Mich3554

We just got off the Grand European in May. Service is the same phenomenal service you’d expect from Viking. I have my eye on one to book for fall of 2023 right now, after we get off the WC. They are different beasts. River cruises seem much easier as you don’t have the same security. There is a bit more freedom in that a lot of the included excursions are ‘here are the highlights of this town, go and enjoy. The bus leaves at xxx or if you want to walk back, on board time is yyy.’ I missed sea days, you are in a different port (or sometimes 2) each day. I think the house wines are better on the river cruises. We don’t buy the drink packages, and our last trip our bar tab was $88. Usually our bar tab on a 15 day cruise is about $250. Dining is different in that it is much more structured. I don’t think I’d use a river cruise to decide to choose Viking for a WC. There are enough differences that I think you should experience an ocean cruise before you plunk down that much $$. For instance, if you hate sea days (and many do) then a string of sea days which you’ll find on a WC will make you miserable.

When I booked our first cruise, I had a mental list not dissimilar from Andy’s. We had never been on a cruise. There were a few non negotiable by DH. No formal wear, and a small ship, so that eliminated a lot. No kids, casinos or auctions was a plus as far as we were concerned. I found Viking, we got a cabin about 2 months before sailing (it was a trans Atlantic) so we really got a chance to check out the amenities. 6 cruises later and untold thousands of $$$ (I really don’t wanna know how much we have spent on Viking cruises so far), we have no interest in looking further.

Yep. We keep an empty gift card in my wallet for this purpose. The first time I realized this, I dropped my kindle off to charge. It didn’t, I thought it was a funky cord and was ticked off as it was the only cord I had to charge it with me.

Travel by far is our largest item on our budget. Our cars are 15 years old and we have no debt. Yes, stocks have figured strongly in the budget but for the most part, we live pretty lean when not traveling. DH is in a profession where they desperately need his knowledge and are willing to pay for it, so he has accepted contract positions for a set time, then he retires again. Those bolster the travel budget. I guess whether we do this again depends on what happens when we get back from our first WC. The planets seemed to align for us for this one.

We are booked in a PV for the 22-23 WC in Dec. We did a trial run with a 54 day B2B2B last winter to see both how the room worked and changes needed in how we pack. On that cruise, both DH and I took a single 25” bag and a backpack. The cruise went from Athens to Santiago, Chile and we had about a 50 deg temp differential. The PV has a lot of drawers….more than I thought. There were 3 in the desk, 3 in the closet, 7 in the credenza and 2 (?) under the safe. We had more space than we needed, TBH. The big drawer in the credenza was not used (we used it to hold dirty clothes), and neither were the drawers under the safe. However, we DO use the sofa quite a bit, especially at night when DH’s legs are driving him nuts. We could go smaller, but at this point it is what it is. I wonder if it is like flying business….it’s really hard to go back!

Just be aware that when you remove your room key from the slot that controls the power to the room, the power goes off from the USB ports too. So if you are charging something while away from your room, nothing gets charged.

I just bought a new iPad with the USB C connection. You can buy cords with a USB A on one and and USB C on the other. This way, you don’t need to bring the brick too. We have other things that also need to be charged, so usually bring a USB hub with us too.

I had them air dry all my shirts. They did. Just specify it under special instructions.

This is pretty accurate IME.

Likewise, the pool grill will stay open later than normal if there are excursions getting back late too.

We stayed in Electra Palace too. Great view of the Acropolis from the breakfast room. Excellent breakfasts. Cute, teeny cafe around the corner that we had a very fresh seafood dinner one night. Menu was written on a chalkboard in front of the restaurant.

Boqueria Garden.

Perks for booking a cruise while on a cruise vary by cruise. For instance, it benefitted us to book the cruises we booked before one cruise ended and another started (we were on a B2B2B) because of this.

You can purchase as many as you want. We bought 8 each.

There are several HOHO routes in Athens. I think we hit most of them. The absolute best meal we had in Athens was a sidewalk cafe, where the menu was written on a chalkboard down the street from our hotel. I think there were only about 8 tables, but we stopped by there the first day and went back the next day. We had the freshest seafood I ever remember having. It didn’t look like much though.

They do not. I bring my own. My first set were too long for my carry on, so I put them in my backpack and the handles stuck out. I have always gotten them through TSA without any problem, but DH was afraid they’d get confiscated. I now have a set that shrinks down smaller and easily fit in my carry on suitcase.

There were days where we booked more than one excursion each day. Usually, the included tours have a lot of times so we try to use those to work around the other tours we want to take.

Dining room is on deck 1, 2 and 7….there is no dining on deck 3 or 5. Deck 4, you only have cabins between you. Viking rooms are extraordinarily quiet.

Tendering on Viking is normally due to when your excursion leaves, not room category. If you have a private tour, you can make arrangements to leave accordingly. I think as long as you have access to a railing, you should be good. There are many unstable people on a tender who manage ok.

Star Theater has blankets you can grab. They are also on the lounge chairs overlooking the windows on deck 7 near the pool. I don’t remember being chilled in any of the restaurants though.

IME, it is usually announced the day of the event. I don’t ever remember it being early in the cruise either.

Our 54 day back to back to back, we had a lot of cancellations. A good chunk of that cruise was paid for by vouchers from Covid canceled cruises. We had a lot of canceled ports, therefore a lot of canceled excursions. Her’s what happened…. When Turkey was canceled (Italy didn’t want tourists who had been in Turkey previously), this happened about 2 weeks before we left. Those excursion $$ went directly back to the credit card. We lost Alhambra due to high winds. We provisioned and left a few hours after docking so all excursions were canceled. Alhambra was paid for from OBC we received from Viking. This was a non refundable credit, so the $$ went back into our on board account as such. We lost excursions in Morocco, Senegal, Brazil, Falklands and a few in Argentina that were paid for by credit card before we embarked during the cruise. Those credits came back onto our on board account as refundable credit. At the end of the cruise (I think at one time our account had a $5000+ credit) when our bar tab was paid, gratuity paid, I took a shopping trip and bought a couple jackets and requested a private driver to take us from Valparaiso to our hotel in Santiago, we had $12 left of non refundable credit and $1400 of refundable. The $1400 was refunded to DH and I by check about 6 weeks after we returned. It does get horribly confusing.

And to think I was making due with only on3 scoop!

We stayed in Petit Palace in Ramblas in Barcelona. The entrance is on the walkway so when we were dropped off by the taxi, we had to walk about a block to the hotel entrance. When the taxi picked us up for our very early morning flight, he was able to enter the walkway. It was a very comfortable, quiet hotel where our hotel overlooked a courtyard and had an excellent breakfast available. I’d have no problems staying here again. We had tickets to the Opera the following night at Grand Teatre del Liceu and it was a short walk.

Is there any chance you missed the email?