millybess

Please, this might help: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2-ports-of-call/ 🙂

We were looking at the Social and then the Park Hyatt. They are both still possible. We're also looking at The Sebel Viaduct Harbour.

Thanks much!

That sounds very nice and I'll watch out for it on our cruise in April. Thanks!

🙂 Me too! And the A&W Diet Root Beer has no sugar -- an added bonus.

A&W Diet Root Beer is caffeine free.

For our M&M last month, we just organized it on the roll call. Just first names, no cabin numbers, no invitations and no mention in the daily. Viking, unexpectedly, put something together very quickly. But I think our circumstances were different. It was a very active roll call mostly due to the difficulty in obtaining the Brazilian visa. So, besides going on the same cruise, we all shared an additional bond. We will see if they have been able to put together something more formal on Orion for the remaining segments. The roll calls are not very active.

I will add that we are on one of the Orion segments so we do have a personal interest in an organized M&M. It is now my understanding that in the end, on the Orion, Viking did publish the information for the informal gathering in the Viking Daily. Also, DH and I aren't on the other site.

We really like the idea of doing that because it does make a big difference to the voyage to be able to casually chat with people and to know their names, etc. We were fortunate last month that Viking took it on without being asked for anything more than a venue in which to gather. I would like to see Viking formally bring it back on Cruise Critic, but I have noticed that there are other lines that have also paused CC Meet and Mingle.

That's one way of doing it. Viking has our TA's information on file and after we book they ask if we want it transferred to that particular TA. We then follow up with our TA.

Yes, we do this all the time. We book directly with Viking and then have them transfer the booking to our TA.

This might depend on the ship. On our cruise last month I had the Diet Coke switched out for Coke Zero.

Question for you Jim. We will be in the area next year for the first time, so we don't know it at all. You mentioned there is a shuttle boat. Are you tendered in White Bay?

Last year in Florence we disembarked and re-boarded in Naples. We had to have permission to do that. However, when we re-boarded in Naples, our key cards had been erased and we had to wait for someone to bring us new ones before we could board. It was explained to us, that it is standard procedure that a departure be treated like the departing passengers have left the ship for the duration, and they might, or might not, be back. That makes sense to me. And your preference also makes sense to me. You might want to ask tellus@vikingcruises.com.

We have done this a number of times at dinner in the alternative restaurants. Viking's bottles of wine are much nicer than their wine by the glass offerings with many more choices. Even without the discount, Viking's prices per bottle are very good. The SSBP discount just makes it that much better.

I will add that Viking’s tenders won’t be used. It was explained to us by the Viking GM that all the tenders are local and are operated by the Santorini Boatmen’s Association which is a union organization in control of transferring passengers. Their tenders are also larger.

The ship is Viking Orion. And, yes, it might well be because there are multiple segments. It was suggested on the roll call that there would be a meet and mingle for every segment.

That would be lovely! I wish we could get there in time to join you. Beautiful photo BTW. Enjoy!

Not necessarily. The organizers on the Grand Pacific Explorer roll call thought they could get something organized. They had an extensive, ongoing spreadsheet with first and last names, embarkation ports, home cities, cabin numbers, etc., but yesterday Viking said no to the meet and mingle. They are planning to have an informal meet and greet in the EL 8th today. I hope it works out for them because a lot of work has been put into this. It's a multi-leg voyage and we've been following it because we are on the Hong Kong to Vancouver legs. Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with some of them.

Will do! Thanks. 🙂

We would be very interested on your take on "old world" wine tasting. Enjoy!

I agree with you on that. We, in Canada, also use the metric system. Having grown up with the Imperial system, I consider myself "bilingual" in both measurement and temperature, with a bit of French thrown in for good measure. 😉

JMO, that's a lot of personal information you might not want to have out there. We organized it on our roll call with just our first names -- no spreadsheet, no formal invitations. Once we met up, many of us exchanged more personal information: email addresses, etc.

On our Amazon cruise a few weeks ago we arranged a meet and greet for the "Brazil E-Visa Survivors". DH and I talked to Guest Services as soon as we boarded and told them we wanted to meet informally at the Explorers Lounge 8th deck and that we were expecting around 24 people. No problem. That night I received a call from the Guest Services Manager telling me that they would like to take over the hosting duties. The next afternoon they had closed off the 8th deck EL for a "Private Party". There were appetizers, drinks, 2 dedicated servers and, of course, many officeers showed up along with the Cruise Director. Speeches were made. Around 30 people showed up. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to get to know the people we had been talking to online (and also sharing misery) for some time and it made a big difference for that cruise. Viking went way above and beyond our expectations.

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