BluebonnetTexan

I don’t know for sure, but we got the impression it was a required stop by the Turkish government for cruise ship tours!

I concur with @OneSixtyToOne. We weren’t on Viking, but went to the same coop. The tour of the factory and learning about the process was very interesting. We weren’t planning to buy either until we walked into the showroom demo and I saw all the rolled up rugs and as they were unrolling them I pointed to one further down and told my husband, “I just want to see that one”. When they finally got to it, I wished I hadn’t seen it! It was that amazing blue silk rug in the center of your picture. We were going to walk out and friends we were with told us that this really was one of the best places to get rugs and they were about to be repeat customers. So, we asked the price…as I crunched the numbers in my head and considered which credit card to put it on and how much did I really like it, they kept dropping the price. It got down to a number we couldn’t turn down given that things like this don’t normally get my attention like this rug did. It was delivered in the time frame they specified and looks great in our living room! I get to enjoy it every day and have no buyer’s remorse.

@May B Glad to hear it! I suspect that when people called in and found out they couldn’t get the 6-month out payment that they could get any other time with a cruise already booked, then they weren’t booking with this promo. Thus, agents were told to start allowing it. We won’t book anymore unless we can get the 6-month final payment or we are booking something sailing in less than 6 months.

@May B Yes, it does, but we called Viking this week and booked using FV424 and requested the 6 month out final payment for an Oct 25 cruise and got it. It never hurts to ask when you have another cruise already booked.

@mwike Good point! Makes planning a separate trip even more likely!

@Peregrina651 We plan to do our own pre and post in Bucharest and Prague - pending how many days we can add when it comes time to commit with Bucharest as the priority as we don't expect to be back anywhere near there again. We've also looked at just doing a Prague focused trip maybe combined with Berlin. Right now due to family commitments, we can't plan lengthy trips.

Budapest is one of my favorites. I first went there on a business trip in 2015, I think, and determined that it was a place I wanted to bring my husband to visit also. We did the Grand European Viking River cruise starting in Budapest with their extension as our retirement trip in 2017. Along with colleagues showing us the town, we also enjoyed the Viking excursions and recommendations they made. We will be there again when we do Passage to Eastern Europe in 2025 and plan to spend extra days in Bucharest, Budapest, and add Prague if we can.

You might be surprised to find additional lurkers who would want to participate in the M&M if someone volunteers to organize it and collect the info. For our roll call last year I had a few people contact me to signup via the email I provided with their info who hadn’t been actively participating in the roll call, but were following it.

I know it was mentioned above that AVS24 was still available, but thought I'd post the current details I got in an email today for select May/June 2024 sailings: Offer AVS24: Offer valid on bookings made from Feb 13 to Feb 29, 2024. FREE international airfare, up to $1,000 in shipboard credit per couple & special fares valid on select May & Jun 2024 departures of Viking Homelands; May 25 & 27, 2024 departures of Iceland & Norway's Arctic Explorer; select Jun departures of Iconic Iceland, Greenland & Canada; select May & Jun 2024 departures of Into the Midnight Sun; Apr 5 & May 1, 2024 departures of British Isles Explorer. $500 Shipboard credit per person if booking a PV, PS, ES or OS category stateroom; $200 Shipboard credit per person if booking a V or DV category stateroom. Call for details. Prices are in US dollars and for US residents only. Air does not have to be purchased to get cruise/tour offer. All fares reflect cruise taxes, port taxes and fees. Additional restrictions may apply. Airfares vary on other itineraries, gateways and departures. Air offers not valid on Alaska, Hawaii, San Juan and Mexico City; call for details. Book by Feb 29, 2024. Pay in full by at time of booking. Offer may be withdrawn at any time without prior notice. Offer expires Feb 29, 2024.

