CDNPolar

We are already booked with friends on Across the Bay of Bengal for March of 2025. It is our tenth wedding anniversary cruise and friends have committed, otherwise perhaps that could have happened.

We are a few years from a world cruise yet with both of us still working, but hope to meet. you one day on a Viking ship!

We did not consider Ramadan and our Ramadan started a few days into our cruise. We did not experience any challenge with the crew on the ship as far as energy levels and there was an overall very good vibe on the ship. The crew did appreciate us acknowledging Ramadan for sure. Ramadan DID impact some things that we did. We arrived at the museum in Cairo and it was closed early because of Ramadan, so we missed that completely. This we were a bit shocked that the organizers did not catch. This was an optional excursion that we paid for and we were refunded, but still, we did not get to the museum. We also had a much later start on one evening excursion, again because of Ramadan. I would say in general, you will find the crew and guides the same, but schedules may need to be adjusted. I will probably get hit on for this comment, as it may not be the norm, but crew told us that they are very strict with sunrise to sunset for the first few days and then they start to become loose with the time as the days go on. Our only impact was open close times for excursions.

We are Viking loyal for the most part, and on Ocean, unless we are travelling with friends we always take a table for two, but like some other comments here, the tables are so close you can barely squeeze between them and you are almost sitting together. It can sometimes be awkward not to chat with those beside you. I have worked in sales and taught sales all my career and a big part of that is talking to people. I can do it at work, but don't want to in my personal and vacation life... But, I have learned that it can be enjoyable to make new friends especially when you are forced to. I also find that some will talk your ear off and you don't have to say a word, and others are quiet if you are quiet.

You are going to love it.

We have a YouTube channel with all our cruise movies and people are amazed that we do all our video and still photography with the iPhone.

My personal daily routine is: Morning fast walk - 45 minutes Evening fast walk - 45 minutes Daily strength with dumbbells 10lb to 30lb - alternating arms, legs, etc. giving rest periods Daily range of motion exercises and stretching Squats and hip mobility exercises

Would love to start this topic of conversation and not only for the 55+ but anyone who is interested to participate in the discussion. I am so shocked at the number of people that I cruise with on Ocean or River Cruises, that struggle just getting on and off the busses. These folks are not only almost incapable of mounting these stairs, they are panting out of breath when they do reach the top of 4 or 5 stairs. I constantly see people opt not to go past the first bench and miss the best of the tour because they are incapable of walking more than a few minutes. I am NOT calling people out here that have real physical and health issues, and I am not suggesting that they should not be on a cruise ship or trying to participate in an excursion. What I would love for this thread is to share what exercise routines you engage in to ensure that you can maximize your mobility and be able to participate fully in the activities that we pay so much money for.... I am a firm believer that we have to take control of our mobility, range of motion, and loss of muscle mass while we age. We tend to be very sedentary in our lifestyles (in general) and then we are faced with a 10 day cruise that almost kills us from the activity levels required. How do we combat this and stay in shape longer?

Essentially this book challenges what many of us - me included - were raised to think, that you have to work hard, save, and pay everything off before you relax. (This is how I was raised anyway...) This book challenges this and guides you to how to enjoy your money and not put everything away for the golden years or a rainy day. It is about creating memorable experiences as you go. I have not read the book but have read some lengthy reviews of the book and I have been practicing a similar philosophy for many years now because I watched my mother and father kill themselves building the nest egg - with the children in mind too - but then not being able to enjoy it because serious health issues kicked in before they could enjoy it. My father was work, work, work, sick, sick, sick, then he died. He never experienced any personal joy and benefit from his hard work. We don't have children, so we are in a different mindset when it comes to leaving anything behind. Our goal is to literally die with Zero left and our financial planner helps us to realize how we can draw on our investments to do just that.

Thank you also...

For the foodies, the one thing that we experienced in Budapest that we will look for again next year when we return is a Langos. This Langos is very simple... it is a fired dough similar to a pizza dough, but when I say fried, it was not deep fried, ours was turned fresh onto a hot griddle or flat top, but with lots of oil. It raised quickly with lots of bubbles in the dough. This was only a couple of minutes and then it was removed and spread with sour cream and then grated cheese. (I did not get the name of the cheese, but it is a Hungarian simple cheese that is quite mild.) We then were offered to drizzle some garlic and/or chilli oil over it and then you eat like a slice of pizza. There are other toppings that you can add, but we went on the advice of our guide and went simple. I have to say, this was such a simple thing, but one of the food highlights for me.

