Mich3554

23 hours ago, JM0115 said:

It's difficult to find travel insurance for that long a trip. One option is annual trip insurance. 

Annual trip insurance doesn’t work on a world cruise.  We found that out last year when looking for insurance.  We were on the ship 2 days less than 6 months,  

However, we did get a medical policy for our world cruise last year.  It was a Berkshire Hathaway policy bought through the tripinsurancestore.com

2 hours ago, jgrahamiii said:

Hi All. I know this is an old topic, but we just booked a PV stateroom on the Star, and want to be sure we are in a sliding glass door room. My first email to Viking asking resulted in a phone message that all PV rooms have the slider. I know that is not true. Just did a chat and moved rooms as the person said we were not in a slider room.  I'd really like to find the PDF file with the complete list of rooms, but it is no longer available on this chat. Does anyone have it? Note, we have rooms 5088 and 5090 if that helps. Thanks!

I would assume slider as I know 5089 and 5091 are both sliders.  5093 and 5095 both have doors.  We have stayed in all 4 rooms, and I’m assuming the ship is symmetrical.

On 5/16/2024 at 2:41 PM, MikeyB said:

Just off the Orion two days ago.  Wifi was good in Alaska.

TV- horrible.  Many days we had nothing while in port.

Agree with this.  Even the connection of shows/lectures to the TV during the event fuzzed out some during this route.

3 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

More clarification. Picking up in LA if from Bellingham. Cabin number?........ love to buy you guys a drink to talk about Bellingham!!!!!!

We are in 5034, I believe.  

1 hour ago, WAVTAM said:

Clarfiy ..You are on the Sky for the Jan 2025 World cruise either out of FLL or LA. 

Where do you want in to continue too. ....NYC.

Graduated from Sehome High.

We were on the Neptune from FLL to London in 22-23.  At this point, I believe the Sky is the only ship scheduled for this year’s WC, but we will be getting off in London this time.

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

My understanding from reading CC these last years is that each ship is refurbished every five years and taken out of circulation for a few months for that purpose.

The Orion is probably slated for refurbishment.  We got off it on 5/14 as well and don’t agree with what was said totally.  In fact, meals in Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s were some of the best we have had.  We had excellent cabin attendants, and mostly ok service in WC.  
While we were on board, the carpet was replaced in the corridors.  DH noted that the floor in the Explorer’s lounge was buckling, near where it opens to the outside deck.  However, we noted this on the Jupiter as well, so suspect that there may be design issues with these 2 ships, since they were built about the same time.  

We are booked on the 25-26 world cruise and got the announcement that our cruise has been changed.  I was hoping the new itinerary would continue on.

We are getting into Vancouver on Tuesday.  On the Alaska leg of this trip, I have pretty much worn jeans/heavy khakis, my Merrill waterproof hiking shoes, a sweater and a puffer jacket (ironically, bought in the Viking shop during a Covid cruise when we had tons of OBC to spend).  I have one Dale sweater with me, and 2 cashmere ones.  I also have long sleeved cotton shirts that I wore under the sweaters as another layer if needed.  I’ve been comfortable.  I have 2 pair of leggings that I wear around the ship on sea days, and a pair of black dress slacks that I wear for when I can’t wear jeans.  
 

We have been on this ship since Bangkok, and I’ve not touched most of the clothes I have needed for the warmer weather since Japan.  

5 hours ago, KBs mum said:

We went in, out of curiosity, they tried to get me to upgrade my watch. Didn't work, was wearing my retirement rolex.

It seemed to us to be standard cheap jeweller stuff at a premium

The jewelry they do carry varies considerably.  On this cruise, there really isn’t much that struck my eye, but a few cruises ago there was a guy on from Columbia who brought emeralds.  He had a pair of gorgeous earrings I coveted, but not at $30k!  
They also had some work that was replicates of Faberge that were gorgeous.  Apparently it was work that was done by his grandson.  Those were gorgeous too.  I saw something similar in a jewelry store in Auckland, about the same price.  

I use one of the felt bags we got on our first cruise that I use as our local medicine chest for cruises.  Last cruise I was on, I got charged $24 for a handful of OTC cough drops and thought that was for the birds.  I always carry:

Ibuprofen

Dayquil/Nyquil capsules

Sudafed (the good stuff)

Benedryl, both tablets and topical

Cough drops

Tums

Antibiotic ointment, alcohol wipes and band aids

Keflex and z packs 

Allergy eye drops, moisturizing eye drops

My visit to the ship doctor when I had a bad cold (not covid) was $124 (including the cough drops).  I was offered ibuprofen, but had my own cold meds of choice with me, so turned them down.  I had forgotten the bag of cough drops sitting on the bathroom counter at home.  

We have been to Chef’s Table 4x, Manfredi’s twice on this Bangkok to Vancouver trip we are currently on.  We did not have a single reservation when we stepped on board for dining.  Most of the reservations were made 2-3 days in advance.  
 

We have never booked restaurant reservations before any cruises and have always eaten at them several times.

Viking will book a one way ticket.  We are on a cruise right now where we only needed one way airfare to Bangkok.  The ship is docking less than 100 miles from our home.  
 
We did not use Viking Air as their business class was considerably higher than what I was able to book our flight at ultimately, so I canceled the air on our itinerary.  However, when I booked this cruise, I mentioned we only needed one way fare and they complied.   

