Mediterranean & Adriatic Sojourn Cruise review (4/20-5/11/2024) with Classical Greek 4 day pre-cruise extension)

[kctwinmommy]

5/9 - Sete, France - Sete on Foot (included tour)

 

The tour started with a short bus ride to the port entrance. This is one of those ports where they don't allow you to walk to the entrance on your own. Once out of the port, we set off on foot with our guide.

 

We did a walking tour through town, a little bit less than 2 hours or so with her. It was another holiday, so things were a little slow at first. This is a town where people come to enjoy the holiday too, so it just needed time to wake up. LOL! It was Ascension Day, and a Thursday, so people turn it into a 4 day weekend and come here to enjoy the south of France, ocean area. There are a lot of ferry ships that come and go from here as well.

 

After our guided tour, we stayed in town on our own and did some more walking around. There's some nice canals, plenty of shops and restaurants, although we didn't buy anything. We did enjoy another croissant though. 😉 There were a lot of people set up along the canal selling things too, like a flea market.

 

It's a cute town, nice and relaxing in a way. We enjoyed our walk and then headed back to the ship for the afternoon/evening. We did another night at Manfredi's with our friends.

 

We were also still dealing with a bit of a cough for my husband. It was bad at night, but somewhat controlled during the day. And he was NOT the only one. Plenty of coughs and sniffles around the ship. Not surprised, and it didn't worry us or most of the people we talked to. That's just our opinion and feelings. I didn't know it was about to do me in for our last full day. Tomorrow we would be in Barcelona and dock there overnight before getting off the next day to spend 1 extra night in Barcelona.

 

Again, it was a nice day, nothing major to see, but still cute.

 

They do these jousting tournaments, on boats, on the canal here. That's what the statue is for.

 

Still somewhat quiet on our walk into town.

 

Lovely balconies. Housing prices here have skyrocketed post-Covid. Our guide said during the lockdown, people wanted to come and live here, get out of their cities. So many people bought properties here.

 

French door

 

Viking Mars out there in the distance

 

 

Church Saint-Louis

 

 

 

 

Down on the canal waterfront. This was some of the best weather we had too.

 

Plenty of boats docked on the canals

 

Coat of arms along the canal, obviously fish themed, I think for the city itself.

 

 

Nice, warmer weather for us!

Edited July 6 by kctwinmommy

[ural guy]

kct-  Thanks again for posting all this.  Very informative, and a nice prep for our cruise.

 

I don't know if you want to wait to answer this until you to take us to the end of your journey, or cut to the chase...which of the three segments you traveled did you enjoy the most?  Where did you explore the most on your own?

 

I especially liked your recounting of the Naples tours.  We were lucky enough to see Herculaneum back in the late 80's with my Navy sister stationed in Naples as guide.   Place is amazing, so I understand your frustration at dithering away the time while the road to Pompeii grew more crowded. (80's Naples driving tip from BIL, just drive figuring your car will get scrapped up a bit.  Lanes were not a concept.  Driving our little Omni down from Germany, this was a switch).

 

This is our first Ocean cruise, so b/t Viking's tour options and the non-Viking offerings, pretty daunting.  We did print off your .pdf on tour options.  We're comfortable wandering on our own, so that will be option one in a few spots.  Thanks again.

[kctwinmommy]

5 hours ago, ural guy said:

kct-  Thanks again for posting all this.  Very informative, and a nice prep for our cruise.

 

I don't know if you want to wait to answer this until you to take us to the end of your journey, or cut to the chase...which of the three segments you traveled did you enjoy the most?  Where did you explore the most on your own?

 

I especially liked your recounting of the Naples tours.  We were lucky enough to see Herculaneum back in the late 80's with my Navy sister stationed in Naples as guide.   Place is amazing, so I understand your frustration at dithering away the time while the road to Pompeii grew more crowded. (80's Naples driving tip from BIL, just drive figuring your car will get scrapped up a bit.  Lanes were not a concept.  Driving our little Omni down from Germany, this was a switch).

