Into the Midnight Sun—a live voyage blog from Viking Venus 6/14/24

[Hanoj]

Unfortunate about the weather; first impressions of new destinations are greatly affected by whether there are shadows or showers. We visited Kirkwall last August with nary a cloud in the sky and high temps approaching 70 F. Consequently, we greatly enjoyed our visit.

 

We agree the PV on Viking ships is worth the extra cost, especially for the closet configuration compared to the DV staterooms (against one side of the bed). We even considered moving up to the Penthouse Junior Suites for the extra space (and the complimentary laundry), but decided its not worth it to us. On our upcoming 14 nights cruise in October aboard Saturn, the PJS is $5,000 ($2,500 pp PS1 vs PV1) more for this cruise duration. We did the self service laundry once during our first ocean cruise and after settling on booking PV staterooms we now pay to have the laundry service. It’s worth it to us. Grateful for the available options.

[rjp50]

On 6/18/2024 at 1:54 AM, DrKoob said:

 

After we were off the bus, we had a choice; we could shop or explore for an hour, get back on the bus and head back to the ship for lunch, or we could go off on our own for the rest of the day and find our own way back to the ship later in the afternoon. We had already decided before we left the ship that we would spend the afternoon in the city. There were basically two things we wanted to do. One was lunch in the famous Tollbooth Tavern on The Royal Mile. Kathleen and I have eaten lunch there at least once on all four of our visits to Edinburgh. It's not that the food is that great...it's good pub grub. But the idea of eating in a pub that has been open continuously since 1851 and in a building that was built in the 16th century is just too cool.

 

The second thing we wanted to do was tour Holyrood Palace. We have toured the Castle, I have climbed Arthur's Seat, and we have seen just about everything else in Edinburgh that people see when they come here, but we have never been able to get into Holyrood. It is the "official home of the Royal Family in Scotland," and every time we have been here before, some royal has been in town. When a member of the royal family or their guests are in residence, all tours are canceled. That has happened to us every single time we have been there. But this time, I had checked in advance, and tickets were available for yesterday, and we could get in. And we did. A somewhat interesting palace (I got to see Mary, Queen of Scots bedroom) but they wouldn't let me take photos inside and that always bothers me. I usually don't visit those places. I didn't realize that I couldn't until one of the docents told me there were "no pictures allowed." I had not seen a single sign (and I always look for them) telling me that, but I shut the Nikon off. I'm so sorry you won't get to see the King's bed, but there are a few photos I took on the way to the Palace and of the grounds. Again, they are on my blog at www.jimbellomoDOTcom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's great to have someone "scout the terrain" prior to our trip.  For your included tour, if I do the math correctly, the tour was advertised, I believe, as a 3 hour tour.  So, if they allowed an hour at the end for on your own activities, I assume the actual tour was about two hours?  I assume they left you off on or near to the Royal Mile.  Was it near the upper end?  How far from the Tollbooth Tavern?  Did you require reservations for lunch there?

 

Another question - did you pursue the suggestion of using a VPN to improve speeds?  Are you getting better speeds?

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, rjp50 said:

It's great to have someone "scout the terrain" prior to our trip.  For your included tour, if I do the math correctly, the tour was advertised, I believe, as a 3 hour tour.  So, if they allowed an hour at the end for on your own activities, I assume the actual tour was about two hours?  I assume they left you off on or near to the Royal Mile.  Was it near the upper end?  How far from the Tollbooth Tavern?  Did you require reservations for lunch there?

 

Another question - did you pursue the suggestion of using a VPN to improve speeds?  Are you getting better speeds?

You are correct. It was a 3-hour tour. We did two hours and they dropped us pretty much right in front of the Castle (at the exact opposite end from the Palace). And it was a ways from the Tollbooth which is on the lower Royal Mile. We were there at noon when they opened and were the first ones in the door. No one at that time of the day had reservations. I considered making them but they charge a non-refundable £25 per person deposit to make a reservation. You do get it back but I wasn't going to let them hold my money for that long. And if you don't cancel within 24 hours, they keep it. I would just take my chances. 

 

I tried to pursue the VPN thing with two different companies. Viking's internet would not let me download the software and the companies were not able to process my credit card because they were US companies and I was out of the country. I will try it again when I am home for my next cruise. The speeds keeping getting worse so I am guessing it is our move north.

[SJD117]

@DrKoob  We were on Orkney yesterday and today. But we enjoyed ourselves despite Tuesday’s inclement conditions. 
 