I wondered if you might be a fellow Bear when I responded to your earlier post! It’ll be easier for you to root for both teams once OU is in the SEC! Sic ‘Em! To answer your current question, we have not traveled with Celebrity. However, there are quite a few threads, I think, on both the Celebrity and Viking boards comparing the two. For us, we aren’t ardent cruisers. It has been about the itineraries allowing us to get either overviews of places we might like to return for more in depth travel later (river cruises, Mediterranean) or seeing places we couldn’t easily without a cruise ship (Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Baltic) in a reasonable timeframe. As for Viking, we love the no kids, no casinos, no photographers, and low-key atmosphere. The service has always been fabulous from room stewards to the top officers. The IGC itinerary is challenging due to the geography, number of tender ports, and potential for bad weather. We had never been to any of the locations on the itinerary and decided to roll the dice and roll with whatever itinerary changes occurred and enjoy the trip! You won’t know if Viking is the right fit for you until you try it. Hopefully you’ll pick up some useful information from my blog of our trip and from others who have posted here about that route and Viking in general.

We were on the NYC-Reykjavik direction leaving Aug 30, and were able to do both Greenland ports, then sailed thru PC Sound in the afternoon/evening on the way to Iceland. It was beautiful and somewhat dangerous given all the growlers and icebergs still around in September. I don’t think the earlier summer sailings were able to do this stretch.

We also docked there in September on Saturn.

No Reykjavik excursions because that is the changeover port for the B2B you are actually on. My understanding is that Viking will provide some options for those continuing to NYC during the cruise for Reykjavik. You might check the rolls calls from last year for timing. If I were you, I’d book a third party small tour Golden Circle or South Coast tour depending on time in port and not wait on Viking to book. We did the NYC to Reykjavik leg last year and stayed extra days in Reykjavik after disembarking.

We were on the last sailing of the Iconic Greenland, Iceland, and Canada in 2023. It was too late in the season for any excursions with the puffins (e.g. Vigur Island). This cruise hits the same ports as Iceland's Beauty. We did the following: Akureryi - Lake Myvatn with Imagine Iceland (less expensive and smaller group than Viking's similar) ĺsafjördur - Dynjandi Waterfall with Arctic Shore Ex (ditto price and and group-size) Seydisfjördur - booked Skalanes Nature Center with Viking, but had a snow day - no one could get through the pass. We enjoyed our cold walk around the cute little town though. Djúpivogur - FJALLSÁRLÓN ICE LAGOON BY ZODIAC with Viking - it is a long bus ride, but beautiful scenery and amazing experience. Highly recommend. Heimaey - Heimaey on Foot (Viking included tour) - we had an excellent guide. It was one of our favorite tours of the entire trip. I blogged about our trip at: http://notesbynancy.com Whatever you chose - the scenery in all of Iceland is amazing! Enjoy the planning and the journey! Nancy

And we had first snow of the season when we reached Seydisfjordur on our Aug 31 sailing from NYC to Reykjavik. The mountain pass required to navigate for all excursions (Viking and 3rd party) had to be cancelled because the busses couldn’t get thru. We had a nice walk around town in the sleet, snack and coffee in a cafe, and back to the ship that day. You just never know with the weather.

@kag3120 as soon as you board, head to guest services to find out about the various events like tastings and ship tours.

@Sleep7 Thanks so much for your detailed report. We have this itinerary booked in 2025 and I will definitely reread this thread and all the Viking Daily entries as I prepare for our trip. After reading this, my only regret is that we can’t go sooner!

We were recently in PJS1 8008 which had a slider. Our friends in 8006 also had a slider.

