Heidi13

Or delayed and had to increase to max speed.

Puerto Bolivar is the only port I know of.

Jim - I recall that one. Can't remember where she got our contact details, but out of the blue this reporter contacted us, as she heard we met on a cruise ship. Don't trust reporters, so no quotes from me, but Judi was happy to chat with her. Never did see them filming aboard, as most of the onboard scenes were done on Pacific Princess. I only worked on Island and Sun.

If the itinerary is changing, my preference is to know ASAP, so I can start planning and conducting a risk analysis on the new ports, to determine my preference for private tours, or being stuck with shore-ex. On both our World Cruises, even with 25 hr days, it didn't leave much extra time for research and planning, so starting those tasks now will provide more days for researching. Hopefully, missing less current activities and providing a greater knowledge of the new ports, increasing the probability of enjoying those ports.

On completion of the Haifa/UK citrus shuttle, we also loaded a full load of tractors on Wild Auk, sailing from Antwerp to Wilmington, North Carolina. Spent the entire crossing with the other cadet walking each tween deck daily, tightening the spanish windlasses. Fortunately it was early April, not winter. One of my few TA's where we enjoyed smooth sailing.

The 2019/20 Viking World Cruise lasted 245 days R/T London, only visiting 59 countries. They did visit over 100 ports. Having been in many of the World's port, I would be surprised if 100 countries in the World had a seaport capable of even handling smaller cruise ships, and based on current events, are considered safe to visit. The RCCL 270+ night cruise is visiting 65 countries. Therefore, I am not aware of any World Cruise visiting > 100 countries and not sure if it is even possible.

That is the process on most lines that I know that use the Discretionary Service Charge. However, when the DSC is removed, if employee remuneration falls below the minimum, as per MLC, the cruise line must make up the difference, ensuring each rating receives the basic minimum wage.

Noting that you have sailed on the same ship for months and months over the past 3-yrs is irrelevant, unless you were on the same cruise as the OP. A ship is nothing more than a floating mass of steel that has minimal effect on service quality. The issues outlined by the OP are crew, or more than likely ship management issues. The Master and Dept Heads management styles and standards can significantly impact customer service, as we have experienced on a number of cruises. We have seen the Master, Executive Chef and/or Purser (Hotel GM) change mid-cruise and the atmosphere and level of service have changed, sometimes for the better, others not so much. So even if you were on an immediately prior or subsequent cruise, if the Master or a Dept Head changed, a significant change in service quality is possible. Having spent almost 30 yrs in Command of pax vessels, I have experienced this many times.

Not quite correct, as not all cruise ships will be banned from the UNESCO World Heritage fjords. It is only cruise ships emitting greenhouse gases that will be banned. Viking already has 2 ships with hydrogen fuel cells in operation, with a 3rd entering service this year. They just published 2026 itineraries and have their hydrogen fuel cell ships cruising the UNESCO fjords. Hurtigruten are also developing zero emission ships for this trade

Yes, 100 is a little on the low side, but having completed multiple day safaris in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, using up to 200 mm, it could work. In our experience, how close you get depends on the skill of your driver and the type of vehicle. I did have a doubler, but rarely found a need, preferring to maintain the f2.8 max aperture. The doubler was only used during the final hour of the AM drives and first hour of the PM drives. In both an open jeep and a closed vehicle, where you looked through openings in the roof, I was unable to use a tripod, so everything was hand held. Since all our drives were at sunrise and sunset, much was in low light, so a faster lens is as beneficial as focal length. Although it has a lower zoom, I believe the Canon has a faster lens.

You may want to consider the Canon G7X III, which is more compact

Here are some of my notes on Eden Points of Interest: · Killer Whale Museum – covers the history of whaling in Twofold Bay with – old whaling boats, various artifacts and a killer whale skeleton. Relates the story of how the locals used killer whales to catch other types of whales. Open 09:15 to 15:45 http://www.killerwhalemuseum.com.au/ · Coastal & Bush Walks: o Lake Curalo Walkway – just under 2 miles. It is north of town, with a boardwalk through a swamp. Great for spotting birds o Aslings Beach Walk – stroll along the beach from the lake to the north of town. o Cocora Beach Walk – around from the wharf, it is a pleasant stroll along the beach and around the bay. · Eden Lookout & Rotary Park – off Imlay Street about 300 yds from the wharf. Lookout over the water with picnic benches · Eden Lookout Point – great views of the bay. · Aslings Beach – nice long beach north of town · Crown & Anchor Inn – oldest local building, built in the 1840’s, then a hotel by 1845. In 1860 it was used as a telegraph office. Now restored, it is a B&B. · Eden Court House – across road from Whale Museum. Built 1857 of sandstone brought from Pyrmont, Sydney · Cocora Cottage – built in 1850 as the police station, it is next to the courthouse. Now a B&B. · Half House – a 2-storey building, it as started in 1850, but not completed. Used as a post office 1868-1885. Now a private residence. · Ben Boyd National Park – established in 1971 it is split into 3 separate sections – north 7 south of Eden and a 3rd area further north. On the coast they have beaches and rugged cliffs, while inland they have a variety of birds, kangaroos, wombats and others · Davidson Whaling Station Historic Site – on the coast south of Eden, it is about a 20 mile drive from the wharf. Established in 1857 as a family whaling business that continued to 1929. Operated by National Parks, it is mostly ruins, but they have placards, photos and illustrations of what it was like. · Boyd’s Tower – further south than the Whaling Station, it was built in 1847 as a 75’ high tower. Built from Pyrmont stone brought from Sydney. Originally designed as a lighthouse, it was never used, except as a whale spotting tower. Restaurants · Eden Fish & Chips

Affirmative, I had 1 suit and DW had a couple of outfits.

