KTRaveller

No, the guide suggested going to a government training school for lunch and we were served a delicious, farm fresh lunch on an empty porch (except for us and cats) which clearly could have held a bus load, but didn't for some reason. The guide got to know us enough to know that we'd welcome the informality of this lunch spot which looked out on an ordinary vegetable garden. Before lunch we watched demonstrations of weaving both wool and silk carpets. I had no intention of buying a carpet, but we said yes to seeing some in a showroom and having a post lunch coffee. It was fun to watch them roll them out and we learned more about the styles. What I didn't know was that my husband had a 30th anniversary present in mind! Frankly, I'm calling it his 75th birthday present instead but I love it, too. He was convinced that most of the money went to the women doing the work, since it was a government run coop. Viking did give a little talk about rug buying and passed out a guide to their recommended shops in the Kusadasi port area -- places where you can trust your rug will arrive home on time, and where prices are reasonable if not fixed. You do need to bargain some. Our experience up to the moment we bought the rug had been so positive with our guide, Fatih, that we didn't worry that our shop wasn't on Viking's list -- it wasn't in the port, but out in the countryside.

We booked through Viator, which I think is connected to TripAdvisor. Our guide was Fatih, but there are lots of guides who are well-reviewed on TripAdvisor.

The rug sellers wait until they have enough sold for a container, then ship to their distributor on the west coast. Then their van drives all around from CA to WA dropping off the purchased rugs. We trusted our guide and Viator's reputation not to have given us a bum steer.

Hi -- I wanted to see the Roman homes and have a thorough look at Ephesus. For the first time, we took a non-Viking private tour and were very happy with it. We booked through Viator. We were met right on time by our private guide, discovered that we were to ride with him in a luxurious 4-wheel drive with a great driver (not be driven by him in his ordinary car which we'd expected for the very reasonable price) and were asked how we wanted to spend our time. It was pretty crowded, even in late October and he was able to time things so that we never waited in line. Not being in a Viking tour with even a dozen other people enable us to move exactly as we liked. He took us to a great place for lunch (suited to our tastes and chosen after he got to know us a little) and a demonstration of rug making at a government run cooperative with an organic farm. We would have been allowed another couple of hours touring with the guide, but DH needed to get back to the ship and a nap. We are were 67 and 75 at the time -- DH recovering from shoulder surgery and, as it turned out, less than six months from triple heart bypass -- total surprise, but, in retrospect, explaining his need for a slower pace than I'd expected. I was a little worried about being outside the Viking bubble and missing the ship, but frankly, if DH had had his heart attack while with that Viator guide, he would have been in a better position to get fast help than on a Viking tour. I concur that the Roman homes were the highlight of the day -- and it was an extraordinary day! I hope you have a great time, however you do it. Oh, we did buy a carpet and haven't been sorry! It was delivered right on schedule to our home in Oregon, where the delivery guys tried hard to sell us another one! The carpet sales thing is just something to accept about Turkey and the products are impressive, so why not?

We'd gotten the same ad in email and I'm afraid we were too busy booking to post it here -- glad you did Florida Flounder. I just wanted to say that it works!

We booked this offer yesterday for the Southern Atlantic Crossing, Buenos Aires to Barcelona, March 17-April 7. Free airfare, past guest discount, $400 per couple OBC and an overall lower fare due to many sea days (which we love.) There were quite a few sold out dates/cabins at our price point, etc. so it came down to a choice of two cruises with better dates on this one. There were a few not shown in the ad which pop up if you click on Learn More.

Also highly recommend taking extra strong magnetic hooks which will attach to almost every wall and ceiling area in the cabin. They are great for hanging purses, umbrellas, dop kit, lanyards, a shoe bag etc. Just don’t forget to take them home again! They don’t work on river ships which aren’t steel underneath.

forgot the main point -- ordered an iphone14 yesterday and have had some buyer's remorse, or anxiety since...

Your pictures are wonderful and I'm so excited and reassured. I have held on to my Iphone8 for a long time partly because I've loved the camera and wasn't impressed with some of my friends' photos from later models. The salesman told me that the 14 has a really good camera and now I'm more convinced. Thanks!!

Don't forget the gelato bar -- many nut free options there, most likely -- or Mamsen's

Thanks for posting so much from your cruise. Sad to hear that some are being so rude with their devices. They are actually addictive as is becoming increasingly clear. A disruptive drunk passenger would be shown back to her stateroom. Perhaps the same gentle treatment of this addiction should apply! Viking's public spaces are so lovely and serene.

I tried to let Viking know via MVJ chat that my DH was celebrating a birthday on our upcoming October cruise. First the agent told me they'd put it in the record for the date I chose. (On his actual 75th birthday in August he was 3 weeks post shoulder surgery and still in a huge sling contraption and eating with his wrong hand...Not a great look ) Then, I went back on the chat to make sure they'd use his nickname instead of his passport name. That agent told me that they will not recognize birthdays except on the actual date if it falls during the cruise... Years ago we celebrated our anniversary aboard, a few weeks before the actual date because the cruise was our celebration. They didn't ask for proof that time. I'll try guest services when we board. He really deserves a celebration!

Very disappointed to hear this as I hadn't planned on having my phone using data for three weeks in the Mediterranean. I was counting on those paper maps. The ones on our river cruise last fall seemed quite accurate -- old towns' historic areas don't change much! I'm forewarned though, so thank you!

