Cienfuegos

Check the various rental websites, too.  Depending on where the rental cars are right now, and where the rental companies need them, they will often waive the drop off / one way fee.

That works extremely well from season change in Florida. In May / June, the rental companies offer rock bottom one way rentals from Florida to the Northeast and Midwest.  And reverse in November and December.

The Miami / Miami Beach area also has world class shopping.  The Aventura Mall and the Shops at Bal Harbour are filled with interesting places to drop a few quid.

Uber can get you to both places, and BrightLine has a stop at Aventura, although there's limited service.

On our Oslo to Bergen extension, the luggage went out in the hotel hall at night, and was delivered to our ship cabin.

The Norwegian rail service adjusts its train schedules twice yearly, and then amends them as needed for periods of track work or construction, etc.

1 hour ago, z111 said:

Maybe Antarctica where there is no local food 🙂

 Grilled penguin isn't on the menu?

Yes.  The taxi rack is outside the main entrance to Miami BrightLine station at NW 1st Avenue and NW 6th Street. 

NW 6th Street passes under the station building, taxi cabs are usually waiting there, in my experience.  Uber and Lyft also drop passengers there

(Note for the grammar police. I usually write out numbers under ten, but the local convention is to use the numbers. So, I did.)

The Tri-Rail trains to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, and the Metro-Rail to downtown Miami are located on the ground level of the multi-story rental car tower.

Very convenient.

For a while, the Walt Disney Company offered special perks to shareholders. You could get early admission to the parks, and skip some lines within the parks.  It was a nice perk.

After a while, they realized people would pay them for this benefit, and away it went.

Once the initial turbulence settles down, and the index funds and thematic funds have their purchases, Viking will probably look to see whether some token amount of share owner benefit is worthwhile.

While a share owner credit might be appreciated by travelers, if 60%-70% of Viking shares are held by institutions, they wouldn't get anything out of the credit.  My guess is Viking would prefer to pay down some of their outstanding debt first.

9 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

When we cruised in the past with food restrictions on Ocean, we met with what I will call the "Dietary Manager" the day we boarded the ship. 

 

Each night we were left the menus for the next day and we were instructed to circle what we were interested in and they would create for us a dish that would meet our requirements.

That's a very good way to approach a customer's special needs.  Thanks for sharing the info

Miami cruise port to airport traffic at 7 or 8 am on a Saturday / Sunday tends to be pretty light

Do you have TSA pre-check or Global Entry?

If so, I would probably try for it. Carry off your own luggage, use Uber / Lyft rather than waiting for a shuttle to fill up.

There are a number of reports on this forum of travelers who have done this recently, and their thoughts / suggestions. You can search for them

2 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Warren is interested in companies with dominant market positions and solid cash flow.  Think Apple, Coke and Amex.  Years ago he dipped his toe into airlines (not entirely dissimilar to cruise lines) and got badly burned.  At that time he said:

 

“The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines.”

Around the same time he said something to the effect that the best thing to happen to capitalism would have been for somebody to shoot down the Wright Flyer in 1903...

On 4/29/2024 at 5:52 PM, Ashland said:

I'll add to the above...South Florida Shuttles.

Also check with your hotel they might offer a shuttle to your hotel and to the port.

agreed on the hotel shuttles, but have a back up plan and phone #s. Just in case there's a staffing shortage, etc and the shuttle doesn't run

The Tri-Rail train station at Miami Airport is in the same building as the rental car center.  When you get off the tram from the airport terminals building, you turn left to access the rental cars or ahead and slightly right to Tri-Rail and local buses down the escalator

Tri-Rail at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Dania and everybody else international airport is about two miles west of the airport. Shuttle buses run to the airport every few minutes.  I have seen hotel shuttles there, but I don't know if this is an on demand situation.

One question not yet answered is "what does Viking intend to do with the questionnaire?"

I prepared or approved various inquiries like this over the years, and we always had an objective in mind. If Viking asks its customers to spend time filling out a survey, they should be candid about how they intend to use the results.

Did they cut back on the quality or quantity of food in the World Cafe on that cruise? Did they add a special "theme night", and do passengers care? Or do they even remember?  Did they skip a desirable port, and how do customers feel about the proposed compensation, if any?

I would be hesitant about using results to grade individual employees, except on a broad level. There are just too many expectations about what a cabin attendant should be doing, or whether a bar attendant was "holding back" the good stuff, etc.

The date of your proposed stay and competing activities (downtown Miami concert, athletic event, one of the many parade events, etc can send prices skyrocketing.

The area around Port Canaveral is notorious for that, with prices driven partly by space launches. It isn't unusual to have a  $250 room with a good view to the north and east become a $600 room in minutes. SpaceX rarely gives more than a few days notice for proposed launches, so prices can be volatile.

8 minutes ago, kcpvwill said:

 Come on Viking, what’s wrong with “Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory or Poor”.  Viking gets it right most of the time, so why are they not listening to feedback from their loyal customers.  

Viking does rate tours / excursions on an excellent to poor basis, however.

(Raises hand)

We fill out the surveys. We expect Viking to have high standards, and thus the matter fully meets our high expectations.  Sometimes an aspect will exceed expectations, sometimes it won't meet, both are reflected.

I suspect that Viking  keeps track of calls to TellUs, these surveys, and evaluations from the crew and officers. As well as social media such as this. And keeps a running total of what needs to be fixed, good ideas which can be implemented, etc

Having the cruise line do your laundry can be a very efficient way to minimize the amount of baggage you have to drag during the pre- or post- aspects of the cruise.

If you plan to stay on the ship, keep an eye on spaceflightnow.com for space launches in the Port Canaveral area. Usually get a few days advance warning on time and location.

For Alaska, I  wear a light  T shirt, collared shirt with a breast pocket, a zippered cotton/wool pullover, and a Gore-Tex orange wind and rain proof shell jacket with hood. Brown or black jeans, warm socks, and Merrell hiking shoes.  Pack a knit ski cap. Good to zero Farenheit.

The rest of the stuff, including two T shirts, shower slippers. twill trousers, shorts, good shoes and more socks. Another 2-3 folded shirts, underwear, swimsuit.

Worked well on the Trade Routes of the Vikings (wind, cold rain in Bergen, 90 F in Malaga) and a mid-size checked roller bag. Rain is an enemy, need stuff that dries quickly.

We were cancelled out of Hyatt Place - 10th street in 2022, and "walked" to a nearby and much less desirable hotel.  Even though we had called to confirm a few days before, and made the reservation on American Express.  Same nonsense "overbooked" even with a guaranteed late arrival.

AmEx was superb, refunded our one night's cost. Wouldn't trust a late arrival reservation to anyone else.

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Above what @CurlerRob is saying, when we try to compare cruise lines, rarely do you find the same duration of a cruise with the same ports when you are trying to compare.  It is just never apples to apples.

 

Selling cruises to affluent, inquisitive people becomes a competitive exercise for the cruise lines.  They want to avoid direct duplication on many routes which reduces the probability of buyers seeing their cruise as a commodity.

Our church has seen a similar decline in personal garb in recent years. It's not unusual to see people dressed as if they are on their way to the golf course.

On the bright side, the pews are filled, and the overflow viewing area often has a few dozen people. I'd rather see casually dressed people in church, than well polished, empty pews.

Appreciate all the first person reporting