First the weather. Perhaps we have a high tolerance coming from a NW island and the “Juneuary” days we experience there. Or perhaps we didn’t worry much about Orkney’s cloudy skies and mist, knowing we get to spend three more DIY days on the islands. Or perhaps the great food at the Kirk Cafe for lunch and the Ferry Inn at dinner made up for the weather. Or perhaps we’re just “glass half-full” people.

 

Whatever the reason, we let the day’s moisture roll off our backs and onto our waterproofed shoes. We’re told ourselves that we’re in Scotland after all, not the Med!  😛😛😛

 

As to the archaeological sites you visited (the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar), we visited them, too. They’re UNESCO heritage sites and well worth that designation. Now, we’re both archaelogy buffs, so we have a soft spot for neolithic history. But the time spent in both locations was time well spent for us — and we say that having been to Stonehenge, Avebury, Callanish, and other standing stone sites in the U.K.

 

Edited June 19 by SJD117

[Mike07]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

 

I tried to pursue the VPN thing with two different companies. Viking's internet would not let me download the software and the companies were not able to process my credit card because they were US companies and I was out of the country. I will try it again when I am home for my next cruise. The speeds keeping getting worse so I am guessing it is our move north.

 

 

Not worth pursuing VPNs, IMHO. Enjoy your vacation. Star Link is known to have lower speeds the farther north you go at the poles.
 

Using a VPN or proxy could change your route to your destination network for the better, but across the board to every site and service you are using? He's to say

 

Edited June 19 by Mike07

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, SJD117 said:

As to the archaeological sites you visited (the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar), we visited them, too. They’re UNESCO heritage sites and well worth that designation. Now, we’re both archaelogy buffs, so we have a soft spot for neolithic history. But the time spent in both locations was time well spent for us — and we say that having been to Stonehenge, Avebury, Callanish, and other standing stone sites in the U.K.

Completely agree.  We were there last month.  We didn’t have the best weather, but still the walk out to the ring of Brodgar was well worth it to us (but like you, we are archeology buffs).  They are not Stonehenge, but their situation is more dramatic.  And, did you hear about the two men spraying orange paint on the Stonehenge stones today.?  Just awful.  Anyway, a few pics from the Ring:

Edited June 19 by SantaFe1

[Mike07]

2 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Completely agree.  We were there last month.  We didn’t have the best weather, but still the walk out to the ring of Brodgar was well worth it to us (but like you, we are archeology buffs).  They are not Stonehenge, but their situation is more dramatic.  And, did you hear about the two men spraying orange paint on the Stonehenge stones today.?  Just awful.  Anyway, a few pics from the Ring:

 

 

Ah.... Pre-vandalism... Smdh

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Completely agree.  We were there last month.  We didn’t have the best weather, but still the walk out to the ring of Brodgar was well worth it to us (but like you, we are archeology buffs).  They are not Stonehenge, but their situation is more dramatic.  And, did you hear about the two men spraying orange paint on the Stonehenge stones today.?  Just awful.  Anyway, a few pics from the Ring:

 

32 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Ah.... Pre-vandalism... Smdh

Luckily the orange power is supposed to wash off when it rains (according to the vandals). 

[SantaFe1]

22 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

 

Luckily the orange power is supposed to wash off when it rains (according to the vandals). 

I certainly hope so.  I saw a very early story, saying it was paint.  

[SantaFe1]

You know, I was first there in 1973, on a year abroad in London.  At that point there were no barriers.  You could walk right up to the stones.  I’ve been there several times since, last in 2019 at the end of the WC and there were so many barriers.  I just can’t image what people are thinking.  And, like Dave and Linda, we have been to many, many stone circles in Britain.  You either like them or you don’t!  

[rjp50]

1 hour ago, SantaFe1 said:

You know, I was first there in 1973, on a year abroad in London.  At that point there were no barriers.  You could walk right up to the stones.  I’ve been there several times since, last in 2019 at the end of the WC and there were so many barriers.  I just can’t image what people are thinking.  And, like Dave and Linda, we have been to many, many stone circles in Britain.  You either like them or you don’t!  

Unfortunately, I was there in the late 70s and stones had all been defaced with spray paint by vandals.  So much for allowing people to walk right up to them.

[DrKoob]

7 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Completely agree.  We were there last month.  We didn’t have the best weather, but still the walk out to the ring of Brodgar was well worth it to us (but like you, we are archeology buffs).  They are not Stonehenge, but their situation is more dramatic.  And, did you hear about the two men spraying orange paint on the Stonehenge stones today.?  Just awful.  Anyway, a few pics from the Ring:

I do appreciate your photos. I would love to have gotten some like them, but when we "visited" there, there were five busloads of cruise passengers standing around them doing "funny" selfie shots in the pouring rain and mud. Not quite the same experience. And at least you could see something in the background of your photos. We could see nothing beyond the stones. 

