millybess

There is nobody more eager to have a political discussion on the Mid-East, and in particular the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the refugee camps, the settlements and current events. Just direct me to that discussion. It won’t be happening here, and rightfully so.

You’re right. I wouldn’t do it as a drive by. A lot would be missed. Haifa doesn’t have much to offer. Tel Aviv - city and beach is phenomenal, especially at night. Tiberius - Sea of Galilee overlooking the Golan Heights. My personal favourite Eilat, now Taba bordering on the Sinai. Not to mention the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and Bethlehem at Christmas. Thanks for posting. A 3 week DIY would be so much better and you would experience so much more.

Are you doing the Ubud post extension? We are booked for that in early 2025. I’m with you on the Pepsi. I’ve only seen Coke, Diet Coke and occasionally Coke Zero on board. Maybe that differs from ship to ship and others might chime in on this.

That sounds nice. It is certainly a cruise we would take. Rhodes is on our yet to do list. I hope you enjoy your cruise. So many folks on this thread were looking forward to their “Holy Land” cruise. Here’s hoping you all can make lemonade out of lemons.

And the wings! They often switch up the flavours from day to day: hot, Korean, etc. The Pool Grill is our first stop after we board.

That’s interesting. Is NCL’s new itinerary similar to Viking’s new itinerary?

Please post here if you get a refund.

Enjoy! We missed an upgrade once when we didn't answer the phone. Viking left a message, but by the time we returned the call, someone else had taken their offer.

When we book through our TA, we usually ask her to request the Viking tags, etc. be sent directly to us rather than to her.

We will often upgrade our wine at dinner. Or sometimes we will buy a bottle of wine and take it back to the room. So, "naw" our reasoning might not suit you.

A while back I posted that I go through the bill at the end of the cruise line by line. DH likes it when I don't worry about the dimes. Therefore, we buy the SSBP for our sanity -- mostly his. 🙂 In our case, it increases our choices.

That I didn't know. I read so many posts here on CC by people who had made reservations at the restaurant and then couldn't make their specialty reservations. I didn't realize that their original reservations were ignored.

We usually have the SSP and usually stay in a PJS. Neither of those things make a difference if you prefer a bottle of wine rather than having the fridge replenished. The reason we purchase SSP is because we like to have a choice of wines. That is not the case when a bottle is left in your cabin. CCWineLover is correct, it is the daily house wine. But the mojitos are awesome!🙂

👍 you beat me to it.

@longterm You aren't mistaken. Post Covid you could make reservations on MVJ for the Restaurant before the date you could make reservations for Chef's Table or Manfredi's. But if you used up all of your allotted reservations on the Restaurant then you had zero available reservations left when it came time to book the specialty restaurants.

👎

I wouldn't go out of my way to spend more time in Israel and all of the regions contained within, except to visit friends, but for a first-timer, I'm sure it's disappointing. You are right about that, especially because it was the headline billing. And I agree that $250 pp is not enough. We received similar for our TA missing Madeira and we expected nothing! That being said, we would still be on this cruise and would look forward to the adventure. Agreed! Communication with the customer is not Viking's strong point. No excuses, but they, and other lines, are scrambling and it's doubtful you would have had a quicker response from any other line. JMO.

I was just looking at the Manfredi's sample menu on MVJ and the rib eye steak is listed on the menu. Could anyone on a current or recent sailing confirm it's back, or is the sample menu very dated (like the Chef's Table sample menu which has been "coming soon" for the past 3 years - lol)?

Haha! Amazon drought --> sea days --> massages. I like it! 😉

OP is right, they aren't showing up on MVJ as they normally would. I've checked a few times today and at the moment there are no massage choices. Maybe they'll show up at a later date.

I don't know what Color Street is, but I usually have my nails done the day after embarkation. Sometimes I just have normal nail polish, other times gel. Usually I remove it myself with the foils Meander Ingwa mentioned above while sitting on the balcony enjoying the view 😎 The salon has always offered to do this for me, so I know they do provide the service, but I don't know the cost. $20 sounds reasonable to me.

Ours just opened today, so I'm sure it hasn't filled up. A couple of cruises ago I wanted to book a manicure and that isn't offered on MVJ. The spa person said to just book whatever is offered and then change it in person. For example, you can book an 80 minute Nordic Restart and that would be the same amount of time needed for a manicure and pedicure. Or you could book a 50 minute Hydrafacial, and that would be the same amount of time needed for a shorter Swedish Massage. But I am surprised that there are no massages offered. It's probably just a mistake and it will take them some time to correct it.

I was wondering the same. I think there is a choice of 2 facials and Nordic Restart. There are no massages offered.

👍 I like your personal observations with regard to risk while travelling.

I'm at home right now and I'm still looking for the latest updates every minute. 🥲