Goosebear Mum

Yes, we do NOT pack light, and the steward has always brought us loads of hangers (I hang everything I can/can fit on the rails. On our longer cruise I also found useful: magnets for walls, to attach postcards/excursion tickets/horizon/etc/etc All general over the counter meds we may need, to save going to dr. Inc antihistamine and insect bite cream (did need it after a Caribbean beach trip for sand fly bite) We now also take medium laundry bags (the types clothes can go in, in the washing machine) and put all small items into it. Saves looking for stray socks, etc at the bottom/back of washing/dryer machines!) Enjoy the cruise. 🙂 If you enjoy art, you’ll likely find watercolour classes (for complete beginners upwards, high quality art materials are available to buy for a small (actually good value) fee if you don’t have them) and a lot of other activities which are never on shorter cruises 🙂

Viking confuses me over their use of deck 2, the “promenade” deck, as V and some passengers seem to assume now that it’s for jogging, whereas its name means it’s for walking! I’ve read a few live blogs, where passengers (who jog) have grumbled about the people actually using it for, hang on… promenading! I’ll be enjoying reading along with this thread, as I hope to do a WC when we retire.

Interesting, as dictionary definitions would not agree with p&o’s definition!

Yes, we had an ‘overnight’ in Hamburg where we actually left in the very early hours, I cannot remember when, as I was asleep, but 1am or 2am. I only found out before the cruise, as I always look up the local cruise port arrival/departure times. I do think P&O ought to make these clearer, when an overnight is not a true overnight… we don’t spend most or all of the night in port.

This is what puts me off booking a river cruise, otherwise I’d love to do them. But we just cannot face being sociable if we’re tired at the end of a long day walking around a town, etc. we just like to sit and chat to each other, eat our meal, and move on to relax somewhere.

My Garmin has a manual mode. You just have to set the time synch to manual. I’d have thought all would have a manual setting. I set mine to manual on every cruise, as I keep to ‘ship time’, in case it differs from satellite/local time.

Santa arrives at the funnel on Aurora! (Well, he has done on our previous Christmas Eve cruises!) All harmless fun which everyone got into the spirit for 🙂

I have not yet booked my first Viking cruise (I’m UK too) but yes, I certainly get (more than) my fair share of daily emails AND post! I'm afraid so far they have been binned, so I cannot share any codes with you. I’ll look at booking with Viking in a year or two, when (hopefully) the mortgage is out of the way. Till then I’m with cheaper P&O… I never realised Viking would spend so much on postal marketing…

Do Americans have a less derogatory meaning of wino? In the UK it’s used to describe those who are habitually drunk on the cheapest stuff, and are usually homeless people. Certainly not something I’d ever wish to describe someone on a cruise as….

I was wondering too.

From Googling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_(constellation) satellite). Vela Constellation List of stars in Vela Abbreviation Vel Genitive Velorum Pronunciation /ˈviːlə/, genitive /vɪˈloʊrəm/ Symbolism the Sails Right ascension 9h Declination −50° Quadrant SQ2 Area 500 sq. deg. (32nd) Main stars 5 Bayer/Flamsteed stars 50 Stars with planets 7 Stars brighter than 3.00m 5 Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) 3 Brightest star γ Vel (1.75m) Messier objects 0 Meteor showers Delta Velids Gamma Velids Puppid-velids Bordering constellations Antlia Pyxis Puppis Carina Centaurus Visible at latitudes between +30° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of March. Vela is a constellation in the southern sky, which contains the Vela Supercluster. Its name is Latin for the sails of a ship, and it was originally part of a larger constellation, the ship Argo Navis, which was later divided into three parts, the others being Carina and Puppis.

Agree, I have not understood the logic of Viking cabin layouts, the more expensive the cabin, the worse the location. It puts me off spending more!