Sorry for the delay in getting my final posts together. I did post the final individual days of the trip earlier in the week to my blog, but forgot to update here. I just now posted my final trip summary which I'm including here or you can click the link to the blog entry. Warning - it's kind of long! Note 25 – Summary of Iconic Iceland, Greenland, and Canada 2023 We’ve been home a week, laundry is done and pretty much everything is put up until the next trip. I’ve caught up on mail and bills and the crazy amount of dust that settled in the house while we were gone (thanks to help from Dave, too!). I got Mom caught up with updates on her computer and answered all the additional questions she had about our trip from reading my blog. I finished the posts for the last couple of days of the trip shortly after we got back, so now it’s time for the final recap! Travel To and From IAH I was glad that I’d pre-booked our transportation between home and Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH) both ways. We used Majestic Limo and Transportation Services in Houston and I would definitely book them again. The vehicles were immaculate, and the drivers were early (therefore on time!) and friendly. It made both the early morning departure and our arrival back home after a long travel day much less stressful. Travel To Manhattan Hotel From EWR Pre-booking our Newark airport pick-up for the four of us with Carmel (highly recommended on various travel sites) for the transfer to our Manhattan hotel was also a win. Once we had our bags (except for Paula’s which was delayed and delivered to the hotel later), we called the dispatch number I’d been given for Carmel, and they gave us our driver info and told us at which outside pickup location he’d arrive. He called me a couple of minutes later to confirm, ask what we were wearing, and told us how to identify him as well. Our driver was great and got us safely to our hotel. There’s absolutely no way I’d ever drive in the NYC area!! Our experiences in meeting new people on this trip with interesting life stories also started with him. He was retired military and worked this job as a part-time retirement gig with everything he earned from it going to a foundation he and his wife supported. Travel to Reykjavik Hotel from Port We opted to just take potluck on cabs to our respective hotels from the port in Reykjavik. This worked out well as Keith and Paula were able to go on to their hotel, get checked-in, and start scouting the area, while I was on the hunt for my wandering luggage (see Note 21) and Dave patiently waited for that outcome! I was glad we hadn’t booked a tour directly from the port for the day and had already planned to just wander Reykjavik at our leisure. On the Ship Stateroom As I wrote in Note 6, we booked a PS (Penthouse Suite) stateroom because we had to use up all our voucher credit from our cancelled 2020 cruises before boarding (we couldn’t use any leftover for spa services, for example). At 405 square feet versus the 338 square feet in the PV (Penthouse Veranda) which we had on our Viking Homelands cruise in 2019, I felt like the PS was overkill for us space-wise. There are so many places to sit and relax all around the ship that you don’t need that much extra space in your stateroom. The storage available was way more than we needed for a 15-day cruise even with bulky clothing. As we packed to leave and I started checking all the drawers, I found 3 drawers that we’d never utilized at all! The main perks of having a PS stateroom that we utilized were access to the room as soon as we boarded at 11am, using the laundry service (twice) and the ability to pre-book 3 reservations at each of Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table. However, PVs can pre-book 2 reservations at each specialty restaurant and most of the time you can get more reservations once on board. Self-service launderettes are available and free, or you can still pay per item for the Viking staff to launder your clothes. So, for us, it would be difficult to justify the price difference between a PS and PV for booking in the future. It was nice to experience the PS, but it didn’t spoil us for anything else! Grade: A Viking Food and Beverages I think I covered our fantastic food experiences thoroughly in the daily posts, including the galley tour. We were pleased with the quality and preparation of the food at all venues. I didn’t discuss beverages too much, if at all previously. We had the SSP (Silver Spirits Package) – remember we had a voucher to use up pre-board? Will we get it again? I don’t know if we will get it again on Ocean cruises. Viking individual drink prices are very reasonable – including the SSP pricing (although both people in a stateroom must have it) – plus they serve a basic choice of beer/wine/soda/coffee/tea at lunch and dinner included already in your base fare and you can take a drink “to go”. They promote the SSP as “covers any drinks (excluding champagne) up to $18.00 USD, including premium wines by the glass, cocktails, all house pouring wines, champagnes, beers, liquors, well drinks, mixers/long drinks and soft drinks throughout the day”, but you can also pay for anything on the bar/wine menus ala carte if you don’t have the SSP. If you drink a lot of cocktails, the SSP is probably the best deal. If you are primarily a wine drinker, then not so much in my opinion because I wouldn’t classify the wines available by the glass on the SSP as “premium”. They really should change that wording in their SSP description to “selected”. The wines in the SSP are limited to bottles which Viking lists for $30 (the lowest price on the wine list) or $8 by the glass. So, you’d think if the SSP covers any drink up to $18, then it should include glasses from bottles of wine that sell for around $68 (using the same markup difference between a $30 bottle and $8 glass), but it doesn’t. If you do buy a wine by the bottle and have the SSP, you get a 30% discount. On our Viking River cruise, our experience with the wines available on the SSP by the glass was much better. I’m guessing that is likely due to the inventory