For the Antarctica portion, the Viking Expedition ships are a better option, as they are fitted with azimuthing thrusters and have superior ice classification, so can proceed through ice that minimal ice-classed ships, such as Oosterdam cannot. Having less than 500 pax, they can also land pax ashore, whereas ships > 500 pax cannot.

On the 2015 R/T Sydney WC on Sea Princess, they had about a dozen formal nights.

Just to clarify, Viator is not an independent tour operator, they are a 3rd party sales agent. May I suggest researching actual tour operators and engaging in discussions with them directly, as I expect they will be more than happy to adjust the timing of private tours.

The reason for caution is the Viking ships are not as manoeuvrable, as they only have conventional rudders (not high-lift rudders or azimuthing thrusters) and don't have overly powerful bow/stern thrusters.

Also a non-cell phone user. First computer was a Sinclair ZX81 in 1982. Came with 2K memory and you had to write everything in Basic, saving any programs written to a cassette tape.

When dealing with Starlink, other ships may not be consistent, as the speed is dependent on how many satellites are visible and at an acceptable elevation, and the amount of traffic the ship is generating. If close to shore or in port, you also share the bandwidth with shore users. Those speeds are also a fraction of our shoreside speed, as we attain about 700 mbps download and 100 mbps upload. The ping, or transmit time is also slow, as our normal is 10.

We all like to think the reduced cloxs are to enhance the pax experience. I'll suggest the primary reason is making it easier to manage the crew's hours of rest requirements, per the Maritime Labour Convention.

When considering a single wave, affirmative that is the definition of wave height - trough to crest. However, if referring to significant wave height, it averages the height of the highest 1/3 of the waves.

You need to compare apples to apples when comparing cruises. Yes, you can probably get an inside cabin on a HAL WC for $16 - 20K, but it does include port taxes, included shorex in each port, business flights, drinks, gratuities, wifi, laundry, Visas, luggage shipping, etc. Having completed World Cruises on Princess & Viking in a comparable cabin, at the end of the cruise the daily cost was identical, although the Viking base fare was double. Therefore, the base fare is meaningless when comparing cruises. You need to compare the end cost, especially on longer cruises. The OP quoted a Viking cruise and questioned how cruise lines deal with pax service when unable to reach the disembarkation port. Based on the OP, I believe our Viking experience is relevant. Purchasing trip interruption only mitigates the financial risk, which wasn't an issue for the HAL WC pax booking independent air, as HAL did reimburse them. The trip interruption insurance may not help when you are stranded in a port and not many flights are available.

As others have posted, it is entirely at the discretion of the ship's Masters. Many Masters, myself included, cannot comprehend arriving with the ship's cloxs not consistent with local time: however, others don't have an issue. Any reputable tour operator should be able to determine the ship's arrival and departure times from the local port authority.

So true, especially on World Cruises, if you can't accept the itinerary is finalised upon disembarkation, perhaps a 7-day jaunt to the Caribbean might be a better option.

The ships are generally capable of handling heavy weather, unfortunately most of today's pax not so much. When cruising in these regions, at this time of year, pax need to be aware of the potential for itinerary changes. While I haven't yet sailed with HAL, I have experienced this issue when working cruise ships and we did exactly the same as Viking did. Disembarking pax were flown on charter aircraft to the disembarkation port and embarking pax to where the ship was. Since another poster mentioned the curtailed 2020 World Cruise, I can provide a comparison to HAL & Viking customer service, as we were on the Viking World Cruise. The Viking World cruise ended in Dubai and the ship arranged and paid for return flights for all pax, regardless if they had Viking Air, or not. You were not disembarked unless you had a confirmed flight. Unfortunately, eight (8) pax could not get flights home, as the airlines shut down operations in Dubai. Since we were 2 of those 8 pax, rather than being disembarked to find hotels and our own flights, as per some of the HAL pax in Freemantle, we were kept onboard the ship for an additional 3 weeks. We eventually disembarked in Gibraltar and flew home via LHR, with a Viking escort. Similar to HAL, we received significant refunds, which were based on Dubai, so 8 pax cruised for free on a ship with 460 crew. HAL may have reimbursed some money for flights, but non-HAL Air pax were disembarked and had to find their own flights. I'll suggest Viking customer service in 2020 was vastly superior to HAL. Note - we clearly didn't personally experience the HAL WC, but did know WC pax who booked HAL Air and those that booked independent air.