TayanaLorna

Hi Fairydustca, CCWinelover & Hobson1754. Just went back to page 1 of this thread and realized it is not our roll call but a general one for the region. Seems like we kind of hijacked it with making tentative plans. Realized that Fairydustca and CCWinelover are on legs 2 & 3 like us with Hobson1754 on legs 1 & 2 for the February 2024 dates. There is some great info here from people who have done it, are doing it now and will do it in the future. Thank everyone for that. But maybe we should move our potential planning together stuff to our particular roll call so we can find it 6 months from now. I have a feeling this particular thread will become many pages by then.

Hi Hobson. Definitely interested in sharing transport from Rome to the ship. Initially thinking of 2 nights in Rome but realize that is not enough. No matter if we arrive at 8 am or 3 pm we are going to be beat. That leaves only one day to explore. My DH has never been there. The last time i was there really dates me. It was with a travel study group in 1968 and we pretty much saw everything with privledged access. I look forward to seeing it through wiser eyes and more freedom. Never been to Venice and happy that we are there 2 nights. From what i read, people like Chioggia and also say the Viking transport is via boat, takes 1:20 +/- plus the ride is scenic. Hope this scenario continues. As far as day 2 in Venice, Viking has allowed people to stay overnight there so I don't see why they would not allow a group to return late. Asking never hurts.

It really is the right thing to do and thank you for doing it.

Hope you feel better soon.

Don't know if it still does, but the CDC website guidance for Covid isolation said 5 days, with Day 0 being test Covid and Day 1 as first daynof isolation. And night follows day not the other way around. Think Viking follows CDC terminology.

That is exactly how I felt - Viking was looking the other way. A person was sick, they may have Covid, they could walk away, not quarantine and not wear a mask to protect others. However, they were also being very clear about what would happen if one tested positive. I was so sick I wanted to get tested. I was relieved that it was not Covid. When I felt better about 2 days later, i was comfortable walking around the ship and dining in the restaurant. My friend also showed up at the infirmary because he self tested positive. He incurred no charges from Viking for any of the testing, medication, doctor visit and daily nurse visit.

We did Viking end of January to mid February. Fabulous cruise even with missed port of Falklands due to weather. If you want to see penguins with chick, don't go in November or March. Weather can be dicey anytime and ports can be missed due to wind. Viking is currently having a sale for SA & Around Cape Horn.

We are on a Rome to Venice, Venice to Athens B2B in Feb '24. Will look forward to the review of your portion.

Never saw that on Viking. But Trivia games, Baggo competition between guests and officers, wine tastings, mixology classses, lots of lectures, movie showings in Star Theatre, cooking class, jigsaw puzzle table, use the gym, walk the promenade, use the spa facility, dance lessons, yoga and stretching classes, shuffleboard or golf putting on deck 9, a huge library of books to peruse, Bayeaux tapestry tour, movies on your room TV, naps in a pool lounger, stay up late to hear band play in Torshavn and sleep in next morning, leisurely breakfast in Restaurant...

We took 2 Viking cruises in 2021 with all the Covid measures in place and had Covid free ships both times. Back then the mandatory quarantine period was 10 days and i think passengers were extra cautious because of that. We recently returned from a "Covid is behind us" cruise. We booked when all the safety measures were in place. Even though they were all dropped prior to our cruise, we planned to mask just as we did before - mask on everywhere unless we were eating or drinking while seated or in our stateroom or on an upper open deck away from others. Only a handfull of passengers and crew masked. I think i became known as that lady with the colorful masks because i had a mask that matched or coordinated with each color i wore. As soon as i developed a sore throat and cough, we both self tested - negative. When we picked up a bottle of cough syrup in the ship store there were over a dozen bottles. My cough became so bad that i could not sleep at night keeping my DH up also. Next morning when we went to the Medical Center, i had a 102 fever and could barely talk without coughing. The nurse gave me a choice to be Covid tested or not. He told me if i was positive they were required to quarantine me for 5 days with day 1 being day after positive result. I had a choice - I could have said no! I tested negative for both Covid and the flu and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. They provided me with the appropriate meds and i was glad to stay in bed until i felt better. I continued to mask in public as a courtesy to other passengers AND because i feared getting Covid on top of bronchitis and ending up hospitalized. Went back to the med center a couple days later as my DH had a slight cough and was still self testing negative. The store had sold out all the cough syrup by then and we thought he could get it from the nurse. There was a line of people before us and a bigger line after by the time the center opened. No one wore masks. When the nurse showed up i asked if he was going to let all these people into the center without masks? He passed them out to everyone. Each person before us got the spiel re if they tested Covid positive, they would be quarantined. No one chose to be tested. They just wanted cough syrup and tylenol. Many many passengers were coughing on board - a cold, allergies, Covid - who knows. I saw many many people coughing and sneezing into their hands and then using the serving utensils in the WC. I rarely saw anyone using the Viking provided little sanitizer bottles at their dining table. The bottom line is there will be illness on board, no doubt, and there are many inconsiderate and irresponsible sick passengers too. There is lots of Covid on board. Out of the 6 friends we knew on board, 4 got Covid. One friend on board had a sore throat, tested positive on a self test and then went to the medical center where he was tested positive again. He was quarantined and received daily nurse visits, tylenol and cough meds. His wife asked for a separate room but was told the ship was full and they had none. Two days later she had Covid. I guess Viking is no longer holding back V cabins on deck 3. They never wore masks. They became sick about 2 days after a submarine excursion which they described as packed in like sardines, hot, no air flow and no one wearing masks. The other 2 friends were sick with Covid by the time they got home after cruise. They also chose not to wear masks on board. The final 2 friends wore masks often, self tested daily and never got Covid. It is up to us whether we cruise and how we choose to protect ourselves. Even then there is no guarantee but it is the best we can do.

