Heidi13

In Tilbury you disembark into an old cargo shed, where you pick up your cases. Taxis/Ubers/Executive cars are available in the small pick-up/drop-off area right outside the cargo shed. The closest train station is about 1 mile.

While stabiliers can be fins or tanks, from what I have read, the Venture is fitted with fins that extend out from the ship. When not required, and for docking, they are folded into the hull. To be effective, the stabalisers require the ship to be moving, so I am having difficulty understanding how the reduced effectiveness of the stabilisers would impact the S Georgia landings, as the ship is stopped - anchored or holding position in DP Mode. Has to be another reason for eliminating S Georgia. Unless a stabaliser suffered contact damage, many issues can be resolved with a drydocking. We have also used divers for an increasing number of underwater repairs.

In 2020 it was called the Royal Peninsula Tour, but the itinerary you posted sounds familiar. We found this tour to be the most comprehensive of all available ship and private tours. Rather than steaming down to Dunedin, most cruise ships dock at Port Chalmers, which has a terminal building between the 2 normal cruise ship berths. We talked into the terminal and quickly found the vendor - who either had a desk or sign. Once the group arrived our guide walked us to the car and we set-off.

Since we are only about 30 miles from Canada Place, we would save the airfare. When booking Alaska, we always book a B2B. Even for other destinations, flights may be cheaper to/from Vancouver, than a flight to Vancouver, then return from Anchorage.

Brilliant photo, thanks for sharing

We did the journey in 2017 from Tower Hill, with Addison Lee charging about 55 quid. A taxi from King's Cross cost us about 20 quid. To taxi from the hotel to Fenchurch Street, train fare and taxi to Tilbury was going to be 40 - 45 quid. Rather than lugging bags in/out of taxis and onto the train, which has minimum storage, the additional 10 - 15 quid for an executive car was definitely worth it. To use the train to Tilbury, you need to get from Kings Cross to Fenchurch Street, so either a Hackney Cab or the Tube. The Tube is not fun with bags. Based on previous experience, a taxi from King's Cross cou;d be 20 - 25 quid to Fenchurch St Stn.

Rob - no worries, as that's how we found out who owns it, as DS can't tell us.

Having crossed the Pacific many times, I have seen everything from flat calm to 75'+ seas, so impossible to predict. Provided you do not encounter any storms, you should experience the NE Trade winds a day or so out of SF, which when everything is equal are about 15 - 20 kts. Outbound they are abaft the beam, which creates minimal wind over the deck, but inbound are added to the ship's speed for the relative wind over the decks. Ocean weather forecasting is available from all National Associations - we mostly used the UK Met Office for world wide weather, the USA has NOAA and Canada has Environment Canada. Lots of people prefer 3rd party websites such as windy.

Having completed 20+ transits with P&O/Princess, when you consider all the ships transiting the canal, I certainly wouldn't consider them the best. Possibly a step up from NCL, but a considerable distance from the best. The Emerald is a Super Grand Class, which added an extra deck of cabins to the Grand Class of ships, so they have an additional 500 pax in the same public spaces. With a Grand Class hull, she is post-Panamax, so must use the "New" locks. Don't know the NCL ships, so can't comment on whether they are Panamax or post-Panamax.

Haha!! I suspect most on here haven't a clue about the "Ashes". I recall being on the 2015 World Cruise, out of Australia, when the 2015 series was played. With 90% Australian pax, I was slightly in the minority. Mind you, after the 5th match, i had the bragging rights, even though I am from north of hadrian's wall. The "Ashes" is a test series of 5 cricket matches played between England & Australia, every 2 years. Who needs entertainment, the good natured ribbing was highly entertaining, especially after the disaster of the 1st test.😁

Affirmative Rob, we're just not supposed to mention who owns it. Chartering is a cool 4 mil per week, with food/fuel extra. Sadly, we wouldn't get a discount😁

Jim - when you get to St Kitts, check out our son's little yacht, the almost 400' Ahpo. They anchored at the south end of St Kitts this morning, after departing St Martin, where they were docked next to Viking Neptune.

If leaving early morning, I'll pack the night before, otherwise, I start day of departure. Never needed any lists.

Last time we cruise out of Tilbury, we stayed at the Travelodge Tower Hill. I priced and considered the convenience issues with bags on the train, with taxi to Fenchurch Stn and taxi to Tilbury. We booked an executive car from Addison Lee, which was only marginally more expensive than the train/taxi option and way more convenient with door to door service. If coming down day of cruise, you could book a car from King's Cross straight to Tilbury.

Chief - definitely much easier than installing just the windows. Took us more than 1-day to install each 4' x 8' window. Since they also had a number of cabin bulkhead failures, I figured they may purchase replacement pre-fabricated cabins and replace the cabins and windows at the same time. Crop the shell plating, remove the damaged cabins, then crane and slide new cabins in place. Then replace the shell plate with windows already installed. A quality yard might be capable of completing that scope in 1-week, with additional days needed on the inside, once the ship sailed. Right now the ship operates in the Great Lakes during the summer, then a Longitudinal World Cruise down to Ushuaia. Finding a shipyard could be interesting, unless they take the ship up to the Arctic one summer and use a European yard. Thoughts?

Affirmative, she is probably bound for Fournier Bay

Just read Seabourn's newest tonnage, the Seabourn Venture, has stabaliser issues, with the stabalisers operating at reduced capacity. Not a safety issue, but definitely a pax comfort issue. Will be interesting to see how Seabourn, who are owned by Carnival, deal with this issue and whether pax are notified in advance. Haven't checked the Seabourn Board, but might be worth checking out.