 

This is our first Ocean cruise, so b/t Viking's tour options and the non-Viking offerings, pretty daunting.  We did print off your .pdf on tour options.  We're comfortable wandering on our own, so that will be option one in a few spots.  Thanks again.

Hmmm... I don't know if any ONE leg stands out as our favorite. Each leg had things we loved. Maybe the 1st leg though if I had to pick. We loved Greece and Croatia the most. Italy was hit or miss for us. I loved Rome, more than I thought I would. And Florence as well. But Bari, Crotone, and Venice I could do without.

 

I can't fully recall exploring a ton on our own. We did a tour of some kind in every port, except Chioggia (we did go into town there on our own). And then once we were done, if we wanted to, we'd either stay in town or go back into town to walk around. Usually to get some pizza or gelato! LOL! I know I'm a little more hesitant to go too far on our own, my husband is more willing, so I held us back probably. But again, we saw and did so much on our tours, it's not like we missed everything.

 

And yes, the Pompeii day was such a let down. I'm waiting to hear back from Viking, as they have offered us some compensation, but we may not even be able to use it because of their restrictions. And while I was disappointed, I also have cruised enough to know, if you really have your heart set on seeing something, don't plan it from a cruise. 😉 Oh, and yes, my niece was stationed in Sicily, so driving there was an experience from her stories, and my parents when they visited her.

[kctwinmommy]

5/10 - Barcelona (Day 1) - Included Iconic Barcelona tour.

 

We got up to head out for our tour on our last full day on the ship. We had originally signed up to do the evening walking tour as well, but ended up cancelling it a week or two earlier. So we just did the included Iconic Barcelona. It was a partial walking, partial bus tour, but really good!

 

We had Oliver as our guide and he was really good! We first did some driving though the city, pointing out various landmarks along the way. A lot of it was Gaudi buildings of course. Our first stop was at La Sagrada Familia to walk around the outside. He explained a bunch of things about it, which was great as we'd be coming back on our own the next day. He also gave us about 15-20 minutes to walk around the area on our own as well. We then went back to the bus and drove over to the area where the Barcelona Cathedral is. As we walked back to the bus, he took us past this mural that showed a bunch of famous people from the city.

 

We did about an hour or so walking through this area of the city. He pointed out various sites along the way through here too. I have to say, I remember seeing a lot of things, but I didn't write down any details as my night turned into an awful next day (more on that later). But we loved the city, so much to see. I had no idea, even though people had said, what a beautiful city Barcelona is! It's no lie, the entire city is a gem!! After we were done there, we did a little driving around the city, he showed us the towers that were used for athletes for the Barcelona Olympics as well as various other sites around the city.

 

After our tour, we headed back with the bus to drop off a few things, and maybe to change. Our weather had been on the cooler side for many ports, so this one was warmer. We wanted to see a little of the nearby area, walking distance, on our own for a bit.

 

We tried to go up in the Columbus statue tower, but it was broken! There's an elevator to go up, and it wasn't working. So from there, we headed into La Rambla area. It was busy, but not packed. We walked for a good distance, there's a lot of booths and little vendors, mostly selling the same things. There's also a lot of restaurant cafes, basically an extension of their main dining room that's behind there, on the street that goes alongside La Rambla. After about 2 hours of walking, we stopped at one of these cafes. It's kind of funny, they also have a guy at each one who's job it really is to hustle and get people to come in and dine. They also have some really cool living statues on the street here too. They are so neat, my husband gave a tip, which then we realized is how they'll take a picture with you and move.

 

After a little more walking, we headed back to the ship to clean up for a bit and do some packing. We did dinner with some friends we made in the restaurant after cocktails in the Explorer's Lounge. Which, I have to say, they ran out of regular peanuts there! We had a wonderful dinner, stayed there until 9 p.m. and then we headed back to our room as we were tired!

