CurlerRob

You’re going on your first cruise, to an area that may be variable in temperature and weather. Why stress yourself over packing? One of the beautiful things about cruising is that your hotel room moves with you - you only unpack once. Check a couple of bags (cross-packed) and take a light carry on each with emergency stuff for a few days, in the event of luggage issues. You’ll find you will take too much, but you’ll learn for the next trip without having to worry about this one. Focus on what should be a great experience - your first cruise. 🍺🥌

Welcome to CC! If you use the search function, you will find many discussions that attempt to compare pricing between cruise lines. In the end, it becomes a highly individualized answer, depending on what matters to you. For example, if you don’t drink, included alcohol at any amount can be viewed as wasted money. Or, if you always tour on your own, the inclusion of multiple included excursions is of no value. Further, sales and promotions have a huge effect and are obviously transient. To your question, there’s no consistent answer. Just look at the things that matter to you and do your personal price analysis for each cruise. 🍺🥌

Seven Seas Explorer enjoying the “scenic” cruise by the Hubbard Glacier. Tough weather day! (Taken from Viking Orion). 🍺🥌

Thanks for this. Your extensive and accurate factual comments will help others in their research. I had to chuckle about the TV noise issue. We haven’t had the issue on Viking, but our first Regent cruise was a TA in Sep/23. Our neighbours played MSNBC 24/7, at a stupid volume that made it impossible to sleep - swivel mount or not. (In fairness, this was poor behaviour, not ship design or soundproofing and stopped after a couple of complaints). If I never hear the MSNBC commercial “filler” again it’ll be too soon 😵‍💫. Of interest, Oceania’s new Vista is catching a lot of flak for the same TV bleed issue. I’d add only one item. While we’ve always had excellent crew service on each line we’ve sailed, Regent staff excelled at anticipating our needs - it verged on uncanny. 🍺🥌

I believe you are referring to Celebrity, not O. 🍺🥌

Second this and it often applies to ANY food taken off the ship. Oz, NZ, Hong Kong and Japan are all live examples with various restrictions and penalties.🍺🥌

Not all grass is greener. Oceania’s R ships have only 3 accessible cabins - all are inside cabins (Sirenia may have 2 OVs). No accessible cabins with balconies. They also have a habit of not holding them for those who actually need them. Certainly cheaper, but not without impact on the experience. 🍺🥌

You’ve been fortunate, we are 0 for 3. It’s just a tough port. Conversely, we are 2 for 2 in the Faroes, also a notorious miss. Cheers. 🍺🥌

Enjoy your trip! I hope the Shetlands are accommodating. 🍺🥌

Seems fair. 🍺🥌

I expect they will convert them to USD onboard at the time of use. We had a similar situation currently - purchased an excursion prior to sailing in CDN, then cancelled on board. The refund was applied to our onboard account, converted from the CDN price to USD. No luck on CDN $ at par, unfortunately! 🍺🥌

It’s both true and good - assuming the new trip is under the $25 deposit offer (many are). For example, in Dec/23 we booked onboard for an Antarctic trip. $25 pp deposit, $100 pp OBC. in theory, you are liable for $100 pp if you cancel (std. terms), which would neutralize the gain, but it’s not likely worth Viking’s time to chase you for the delta if that happens. In reality, most people who book onboard intend to do the trip versus clipping a few bucks, and a live booking is always better than a “maybe later” one to the cruise line.🍺🥌

I’m speculating but I don’t think a shuttle would be available for a disembarkation day. The only way there might be one is if the cruise is B2B and your disembarkation was an in-transit day for pax continuing. Even then, I don’t think you could use it. As mentioned, taxi is easy and a short trip. 🍺🥌

If your preference is to dine alone, just leave an article of clothing or a tote bag on the chair to mark it as taken, then go and get your food. For added assurance, order and receive a drink first. 🍺🥌

My personal experience is dated (2019), but I think it’s still valid. Our shuttle ran every 30 minutes, drop off was at the Harpa Conference Centre - an easy few minutes walk to the heart of downtown. You can also walk the shoreline back to the ship if the weather is good - about 50 minutes. 🍺🥌