Just want to say thanks to all who took time to report on their good experiences. Like someone said, it's easy to find lots of bad reviews on line because that's when people are inclined to review at all. I also particularly appreciated the clearly well-informed input from Jersey42. We learned the hard way recently that our Viking (Tripmate--Allianz) insurance wouldn't cover the part of our upcoming trip we paid for with their vouchers and stood to kiss $16K goodbye. We were able cancel everything BUT the cruise that we had planned so are still going, even though DH will have to do his PT routines on board twice a day! It was my fault for not understanding or reading the fine print well enough, but we'd had this insurance several times before and I though I knew it. Viking sent a message out in April warning about just this thing but we were traveling on another Viking cruise at the time and the message was just one of many that slipped by. I was annoyed that Viking hadn't done more to let us know about the policy and the opportunity to purchase upgraded insurance -- more than one little email -- so decided to look for 3rd party insurance for the new trip we're planning. Thanks for the education. Kathleen

I've been concerned about the news but haven't seen anyone worried about smokey air or missed ports due to the fires raging in Greece -- including one near Athens, and in Turkey, where they stopped non-essential traffic through the Dardenelles Strait for about 48 hours it seems. This leads into the Sea of Marmara to get to Istanbul. I haven't heard of Viking ships missing the port though. Has anyone found a good way to track this? Thanks

We'd like to STOP getting brochures as we find the website, cruise critic and emails sufficient marketing. Anyone managed to turn it off?

If you go to Viking.TV and search Russell Lee, you'll find all his presentations. I agree, he's lively and engaging, but so are many other Viking speakers. I think the personal connection is key -- telling your own story as part of the architectural one. Some connection to the ports on the cruise is important if possible, but not essential for every lecture -- especially if you end up on a longer cruise with lots of sea days. We had a great speaker about the White House on a recent TA. She seemed shy about interacting with passengers between lectures though -- which seems to me an important part of the job. For me, some of the most fascinating places have been where modern and traditional architecture have been merged in a creative and/or meaningful way. Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco was an early example back in the 60s (who knows what it's become now...) and the Old Post Office in DC was wonderful when it housed the NEA, before it became a hotel under a certain former President's brand. My all time favorite was Coventry Cathedral in the UK -- so very thought provoking for a young person. The underground neighborhoods in York (Victorian, I think) and Perugia (Etruscan) are also interesting examples and technically complicated from a construction standpoint. Another topic I'd like to hear more about would be buildings and former industrial sites which have successfully upgraded to be more environmentally friendly, repurposing the tons of materials on site rather than knocking down and hauling everything off. Hope to meet you on board somewhere. I'd definitely attend your lectures.

We've had the exact same experience -- missed the April 2023 email notification (because we were on another Viking cruise.). Luckily we were able to squeeze in my husband's shoulder surgery between trips, with just enough time in PT before we have to travel just to make the cruise. We had to cancel 3 weeks of plans for Europe before embarkation in Rome, so the value of the airfare to us dropped a lot. I should have had an inkling about this when the trip insurance rate was so low -- it didn't click that this meant it wouldn't cover the voucher value that we'd used to pay for the cruise. If we could have canceled and rebooked at a better time, we would have -- though after weeks of dealing with the post surgery stuff in the extreme heat and discomfort of this summer, we will really enjoy the heck out of the ship!

Our stop there was changed to Rovinj with no explanation. I don't mind very much since it's possible to visit Krka from Split. Rovinj sounds very interesting too -- smaller, which can be good.

In our area -- Willamette Valley, Oregon, there's a new non-alcoholic beer called Athletic with a pretty decent, hoppy IPA, along with other varieties. I doubt Viking will stock it so far away unless it starts selling to Europe but if you are looking for better non-Alcoholic options, seek it out in the US.

Agreed -- this video was excellent! We won't see Mycenae but it's very relevant for Troy, too.

We are on the same cruise (October 6 this year) and in same category for booking excursions, but in 2023 -- coming up soon. We were unable to get either Pompeii or Herculaneum but were able to book what we wanted otherwise. The "included" tour in Naples was showing sold out, but more spaces were added a day or two later after complaints to the Chat in MVJ. So far, no additional Pompeii though. Also, the included tour in Bari is still SOLD OUT but the agent told me that they will find space once aboard and that even for Pompeii or any other paid tour, there's a chance of getting on a tour on "Standby." We booked a tour in Ephesus through Viator which picks up at the cruise port but haven't found one yet for Pompeii which will work with the ship's midday arrival. I'm going to keep asking about it and complaining (politely) to Viking

We're planning to take whatever the ship offers to get to the city and to the train station for the half hour train ride to Padua (Padova) for the day. We've also heard that there is no private transportation -- taxi, uber, walking allowed from the ships -- it's all controlled access.

Thanks for taking the time to post -- your pictures are really excellent. I doubt Iceland will be in our travel future so it was a lovely armchair adventure -- and always nice to be aboard Viking. We embark on October 6 for 3 weeks in Italy, Greece, Croatia and Turkey -- hopefully a bit warmer than Iceland in July! Cheers!

We lived two blocks from the Seine for several years and can tell you that Paris is spectacular by night from the river and that it would be lovely to be on a smaller, quieter boat to see it. There are certainly such trips available so Viking could arrange it that way. Someone else will have to assure you that this is the case, though.