OneSixtyToOne

Excursions not being available refers to optional excursions. I have not heard of anyone being unable to book an included excursion. Some optional excursions are in high demand and if possible, additional tours will be added (I've already seen this on our upcoming cruise for the Sorento & Pompeii excursion). Sometimes adding additional tours is not possible because of the nature of the tour. For example, The Alhambra restricts the total number of guests allowed per day by all cruise lines so Viking is limited to a single bus. Similar restrictions may also apply to their "Privileged Access" tours. Lack of qualified tour guides has been a big issue post-COVID. A lot of them found other jobs. Dining is much ado about nothing. Our last cruise had no advanced reservations available but we were able to book as soon as we boarded. They were actually not allowing additional reservations on the first day to give an opportunity to those who had not yet reserved a table. On our upcoming cruise there are no tables for two but we are able to book a table where we will be seated with other pax. I'm sure once onboard we can change our reservation get a table for 2, if not it's an opportunity to meet new people (something I really enjoy about river cruising). With the COVID restrictions waning, they are opening up more tables to the advance reservation system.

Besides a discount on the cruise you book, you’ll get an onboard credit for your current cruise (which can only be used before you disembark, but it can be used for gratuities).

It all depends on the the airline. I’ve yet to have to pay for the first bag on an international flight. However some regional carriers will assign free seats at check-in only and to get an advanced seat assignment, you have to pay. This happened recently on the Florence to Munich leg of our last trip. It was only serviced by Air Dolomiti (Lufthansa codeshare) and I had to pay $25 for an advanced seat reservation. If you fly on the same major carrier all the way, bag and advanced seat assignment will be free.

Silk has low colorfastness, so while it can be dyed with natural colors, it will fade fast. That's why chemical dyes are used. https://www.hunterlab.com/blog/improving-colorfastness-in-silk-products-via-spectrophotometric-color-measurement/#:~:text=However%2C silk is also one,and has notoriously low colorfastness.

That explains a lot. I’ve noticed many hotel changes mentioned on this forum. I guess travel is back and hotel space is at a premium.

In Turkey I learned that silk won’t take a natural dye. If it’s real silk and it has any color other than the cocoon, a chemical dye has been used.

From our roll call post. They quote the Hilton. https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2872312-viking-sky-mediterranean-odyssey-april-2-2023-venice-to-barcelona/?do=findComment&comment=64622903

We’re been to Venice before. The reason we chose the pre-extension is for the convenience of transportation to the ship as well as baggage handling. I also want at least a day buffer in case there are flight delays. Currently getting to the ship on your own will cost somewhere around $200 or more.

The Hilton is on a canal in the Giudecca district. The Marriott is on an isolated private island with absolutely no view of anything. From the map it looks way longer than 15-20 minutes.

Another post script… Here are the videos of the silk spinning demonstration in Turkey. FullSizeRender.MOV IMG_9868.MOV And yes, we bought a rug.

The WMD23 code is now on the main page of Viking Ocean but it doesn’t appear to work for any cruise on the page. https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/search-cruises/index.html

After booking our excursions for our upcoming Mediterranean Odyssey cruise a new invoice was generated. I noticed the hotel of our pre-cruise extension has been changed from the Hilton Molino Stucky to the JW Marriott. It appears it is inconveniently located on a private island close to the Lido. Has anyone stayed there? How long is the boat ride to San Marco?

Glad you had a great day at Delphi. It’s truly an incredible site.

When you upload the picture, a cropping frame of the correct size appears so you can center the photo.

Visit the San Diego Zoo

It seems to be based on the ship/itinerary. I never saw any on the Sky last month.

Higher and fore and aft have more movement, lower center less. All cabins within a class are the same with some minor exceptions. This blog has a section on cabins to avoid as well as an overview of all the cabins.

All DV balconies are listed as the same size but the aft ones have the glass angled away so you have more leg room when seated. In essence the deck is larger. We have another aft DV1 booked on our next cruise. I find the wake mesmerizing to watch. We had drinks outside on the weather permitting sail away days. In the South Pacific I can picture room service and a leisurely brunch on the veranda during sea days. You’ll love it.

Yes, cocktails were $9.50.

