Heidi13

Affirmative, Zharko is on the Expedition Ships, last I heard. Now married and has a new baby. Just saw a photo of the baby this morning.

Worst I experienced was just West of Hawaii when we were heading to Japan. Had to "Hove to" for a couple of days, which means head into the wind and steam at the minimum speed to maintain steering. Over the time we were hove-to, we lost 30 miles. Very few crossings are that bad. Provided you don't experience a frontal depression, you have the trade winds behind you outbound and right ahead on the return. If you get the trade winds, they normally max out about 25 kts.

Yes, it is one of the berths used by the shipyards working out of the Graving Dock, which is why I noted if it was available. Should be long enough whereas the South Berth is definitely not long enough. Would definitely require planning. Can't think of anywhere else around Victoria that can handle a 1.000' cruise ship. Being anchored off Brotchie Ledge, tendering into Ogden Point can also be tough if the wind is blowing.

It is clearly written in the Terms & Conditions of the credit card, so how is that a loop hole. As with any insurance, it pays to read and understand the T&C, especially the exclusions. Sure pays to be an informed consumer.

Made the crossing a number of times, every one is different.

You can hear the announcements on a channel on the cabin telly, but pax have no way of configuring which area(s) of the ship receive P/A announcements. The zone(s) are selected at the control station, prior to hitting the transmit button.

Also from the North, but the North Wet Coast, where we are thankfully rid of that horrible white stuff and freezing temperatures. Just sitting down, enjoying a pleasant hazy Milkshake IPA, prior to dinner.

The OP asked about booking last minutes deals, which I assume means they are looking for the deals provided by mega ships to fill the remaining cabins. I'm having difficulty understanding why employee, relative & TA pricing is relevant, as even if they were available, it wouldn't be to the general public. BTW - at least on the cruise line I know, the relative cruises are not just available to last minute bookings. The reason you can't find these, is you need to either work for the cruise line, or have a family member/friend that works for the cruise line. The fare rules also require non-disclosure, hence the reason they are not normally discussed.

Correct, shipyard can't build anything unlawful, as the design/build specs issued by the owner will have boilerplate text - such as in accordance with all International, National and Class Rules, etc. While local governments can implement health and safety regulations for shipyards, the design rules for commercial ships in most countries are managed by the Classification Societies. Even before I retired, all plan approval had been delegated from Flag (Government) to Class (Classification Society) in Canada, and we were one of the later countries to delegate. Class must still follow national standards, but they are driven by International Conventions.

Unfortunately the size of the ship is not a major influence on seakeeping abilities, case in point being the first, or an early RCCL gigantic of the sea class being damaged during the delivery to North America. Of all cruise ships currently operating, QM2 has the best sea keeping ability and she isn't the biggest. Also the liners I worked on were smaller than the Viking ships, but could handle the seas better than any current ship. Have completed a World Cruise on a Viking ship, which included 2 Tropical Revolving Storms and a significant frontal depression. The ship handled the seas very well. Another consideration is the vast improvement in forecasting and weather routing advice the Masters receive. So even if you do experience a significant frontal depression, if the Master has time, they can miss the worst. BTW - in addition to seeing numerous storms in the Atlantic, I have also 1 crossing when it was a millpond.

Totally agree, as I'm always out on Deck when visiting the glaciers.

Both piers at Ogden Point can handle 4 ships. Not the best arrangement, but if the North Wall in Esquimalt is available, the 5th ship could go there. It isn't a DND berth, being operated by Public Works.

Depends on where you want to cruise and if you require Visas, flights, etc.

Thanks for the update, which confirms my assumptions in post # 9

If you are referring to the CFAR available from the Tripmate insurance sold by Viking, it does not provide a refund. If your reason for the cancellation is not a covered risk, as noted in Part B of the policy administered by Tripmate, Viking only issue Future Cruise Credits, under the CFAR, and those are only valid for 12 months. To get any refund, you must submit the claim to Tripmate, with the required very extensive supporting documentation, proving the reason is one of the covered risks and it isn't included as one of the exclusions. In our experience, we have waited 3 - 6 months from submission of claims to being paid.

That ticks me off as well, as I already have 2 passports. Even if I was eligible for another one, I don't want one. About a year ago, while talking to the management types in the L/A Office, I brought this to their attention, but as expected they didn't address the issue.

Shipbuilders only build what the owner's order. Nuclear is not happening in the commercial industry due to huge cost and few if any have the training. Alternatives are now appearing, but it isn't nuclear, especially when the hull isn't grey.

You bet, at least 8 hrs every day looking out the Bridge windows.