management required on the larger ocean versus the river ships, but still…. And my last nit-pick on beverages – there was no ginger beer and Schweppe’s now seems to be the mixer supplier instead of Fever Tree which I preferred on prior cruises. Did we find wines we enjoyed drinking on the SSP by the glass list? Yes, we did, but the selections weren’t as broad as I had hoped. If anything, the SSP is a “convenience” for those who don’t want to have a bill to settle at the end or keep track of as they go making sure charges are correct. I’ll admit, it was nice to get back from a cold excursion in the afternoon and request a coffee with Bailey’s as you walked through the Living Room bar area and not have to go check your account for the charge! Food Grade: A Beverage Grade: B+ Viking Onboard Service From the moment we entered the cruise terminal in Manhattan for check-in until I got reconnected with my luggage after we disembarked, the service from Viking staff was exceptional, as we expected. It makes it really difficult to fill out the evaluation form which asks you to rate your onboard experiences as “met expectations”, “didn’t met expectations”, or “exceeded expectations”! I hate those choices! As I now come to Viking with high expectations, it is exceedingly difficult for my expectations to be “exceeded”! I wish they’d switch to a 1-10 scale, as pretty much everyone would get a 9-10 from me, instead of just a “met expectations”. I always add a write-in comment that my expectations were high to begin with to justify selecting “met expectations”! The minor glitches in service that I mentioned in the first couple of days of the cruise seemed to work themselves out and we really couldn’t find fault with the service levels provided overall. Also, I need to mention once more the great job done by Viking in arranging the Meet & Mingle for our Cruise Critic Roll Call members with attendance by several executive officers. Throughout the cruise, people thanked me for organizing it, but really all I did was collect the names for Viking to invite! Finally, as I previously mentioned, you have to be careful what you wish for around Viking staff, even jokingly, because they will bend over backward to make it happen! Grade: A+ Viking Enrichment and Port Talks I’ll have to give us a grade of C for not taking as much advantage of these sessions as we should have – especially given that they were available on-demand on our stateroom TV within a few minutes of the conclusion of the sessions! There’s just not enough time in the day to do it all and I admit there were a couple of afternoons when I was working on the blog that we should have had a prior enrichment session playing on the TV, but we didn’t! There was an interesting slate of quality speakers on topics from history to ecology to geopolitical issues to using your iPhone for photos, and more. The port talks given by the cruise director and excursion director were also very informative. We did attend or watch most of those, especially if we were doing Viking excursions at the port. They weren’t just all about the Viking excursions, but also gave some geographical, cultural, and historical information about the region as well as tips for visiting the area. I will also mention the ship tours (galley and laundry) we took in this section. Those are not publicized, and you’ll need to inquire at Guest Services if they will be offered. I recommend that you sign up as soon as possible after boarding. Also, if the Resident Historian is explaining the Bayeux Tapestry that is well worth your time in my opinion as now any time I pass a scene in the stairwell, I know what it's about! Grade: A Nordic Spa Between the four of us, we all had paid for spa treatments which were wonderful, and we used the general spa facilities multiple times. I can see the benefits of having sea days to take advantage of these facilities now! This area was never crowded and may be one of Viking’s best kept “included in your fare” secrets that isn’t a secret, just underutilized – or at least that was our experience on this cruise. Grade: A Viking Sports Deck and Fitness Center Ok, I must confess – we didn’t use these facilities! Surprise! But lots of people did. The Fitness Center is adjacent to the Nordic Spa on Deck 2, and it frequently had folks working out as we passed by. Also, after 8pm, it is closed to guests and the crew are allowed to use it and they did! There were also always lots of people walking and jogging on the outside of Deck 2 getting their laps in - in all kinds of weather! They were dedicated! The Sports Deck is on Deck 9, and we did hear the lawn bowlers up there (directly over our stateroom) a couple of days when the weather was nice. It also has shuffleboard, table tennis, a putting course, and a nice lounge area. (pics are posted on the blog) Viking Excursions Our experiences with the Viking included excursions on this cruise as previously noted were hit and miss. The small size of so many of the ports and availability of qualified tour guides at each is a huge factor in this challenging itinerary. Specifically for the Greenland ports, which it appears that many cruise lines in addition to Viking call on, there needs to be a better local map for self-guided tours with more information than was provided. The two Viking optional tours which we booked at additional cost through Viking were both very good. These were the Great Greenland Furhouse and the Fjallsárlón Ice Lagoon by Zodiac. Both were enriching experiences, the furhouse for learning about the culture of the Inuit and the ice lagoon for learning about the Icelandic geology and seeing such a varied landscape on the drive to and from the lagoon, plus the exhilarating zodiac ride across the ice lagoon! I haven’t been that bundled up since the ice fog game in December 2013 to close Floyd Casey Stadium! We appreciated the effort to stop in Sydney after L’Anse aux Meadows had to be cancelled. The local map provided had sufficient detail for an interesting walk around the town to various sites. It’ll be interesting to follow this itinerary next season and see if Viking has any