  The first night we got to a place where they lights were out they didn't make any announcement in our rooms as we were promised.  We asked, and customer service said they didn't want to wake people that might not care.  We said, maybe someone who doesn't want to see the Northern Lights on a cruise called "Search for the Northern Lights' should think about doing a different kind of cruise 🙂  The customer server person couldn't argue with that...

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, tserface said:

We took this cruise last fall (Princess) and really loved it.  One odd thing though.  The first night we got to a place where they lights were out they didn't make any announcement in our rooms as we were promised.  We asked, and customer service said they didn't want to wake people that might not care.  We said, maybe someone who doesn't want to see the Northern Lights on a cruise called "Search for the Northern Lights' should think about doing a different kind of cruise 🙂  The customer server person couldn't argue with that...

Good point! But then again I also figured the captain on deck would let us know over the loudspeaker when they saw a large pod of whales when we were in Antarctica or Alaska. Nope, that's on us too. But that's OK. The "hunt" is part of the fun! As far as the NLs go, that's one thing handy about the web links I posted above. At least they can help in "the hunt"! 😉

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, tserface said:

We took this cruise last fall (Princess) and really loved it.  One odd thing though.  The first night we got to a place where they lights were out they didn't make any announcement in our rooms as we were promised.  We asked, and customer service said they didn't want to wake people that might not care.  We said, maybe someone who doesn't want to see the Northern Lights on a cruise called "Search for the Northern Lights' should think about doing a different kind of cruise 🙂  The customer server person couldn't argue with that...

No such issues on Hurtigruten as every sighting of the lights are broadcast in every public area and every cabin at whatever time they appear. You have to proactively turn off the system in the cabin if you don't want to be disturbed. Also the lights on the outer upper decks are regularly turned off to enhance the view experience.

[tserface]

On 6/8/2023 at 2:53 PM, the penguins said:

No such issues on Hurtigruten as every sighting of the lights are broadcast in every public area and every cabin at whatever time they appear. You have to proactively turn off the system in the cabin if you don't want to be disturbed. Also the lights on the outer upper decks are regularly turned off to enhance the view experience.

That's great to hear.  It should be like that.  On our cruise, there were people who were livid because they missed the first night.  I know they can't call ever room individually, the the intercom can go into the rooms, and should, on these kinds of cruise.

 

Our our cruise they announced it on the second night, but only on the public speakers and lots of people can't even hear them when their doors are closed.  They suggested we turn the TV to a channel, and we did, but it never came across there.  So... we just stayed up and slept in the next morning 🙂

[Ken the cruiser]

5 minutes ago, tserface said:

That's great to hear.  It should be like that.  On our cruise, there were people who were livid because they missed the first night.  I know they can't call ever room individually, the the intercom can go into the rooms, and should, on these kinds of cruise.

 

Our our cruise they announced it on the second night, but only on the public speakers and lots of people can't even hear them when their doors are closed.  They suggested we turn the TV to a channel, and we did, but it never came across there.  So... we just stayed up and slept in the next morning 🙂

So I have to ask, how many evenings, if any, did you see them?

[tserface]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So I have to ask, how many evenings, if any, did you see them?

Once we arrived in Norway we saw something every night.  We never saw much with the naked eye, but we saw a lot through our phones.  Apparently, as we learned, this is kind of normal.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, tserface said:

Once we arrived in Norway we saw something every night.  We never saw much with the naked eye, but we saw a lot through our phones.  Apparently, as we learned, this is kind of normal.

Cool! It’s amazing how the phone cameras can expand on that which you can barely see. 😁

[the penguins]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So I have to ask, how many evenings, if any, did you see them?

On H 6 days (5 nights) out of the 12 are above the Arctic Circle. We had 3 nights where the lights were clearly visible to the naked eye. First appearance was on Christmas Night and last around 30 minutes, the longest was over 2 hours. We also saw "glimpses" during our Christmas evening dog sledding trip.

[Charles4515]

17 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Cool! It’s amazing how the phone cameras can expand on that which you can barely see. 😁

Some phones use AI and fake it. Samsung was caught doing that.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23637401/samsung-fake-moon-photos-ai-galaxy-s21-s23-ultra

[shipshape sam]

On 6/6/2023 at 7:14 PM, Northern Aurora said:

Folks interested in the aurora may want to use google to find the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute website regarding the aurora.  Very informative and will predict probabilities/possibilities of viewing all over the world.  

 

Fairbanks is a winter destination for serious aurora viewers.  Our aurora season (if my memory is correct) extends from August 21st to April 21st.  Prime viewing is October through March.  Otherwise we are just too light to see an existent aurora.  

 

We generally go to Chena Hot Springs Resort for Christmas.  The resort is always sold out for the holidays and this past Christmas there were incredible displays from the resort grounds.  

We were at a BnB between Fairbanks and Chena Hot springs on Aug 27-30 2022.  I think those were the dates and got some great shots.   First 2 days lots of clouds.  Lasted for about 2 hours each night from around 11pm to 1am.  We then went to bed.  No not know if there were more NL beyond 1am.

 

I want to go back to Fairbanks area a little later in season and stay longer. Would like to go to Greenland, but not sure about all the lights on ship.  On a Seatle to Settle Alaskan cruise we saw NL on 2 night out.  Problem was so many 'tourists' snapping flash photos!  They were just black pics!😒

 

Loved the few pictures we got with the reflection off the water.