 

I forgot to mention, we did the Going Away "party" show on the night before in the theater. Our cruise director, who started as a singer on the ships, performed with the assistant C.D. and they brought in a ton of the staff as well. I guess they did that show each week, as we were technically on 3 legs, but we only went this one time. It was really good, we had 4 great singers.

 

I'll do our last day in Barcelona, off the ship, later...

 

Our tour guide started us from this amazing view of the basilica.

 

 

Looking up at La Sagrada Familia

 

 

Us in front of the cathedral

 

There are architectural gems everywhere!

 

 

A cool building by the Columbus column

 

Columbus statue

 

 

My husband with Galileo

 

 

A VERY large glass of sangria, that didn't have the price posted. We should have known it wouldn't be a cheap $4 glass. LOL!

 

With our friends we made on the ship.

 

A beautiful star atop the Virgin Mary spire at La Sagrada Familia

 

 

The Passion Facade of the church

 

 

A mural showing a bunch of famous people from here. There's a sign posted nearby to label them all.

 

Barcelona Cathedral

 

Barcelona Cathedral

Edited July 17 by kctwinmommy

[Peregrina651]

THANK YOU for taking the time to share your adventures with us.

 

I'm still on page one. I don't want to miss a single word because we are doing Rome-Venice-Athens in January. Your description of the tours are fantastic and detailed enough that I can judge if they are within my mobility range. The pictures help as well.

 

I am sure that I will be back with questions once  I get through everything and can organize my thoughts.

 

[kctwinmommy]

@Peregrina651 thank you so much! I'm glad someone has found it helpful. I really did try to keep my notes and info on things that people often ask. Like the difficulty, the time on buses, the time in town, etc... I know I didn't get it all, but I did remember to write down quite a bit. Except for our last day, ugh, such a crummy way to end our trip, as you'll see in my next post.

 

This really was an amazing trip, especially for being our first Viking cruise ever. I so wish we still had our W. Indies one to go on, I'm so sad. =( I don't know when we'll get on another Viking cruise TBH. We have some other traveling we'd like to do. I'd love to spend 2-3 weeks in Germany/Poland to see WWII sites, but that would be land based and maybe with a tour group that specializes in those kinds of tours.

 

We'll see what the future holds. My husband retired in Nov. 2022, but then just started a new F/T job this month. And our son graduates college in 2 years. We'd like to move out of this state too, hopefully in the next 3-4 years. So, money has to go towards a few things. But hopefully Viking will be in our future again. 😃

[kctwinmommy]

5/11 ~ 12 Barcelona (embarkation day/overnight - on our own)

 

Our embarkation day was on the 11th and we had booked a hotel on our own to spend just 1 night. I know people had recommended staying much longer, but alas, we just couldn't. At the end of this, I'm glad we didn't because I was miserable by this afternoon.

 

We left the ship around 8:00 that morning. We hung around the living room, chatting with new friends, before we all had to get off. We grabbed a taxi right outside the port terminal and headed over to our hotel. We were booked at the Catalonia Square hotel. I knew we'd be there way too early for a room to be ready, but we had nowhere else to go.

 

We got to the hotel and checked in, of course finding out it would be at least several hours until our room would be ready. The could of course, take our luggage for us. They put tags, with tickets for each one, on each piece we gave them, which was nice. The hotel was nice, in a good location, and not too far from things. We got a map from the front desk and started to head out to the Picasso museum.

 

Now, as we started to head over there, I was feeling crummy. I'd had a slight cough the day before, but nothing major at all. I mean, I ate breakfast that morning, no issues, and had some cough drops to help. We got to the Picasso museum just after it opened and headed inside. It's nice, even though not totally my thing. Of course, I know I was also just not in the mood at that point. It was cool to see some of his work though.

