OnTheJourney

CC, I agree with your thoughts. I’d rather book my own air and be able to choose seats right away. My TA had expressed to me several times that she has no great love for dealing with Viking air. If trip offers included air, then I’ll go sometimes with that and upgrade if available.

Yep. Same for my sailing 4 years ago.

I would advise also booking an evening search especially since having a sighting is so hit or miss. Some who have done these trips have reported seeing the lights during night excursions but not on the ship, and vice versa. Your call but I’d say you’re somewhat limiting your chances by only hoping for a sighting onboard. Agreed on taking layers along for clothing options. No need to really overthink it all that much.

I agree, which is why I started the thread. Judging from the response I’d bet that they’ll offer it again.

It pretty much has come to that, which is why I suggested that they maybe institute a smart casual (or similar) policy for all nights. People will still wear whatever they want anyway 😀

I’m traveled out after doing 5 trips last year. Looking forward to being home for an extended period after a spring trip. Hate traveling during summer so rarely book anything during that time. Hate traveling during winter too since I always worry about bad weather either before, during, or while coming home. After this coming fall I don’t anticipate doing anymore cruising for probably 2 years or so. I’ll have had my fill for awhile. I don’t ever do any sort of dining or drink packages. No interest in that. Hardly ever a specialty restaurant unless included like with Viking. I cruise primarily for the destination and itinerary.

So Barefoot Beach for suite guests is still going? In that case looking forward to it again sometime, unless it all changes as allegedly proposed.

Omigosh. You’re way more into it all than I ever would be! Often I don’t even look at the menus while onboard until I get to the dining room. I like to be surprised. All this dovetails with a recent thread about spontaneity (or lack thereof). Our favorite mode of travel is still car trips. We often have no clue where we’re going to eat each evening till we drive around. Sometimes we’ll look places up on the phone. Traveling every few weeks would be way too much for me. 3-4 times a year is more than enough.

I say get rid of all of that chic / formal business. So many people no longer follow it anyway. That’s one thing I love about Viking. Dress is the same every night. Essentially smart casual. No photographers ever. Probably cause it’s largely older folks that have more than enough pics from previous cruises on other lines.

The things you mention were never the case with Barefoot Beach Club. Buffet was terrific. Can’t speak for whatever has been going on there past several years. Coco Cay was basically hot dogs, hamburgers and fried chicken. And sweet fruity drinks. Next time I’ll go over to swim and then back on the ship for lunch.

Ha ha….

What I used to like with RC is the barefoot beach buffet for suite guests. I imagine that’s a thing of the past. Coco Cay buffet was really a bit of a disappointment by comparison. And nothing special for suites anymore. Too Disney-esque compared to Labadee.

How can you plan specific meals for a 2024 cruise?! I see what you mean about not being able to fit any more cruises in after looking at your list! Yikes! That’d be way too many trips for me. We’ve done 4 cruises since March (some due to covid rescheduling) and I’m about cruised out till the next one on spring. Ready for a few months at home to get caught up on other things.

Cool. Go for it. I flew over Greenland already but never had a chance to visit. Same for Iceland.

We’re on X in spring so it’ll be interesting to see what we think. On the Enchantment back in March I seem to recall we were fairly well pleased with the food.

I suspect most if not all lines have compromised on certain aspects of their product over the years and certainly since the pandemic. Food quality appears to be one of them based on CC threads. I’d say it’s more a case of inconsistency rather than an across the board decline.

I’ll definitely book it if they continue to offer it. Great that you were able to snag a room. I tried several specific searches on the RC website out of curiosity and it didn’t show up on any of them. No big deal since I can’t do it this year anyway. Looking forward to reviews on it later in fall.

This looks like a really interesting itinerary. Would have booked it but already have a trip planned. Wonder if they will do this for ‘24? It’s no longer listed presumably cause it’s sold out.

Princeton, thanks for that advice. We do have OBC but already used it for excursions at other ports.

I’ll be in Bermuda for an overnight with Celebrity in May. Having never been there before I’ve been looking through the shore excursions to choose what to do. DW and I are not much into beach excursions and so trying to decide on a more sightseeing-oriented experience. I’m thinking that a day ferry to either St George or Hamilton would be worthwhile and that both are available from the Dockyard. The one sightseeing excursion refers to using island taxi. Not sure we want to spend time at the Aquarium or Cave. There is a ship excursion that includes both. Several include a visit to Gibbs Lighthouse. Thanks for any suggestions.

Wow! Not surprising. Airline schedules are crazy.

Easier for UK (and other European) pax not having to fly as far to access most Viking cruises. If they went out of a more local port we’d probably use them more often.

For sure! I recall years of researching and planning trips where all that was available was a telephone (decades before smartphones) and AAA tour guide books, and “real” paper maps. Much more was left to be surprised about once the journey was underway. Now, you can practically google / zoom in to the extent of seeing what the exact beach looks like that one wants to visit. Somehow a bit of informational overload nowadays ala Alvin Toffler’s novel, “Future Shock”. To many apps around. And when all this computer stuff crashes at times society is sort of helpless.

Definitely plan on taking advantage of the pre and / or post extensions. Viking surely has a substantial number of Mediterranean itineraries to choose from.

Best advice is to wait till you board and go right to the restaurant and see what’s available. What appears on MVJ is sometimes nowhere near accurate. Often lots more availability than what shows up online.