Tsunami74

2 hours ago, GMIAC said:

I like the buses that have the side entrance that's 2/3 of the way back. Easy to exit first if you're back there.

Agree unless the people from the front start crowding in. 

Once that happened, and a person from front but near the back exit blocked access from back while her large whole group who were sitting in front exited.  By the time we could get off, the guide had walked away with a group since she saw no one else exiting at front.

15 hours ago, frantic36 said:

🤣Good to know I might find like minded deviants onboard Regent. My husband and I always go to the back of the bus.

1 hour ago, GMIAC said:

 

We like to sit in the back with the Bad Kids too.  😄

We certainly do not mind going to the back of the bus.

Only problem is, after disembarking, being last in line for the woman's room!

Very very rarely on a bus tour, the guide will say "we will unload from the back to front" Whohoo to all those who pushed to get on first.

1 hour ago, Scout16 said:

I can add that as far as luggage goes, there have been times when we have to verify that our luggage is present before it is loaded and before we are allowed to board the bus.  I guess that this is a safety heck to make sure that no luggage is left behind.  

We have had this happen also.

As you queue to get on bus, you pointed out your pieces, and they then loaded them. 

Rarely, but can happen.

Adding to above, sometimes you are told to go to lobby at a certain time, sometimes there is a room set up with seats and (very) light refreshments like water, coffee, perhaps cookies. By then, your luggage will have been picked up.

Sometimes you are given a time to put luggage in hall - this is usually during the late evening.  Sometimes you are to leave near the door inside room - this is usually in the morning while most would be at breakfast.

There is limited room to bring a carry on type bag along with you if you must.

Sometimes the buses run like clock work.  Sometimes it is disjointed - was the last time in NYC!

(These are not all on Viking, and I am not sure that Viking goes to these)

St Petersburg

Bora Bora

Singapore

The first two are the only two places we have been (out of many) that people around us actually gasped at the beauty/grandeur around us.

Does anyone know if there is poker available in the casino?

Tournaments, tables?

15 minutes ago, RELS said:

 

Chickens don't get hormones. They do get antibiotics. Other animals (beef and dairy cattle) definitely get hormones.

So I guess my brand advertising hormone and antibiotic free is just marketing?

I read somewhere that it's partly the hormones given that make the chickens so much bigger than they were in 1950's

11 hours ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

“The chef who conducted the Culinary Arts classes spoke about all of the preservatives in American food as opposed to European diets.”

 

I think this has a great deal to do with our general health, along with exercise and portion control, of course.
 

I really wonder which side the FDA is on when they allow so many more chemicals and additives and terrible oils, etc. in American food compared to what is allowed in Europe. You would almost think they are hand in hand with big pharma to be sure we stay unhealthy.  🙄

It pains me to see what we feed our children compared to what kids in Europe eat.

 

 

What particularly alarms me is how in USA they are permitted to feed chickens (and other animals) hormones and antibiotics even if they are not sick to get them to grow faster.

So our children are consuming hormones and antibiotics with ever chicken nugget.

I pay the premium for chicken supposedly without hormones and antibiotics, but most don't, and I am pretty sure restaurants do not.

15 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

You will have to run the gauntlet of t-shirt hawkers at the end of your tour (unless you sidestep them).

 

Staying on board would be unthinkable to me. 🍺🥌

Was a memorable trip and agree "Staying on board would be unthinkable"

This was a true gauntlet as we were leaving.

I had intended to buy some toy komodo dragons for our grand children. I know they are probably plastic and made in China, but they would be a komodo bought on Komodo Island.

However with the  clamoring and pushy people foisting merchandise at you, we just hurried on back to the dock.

I felt very bad for the locals because no one seemed to be buying, just hurrying past. I just wish they were not so aggressive, and more would be sold. 

We were on the post cruise tour of Singapore last February also.

We had an overnight in Singapore before disembarkation.  There was offered a Singapore at night excursion.  If available, do not miss! It was awesome.

The Singapore Flyer, river cruise and China town at night were incredible. 

We took the river cruise during the day also. It was nice, but the views from the river at night of the lighted high rising buildings were spectacular. 

We had a problem with Manage This Booking a few years ago.

Back then we had Mike Moore who  (although he was wonderful) could not figure out the problem with using my PC or phone - it worked on my husband's, so we still had some access. He was baffled. 

A friend said to switch my search from on Google to Duck Duck Goose.  

This worked on any device.

7 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

Happy to help, as there seems to be a lot of confusion on the subject - not just here but in the media generally.

 

 

Absolutely correct.

 

EES biometric data can only be captured by an EU border guard

What about flying from USA to UK through Iceland. Neither our start or destination is schengen, but our transit airport is in Reykavik.

Do you think we would need to obtain the EES to just fly through the airport? That would probably make us miss our flight to UK.

7 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

Happy to help, as there seems to be a lot of confusion on the subject - not just here but in the media generally.

 

 

Absolutely correct.

 

EES biometric data can only be captured by an EU border guard

What about flying from USA to UK through Iceland. Neither our start or destination is schengen, but our transit airport is in Reykavik.