 

We finally headed outside and I could tell I was just not good. I was chilly, and achy. So, we went back to the hotel, even though it was maybe 11:30 a.m. The lobby is actually on the 2nd floor, so we just sat there for a few hours, I even took a nap. I did get some drugs out of my luggage to help, and they definitely did. I was still just worn out though, so instead of walking to La Sagrada Familia like we planned, we took a cab. I was actually feeling a little hungry and yes, some McDonald's fries sounded great at that time, so got that at the McD's right across from LSF. First time in 28 days we'd had any sort of fast food or something "American," so good for us! LOL! I'm a picky eater by nature, so I'm glad I didn't do it anywhere else. Besides, it was just something quick to fill my stomach.

 

We had 2:30 tour reservations so we got there a little before that. It's pretty chaotic around there, that's for sure! Just a lot of people, which we knew as our Viking walking tour the day before had a stop there. We bought our audio guided tickets through the official website for LSF before we left. We included the Passion tower with ours. The Nativity tower was the original Gaudi one, but the Passion they say has better views.

 

We were pointed in the direction of where our tour started, just outside the doors. The guy organizes various audio tours, in different languages, but it was pretty easy to figure out where to go. Our guide was good, but the audio devices weren't the best, with the amount of people and such. The quiet vox on Viking was better, IMO. Still, we did enjoy our guide and the tour. It was about an hour or so in length. At the end, he explained where to go for each tower, as some in our group had the Nativity and some had the Passion.

 

The guided portion was done at this point and we got in line for our tower. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes. I could tell my meds were wearing off at this point, so I tried to just take it easy. I was grateful that you take an elevator to go up, and then stairs to come down. The stairs are really tight though! Be aware if you don't like confined spaces, it was definitely tight. And my head getting a little light, yikes! But I made it back down. I do recommend doing one of the towers for sure though!

 

Oh, they don't allow any large items to go up either. But they have lockers there and you use a €1 coin to put your items in, and then you get the coin back when you're done.

 

After we were done, again, instead of walking, we did take a cab. I had hoped with our hotel location we'd spend the time walking around the area, and go back to see the church at night, but that was not to be. Our cab also didn't know exactly where our hotel was, so he dropped us off at THE Catalonia Square, which is like a plaza a block from the hotel. He didn't know the hotel. We found our cabby that morning also didn't know the hotel's location. That was just odd to us, but I guess GPS has made them not NEED to know these precisely.

 

Back at the hotel, I was done! I was exhausted and knew I couldn't do anything else. My husband went to the pharmacy down the block while I slept. He got me some more meds. Once he came back, around 7:30, I had him help me take a shower, which really did help. I just didn't want to try by myself with how weak I felt.

 

I was disappointed that I didn't even get to enjoy our hotel room either. I had booked a room with like a balcony or something (I didn't totally remember), so we had these floor to ceiling windows and a balcony, on the 8th floor! It was beautiful, but I only went out for like 1 minute. I crashed for sleep around 9 p.m. as our car was going to be there at like 7:30 to take us to the hotel.

 

We had booked a car through Welcome Pickups, which I only heard of like 3-4 days earlier. I actually booked it on Friday afternoon while still on the ship. I'm glad we did. It was a nice, large cab SUV, nice driver, and good service. I commented that I would have felt a little uneasy waiting for a cab outside of our hotel though, which was a first. However, all around the area, there were multiple groups of young men hanging around, like 8-10 groups, all in their early 20s, like 4-6 in each group. I just felt that as a woman, if I was by myself, I would have waited inside the hotel or asked for help to get a car. Our driver actually explained that at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, it's very difficult to get a cab, they're not out on the streets. All these young men were trying to get home after the night out, looking for cabs to get home.

 

Anyway, we got to the airport pretty quickly, being early on a Sunday morning. Dropped us off for Delta, took about 30 minutes to get checked in (another airline's line was at least an hour long!). Once we went through security, we then headed to our gate. However, when they had to head through passport control. All US citizens were in one (long) line, other countries had a much shorter line. This was at least another 30 minutes. Once we got to our gate, it was pretty quiet. There aren't a lot of options for snack and such in the area though, so maybe eat before you go through all of that. I don't know if Delta has a lounge at the airport, I couldn't find it when I searched, and I think it's more of a shared lounge. Either way, we just hung out by our gate.