We also found Budapest fascinating. I have a personal friend whose heritage is Hungarian and although he was born and raised in Canada, has visited Hungary with his family often and was just there recently having cousins there. We found the city to be modern, and clean but still holding all the charm of a city that has been through much in its past. I have always known about Buda and Pest, but having guides that really brought some light to the two sides of the river Danube and how they came together as one city was fantastic. The one missed opportunity was that we did not return in person to the Shoe Memorial. We only drove past on the bus and although the bus slowed, in a future trip (next year) to Budapest, we will go there as I want to experience the Shoe Memorial in-person. I am one that experiences emotions when I am present on a site like this and I sense the souls of the people lost. I do want to experience this at this site. We loved every city and country on this cruise, but Budapest was an unexpected highlight for us. We sailed from Bucharest to Budapest so our docking in Budapest was also our disembarkation. We got up early to be on the sun deck and experience all the bridges as we arrived into Budapest. The bridges are fabulous. We also did a night cruise through an online tour provider that is a must do. The Parliament Building at night is definitely the highlight, but so were the bridges. The one thing that we would suggest NOT to bother with in Budapest is the New York Cafe. So many, including ourselves, line up for this, and although the room(s) are spectacular, the food and the service is not worth the wait or the price.

On our (just returned) cruise, some folks actually left the lounge where the Program Director was giving the talk for tomorrow to go and stake out their table. I find that there are some that care and some that don't and the same rules seem to apply on busses that you hear rumblings when someone comes to the bus and the seats they sat in the day before are taken.

On Google Flights there are many options. We search our flights this way, purchase Air Plus and then call with our desired flight itinerary. Now, you have to note that sometimes a flight that you want may be outside of Viking's contract rates and we have paid a bit more for a flight in the past that met our needs. Have you tried looking through Google Flights?

Viking don't have tables for two in the main dining room - they are tables for 6 and 8 and 10. The problem with this was we wanted to move tables to get away from 2 of the people we started with, but everyone is so territorial of their table groups as they are of their bus seats. HOWEVER, we did the Portugal river cruise with Viking a few years ago and they did have a few tables for 2. This is a smaller ship than the standard longship, but don't know if they still have tables for two on this river. As the others say, Aquavit Terrace has tables for two. We found some people that always eat on the terrace (which has an indoor and outdoor section) because they find it quieter. We never ate on the terrace, but also understand that it was rarely full, especially at dinner.

Viking's Passage to Eastern Europe is a must do river cruise for anyone. The countries on the itinerary are amazing: Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Hungary. All the ship's crew were from these countries, and of course also the same for our local guides. We were encouraged to ask any of the crew about their experience with communism during and post, and many did. The information and learning that we got on this cruise was amazing. Not sure if I am allowed to name names on a review like this so I will do this instead: Our Program Director was outstandingly good. She never read from notes at a port talk, she knows every country, port, and excursion by heart. Her enthusiasm and passion in her job was undeniable. The serving crew - restaurant and bar - were outstanding as well. The food was to Viking standard, and we loved everything served.

Thanks... I have read so much about so many countries that when you get there it is not actually the way... The shoulders and knees thing for churches is real and I have seen that many times. Recently in Eastern Europe, one church in Budapest offered what they called "Paper Towel Wraps" for the women whose shoulders were uncovered. This was a texture like paper towel but about 3.5 feet long by 18 inches wide and you draped it over your shoulders. Many women on our tour had to do this to gain entry.

This may sound crazy, but if you can do stairs well, and you can get in and out of a bathtub easily, you will be ok with the help of the crew. We recently did Antarctica and I am fully active and mobile with no restrictions, but the help of the crew was appreciated none the less, as we were landing on rocks, and in water, and on ice and snow. It was all about learning how to scoot along the side, and then swing the legs. The most important thing that I learned was doing the right arm grasp with the crew. This is key.