[wine-wine-wine]

11 hours ago, DrKoob said:

VPN thing with two different companies

Perhaps try Proton VPN

[DrKoob]

20 minutes ago, wine-wine-wine said:

Perhaps try Proton VPN

I have given up. I finally got one to download (Express VPN--it took 3+hours) and then when I opened it they wanted money so I have been trying to pay them for three days. They can't figure out how to take my money. The currency keeps switching back and forth between US Dollars, British pounds and Norwegian kroner. I gave up. 

[SteelCity Cruiser]

4 hours ago, DrKoob said:

I have given up. I finally got one to download (Express VPN--it took 3+hours) and then when I opened it they wanted money so I have been trying to pay them for three days. They can't figure out how to take my money. The currency keeps switching back and forth between US Dollars, British pounds and Norwegian kroner. I gave up. 

We did the BIE from Bergen to London last year on the Venus and the internet was slow most of the time, particularly in the northern and more remote areas.  It seemed to work better when docked in major cities like Belfast, Liverpool and Bergen, but in those remote islands, not as good at all.  And it was particularly wretched between 9 am and 6 pm because I think that's when most people on board are trying to access the limited bandwidth.

[DrKoob]

Unusual Doings in Lerwick

 

Yesterday was a strange day, cruise-wise. We visited the town of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Let me describe what happened. About three days ago (when we were in Edinburgh), we received a notification that our 2.5-hour shore excursion to tour the island and stop to see Shetland ponies had been cut to one hour due to a shortage of buses in Lerwick. It became a one-hour panoramic tour on a "luxury motor coach."

 

We were okay with that because, having been to Lerwick before, we knew that it was an easy town to walk around in, and if they were still taking us to the Shetland ponies, we would be happy. We had done a private tour the last time we were here and saw most of the island. Later, we heard from some crew that the reason there were so few buses was that there would be four ships in. That's a lot of ships for tiny Lerwick.

 

Then, early yesterday morning (around 7:30), there was a general announcement that they not only made in the ship's public areas but into staterooms as well. You know that is highly unusual if you are a regular Viking cruiser. It is usually only used for emergency announcements. The cruise director (a very fine fellow) came on and told us that our schedule had changed and that Venus was now docked at the pier but would not be moored there all day. We would only be there until noon. After that, we would move to the center of the harbor and use tenders to return to the ship. Until then, the morning shore excursions would leave from the pier, and there would be a shuttle bus that would go into the town until 11:00 a.m. After that, if you were in town, you would have to wait until 1:00 p.m. to take a tender back to the ship.

 

We thought, "WOW! There must be another ship coming to take our place. They must be really important to be able to kick us off the dock. And sure enough, when we went up for breakfast and could see the other side of the harbor, there was a ship anchored there, tendering passengers into the center of the town. But imagine our surprise when we discovered the other ship was the Viking Sky (thus, the photo above). The problems with coaches, piers, and docks were caused by Viking scheduling two of their ships here on the same day. And yes, there were two other ships in the harbor, both docked, but they were small Ponant ships (a French cruise line) with less than 200 passengers, so they docked at piers that neither Viking ship could fit on.

 

It was just weird. It became even stranger when, later in the day, our ship (Viking Venus) moved off the pier, and Viking Sky didn't move; they just kept on tendering. When we left yesterday afternoon, there was no one on the pier and never had been. It was just strange.

What about our day? It was pretty good. The weather cooperated (not bright and sunny, but no rain), the tour was nice, if short, and our guide was a good one. We were toured through the town and then up into the hills, where we stopped by Carol's Ponies, a Shetland pony ranch where we could get off and take photos of them. Which, of course, I did. I don't like to put people (other than those I know) into my photos, so when we go someplace like this where there are about 25 yards of fence for four busloads of people to stand next to, it can be very tough to take photos of just what I want to take pictures of...like ponies...or stones...or pretty much anything. But I did my best. Here are the results. I think the only person I got in the photos was my lovely bride Kathleen. To see the photos of the ponies (and all the other photos I will mention, please head over to my blog (no ads/no selling) at www.jimbellomoDOTcom.