better success in visiting Newfoundland. The adjustments to our account for the cancelled excursions in Seydisfjördur was handled automatically. Grade: B+ Viking Entertainment – Atrium and Explorer’s Lounge We all very much enjoyed the musicians who played mainly in the Atrium and the Explorer’s Lounge on a rotating basis. This included the Classical Duo (pianist & violinist), guitarist/singer Laurence, and my personal favorite, Resident Pianist Sasha. Grade: A+ Viking Entertainment – Star Theater I saved this category for last in the Viking section because overall it “didn’t meet expectations”. This is a very subjective category as everyone’s perspective is different. But, overall, we didn’t enjoy the foursome comprising the Viking Vocalists – we just didn’t enjoy their voices. The content of the shows was fine, it was just their individual execution. I probably would have enjoyed the cruise director’s and assistant cruise director’s individual shows, but we got out of dinner too late to get seats those evenings. So, it became our preference to go to the Atrium or Explorer’s Lounge for our after-dinner entertainment. From comments I heard around the ship, the guest entertainers (Paulo and the ventriloquist) also seemed to mostly miss the mark. While I did enjoy Paulo’s first performance (we didn’t attend the second), it seemed that most did not, but then I have a musical background and appreciation for lots of musical styles. Grade: C+ Third-Party Tours I think we had a good mix of Viking included, optional, DIY, and third-party excursions. All our third-party contractors were on time for pickup and got us back to the ship or hotel well within the agreed upon time. Our guides were all very good to excellent in covering so many topics to immerse us in Icelandic geology, history, politics, and culture. We also had good success in our communications with Imagine Iceland when the ship was late arriving to the port. However, I will warn that email communications when trying to originally book with Icelandic tour companies can be a challenge. But when I read The Little Book of Icelanders, I learned that Icelanders are notorious for delayed email replies! So, if I ever go back, I might just have to plan the time difference better to call vendors instead of email with questions! Grade: A Our Favorite Things Viking · Favorite Breakfast Item: Lamb Chops in The Restaurant (Nancy, David, Keith), 2 kinds of bacon (David), smoked salmon (Paula) · Favorite Appetizer: Calamari in Manfredi’s (Nancy, David, Paula), ravioli in Manfredi’s (Keith), Crab cake in Chef’s Table California Cuisine (Paula) · Favorite Main: Seared Halibut in Chef’s Table California Cuisine (Nancy), Ribeye Steak in The Restaurant and Manfredi’s (David, Keith), Pork Chop in Manfredi’s (David), Sea Bass in The Restaurant (Paula) · Favorite Dessert: Chocolate Soufflé (Nancy, David, Paula), Cherries Jubilee (Keith), Grand Marnier Soufflé (surprise runner-up for Nancy!) · Favorite Pool Grill Item: Viking Burger (Nancy, Keith), Pancho Villa Burger w/Onion Rings (David, Paula) · Favorite Onboard Experiences: Galley and Laundry Tours · Favorite Included Excursion: Heimaey on Foot – we had a great guide in Trusty, and this tour was excellent for its exposure to the 1973 eruption and the overall history of the Westman Islands. · Favorite Optional Excursion: Fjallsárlón Ice Lagoon – long bus ride, but beautiful landscapes and a unique experience. Our guide on the bus was very good with a plethora of information as well. Non-Viking · Favorite 3rd Party Excursion (on cruise): Private tour with Garry - Peggy's Cove to Lunenburg Shore Excursion from Halifax. We all agreed that Garry’s love of sharing the history of Nova Scotia and its iconic sites set the bar high for the rest of the trip! · Favorite Excursion from Reykjavik: South Coast Day Tour – the rainbows at the waterfalls, the black glacier, and the basalt columns at Reynisfjara were the highlights and made this the overall favorite between the SC and GC for us. Golden Circle Tour – the highlight of the GC to us was Þingvellir National Park due to its historical and geological significance. Gullfoss was spectacular due to its size, but going there pushes the time required for the GC to its maximum. Also, if you’ve been to Yellowstone, the Geysir area (while historic) is anti-climactic. If you only have two days in Reykjavik, I’d recommend a half-day to Þingvellir National Park with a half-day in Reykjavik and then do a full-day South Coast tour. Conclusion This was an absolutely fascinating trip with a taste of Canada’s eastern provinces, southern Greenland, and most of Iceland. The only areas that we didn’t get to sample were the eastern interior due to our Snow Day which cancelled our excursions in that direction and the Snæfellsnes (Snow Mount’s Peninsula) located between Reykjavik and the Westfjords. A common question to those who cruise to see Iceland is: do they wish they’d done a land tour of the famous Ring Road to see Iceland instead of a cruise? For me, maybe ten years ago I’d have said yes, but for where we are today in our lives, I’m more than satisfied with our cruise, plus the additional days in Reykjavik for our Icelandic experience. While we were playing our final game of cards in Reykjavik on our last day, I asked everyone what they would take away from our trip. · Paula – came into the trip with no idea of what to expect from Iceland and was leaving feeling like she has an understanding now of the diversity of Iceland’s geology and history. · Keith – was impressed with the heroics of the people of Heimaey during the 1973 eruption and its early history. · Dave – will remember the Halifax and Heimaey excursions due to the great guides we had in both locations who shared such personal anecdotes and interesting information. · Nancy – gained appreciation for the struggle, determination, and gratitude of the peoples who settled and still live in the remote and harsh, yet beautiful, landscapes we witnessed. I’ll close with this thought from French novelist Gustave Flaubert: Travel makes one modest: one sees what a tiny place one occupies in the world.