 

Getting on the plane was also a bit crazy and disorganized. Some of that human made. We had some people on the plane who all needed assistance to get on, more than normal it seemed. And some were very rude about it, IMO. We were actually flying Delta One (again, a splurge for us, my first time ever not in economy! LOL!). So we technically were the first group to board after the special assistance. But again even here some people were a bit pushy about getting on first. I mean, we all have assigned seats, so whatevs as I say. LOL!

 

We got all boarded, took some meds (my anxiety meds for flying) so I could take a little nap. The food was the same as our flight over, and not that great for me. Of course, being under the weather made me not that hungry. I did enjoy another ice cream sundae though. 😉 We got all tucked in and off to sleep. Made good time, got to Atlanta where we had a layover of like 5 hours. But thankfully, we did have the lounge here. Grabbed some food, little rest, and then home.

 

I will say, once I got home, I took some Nyquil, poured myself into bed, and crashed out. The next day I went to Urgent Care. They did all the tests - Covid, flu, RSV, and strep and everything was negative! She said just most likely something viral I caught with all the traveling and being around so many people. There was quite a bit of coughing going around the ship. But no biggie, got some meds and I was fine.

 

Picasso artwork

 

 

Picasso self portrait

 

 

One of the most beautiful things we've ever seen. None of the pictures I took do it justice.

 

The ceiling

 

 

A wider view

 

Looking down from the tower

 

 

You could spend hours looking at all the artwork around the entire church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord's Prayer in multiple languages, with A/G door handles for Antoni Gaudi.

 

 

Overlooking Barcelona

 

 

The facade on the Passion side.

 

 

 

 

 

The warm colored side

 

 

The cool colors side.

Edited July 23 by kctwinmommy

[Peregrina651]

Cindy, at least you waited for the last day to get sick. Imagine coming down with something only a few days into the cruise and then not shaking it until well after you got home.

 

 

[kctwinmommy]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Cindy, at least you waited for the last day to get sick. Imagine coming down with something only a few days into the cruise and then not shaking it until well after you got home.

 

 

Oh 100%!!! I was super grateful for that. Well, we technically also got sick on our 3rd day in Venice, but we didn't have much planned anyway. So I slept like 18 hours!!! It knocked out whatever was trying to brew. I also had brought Zicam, which I started taking immediately.

 

I had a little cold for like 2 days early on for our European cruise 7 years ago. Again, that long traveling, and then the cooler weather we had on it, it messes with the body for sure.

[kctwinmommy]

Just wanted to wrap this up with some of my overall thoughts on our cruise.

 