 

After the ponies, we headed back to the ship (remember, the excursion had been shortened to an hour). When back, Kathleen headed up to our stateroom and Steve and Jamie went off to town on the shuttle bus. I walked Kathleen back to our room to get my heavier sweatshirt because the wind was blowing so hard that my windbreaker was not breaking. Then I went back down to the shuttle and took the last one into downtown Lerwick.

As I mentioned, we had been there before, and it is a photogenic town. Lots of color and history to shoot. Plus, one of our favorite British TV shows is Shetland, which is...you'll never guess...shot here in Shetland. In fact we drove by the show setting up shots for next season. And I love to take photos of places we have seen in TV and movies. Remember, we just did a Ted Lasso tour. I probably walked around Lerwick for an hour or so before I got in line for the first tender back on the ship to meet everyone for lunch. In the meantime, Venus had moved around, Sky and the two Ponant ships were right where we had left them, and we were back on board for an early sail-away. We were only staying until 3:00 p.m. because we now need the full  57 hours of sailing time to get to our next port...Honningsvåg, Norway. (Photos on the blog)

 

Lastly, on the way out of port at 3:00 p.m. I shot a few last shots as a farewell (also on the blog). We were thrilled to come back here but doubt it could happen again. In case you missed it, there were two blog posts today. That's because it's a sea day...in the North Sea. More about that tomorrow, but suffice it to say we are having some ROUGH seas. No fun for many people (not us; Kathleen has her SeaBand, and I never get seasick—this is not the case for the majority of the ship—barf bags are everywhere.)

 

 

 

[DrKoob]

29 minutes ago, SteelCity Cruiser said:

And it was particularly wretched between 9 am and 6 pm because I think that's when most people on board are trying to access the limited bandwidth.

That is usually the case so I try and upload around 4:30 am. But on this trip, it's slow all the time.

[TayanaLorna]

21 hours ago, deec said:

Dr. Koob you wrote :"I can tell you that the difference in price between this and a regular verandah is about $500 for this cruise". $500 is the difference is the difference between a Penthouse and a DV1 NOT DV6....which is about $3000/pp. 

 

thanks for the great reviews...Anxious to read and see your photos of the Norwegian ports...we go next summer Bergen to NYC.  We had a private guide in Orkney and really enjoyed our day there...but we did have sunshine!!

Scotland was such a wonderful surprise...its beauty was unexpected and thoroughly enjoyed.    We missed the Shetlands.:(

For our next 14 day cruise the difference between DV6 and PV3 is $1,300 per person.  Between DV1 and PV3 it is $700 pp.  This is the first time we actually booked a PV.  

[rjp50]

2 hours ago, DrKoob said:

 

 

. We were only staying until 3:00 p.m. because we now need the full  57 hours of sailing time to get to our next port...Honningsvåg, Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you recall what time your ship was scheduled to sail out of Lerwick?  We have to make the same trip to Honningsvag but our posted departure is 4:00.  We have a semi-private tour scheduled and having the ship leave earlier than scheduled could be a problem.

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, DrKoob said:

Unusual Doings in Lerwick

 

 

Yesterday was a strange day, cruise-wise. We visited the town of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Let me describe what happened. About three days ago (when we were in Edinburgh), we received a notification that our 2.5-hour shore excursion to tour the island and stop to see Shetland ponies had been cut to one hour due to a shortage of buses in Lerwick. It became a one-hour panoramic tour on a "luxury motor coach."

 

We were okay with that because, having been to Lerwick before, we knew that it was an easy town to walk around in, and if they were still taking us to the Shetland ponies, we would be happy. We had done a private tour the last time we were here and saw most of the island. Later, we heard from some crew that the reason there were so few buses was that there would be four ships in. That's a lot of ships for tiny Lerwick.

 

Then, early yesterday morning (around 7:30), there was a general announcement that they not only made in the ship's public areas but into staterooms as well. You know that is highly unusual if you are a regular Viking cruiser. It is usually only used for emergency announcements. The cruise director (a very fine fellow) came on and told us that our schedule had changed and that Venus was now docked at the pier but would not be moored there all day. We would only be there until noon. After that, we would move to the center of the harbor and use tenders to return to the ship. Until then, the morning shore excursions would leave from the pier, and there would be a shuttle bus that would go into the town until 11:00 a.m. After that, if you were in town, you would have to wait until 1:00 p.m. to take a tender back to the ship.

 

We thought, "WOW! There must be another ship coming to take our place. They must be really important to be able to kick us off the dock. And sure enough, when we went up for breakfast and could see the other side of the harbor, there was a ship anchored there, tendering passengers into the center of the town. But imagine our surprise when we discovered the other ship was the Viking Sky (thus, the photo above). The problems with coaches, piers, and docks were caused by Viking scheduling two of their ships here on the same day. And yes, there were two other ships in the harbor, both docked, but they were small Ponant ships (a French cruise line) with less than 200 passengers, so they docked at piers that neither Viking ship could fit on.