Do you think we would need to obtain the EES to just fly through the airport? That would probably make us miss our flight to UK.

2 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Please read the links in post #15

No one will need to get an EES. It is a process that will happen at the border crossing and your biometric data will be collected.

 

 

I have read it.

The site doesn't answer my question - is transit through an airport a "border crossing"?

If so, we would have to reconsider our flight due to the predicted long ques would make us miss our connecting flight (we have about 2 hours)

On 8/20/2024 at 3:17 AM, fruitmachine said:

 

 

But the main purpose of EES is to record entry and exit electronically in a single EU-wide database rather than  distributed across millions of passports with no more than a series of rubber stamps in them.  

Does anyone know (I cannot find it on any information web) if Americans will need to have EES when transporting through an airport in a Schengen country and not leaving the airport.

We plan to fly to UK through Reykavik in July. We will not stay in Iceland.

Iceland would be our first  Schengen country, and if we have to que to apply we probably would miss our connection.

Does anyone know if you would need EES for a connecting flight through a Schengen country - not leaving airport?

As Americans, we know that we will eventually need to get EES and ETIAS

My concern is that as far as I can tell by looking at the official web site, the EES application will be handled during our FIRST crossing into a Schengen.

This is what concerns me as the first time that we will be crossing into a Schengen country will be when we are flying through the Reykavik airport to a cruise only in UK next July.

We will not be staying in Iceland.

Would we still need to apply for EES at the airport which might make us miss our connection?

12 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

The nice thing about multiple trips on Viking is that you keep “discovering” things. On our last trip, with many sea days, I “discovered” the cooking classes. On one of our trips, I “discovered” the Hide…and that it was a great place to hear about previous trips taken by our lectures and guests, while enjoying a glass of wine. Always something new.

What is the "Hide"?

(Not on Viking, but on Regent) Next year will be the third year in a row that we are doing a trans Atlantic cruise to see Madeira and the Azores again.  We loved those places and about the only way to visit is on a ship. Did you ever hear about the airport in Madeira?

The start and ending of the cruises varied but all stopped at Azores (2 ports) and Madeira.

8 hours ago, minotaur said:

 

I don't have a problem with Regent cutting back on the ticket paperwork/packaging. 

 

However they don't seem interested in cutting back on expensively produced marketing material which we receive (x 2) on an almost daily basis!

We just received our packet for a Viking cruise next month.

Along with the luggage tags with cabin #, it had their iconic red leather Viking luggage tags. We like them and use them.

I always thought this was the most effective (and possibly economical) way to market.

More than once when retrieving our bags at baggage return someone has said something like "OH? Viking - do you like them?" With tags on luggage you are reaching people who are traveling already and certainly a target audience.

Our (not as visible) gray Regent tags are getting worn so we will probably be going on our next Regent cruise with red Viking tags since Regent no longer provides them and misses out on that advertising/marketing.

3 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Nicely said CDN.  I would add that our bodies don't last forever and there comes a time when unpleasant choices abound.  I like to tell people I have enjoyed wearing this body out....

I agree with Jim Avery's words and  that CDN was spot on.

This is why I continuously tell people to go while they can!

Don't put off what you want to do because you never know when your mobility will limit you too much. "Someday" may never come then.

On 8/10/2024 at 9:39 AM, uktog said:

We must be the only people who want to see those two shows!  

We would too! (ABBA and Beatles)

Unless you go on a Viking cruise frequently, you wouldn't be seeing so much.

I know their music, but sure do not remember the show from one or  two years ago.

We listen to the Beatles album 1 all the time.

19 hours ago, Gcto said:

Restaurants in the hotel are quite pricy and if you don't have reservations you might be out of luck or getting a rushed service. The Indian restaurant in the basement is quite good, but then...you are in Japan and should try local cuisine. 

 

True, but when we are in a "foreign" city for a few days we like to try an ethnic restaurant to see how it is compared to what we expect in America.  It's fun to see.

For example, after a few days in Singapore this spring we went to an "Italian" restaurant.  Oddly, the prevalent taste in spaghetti bolognese is rosemary! Different.

44 minutes ago, Gcto said:

we did the post cruise and the weather was...very rainy. Guides were hit and miss. First day we had a guide who was overwhelmed by a group of 30 "mature" people. Spent most of his time counting us, making us stand in groups of 3 (so counting was easier), etc. Other guide changed program times without communicating much.  

 

We are doing a post also.  Hope none of your experiences will repeat on ours. Can't pick weather though.

38 minutes ago, Gcto said:

ah, you must have had our butler 🙂  He wanted canape reservations in the morning, when I asked him around 11, he told me that it was too late, but I could ask room service later. I did...and guess what...he was the one delivering it. Thought this was weird...

 

Do all butlers want your canape order in the morning?

On 8/7/2024 at 5:56 AM, forgap said:

The Tokyo pre cruise is very underwhelming.  I think it is a way to get guests to Tokyo prior to sailing. 

 

 

On 8/10/2024 at 9:27 AM, Lady Meer said:

Agree, it was very underwhelming and disappointing.

Could anyone elaborate why it was underwhelming and disappointing. (i.e. too many people, too fast/slow, didn't go to good places??)