• I don't know if I loved having this cruise be 3 separate legs without really knowing up front. I know it didn't matter a lot, but it did affect those transition ports, especially Venice.
• I would say the time of the year we went was good as we did have mostly decent weather without it being hot. A little more rain than I thought, which led to us having to buy raincoats that we forgot to pack. Well, I'll admit, I totally didn't think to pack. 😉
• The crowds weren't awful for most things, but it was certainly starting to get busy.
• I totally recommend extended time at both ends if possible. I truly wish we'd had a few more days at the end in Barcelona, although I'm also glad we didn't with me getting sick. I would have been miserable. Our pre-extension was the best! So many others agree with our specific one too, they all said it was worth the price completely!
• We loved most of the staff on Viking, they live up to their standards for sure! We did have 1 or 2 that were a little lacking, but not much. I think just compared to the high standards that most work by, it was just a few we noticed, but nothing serious.
• We loved how if you asked for something, they got it for you. We told our steward we wanted to keep 2 of the blankets from the deck in our room for evenings on the balcony, no problem! We needed 2 extra small spoon things for honey in our tea in our room, no problem! Ice? No problem... I will very much miss this level of attention on our next cruise.
• I wish I had done a little more reading/research for our ports. I had the time, I had the book, but just really dragged my feet. I mean, I did read some things, and I used my Rick Steves book when I could, but still...
• I discovered the lost and found actually works on the ship! My reading glasses and Rick Steves book were both turned in, so we got them back.
• We found the rooms had plenty of space, and we did use the smaller, but good weight bearing, magnetic hooks. It was great to hang my hat, purse, and sunglasses case on them every evening.
• We loved being able to do laundry, we did it twice. It's easy to use, no shrinking or anything.
• We did overpack! I was trying to do carry on only, but realized I just couldn't make it work for the month trip we took, so we have 1 checked suitcase. Doing this meant I had a lot more room to work with, so then I packed it full. LOL! I really didn't need about 30% of what I took.
• Don't always assume you'll be able to get into an excursion once on board. While it may be possible to make those changes, we did find that after we were on board for a few days, many things were sold out by then. So if you are looking to change things, do it right away. We didn't really need to, I just remember looking.
• I can't say I love their website! I don't like that you can't see things that far out when it comes to excursions. And I don't like that there's no "past guest" history on your account. It's basically only good for people if you have a cruise booked.
• I'm also a little disappointed in their follow up customer service. We actually were communicating back and forth about our disappointment with the Pompeii excursion. We eventually were told we would get a $500 onboard credit for each of us, but for a cruise within the next year. Unfortunately, we can't travel in the next year, and the one we had booked outside of that time was one of those cancelled (W. Indies, 2025). I had been asking for an extension, but never received a response. I gave up as there's no way for us to even use it. We just can't book another $8000 cruise to save $1000.

 

I may think of a few more things, but these are some of the thoughts I had, and some of the general notes I put in my journal. I do hope to take another Viking cruise in the future, but nothing planned as of now. Again, I wanted to do a Caribbean one, but sad that it was cancelled in the ship reshuffle.

[Sleep7]

👋Hi Cindy!

Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed, honest, upbeat and fun review of your 3 weeks with Viking.  I truly enjoyed following your adventure!😊

[ural guy]

Cindy-  Ditto Sleep7.  You've helped out quite a bit for our January cruise.

 

 

[Shelley W]

On 8/4/2024 at 10:13 PM, kctwinmommy said:

Just wanted to wrap this up with some of my overall thoughts on our cruise.

 

• I don't know if I loved having this cruise be 3 separate legs without really knowing up front. I know it didn't matter a lot, but it did affect those transition ports, especially Venice.
• I would say the time of the year we went was good as we did have mostly decent weather without it being hot. A little more rain than I thought, which led to us having to buy raincoats that we forgot to pack. Well, I'll admit, I totally didn't think to pack. 😉
• The crowds weren't awful for most things, but it was certainly starting to get busy.
• I totally recommend extended time at both ends if possible. I truly wish we'd had a few more days at the end in Barcelona, although I'm also glad we didn't with me getting sick. I would have been miserable. Our pre-extension was the best! So many others agree with our specific one too, they all said it was worth the price completely!
• We loved most of the staff on Viking, they live up to their standards for sure! We did have 1 or 2 that were a little lacking, but not much. I think just compared to the high standards that most work by, it was just a few we noticed, but nothing serious.
• We loved how if you asked for something, they got it for you. We told our steward we wanted to keep 2 of the blankets from the deck in our room for evenings on the balcony, no problem! We needed 2 extra small spoon things for honey in our tea in our room, no problem! Ice? No problem... I will very much miss this level of attention on our next cruise.
• I wish I had done a little more reading/research for our ports. I had the time, I had the book, but just really dragged my feet. I mean, I did read some things, and I used my Rick Steves book when I could, but still...
• I discovered the lost and found actually works on the ship! My reading glasses and Rick Steves book were both turned in, so we got them back.
• We found the rooms had plenty of space, and we did use the smaller, but good weight bearing, magnetic hooks. It was great to hang my hat, purse, and sunglasses case on them every evening.
• We loved being able to do laundry, we did it twice. It's easy to use, no shrinking or anything.
• We did overpack! I was trying to do carry on only, but realized I just couldn't make it work for the month trip we took, so we have 1 checked suitcase. Doing this meant I had a lot more room to work with, so then I packed it full. LOL! I really didn't need about 30% of what I took.
• Don't always assume you'll be able to get into an excursion once on board. While it may be possible to make those changes, we did find that after we were on board for a few days, many things were sold out by then. So if you are looking to change things, do it right away. We didn't really need to, I just remember looking.
• I can't say I love their website! I don't like that you can't see things that far out when it comes to excursions. And I don't like that there's no "past guest" history on your account. It's basically only good for people if you have a cruise booked.
• I'm also a little disappointed in their follow up customer service. We actually were communicating back and forth about our disappointment with the Pompeii excursion. We eventually were told we would get a $500 onboard credit for each of us, but for a cruise within the next year. Unfortunately, we can't travel in the next year, and the one we had booked outside of that time was one of those cancelled (W. Indies, 2025). I had been asking for an extension, but never received a response. I gave up as there's no way for us to even use it. We just can't book another $8000 cruise to save $1000.