We stopped at a winery for lunch after going to visit a huge colony of seals.  That excursion was in Napier, and we did another one the following day in Wellington.  Between the 2 wineries, we had about a case of wine we brought back to the ship.  
 

I know the first winery, it was fairly close to the port but a long haul to visit the seals.  We stopped on the way back.  Both wineries were pretty good, but don’t remember the names….sorry.

It is very easy to get a glass of wine in World Cafe.  We asked for a particular one, and the waiter that night continually topped off our glass.  Did I mention we did not have the Silver Spirits package?  Despite having provably 5 glasses between us, we were charged for 2.  The waiter brought it from Aquavit to his station, and kept it nearby to top us off.

On 4/15/2024 at 5:05 AM, Steerpike58 said:

 

 

In truth, I'm starting to question the value proposition of the whole Viking cruise concept.  It seems to work out around $1,000 per day, for two.  I absolutely adore the dining options on the ship, but if you assume $300/night for the cabin, $300/day for the convenience of being transported between ports, that still leaves about $400 for food - and the food isn't 'that' good!  We planned our own 'land trip' through England and Scotland last year, staying at good hotels, eating really well, and renting a nice car, and I think it came out to about $500 / night. 

 

Since I have mobility issues, ship travel makes it easier for me.  We have a land trip planned in Sept (which does include the Bordeaux River cruise) and am starting to dread the land portion as it is much harder on me.  At least renting a car ameliorates it some, but hauling luggage multiple places (even as light as we pack) is just harder.  

Love the beds here too…..maybe too much!

We are still on the Orion, got on in Bangkok, will get off in Vancouver.  
 

We did not fly directly to Bangkok, but flew to Bali so DH could dive for a couple weeks.  Then we took a flight to Bangkok.  We were there 4 days, on our own.  We stayed at the Okura hotel.  4 days was about $800 total, including a very good breakfast buffet.  Taxi to the hotel was inexpensive, as were local dinners.  We did catch a flight out to Chiang Mai to meet up with friends.  We had a car booked to take us to Laem Chang to meet the ship and I think it cost about $50 total.  Our 4 days in Bangkok, transport (not including the side trip) and food included probably cost us around $1000.  
 

Extensions provided by Viking are really not worth it.  We did it once, last year before the world cruise and it just was not a good value for our $$.  We could have stayed at the same hotel (or better) for less.  The only difference is that there is some research involved.  

23 hours ago, Hockeyump said:

We went to Stanley Market and some stalls take every major currency plus plastic.

Temple Street Market did not.  It was cash only.

Just pulled into Hong Kong this morning.  Everyone had to get off the ship and do a face to face with immigration before they’d let us back on.  I went on the hunt for an ATM while waiting to reboard (my excursion doesn’t leave until this afternoon).  
The port is attached to a very upscale mall.  Name a designer, the store is there.  After quite a bit of walking (and acquiring others on the hunt for the elusive ATMs) we finally found the single bank that had a bunch of ATMs.  Anyone looking, it’s on the third level back in a corner.  
Then I had to find myself out of the maze of the mall.  I had a couple of wrong turns to get my way out.  
We were told in the port talk that the markets mostly accept cash, not plastic.  I’m guessing the mall was the exception!

1 hour ago, SailorPaulH said:

When you got the offer (for $$) to upgrade, did they tell you the cabin number that was on offer?

For us, no.  

We were offered an upgrade from a DV to a PV for peanuts.  Maybe $100 pp?

Viking knew what they were doing when they made their offer because we now book a PV.  
 

I did just meet a woman on this cruise who got upgraded from a PV to a PS.  She told me that this cruise was for their 40th anniversary.  Maybe it happens more frequently on a milestone occasion?

On 4/4/2024 at 7:16 AM, RobinB13 said:

We do have a deposit down on Alaska for next year but haven’t had the final payment yet.  It is on Orion PV and has the door vs slider.  I am trying to decide if I should switch the cruise date, and ship to Sea, to get a slider.  It just sounds more appealing to me.

We are currently in a PV with a slider.  We did the world cruise with a door, and TBH I really don’t find it that much of a difference.  I find slider is harder to open and harder to secure.

On 3/28/2024 at 9:03 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

No, Viking is making it such that at the end of the cruise more people will have non-refundable left in their account, that Viking will not have to return to guests at the end of the cruise.  

We had a LOT of $$ left in our account at the end of the 22-23 WC.  Other than some shopping, we shipped back a bag out of London and then since we were continuing on to NYC, Viking carried our OBC over until it ran out.  The balance left paid our alcohol tab and our gratuities for 2/3 of the separate cruises it took to get us to NYC.  

On 3/28/2024 at 8:21 AM, Pam said:

No, the opposite.  They were paid using nonrefundable, and Viking has changed them to using refundable.

This is a better deal, not worse.  If the credit is not used by the end of the cruise, it’s refunded to them.  

5 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Easy, don’t book till 6 months out.🍸

This is what we did for our first cruise.  We booked a trans Atlantic (only cruise with rooms available) in Sept for Dec.  Payment was due almost immediately, but while we were on that cruise, we booked the next for a 6 month payment date.  Since that cruise, we have always had at least one cruise on the books.  

I am embarrassed to say we currently have 4 in the pipeline right now, and DH is talking about booking another while on this cruise!