I'll suggest the Deck Officer picked the wrong destination in the AIS, as her ETA shows 19th December. Probably meant to select Fournier Bay, Antarctica. Greece would also not be a country known for quality ship repair. The ship received temporary repairs in Punta Arenas, welding steel plate over the damaged windows, as it could be months to receive replacement windows. I believe the ship embarked pax today, commencing the next scheduled cruise.

If the self-drive option is of interest, rather than finding a complete package, which similar to the Rocky Mountaineer, restricts you to their schedule, I suggest picking up a 1-way car hire and planning your own route through the Rockies, at your schedule. Many of the car hires will rent you a GPS, if it isn't built into the car. The previous reply suggested taking the Trans-Canada, which runs from Vancouver to Calgary, a distance of 600 miles. As a local, unless you want to complete it in 1 or 2 days, this isn't great advice, as I suggest avoiding most of the Trans-Canada, enjoying more scenic roads. From Vancouver, rather than taking the motorway (Trans-Canada), take Hwy 7, through Maple Ridge, Mission, stopping at Harrison Hot Springs. They have a very nice hotel, if you only want to travel a short distance. Continue on Hwy 7 to Hope, then pick up Hwy 3 (Hope-Princeton). Goes through a Provincial Park and a couple of towns. It's worth a short stop in Keremeos to check out the fruit stands. Suggest looking for a hotel in Osoyoos or Oliver, which are at the bottom of the Okanagan, BC's premier wine region. If you enjoy wine, you can easily spend a few days in the Okanagan, up to Kelowna. I would probably stay a night in Kelowna. From Kelowna, you can head North to the Trans-Canada, but I'll suggest crossing the lake and heading back south to Hwy 3, through Grand Forks and Christina Lake to Castelgar, where you can find another hotel. Rather than staying on Hwy 3, Hwy 3A via Nelson is another option, which crosses Kooteney Lake on a free ferry, then down to Creston, where you could find another hotel. From Creston, my next stop would be Fairmont Hot Spring/Radium Hot Springs, where another hotel stop is available. Check out the hot springs. You next stops could be Lake Louise, then Banff and then follow the Trans-Canada to Calgary. If you have the time, you can also drive up to Jasper National Park, which is about 150 miles north of Lake Louise. While this route has more distance than the direct drive to Calgary, each day is only 100 to 200 miles. We drove to Manitoba last summer, without taking the caravan, so we pre-booked hotels, with daily drives on 400 - 500 miles.

Haven't heard anything, but I have always thought they should provide the WC benefits, especially if booking the Auckland to Vancouver. I have been watching the Longitudinal World Cruises and about 4 - 6 weeks ago they added the WC Benefits to these. I believe the offer expires today, so will be interesting to see if they are continued and also if they are provided when they post the 2024 sailings.

In this port we have done the following tours: - Zip line, which if memory is correct could be Monteverde, as it was about 1 hr from the pier. This was about 20 yrs ago and you had to use a gloved hand on the wire above to control speed at the end of each run. This may have changed to a more normal operation now - Jungle Canopy walk - walking through the jungle on elevated platforms. Also about 1 hr from pier - Tarcoles River and Crocodile cruise - San Jose, little less than 2 hrs each way and then drove by or stopped at the usual sights and markets.

Can't comment on Denali, as all my trips to Alaska, I was either working, or cruising R/T from Vancouver to Whittier. However, if you opt for the Rocky Mountaineer, may I suggest also checking out local options, such as hiring a car or a small motorhome. The Rocky Mountaineer is prohibitively expensive and comes as a fixed package. With a car or small motorhome, you can see more of the Rockies and continue through to Calgary, flying home from there. Even with a small motorhome, the mountain driving is easy, as I have completed many thousands of miles with our F-350/450 dually and a 41' trailer. The small motorhomes are built on the same chassis as my truck, so not that big.

I would be concerned with the laws in a number of the countries you are visiting, which have restrictions on many drugs and medications. Without checking my spreadsheet, some of them include - Singapore (severe penalties), Vietnam, Indonesia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and probably Egypt & Jordan. You also need to be aware that you don't have to take them ashore to be in violation, as having them in your cabin, you have imported them once the ship enters the territorial waters of another country. While the potential of being found in your cabin is low, the penalties are harsh, long prison terms to a death sentence. Therefore, I suggest leaving them at home.

Char - I'll suggest waiting until January to save you some work, as most of us are probably really busy with Christmas activities at present.

Many TA's will provide some form of reward for booking a cruise with them, which comes out of the commission paid by the cruise line to the TA. While most cruise lines don't have a policy restricting the extent of the gift, Viking does. For your 90+ day grand voyage, based on the Viking policy, your TA is limited to providing a maximum of $500 pp OBC, or other benefits. While Viking limit the maximum, it is entirely at the discretion of the TA, whether they provide any OBC. Individual TA's will provide this from the commission paid to them from Viking, whereas, our TA works for a national agency, who provide OBC from their promotional budget. For longer cruises, our TA provides the maximum permitted by Viking, but for a short 1 week cruise, I wouldn't request OBC. To move forward, I suggest explaining to your TA, that you are not looking for OBC from Viking, you are requesting OBC from your TA, in accordance with the limits imposed by the Viking policy. I would be very surprised that an experienced TA is not aware of the Viking policy. For your reference, if your TA indicates no knowledge, here is a link to the policy https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/terms-conditions/advertising-and-commissions-policy.html#:~:text=Travel Agents may not advertise,similar booking with Travel Agent.