That PDF is old and does not reflect the current pricing I experienced last week on the Sky

I just came across a video about a new board game that deals with 13th century Tuscan politics and warfare. Even if you have no interest in board games, the historical background provided gives a great perspective for anyone planning on visiting Tuscany. Description of the game Inferno: You thirsted for blood, now drink your fill. -Dante Tuscany, 1259. As wealth from crafts and foreign trade elevated northern Italy's urban families above the landed lords, rivalries within and among their cities hardened into conflict between two great parties. Ghibellines aligned with the Hohenstaufen imperial dynasty that ostensibly ruled Italy, while Guelphs backed rival imperial claimants and the greatest challenger to each Emperor's authority, the Pope. Should any faction gain advantage, others coalesced to resist. The comuni (republics) of Firenze (Florence) and Siena dominated inland Tuscany at the head of these competing alliances. As Guelphs sealed their control of the populous Firenze, Ghibelline Siena turned to Hohenstaufen King Manfredi of Sicily for reinforcement. Local rebellions and reprisals escalated on each side, as political exiles stirred the pot. After Manfredi dispatched German knights to protect his loyal Tuscans, Firenze mustered its people and allies to march on Siena, which responded with its own great army. Pisa and Lucca, Lombardia and Orvieto joined in. Guelph and Ghibelline in September 1260 at last faced off en masse in the center of Tuscany, at Montaperti—the result, a bloody Florentine defeat. But when Ghibelline exiles returned as masters of Firenze, its Guelphs rallied to Lucca and Arezzo, portending an eternal conflagration.

One additional post script, the Viking Sky was selected to pilot a project to provide a select number of “Leisurely” included tours, similar to the “gentle walker” tours offered by Viking River cruises.

Here was the embarkation day schedule on the Sky from our Jan 17th cruise.

Someone bring on their own hairdryer?

Day 17 - “I woke up high over Albuquerque on a Jet to the Promised Land” - Chuck Berry We departed the villa for the last time at 5:30 AM to make our 8:00 flight. Florence airport is small but you are forced to walk a serpentine gauntlet of shops to get to your gate. From the gate you are bussed to the tarmac to board. It was a short one hour flight over the Alps to Munich by a regional carrier. Munich is a great airport. It’s new, clean, spacious, and not crowded. Passport control took less than a minute. We then had a bite to eat before boarding our plane. No chance to use our extra Euros BTW. It’s all plastic. If you have the opportunity to transfer in Munich, go for it. The flight home was easy. Flight was not full and no one sat in the 3rd seat. Guy behind us was coughing, no mask, and not covering his mouth so of course I’ve come down with something. Took a COVID test and it’s negative, so just a run of the mill cold. Feeling much better today Here are a few odds and ends as well as random thoughts to wrap up this thread. After we returned, DW found the menu for our lunch at La Parrina. At one of our lunches in Tuscany, we had a marvelous Caprese salad with luscious ripe tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella drizzled in extra virgin olive oil and herbs. I mention this because one of the biggest disappointments of the trip was the one I had at Manfredi’s. It was three large portions of mozzarella with two cherry tomatoes cut into thirds, basically cheese and no salad. There was actually more tomato in the focaccia bread than the caprese, a fact I pointed out to the waiter and asked to pass along to the chef. Caprese without large slices of tomato is an abomination! During one of Peter LaSorsa’s don’t miss lectures, he mention one of his favorite restaurants in Naples that uses artisanal pasta from a 15th century recipe. All the top restaurant in the world use it. DW ordered some and it just arrived. Looks like I’m cooking my family’s special sauce this weekend. Overall I give this trip an A. Off season in the Mediterranean seems to be a great time of year to go. The weather is always unpredictable but we had only 2 days where rain was a factor. The seas were a little rough but that can happens on any cruise. The best part were the lack of crowds, especially in places like Crete where Viking was the only ship in port. The Classic Greece extension was great for us first timers to Greece. The Tuscany extension was also great but be aware that time in Florence is very limited. We previously spent four days there and it still wasn’t enough time to see everything. It did give us a chance to visit the outlying areas and the opportunity to sample all the great good and wine Tuscany has to offer. It makes me want to return, which BTW, we will be doing in April when we take the Mediterranean Odyssey cruise.