LOL. When I tried to book a cruise recently I told the agent February 19, 2023 and he said sorry but that ship sailed already. Oops!

On our Iceland circumnavigation Welcome Back cruise in 2022, they did not. Only time Viking has held our passports is on multi country cruises. For West Indies and the Amazon, we were given the choice to surrender our passport until ship cleared into Brazil or present ourselves with our passports at 5 am when authorities came on board.

We board Rome (Civitavecchia) on Feb 21 and ship departs that evening. Looks like the port is almost a 2 hour drive north of Rome. The Saturn is actually doing 4 one way cruises - Barcelona to Rome, Rome to Venice, Venice to Athens and Athens to Istanbul. Some people are on leg 1 and 2 (like you) , some are on legs 2 and 3 (like us) etc. There are roll calls established for each segment and we have joined the first 3. I see leg 1 has 2 days in Florence and the one day in Rome. Looks like you get to see Florence but not Rome unless Viking sets up special excursions for those staying aboard on turn around day. We get 3 days in Venice but need to go early and stay late to see Rome and Athens as each of those ports are turn around days.

We are booked Italy, the Adriatic & Greece (Rome to Athens) for February, 2024. Its a B2B with turnover in Venice. Chioggia not Venice is shown as dock location. Ten excursions are listed for first day with 2 of them in the evening, 14 are listed for second day - some same, some different, and no excursions are listed for third day. Sail away is 2 pm. Wondering what reality is. Also wondering what your weather is like in March.

Don't know of any that pick up at airport, do a tour and bring you to the port. We were there July 2021 when tourism was just getting going again. However, the Blue Lagoon is not very far from the airport and people have gone there before hotel or cruise.

Gateway to Iceland does airport drop offs after tours. However I think the Golden Circle is too long a tour to get dropped off at airport afterwards. www.gtice.is. Be sure you get to airport 3 hours in advance. Drive from Reykjavik takes 1 hour.

My flight was at 5 pm. Dropped at the airport around 2:20. We were a little late getting going as the guide swung by a hotel in the morning twice looking for a no show. We just booked us 2. The mini bus held 12 but there were 8 of us. Two others came off our cruise ship but we did not know them. I guess if they did not get more then 2, they would have cancelled.

Ok found it. We did the Reyjkanes Geopark excursion with Gateway to Iceland (gtice.is). They picked us and our luggage up at the ship. Did 6 hour tour. Got dropped at airport. It was an awful misty rainy day but we had a great time. It was the only day we wore both rain pants and jackets.

We had a small group tour which accommodated luggage pick up at ship drop off at airport. Had lunch at a local fishing village too It was great. Give me til Tuesday to find info.

The specialty restaurant max table seating is 6 at Manfredi's. We tried to seat 8 of us for a BD gathering. Best they could do was 2 tables of 4. At Chef's Table, the largest is 6. When we had 8 of us, they gave us 2 tables of 4 along the wall with a little space in-between so all could easily get out. We were able to converse that way. We shared once with strangers at Chefs Table and had a 6 top.

We used Nicholas at AlmaCalma (AlmaCalma.net) for a 5 hour tour private tour for 6 of us into Tierra del Fuego National Park. We did 4 separate hikes in the park with him and drove to all the different attractions as well. We stopped at the train station to see it also. We even had a snack break where he made Mate for us and had little cakes with caramel inside made by his wife. At the entrance he quieried the tour bus drivers to learn the order of their stops and took us to all the locations when the crowds were not there. It was awesome!

If you want to sit around and use the pool there were always loungers available. It's the loungers that face the water with the floor to ceiling windows that are popular especially on sea days. Personally I do not tolerate chair hogs. If I see a chair being "reserved" for longer then 15-20 minutes, I will move their stuff to a counter and take the chair. Fifteen to twenty minutes is more then enough time to use the restroom or get a drink. Moving someone's stuff may be rude but chair hogging for long periods of time is extremely inconsiderate. I have heard of it on the big cruise ships but it is a new behavior on Viking.

We live in the Caribbean and find the entire pool area much too hot unless the roof is open. Even on cold weather cruises we find the area is too hot especially if it is sunny outside. We avoid eating at the pool grill because of this. On our last cruise (Caribbean & Amazon) the out facing loungers were warm but a comfortable temperature in the early morning hours with the roof closed. We managed to snag a couple for 2-3 hours and actually sat in them. Most of the other out facing chairs were "saved" for the first 2 hours while we were there with no one sitting on them.

It was absolutely fantastic. On our way home now. Missed connection in Miami due to delay in Brazil. Will write a lengthy review once home and recovered.

Spa treatment hours 8 am to 8 pm maybe. I LOVE the deep tissue and it's all I get. Not for everyone.