TayanaLorna

On the 9News one it is Viking when you play the video but the still shot is not. Go figure

Oops! I was thinking of Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Sorry! Punta Arenas is in Chile. Ok, been there too. Punta Arenas is a dock for some ships. We were on a small 750' Viking cruise ship and docked. I don't know about Norwegian. If ship is on the dock, you walk to the enclosed terminal and out into the street. Tour operators will meet you outside the terminal. If it is a tender stop, i have no idea where they discharge guests. For private tours, be sure to book one that refunds if ship cannot stop. Punta Arenas can get very windy. When we were there we had 60 mph winds, all water based tours were cancelled and the ship needed 2 tugs to pull us off the dock when leaving.

Puntas Arenas is a dock and a very loooong dock. In fact so long that they had port shuttle busses take passengers from the ship to the entrance. Any outside tour operator will know where to pick you up and will probably tell YOU. We were there in 2020 and all the busses for the cruise lines excursions were able to drive right up near the ship. We used Sentir Patagonia for an all day private tour to Penninsula Valdes and they met us where the shuttle bus left us off. If they are allowed to meet you on the dock near your ship, they will tell you.

Yes talk to Viking not TripMate. TM does not give vouchers only cash for covered cancellation reasons.

Amazing, i had no idea.

I have been on the Star, Sea, Sky and Jupiter and the washers have all been down and the dryers up. The only difference was the older ships had 3/3 and the newer ones have 4/4. I don't know if machines exist that do both washing and drying. Tell me if they do. The Star is the oldest ship so maybe some machines broke and were replaced with space age ones. Most people that I've seen are quite confounded on how to use the darn things. You have to pay attention to which controls activate which machine. Then you have to decipher what the pictures mean. My strategy is to just press the buttons to see how long the loads take and choose the shortest cycle. After all I haven't been gardening or working on my car engine so the clothes aren't that dirty. I also use the hottest dryer and throw everything in together. If you open the dryer door, you can take the lighter dry things out and restart the dryer for the heavier things. That way others don't have to wait an hour while my stuff dries on low heat while I go back to my room. I can do 2 loads in less then an hour.

Part of the issue on that particular NCL sailing could have been it was all inclusive for drinks and food. There weren't many children on board so free drinks all day for 4,000+ adults contributed to the loud, drunk party atmosphere. I have nothing against partying, but with 4000 people?

I really hope you have a better cruise then my girlfriend. Loud, obnoxious, full of drunks day and night, crowded, awful food are words I would never use for Viking. However, my girlfriend who recently returned from a NCL cruise, used those words exactly to describe their recent cruise on the Norwegian Epic from San Juan to the ABC's and back. She also became very sick with Covid on disembarkation day despite being fully vaccinated with all boosters and masking other then when eating or drinking.

Gosh I wish! But no. On one cruise we were trying to watch the Star Theatre show on the room TV. We had the volume maybe half way up. Got a knock on the door from a ship officer telling us the room next door complained that our TV was too loud. We have blue tooth headphones too.

They are more like opera glasses. To really see, find and follow something like a bird, you need better ones. To spy into your neighbors cabin around the veranda petition, they are fine. Just kidding.

For all the English teachers. Guess I can just go crazy now...start talking about the benefits of eating in the Main DINING Room...ask WHETHER YOU'RE going to be on my cruise...will you be wearing YOUR fancy clothes...find out what time YOU WILL be THERE...and if THEY'RE bringing friends... And then there is the matter of all those "...". Did I win? More fun then playing Wordle here.

I recall that a Viking world cruise that went to Manaus reported that the laundry was supposed to be closed after French Guiana but indeed reopened a few days later. Perhaps back then they docked rather then anchored and were able to take on water in Manaus. They did not say which day it reopened.

RBachmann, since you are closely following posts (thank you) i have another question. You mentioned the laundry was closed by the end of French Guiana day. I am wondering if it ever opened again for the duration of your cruise. We have the 3 days with active Viking excursions and another 6 days afterwards of hot, humid sweaty clothing weather.

Obrigado for this addtional information. I am definately anticipating a challenge as i must hold on to a railing up or down and a cannot take a big step down unless i do like on a ladder - backwards. At least i know to wear appropriate footwear. I also cannot manage a carry on only. But i can go with the flow without complaining.

Hi again, Have you joined our Feb 19 roll call? Don't recall your name on it. I would think that getting to the ship from the airport or a hotel would be easier - maybe not. I also hope that Viking worked out the kinks in getting folks from the ship to the airport for our cruise. The luggage handling for those of us doing our own transfers or post cruise activity will probably be the same. Hope to meet on the ship. Lorna & Ray

Hi Wander58. We are on your cruise and pretty active on our Roll Call. I closely followed the Roll Call of the January 6 first cruise and there is some good info there. Disembarkation by both people having Viking transfer and independent travel was extensively discussed. The Roll Call of the current sailing has been practically non existent.

I saw numerous promos for the 2023 sailings of this cruise as well as most of the Panama Canal ones. They started in May and went into the Fall.

Ha ha, I guess in retirement we want to micro manage and plan our days.

That's an interesting option. We are staying an extra two nights in Manaus to catch the Saturday and Wednesday only non stop flight from Manaus to Miami. Total itinerary is less then 11 hours with Miami layover. Heck of a lot better then the 24-32 hour itineraries with 3 flights through Brasilia, Sao Paulo or Rio. That would do me in.

I am curious as to what @FlyerTalkerthinks. I was hoping that our codeshare AA/GOL from Manaus to Miami and then AA to San Juan would be a thru check. The flights are on 1 ticket. However those who have gone before reported that in Miami after collecting luggage and clearing customs there was no where to drop their bags for AA flight. They had to go to the departure hall where all the people just arriving for their flights go, drop off their bags and then proceed through security to their connecting gate. It could be that it's an international arrival to a domestic gate and that GOL customs and AA customs are in different terminals. When we have arrived international on AA in Miami there has always been an AA desk right after customs and then security right after that.

The space between the bed and closet is tight. The other side of the bed has the 2 chairs with the coffee table in front of it and that is a tight space. If you push the coffee table out, then you won't be able to pull out the desk chair. The coffee table can always be moved into the corner separating the 2 chairs kind of into an L shape. That would open the space up. A Penthouse Veranda would work much better. The alcohol in the PV fridge is replaced once a day and you can request the kind you want. It's 4 little airline size bottles and 2 beers I recall plus the sodas.

??

In 2020 the Super Bowl game was live on the Jupiter in SA.

Were they asked to leave and dress properly?

On our Viking pre we received final details about hotel and included excursion about a month before.