 

I may think of a few more things, but these are some of the thoughts I had, and some of the general notes I put in my journal. I do hope to take another Viking cruise in the future, but nothing planned as of now. Again, I wanted to do a Caribbean one, but sad that it was cancelled in the ship reshuffle.

Thanks for that excellent account of your trip.  This will be my first cruise.  I laughed about your lack of reading up.  I always have good intentions and then never follow through with the research.

 

[zzookiemookiw]

I really appreciate you posting your trip info. We will be on the Athens to Barcelona cruise in October & this helps me out.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, zzookiemookiw said:

I really appreciate you posting your trip info. We will be on the Athens to Barcelona cruise in October & this helps me out.

 

So true!! She has done all the leg work so when in doubt, I'm simply going to do what Cindy did! 

[kctwinmommy]

@zzookiemookiw & @Peregrina651 Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad it's been of help to you. I hope you have a fabulous cruise! I so wish we had another Viking one on the books. Still disappointed in ours being cancelled, and the lack of any real reasoning. We've also lost some vouchers basically because of it. Long story, and it doesn't matter, they won't change it. At least the vouchers weren't actually our money, it was from an issue we had. But still, sad we don't have another one to look forward to. Have a great time on yours!

[deec]

How expensive was the Pompeii excursion that Viking was offering $500/pp for your disappointment.  that seems very generous!   Thanks for the great report...thinking seriously about a Med cruise

[kctwinmommy]

8 hours ago, deec said:

How expensive was the Pompeii excursion that Viking was offering $500/pp for your disappointment.  that seems very generous!   Thanks for the great report...thinking seriously about a Med cruise

My apologies, I was wrong on that. We got $500 total, it was $250 each. And I think the excursion was like $150/person. Although again, we're not able to use it.

[kctwinmommy]

@cherylhans720 - this could help you! 😃 

[allyg]

Lovely detailed review. Thanks.

[Mary dog mom]

Thanks for the great review and run down.  Did you dock directly in Bari & Crotone?  Looking to see if I can arrange for a beach day on our June 2025 trip from one of those ports with a private driver.

[kctwinmommy]

4 hours ago, Mary dog mom said:

Thanks for the great review and run down.  Did you dock directly in Bari & Crotone?  Looking to see if I can arrange for a beach day on our June 2025 trip from one of those ports with a private driver.

Yes to both. And yes, do something outside of Crotone. Small town, not much to see. The included tour was really a "do-it-yourself" tour, not worth much of the time. We still made the best of it. And honestly, being on vacation for 28 days, having 1 or 2 "down" days for us was OK too.