millybess

I agree with all you have said, except that there was one time that we were on a bus and there was a fellow at the back who was very sick from motion. I gave his wife some meclizine to give to him and by the time we got to our destination about an hour later he was in fine shape. Personally, I would never leave it that long and in fact, I always start meclizine 2 days prior to travel. Regarding the scopolamine patch, I have known people who have used it and were very ill once they returned home and stopped using it.

I like the UK to Madrid idea. I think that's what I'd do and spend an overnight or more in Madrid. We are flying to San Juan in January for a Viking cruise and San Juan has become a very difficult place to get to from here We decided to overnight in Miami.

C'mon now. Put on your helpful hat. 🙂

I assume you mean nonstop(?) and others here will know better than I, but from Toronto we can no longer fly to San Juan nonstop. I will be interested to see if you are able to fly nonstop from Heathrow.

We did the included tour in Katakolon in June called "Ancient Olympia". It was 4 hours in duration and was one of the best tours we've ever been on, paid or included. Yes, we had an amazing guide, but the tour itself was also really good. We were surprised it was "included".

Yes, I remember that. I followed your roll call and your trip. It seems to me that many of the Trans Atlantic cruises don't make Funchal. It was disappointing, but not unexpected. We were pleasantly surprised when we received these vouchers and happily applied them -- ASAP I might add 😉

We booked Mediterranean Odyssey and Empires of the Mediterranean separately and unexpectedly, Viking combined the booking under one booking number. That was okay with us. However, what came as a surprise was when it came to booking excursions and dining, it was treated as two trips. There were no problems booking included excursions (some of them were really good and better than what we're used to). But for a B2B cruise, we had 12 specialty dining reservations which was more than we wanted to use.

We missed Funchal on our Trans Atlantic in March. We missed ports before and expected nothing. It's all part of cruising in our opinion. We were very surprised that we each got a voucher shortly after returning home. We applied them to a cruise that we had already booked, but hadn't made final payment.

If I can't take my hair care appliances, I'll be wearing a ball cap everywhere.

We have been to both Greece and Venice in May, June and July over the years. The crowds are much worse these days, possibly because everyone is really ready to travel. It's almost impossible to see anything even on organized tours. Just one example, last month at the Acropolis it was just a very, very slow moving line and the heat was intolerable. That was in the morning and many people were breaking the line and going back down. Our excursion to Murano/Burano made an unscheduled stop at St. Mark's and it was almost comical the number of boats that were trying to park and the line ups of people waiting to board. At Santorini we didn't bother getting off because we have travelled there on our own several times. We sat on the deck at the back of The Restaurant and we couldn't even see the end of the line trying to get back down by cable car. I would definitely go in October because of the crowds and heat.

Wow! What's your beef with this? If you look at allowable items, curling irons is on the list. And, no, they don't confiscate these items. In your case it's not thread drift, it's thread unread.

Yes, I know. I am wondering if it's the inactive ingredients which makes it more agreeable, less drowsy? It would be nice to know that and your expertise would be appreciated. My experience is that Bonine meclizine makes me tired and Rugby meclizine doesn't.

Yes, when we had a place in Florida I would buy the Rugby brand from Amazon. I prefer it to Bonine as it makes me less drowsy. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to buy it now here in Canada and in the States. I'm well stocked for our next several cruises, but it's mostly expired stock.🤷‍♀️

I agree with you. IMO, it's much easier to socialize in the MDR than in any other dining venue. We also didn't find it too loud. We found breakfast service slow, but not the dinner service, and we really enjoyed sitting a bit closer and being able to chat with our fellow cruisers. I think there is more privacy in the Chef's Table or Manfredi's where the tables are much farther apart. Even the World Cafe would offer more privacy that the MDR. If the food and service were more consistent in the MDR we would dine there more frequently.

You know, we do a lot of independent travel before and after our cruises. I think I'll stick with my tiny, easy to pack, foldable dryer with a diffuser that fits and that Viking doesn't seem to mind. Thanks though 🙂

Haha!! I'd spend endless, precious hours trying to get that off. 😂

I wish that were true. My problem has always been to find a universal diffuser that stays put on the Viking ships's hair dryers. Not to mention that I find them to be heavy and awkward to handle. I really like my tiny little, fold-up hair dryer.

I always unintentionally forget to turn in the hotel key card -- although so many are digital these days. This would be a good use for them.

No, it cannot be used in the bathroom. The desk opens up to a vanity mirror. The vanity is where I keep my hair "stuff" because it's close to the sockets.

The medical centre also has a basket of meclizine sitting on their counter to take as you need them. Meclizine works for me and I start taking them 2 days before I start to travel.

On all of our cruises, the steward has put a card in the slot and it was there for the duration.

And straightening irons too. Although, they are strict on the surge protector. We had a European multi socket surge protector with us after an independent European trip. It was in our carry-on and we asked them to keep it for us 'til the end of the trip. On the last day of the cruise it was delivered to our stateroom neatly packaged.

Although curling irons are "Allowable Items" and they produce heat.

I take my own hairdryer all the time, along with a few other hair appliances, and they have never been confiscated.

It was used for Dancing Under The Stars for our May cruises this year.