Honestly calm down everyone. This is currently Israel and Gaza, just as elsewhere there is Yemen, Russia, Ukraine, etc. Israel and Gaza have had frequent bombings, this time it’s far far worse, but so far there is no sign of it about escalate outside of those countries. The UK (honestly, some people listen to wind up media too much) and Cyprus are currently safe. Viking will not send you somewhere unsafe, if anything changes so will the cruise. If Cyprus is ever unsafe, the whole Mediterranean and cruising will be unsafe as NATO will then be involved. .

I am in the UK, I would have no issue with Cyprus at the moment, it’s well enough away from Israel and Gaza. Personally I wouldn’t have been going to Israel for years now. Obviously it’s escalated on a massive scale, but honestly Cyprus is nothing to be concerned about. It's not yet WW3…. If anything changes, Viking will be the first to put your safety as priority.

That’s true, I was on a much smaller vessel (Akademik Ioffe), so everyone who wanted to, always had at least 2 long zodiac or long landing trips a day, occasionally 3. Everyone could be off at the same time. I’d certainly now go to Antarctica with Viking, if I could afford to, but I’d go knowing it was not ‘full expedition’ but ‘luxury expedition’, I’m possibly now of an age where I’d prefer the luxury side (!) and fewer hours a day off the ship 😉

Not with Viking obviously, as it was 2008, but when I went, it mattered not one bit whether I was in a port or starboard cabin, in fact I ended up in our outside view cabin only to sleep (no balconies on that research/icebreaker vessel.) You’ll want to be ‘up front’, ‘out back’, or ‘up top’ (!) as much as you can. Take a warm coat you can throw on with ease, for when unexpected (wildlife) sights appear.

Having been down there (in 2008) I’d still go, unless you’re really confident life wouldn’t stop you again in a year or two… It’s an amazing place, and zodiac cruising was the best. Yes I landed in the continent, but I never ever mention that, I never even think of it. It was the landscapes and wildlife which was amazing, often better from the zodiac than land. However, if I were on a Falklands/South Georgia cruise, I would think twice, as those wildlife beaches are just incredible on land. p.s. if they think it’ll help reduce bird flu, I think it’s important to restrict tourism. Some of our wildlife reserves along the NE of England have been devastated by bird flu 😞

You’ll be able to book the excursions on cruise 2 earlier 😉 I’ve read of a few instances where Viking combined bookings. There are minor advantages to customers, and a few disadvantages. One disadvantage is when someone has needed to cancel just one cruise, the whole thing got cancelled, with considerable consequences

Sorry, I’m confused. You booked two separate cruises. Viking has merged the bookings. why has this got anything to do with that one land night in between? You need to book a hotel for that night, not Viking.

Hi. After 8 years on P&O (mainly Aurora) we are thinking of trying Fred, now P&O are not really doing the routes we prefer… Trying to work our Fred’s website and some things confuse me… 1) What is the implication of the dotted blue line from the Seine back to Southampton please? I cannot find a key. Any ideas?! The itinerary doesn’t mention anything different. The itinerary talks about sailing the Seine on Dec 21st (2024) and then arriving back to Southampton on the 22nd. 2) Doing a ‘dummy’ booking for a Christmas market cruise this December, to find availability, the website only shows me an availability list of about 6 cabins for a category… I thought it suspicious, as the ones shown were all next to each other…. but if I manually search cabin numbers, others are available. How do I see a full list without having to tediously search each cabin number? (The drop down list won’t show all, just the few at the far bow, whereas one was available manually searching mid-aft). I am using an iPad, not sure if this makes a difference, and their drop down lists don’t work properly… Anyone else seen this? Many thanks GBM

Agree with Tetleys (and PG tips) but Yorkshire tea is most certainly not ‘builders tea’, it’s even owned now by Bettys, the most exquisite gentrified English tea room for afternoon tea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Tea Builders tea is cheap.

Fevertree is British hence why some of you poss have not seen it before) and tastes great, no awful artificial sweetener, etc. I've given up on Schweppes now it just tastes of sweetener. Fevertree ginger ale is delicious.

No gap showing here till April 2025 https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Aurora-648

Just saw this on BBC, hope he recovers soon.

Removal of the children’s play area, when Aurora became adult only