We did a full day wine tour out of Madrid to very small village wineries and this to this day is one of our most memorable day trips in any country. We visited three wineries that day and we were lucky to be on a tour because we staggered back at the end of the day!

There are many countries that specifically talk about MEN not wearing shorts, as it is not customary for local men to wear shorts. In most cases the countries and cultures have become accustomed to tourists wearing shorts and it is not a big deal. You may find places that shorts are not allowed for men or women, but in Egypt and the temples and main sites you are taken to, shorts are permissible. If you are not with a group tour, then men wearing shorts is just advertising that you are a tourist. We are currently researching Cambodia and Vietnam, and same as Egypt, the online resources suggest that men don't wear shorts in these countries. We also note that it is more often that American men are the ones wearing the shorts and not men from other countries.

We loved the food options in both cities, but we especially found the food in Madrid to be our preference. Again, less touristy attraction and more local in feel and flavour.

I do honestly believe that you choose an expedition cruise line for their expertise in the destination and the expedition crew over the food. We knew that we would get better food choices on another cruise line, but they were also 50% more expensive than Hurtigruten.

Oh, still had a great time! Haha... I don't let this stuff get me down, but want to find ways to not pay MORE money to our cell provider. We pay enough already. We will continue to buy eSIMs now after this experience, but will look at it differently.

Now, to be fair, we have friends that LOVE Barcelona, but they don't stay in the city centre. They are outside the city in the suburbs and they travel into the city when they want or need somethin. If however it was a city centre experience you are looking for and you want more authentic, choose Madrid. The one thing against Madrid is that it is not on the water. It is landlocked, but that does not matter to me.

REVIEW WiFi Calling and eSIM cards: Back to the topic of this original post - WiFi Calling using data only eSIM. This is MY personal experience. Two weeks ago we left for 5 countries in Eastern Europe. We are tired of paying the BIG "R" daily roaming fees of $15 per day X 2 for both of us. For the average trip we take those roaming fees are more than our monthly bill including cell, TV, and Internet. Ridiculous. We studied this discussion thread and others on CC. We bought our eSIM's from a recommended provider and this provider actually had a package that covered all 5 countries that we were going to. Note that for WiFi calling to work (apparently) for the BIG "R", there are some configurations you must do before leaving home - and we did - because you don't have these selections once you are abroad. Short answer was that WiFi calling never worked unless we were connected to a WiFi network - such as the ship's WiFi or at a local attraction that offered WiFi. We were two identical phones with eSIM's from the same company and so in trailing this we would try to call each other when off WiFi and could not. On the ship or a public WiFi network, yes, we could receive the call. However, there were many, many problems that we experienced: Phone overheating when all services are engaged at once Phone battery draining rapidly My husbands phone automatically connected to the best cell network country to country but mine did NOT, and had to be always manually connected. For some reason my iMessage was somehow "signed out" and I could not use that for the duration of the trip on any network, These are the issues that I can remember, but on top of it all the settings are complicated, and confusing. You have two SIMS on your phone that we called Travel and Primary. Because my Travel eSIM was not connecting automatically, I had to go in and select multiple times a day. Once, because I was not paying enough attention, I clicked on the Primary line and before I realized I had clicked on the setting for selecting the cellular network and that wiped the settings that I selected at home and they cannot be redone once you are abroad. Basically I messed it up, but, it was not working properly anyway. My advice from all of this is three-fold: 1) If you need full access to your home cell number - voice calls and voice mail - pay for roaming. With our plan this will give you local calling where you are also, if you need that. 2) If you don't need full access to your home cell number, then give important friends and family the instruction to call you on WhatsApp. (This worked for us on the eSIM data plan and WiFi) 3) If you need voice and data while travelling buy either a voice and data or a data only eSIM and install that, but don't look for WiFi calling to work when off of a WiFi network. For us for future, we will do this: Buy the data only eSIM so that we can map and search anywhere that we are. Instruct friends and family that we are available on WhatsApp only while away Essentially come to terms that our home cell number is unavailable while we are away Overall, it was a great experiment, but not sure that I am a fan of all the confusing settings.