TayanaLorna

Montevideo is very doable on your own. Not far from the port there is a nice walk along a street closed to traffic that is lined with shops and cafes. It passes several little parks and leads to the big arch opening to a square with all the government buildings and historical stuff. Like any city - SA or Europe - be aware of your surroundings, wear your backpack on your chest, put your purse cross body, don't put wallets in pockets and leave all your valuables in the safe. We were there in 2020 and felt safe with cautionary measures.

Vikings Golden Circle was $199 per person. It was all day and included a fabulous lunch.

Right. I didn't want to rain on their parade in case they didn't know that.

Glad you got there. That was the tour of our choice before port was cancelled.

Gorgeous photos. Thanks for all the posts.

I see Kent sent you the link to see them. I did the cruise in 2021. I can tell you the cost of any particular excursion if you wish - at least for then.

Great. Looks like that very deep low pressure will be well to the North by Saturday with a nice slot of 10-15 knot winds and 3-4 meter seas south of the system by then. The low is still disrupting the normal E or NE trade winds. Hope you have pleasant crossing. Happy you are going to Casablanca as Morroco was closed to us last year.

Hopefully next Sea refit will include more DV drawers. The masked percentage follows what people are saying on other V cruises. Any Covid testing?

When does your crossing begin?

Too bad you are missing Maderia but the Canaries should be nice. Looking at windy.com I can see the 2 deep low pressure systems causing some weather issues. The predicted movement for both shows to the NE with the 2nd one taking all week to move well to the north. My guess is your crossing will take a more southerly route then ours did in 2021 and might be a tad rougher. One of the low pressure systems has been north-northeast of us since the weekend bringing wind and rain from the north which is unusual. Our NNE facing beaches are getting a big swell and we are having 55 degree F night time temps in the mountains. Last night I asked my DH to put on the heat (we don't have heat in PR).

We have traveled where friends were in different cabin categories. Yes PV gets to choose excursions, restaurant reservations and spa treatments before DV. But we all got on excursions we wanted (have more then one choice) and we were able to arrange dining together once on board. Viking does not give tender times or tickets to any cabin class and embarkation or disembarkation is not determined by cabin level either. So no big deal. They will get free pressing service and shoe shines, a bottle of champagne in their fridge and little bottles of alcohol that are replenished daily in the PV whereas the DV only has soda replenished daily.

Abandoned property in Puerto Rico is for the exact same reason. Interesting.

Kayak excursions are offered in Patagonia, Iceland, Norway, the Arctic by many cruise lines. There may not be ice floes but the water still is darn cold. It's the responsibility of the passenger to assess their skill and ability to undertake such an excursion. Having been a canoe camper, we never swamped our canoe filled with gear. However at my age I will not canoe or kayak unless the waters are tropical and I can swim in them comfortably.

We always carried a healthy supply of duct tape on our cruising sailboat as well as spare parts for everything we could think of or afford.

Good to hear about the ship condition. TA last year our PV sofa had an arm peeling. Other then that perfect.

We enjoyed that menu.

Good to know Chef's Table Menus. Chances are the Sea will continue same throughout all their Caribbean & Amazon cruises this season. Like them all.

It is almost impossible to learn what a country requires for cruise ships. Looking on the Internet is futile. As many of the retired Mariners have stated, requirements for entry by sea especially cruise ships are often much more strict then any other conveyance and most often stricter then national standard. Yesterday I saw a post in the South America forum where passengers boarding a MSC cruise in Rio ship found out that they had to have a negative Covid test (and not a rapid antigen) taken within a 24 hours of boarding the ship NOT before their flight. They were wondering where the heck they were going to get the testing done in Rio for their family of 4. We should thank our lucky stars that Viking will provide the Covid testing at no cost to us if required. Why are they doing DAILY testing on their way to these countries? My guess is they don't want to arrive in these ports with a plague ship. Who knows what percent of positive cases are allowed by these countries and when they may change their rules.

No the credit voucher specifically said it can be used before embarking.

So it just automatically gets reduced? One does not have to tell V to use it? I don't want to miss getting an excursion because I did not pay for it on time.

We received on board credit as a perk for booking our cruise. It can be used beforehand or on board. How does one use it to pay for optional excursions? Is there a payment choice on MVJ for credit cards as well as on board credit? I figure someone here has done this before.

Its a day on which friends and family gather to be thankful for whatever they appreciate in their lives - that would be the activity. Growing up in my family, the women would cook, the kids would play with their cousins and the men would watch US football games. Traditional food would be roasted stuffed turkey. The stuffing could be many things and based on regional traditions. Its accompanied by cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and different vegetables. Desserts could be pumpkin pie or pecan pie. Often times recipes and meal plans are continued for generations. The "first" thanksgiving meal was supposedly between settlers in North America and the native americans to give thanks for the years harvest. Canada also celebrates a thanksgiving but earlier in the Fall.

It's been in national news for months and months. The Venice issue has also been in the news in case you are thinking of that cruise.

Exactly, why would it be different. I have not read about any very recent quarantine stories but earlier in the Fall cruisers were reporting the isolation period to be 5 days with Day 1 beginning the day after testing positive.

I think they are fully booked or nearly so.