 

It was just weird. It became even stranger when, later in the day, our ship (Viking Venus) moved off the pier, and Viking Sky didn't move; they just kept on tendering. When we left yesterday afternoon, there was no one on the pier and never had been. It was just strange.

What about our day? It was pretty good. The weather cooperated (not bright and sunny, but no rain), the tour was nice, if short, and our guide was a good one. We were toured through the town and then up into the hills, where we stopped by Carol's Ponies, a Shetland pony ranch where we could get off and take photos of them. Which, of course, I did. I don't like to put people (other than those I know) into my photos, so when we go someplace like this where there are about 25 yards of fence for four busloads of people to stand next to, it can be very tough to take photos of just what I want to take pictures of...like ponies...or stones...or pretty much anything. But I did my best. Here are the results. I think the only person I got in the photos was my lovely bride Kathleen. To see the photos of the ponies (and all the other photos I will mention, please head over to my blog (no ads/no selling) at www.jimbellomoDOTcom.

 

 

After the ponies, we headed back to the ship (remember, the excursion had been shortened to an hour). When back, Kathleen headed up to our stateroom and Steve and Jamie went off to town on the shuttle bus. I walked Kathleen back to our room to get my heavier sweatshirt because the wind was blowing so hard that my windbreaker was not breaking. Then I went back down to the shuttle and took the last one into downtown Lerwick.

As I mentioned, we had been there before, and it is a photogenic town. Lots of color and history to shoot. Plus, one of our favorite British TV shows is Shetland, which is...you'll never guess...shot here in Shetland. In fact we drove by the show setting up shots for next season. And I love to take photos of places we have seen in TV and movies. Remember, we just did a Ted Lasso tour. I probably walked around Lerwick for an hour or so before I got in line for the first tender back on the ship to meet everyone for lunch. In the meantime, Venus had moved around, Sky and the two Ponant ships were right where we had left them, and we were back on board for an early sail-away. We were only staying until 3:00 p.m. because we now need the full  57 hours of sailing time to get to our next port...Honningsvåg, Norway. (Photos on the blog)

 

Lastly, on the way out of port at 3:00 p.m. I shot a few last shots as a farewell (also on the blog). We were thrilled to come back here but doubt it could happen again. In case you missed it, there were two blog posts today. That's because it's a sea day...in the North Sea. More about that tomorrow, but suffice it to say we are having some ROUGH seas. No fun for many people (not us; Kathleen has her SeaBand, and I never get seasick—this is not the case for the majority of the ship—barf bags are everywhere.)

 

 

 

We had 2 Viking ships in Tromso when doing the Midnight Sun cruise.  One was docked in town and ours was docked at a very commercial port outside town.  We actually did not mind because we wanted to visit the Northernmost Botanical Gardens at the University of Tromso and it was walking distance from the commercial port.  Viking ran a shuttle bus to/from town so we just stayed in town after the Included.  

[rizello]

Pretty cool that you were in Shetland when they were filming for the next season.  One of my favorite shows also.  I keep noodling on the idea of creating my own trip to see all of my favorite British show sites.  

[DrKoob]

46 minutes ago, rjp50 said:

Do you recall what time your ship was scheduled to sail out of Lerwick?  We have to make the same trip to Honningsvag but our posted departure is 4:00.  We have a semi-private tour scheduled and having the ship leave earlier than scheduled could be a problem.

I just checked the Daily and the sail-away was 4:00 but the back on board time was 3:00.

[DrKoob]

11 minutes ago, rizello said:

Pretty cool that you were in Shetland when they were filming for the next season.  One of my favorite shows also.  I keep noodling on the idea of creating my own trip to see all of my favorite British show sites.  

If you do, go take a look at https://britmovietours.com. They have them all.

[ssawjo]

Thank you for your blog.  Very informative.  I will be a first time Viking cruiser next year.

[rjp50]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

I just checked the Daily and the sail-away was 4:00 but the back on board time was 3:00.

Thanks.  I wish ships would publish their back on board times rather than their sail away times in their official itineraries.  It makes it very difficult to plan shore activities - especially with that large of a gap between the two times.  BTW, I checked the port of Lerwick web site which lists actual arrival and departure times and according to it, your ship departed even before 3:00.  I'm sure that everyone was on board.