I spent 2 seasons cruising out of Vancouver to Alaska and I can assure you it does NOT matter. When outside the narrow channels you are so far off the coast that mostly all you see is tops of mountains and also much of it is at night. Since I worked on the Bridge, I saw all the scenery on both sides and knew how far offshore we were.

My excuse for planning cruises and RV trips is that I am a Navigator and we don't leave port without having a detailed plan on getting to the next port. When cruising, when you have limited time in port, planning in advance helps to maximise the benefits of limited time. Even having been in most ports at least once before, I still want to maximise what we see. When pulling a 41' 16,500 lb trailer, you only hit a dead end once and have to back up a considerable distance, before you plan, plan and plan again.

The Carnivalisation of Cunard started in the late 1990's, about 5 yrs before they purchased P&O Cruises. I never worked for Cunard, but did work for P&O and know many of the P&O Captains that also served on the Cunard ships. At one time the Commodore and Captains/Staff Captains on QM2 were all from P&O. Jim has extensive Cunard experience and when we compare, P&O was just slightly below the Cunard standards. Sadly P&O today is but a shadow of the once great cruise line and I have no doubt Cunard is the same. If your first Cunard cruise was only 4 years ago, the Carnivalisation process was well advanced and while still better than Carnival/NCL, etc. it would be a shadow of the incredible service that Jim experienced in the 60's. Back in those days the waiters were exemplary, completing flawless "Silver Service"

You are making an incorrect assumption that the cruise lines save money when they cancel a port. Yes, they save money on dock fees, pilot fees and longshoremen fees, but they also subject to a number of additional costs, some of which include: - Bunkers: since the ship is now at sea, in addition to burning fuel for the hotel load, it is also burning additional fuel for propulsion. You are aware that bunkers are the largest operational cost - Meals: since pax and crew didn't get ashore, more meals and drinks are consumed onboard - Shore-ex: they save the cost of the included shore-ex, which are cheap basic tours, but they lose all the profit from the more expensive optional shore-ex. On cruise ships, shore-ex revenue is one of the highest revenue streams. - Crew changes: most ports have some crew joining and leaving, so flights, hotels and schedules must be reworked, often at additional costs. May also end up paying 2 crew members for a single position, until the next port. Entertainers: changes in ports also require changes to their contracts and travel arrangements, with additional costs. - Stores: these are shipped many weeks in advance from Germany in containers to a specific port. If stores were due in that port, hopefully the container arrives in sufficient time to be sent to another port. Additional shipping costs are incurred shipping to a new port. Worse case scenario is the container is written off. - Bunkering: if the ship had purchased bunkers in the cancelled port, they may face significant costs getting the bunkers at an alternate port. - Critical part/technicians: these are often sent to ships, so again additional costs result from changing delivery of parts and/or technicians.

After the incident, the Engineering Dept will draw up a scope of work required to return the vessel to full operations. This scope of work falls within the owner's insurance coverage, so will be issued a specific tracking number to capture all costs, regardless of when the work is completed. On reviewing the full scope, they will determine lead time for materials, which in this case includes multiple windows and most likely a number of entire cabins, which are built in factories off-site. The windows must be Class rate for fire, so in my experience when replacing windows, replacing just the glass was not an option. We had to replace the entire unit, which had to include Flag and/or Class rating. Therefore, a number of materials are clearly long lead items, so they could not return the entire ship to full operations in the short term. To return the ship to operations, with temporary repairs, the Engineering Dept develop a plan to ensure the ship is returned to full Class, or a condition of Class, if so issued to the Master. Class will approve the temporary repair plans. When the ship was out of service for a cruise they simply welded steel plate over the damaged windows and probably did weld testing and hose tests to ensure it was secure and watertight. The damaged cabins remain out of service when the ship resumed operations. So yes, the ship has been operating without being fully repaired, but it was repaired to the extent that it is safe to operate. If my memory is correct, the repairs completed in Chile, resulted in the vessel returning to full Class, so the Master was not issued a Condition of Class prior to departing the shipyard.

Please note that I never determined the Tripmate coverage on private excursions, as with the Tripmate medical insurance being so low, we take out an additional emergency medical policy from a local broker before we depart. With our first Viking cruise, no local or online broker would cover the risk, so we had to purchase the Tripmate plan, if we wanted to insure the risk. However, we only used it for trip interruption, delay, cancellation, etc.

Totally agree. While the ships are definitely of a Scandinavian design and their core operation is based in Europe, the majority of their marketing is US based. We have somewhat similar experience in Canada in that we have no Canadian sales office, having to suffer dealing with the LA Office.