bookbabe

Is that $10/day per device or per cabin? We are in a Grand Suite, if that makes a difference. DH will need streaming but I won’t, and we are just trying to figure out logistics. Thanks.

You can see lots of info about it on their website. https://palmheights.com I don’t think they offer day passes, so I assume you’re looking to stay there on vacation. It’s in a good location, IMO.

Google tells me clocks change Nov 5th. If you are visiting Cayman before November 5, we will be one hour behind Miami time. If you visit after Nov 5th it will be the same time as in Miami. Your cruise line (or that CC forum) should be able to tell you if your ship changes times to match each port or stays on Florida time.

It depends on when you are sailing and what port you sail out of, and whether your ship will change times to match the various ports. In general, in the summer Cayman is one hour behind Miami and in the winter it’s the same time as Miami. We don’t do daylight savings.

Your two options are Coral Beach, the last remaining beach club on SMB, or Public Beach, beside the Kimpton hotel. Lots of posts and threads in this forum discussing the two.

We purchased the Princess insurance in April for my BC resident mom’s recent cruise, she just got back this week. Glad she made it in under the wire.

Most stores and some restaurants will be closed. Open places are all ones that cater primarily to tourists. Booking an excursion that day is a great idea.

Book with Viking Ocean. You'll love their entertainment if you want classical music.

In our second Greenland port last week, one enterprising young lad had set up a blanket along the roadway for “candy sales” to the influx of tourists. He had an open bag of gummy worms, and was selling worms for $1 each, although he’d also take euros. His English wasn’t perfect, but it was better than that of the older folks with more involved sales booths. You had to admire his entrepreneurial spirit and optimism.

In our ES2 on Mars last week, we had a wall-mounted shaving mirror on an extendable arm in the bathroom plus the lighted makeup mirror on the desk in the closet.

For the most part, yes that’s true onboard Viking, at least outside your cabin. But pre-cruise and inside the cabin once onboard, those who have paid more get more perks. If people want the perk of booking shore excursions and dining earlier, they need to pay extra or choose a cruise line that handles perks differently. Those areas are where Viking has decided to add the extra perks for higher paying guests. Other cruise lines have additional perks onboard instead of in those areas, some have a combination of perk types. It’s all still a case of you get what you pay for on your chosen line. And it isn’t like the different booking timelines and other perks are a secret. They are very upfront in the descriptions of the cabin types as to what that cabin type includes.

On pretty much all cruise lines you get what you pay for. Pay more, get more.

Ugh. I hope China/Egypt/India are faster. My trip to get visas for my trip is going to end up longer than the trip itself.

Was this through the Chinese embassy or a Visa Service? I am specifically looking for info on if and how long your Canadian passport stays at the Chinese (and Indian and Egyptian, given the current diplomatic messes) embassy when you are applying for a Visa directly with the country involved. We have a trip in June 2024 that includes stops in India, Egypt and China (Shanghai and Hong Kong) and since we live outside of Canada we cannot use any of the Visa Services, we have to figure out trips to embassies that include stays long enough to have the visa processed. I'm really hoping some of this mess is resolved by the spring and that we are eligible for some of the easier visa options by then. I hate the idea of being away from home in whatever country has the appropriate embassy and not having my passport in my control.

Did you have to leave your passport with them for the five days? Or do they just take a copy of it when you go to the first appointment?

We're on the same cruise as @CDR Benson and are also at the Intercontinental, so I'm guessing they must have different hotels for different departure dates.

On Mars right now for In the Wake of the Vikings. Missed Shetland Islands, but made Faroe and both Greenland stops. If your cruise can't stop in Greenland, you're not missing much. Nice stop for an hour, but tough to kill more time than that.

We did that itinerary in February 2023 with the same departing flights issue. Viking took the luggage into a couple of vans to securely hold, and walked us all across the street to the hotel there (same as their pre-stay, I think) and we had a lounge to hang out in with snacks and drinks. There were two departure groups from the hotel, neither very late, so we still had a couple extra hours at the airport, and Spirit won't let you check bags early so we couldn't even go through security to be able to access the shops and restaurants and lounges. There's not much seating or anything to do pre-security. In retrospect, we would have been better off arranging our own transfers privately, maybe a city tour with an airport drop-off, or getting a day pass at one of the airport area hotels and then grabbing a taxi to the airport closer to flight time.

We got Airalo for the cruise we are currently on and are quite happy with it.

It's likely Coral Beach, since that's the only beach club left. Unless they are just taking you to Public Beach and calling it an excursion. Either way, I'd just DIY a beach day somewhere along SMB. Much nicer than the Holiday Inn side, and you absolutely don't need an excursion to get there. Lots of taxi shuttles at the port.

If we liked wine, that would be an option. As it is, it's easier to just give the bottle to a neighbouring cabin.

In an Explorer Suite on Mars right now. The mini-bar is the same as everyone else's, but it gets replaced daily and you have some ability to customize it by swapping out types of soda or tiny bottles if you prefer one item over another. For example, DH had them swap out all the Coke Zero for more Coke. We also have a bottle of champagne, which we don't drink but usually try to find a neighbour on board who wants it. We also grab extra bottled water at the gangway and wedge some in since that's not included in the mini-bar.

On the Mars right now, brand name seems to be Bossini. However, I'm in an ES2, so I don't know if they differ by cabin.

They also won’t let you change your initial booking country and currency, even if you move. They’ll change your address on file, but your booking will still always match your residence at the time of booking. Better yet, online, the credit card section and the ACH section will always default to that initial country and there is no way to change them. Meaning you need to make sure you always have a bank account or credit card with an address in that initial country if you want to be able to pay online. So, as I’ve discovered, you would lose any ability to make payments for ANYTHING online and would have to call in to make all payments, including not just final payment but also shore excursions. Your only option for changing your country of booking would be to cancel, pay the penalties, and then rebook at whatever the current rate is…they will not price protect or help you out in any way. The moral of this story is to book the cabin and date you want at a price you are content with, and not only don’t look at the website prices again but don’t move countries before your cruise. Basically, whatever you book with is what you have to live with. It’s a good thing for them that the onboard experience is so good, because their booking policies stink to high heaven.

You can get the past guest discount applied to previously booked cruises…our PCC did it for us after we got back from our first cruise. We just had to remind him.