We just booked Bucharest to Budapest for April 2025. I've been wanting to do this stretch ever since our first river cruise - the Grand European in 2017. I've been to Budapest twice before, so looking for new things to do in the area for the two days we will be there on this trip. Anyway, Thanks @CDNPolar for this review and I can't wait to see your video review and read future reviews by @Sleep7 and @deec and others!

Do it! We had a magnificent day today, but I’m too tired to finish the write-up at this point and finalize pics from our glacier lagoon excursion. I hope to get it up tomorrow. Otherwise I may not complete much til we get home after three more days in Reykjavik!

I followed your roll call and cruise closely in preparation for ours, so thank you for sharing your previous trip!

Yikes! I never thought I'd have so much trouble keeping up-to-date blogging daily! I have to admit getting the pictures selected and inserted takes the majority of my time. I'm all caught up now - thanks to a Snow Day in Seyðisfjörður. This has been an incredible trip even with the minor setbacks of which we expected there would be some. As was our experience in the past, Viking onboard staff will bend over backwards to meet as many customer expectations as they possibly can - when made aware of situations. When they ask how your day is going or how the food is, whatever, they sincerely want your feedback and take action when they can. You can find the details of our past few days at: https://notesbynancy.com. I can't believe we only have a couple of more days until they kick us off!

We have been so blessed with the weather overall on this trip. Qaqortoq was overcast and some occasional light rain, but we can say we made it to Greenland! The included on your own tour was a miss for us - I think we needed a better explanation of exactly where to find the "cultural activities" available both in the port talk and once on shore. The provided map was too generalized. We are normally pretty good at self-exploration, but failed here. However, we did very much enjoy the Great Greenland Furhouse tour that we paid for through Viking. Our local guide gave us excellent background and current information about how the Inuit live in this harsh climate. I'd give the Furhouse tour an A+. Yesterday, we once again dodged bad weather in Nanortalik. We had a better experience finding the Open-air Museum (no map needed in this small town!) and seeing what it had been like to have lived here 100 years ago. The sun came out and we enjoyed our walk around Nanortalik. The afternoon sail through Prince Christian Sound on our way to the Atlantic Ocean was nothing short of spectacular - glaciers, waterfalls, icebergs, and associated glacial landscapes. I'll have pictures on my blog later today.

@uktog glad you found all the activities in Qaqortoq today. Somehow, we missed out and were told the singers were cancelled. Oh well, as you said, mission accomplished in setting foot on Greenland! Also, I can’t wait for someone to ask me for a word using 3 Q’s without any U’s! 😉