SantaFe1

Absolutely agree. Stay on in Barcelona!! And Barcelona day tours is great.

Oh, I am so happy for you both! I know you’ve been wanting to do this. Best time and money we ever spent was on our 2019 WC.

In May-June this year it was very casual. More so than other cruises. We were celebrating a big anniversary, so my husband brought a blazer, and wore it on several occasions. Certainly no tie needed. He likes to do that. But he was in the minority. I never wore a dress. I kind of missed dressing up Viking style.

No escaping tropical weather when in the tropics! 9:30 am Rio, 2019 WC. We were Starboard.

I have a good broker, and use one of two companies, and one of two policies depending on whether the trip is domestic or overseas, because of the medical insurance. Rates will certainly depend on age and where you are going and for how long, but my rule of thumb is that good insurance will cost about 9% of the total trip cost.

If it’s any help, we did the 2019 WC in 6013 and never heard a thing. Our hard of hearing neighbor’s TV, yes. Crew doors, never.

Well, I’m a lawyer, too. Or was. But I was a law professor. And I spent my career trying to rid the legal profession of this gobbledygook. But it is there for a reason. And, my specialty wasn’t contract law, but constitutional law. So, not even lawyers can always understand this stuff.

We do exactly the same…book with Viking to get the cabin we want then transfer to a TA for all the reasons stated above. BTW, we did this cruise, Athens to Barcelona, last spring and loved it! Have a great time.

Yes, certainly nothing that is valuable!!

Absolutely agree!

Never happened in five years. Customs officers don’t confiscate this stuff if you check your bag. It’s just the company covering itself. We were really careful the first time. But, if anything should go wrong, It doesn’t get returned, just held up. I just no longer worry about it. But I can understand the angst.

We’ve really never had any problem. Packed toothpaste with scope, perfume, sunscreen, a clock and thermometer with batteries, etc. etc. they will get you on air tags, though. I even called them about this stuff the first time.

Yes. For example, our TA always gives us the maximum credit Viking allows per cruise, depending on the number of days. And she makes sure it is applied to our account before excursions open for booking. Viking them applies those credits first—you don’t have a choice. Whatever credits you have available get applied. Then you pay for the rest. It doesn’t take any extra time that I’ve ever seen.

Yes, I usually start checking about 120 days out. You will have plenty of time to plan.

Not always. In some ports, you have to claim them and take them to the Luggage Forward stand. But still pretty easy. We have just decided that we are too old to carry all these bags around. So now we just figure it into the cost of the trip and plan accordingly. We, too, first used Luggage on the WC, where it was complimentary to Florida, and then we liked it so much we paid to have the bags sent home from London.

The luggage forwarding service we use through Viking has a range of days for pickup—the closest to embarkation is the most expensive. We always use the least expensive date, which is about 10-12 days before embarkation. And it does magically appear in your cabin when you can access your cabin. Return procedures vary depending on the port. Some are easier than others, but all of them are easier than shlepping the suitcase through the airport. Usually you just go down to the luggage area, identify your luggage and get the porter to help you take it to the appropriate luggage cart. The porter will have a cart. Sometimes it’s just there grouped with all the other luggage being forwarded home, and you don’t have to do anything. But it is great not having to grab your luggage and take it through customs when you re-enter the US. We would have missed a couple of tight flights if we hadn’t had the service.

Well, I think “misidentified” is the wrong word. It is known as the mask of Agamemnon. And I have known of this mask since I took art history in college many, many moons ago. When we were there, I sent the photo to a well-known archeologist friend of mine, and she wrote back, “oh how wonderful to see the death mask of Agamemnon.” So regardless of whose face this mask was found upon, it has been known as the mask of Agamemnon since Schliemann found it in 1876. But I will enjoy watching the video. Thanks for the link. Wish I had know about it before we went last spring.

Our experience wasn’t quite on point. But we did the two day pre cruise extension and visited the National Archeological Museum on our own. It was wonderful. Full of treasures. You walk right in and see Agamemnon’s golden death mask. We took our hotel’s shuttle into town and it was pretty easy. The problem is that the ship docks pretty far out of town. I can’t remember if there was a shuttle, since we used our second day on the ship to go to Corinth, which we enjoyed. But you could always take a taxi into town to explore the museum and have lunch.

Well, my point exactly.

I saw on the news tonight, the banyan tree is gone. So sad.

My husband always brings a jacket. But three? AND a suit? AND I think they suggested six pairs of Pajamas. I’ll just let that one go…

Yes, it breaks my heart.

The devastating Maui fire is very worrisome to those of us on these upcoming cruises.

You know, several years ago, 2018 or 2019, maybe for the WC, we got the same suggested packing list. I laughed and laughed.

Thanks, Dave.