portisheadblue

We live near Bristol and always prefer to fly from there …. Viking have been very happy to route us from Bristol via Amsterdam on KLM to almost anywhere in the world. We don’t mind the connection in AMS as the opposite is 2 to 3 hour taxi ride each way to/from LHR plus an extra £400 cost to us.

We did ask Viking several times to fly us with Easyjet but they politely declined.

Also, we find the U.K. flight office to be very helpful.

Today we received an email from Viking advising us that September 2024 cruise from Barcelona will now depart from Barcelona and not Taragonna  - so for that cruise it is now what we booked originally.

We have done both Ocean and River before and after Covid and we enjoy them both and accept there are differences …. on Ocean we make maximum use of the the speciality restaurants and on River we camp out on the Aquavit Terrace as much as possible.

The SSP on River is a much better offering than on Ocean …. but they are both great value.

We’ve stayed in 8003 a couple of times …. no issue with noise from Explorers Lounge (and you get your almost private entrance to EL) and no issue with noise from deck 9 either.

cheers

Here we are sat in Athens awaiting our flight home and we are at the other end of the cruise having completed the Cappadocia extension - which went very well on the whole.

… on arrival we checked into our hotel, Carlton Hilton, where we spent 9 hours….. arrived at 7pm and up and out by 4am to catch scheduled flight with Turkish Airlines

… first surprise was to be told on arrival that we could leave our luggage with Viking and they would look after it and it would be on our bus from IST to the ship … a nice surprise that generated a rapid re-packing

…. Second surprise was to be told we had until 2pm next day to confirm or decline a booking for the ballon ride the next day … we opted to do the ballon ride but it was cancelled due to wind speed. Had it gone ahead it was 290 USD per person charged to your room on the ship and nothing to pay if it doesn’t go ahead

.. third surprise was that there were about 150 of us doing the pre extension

.. we stayed at a “cave” hotel but none of them have 75 caves so don’t be disappointed if, like us, you got a “normal” room

Well worth the effort and lack of sleep to visit Cappadocia especially in the good hands of Viking.

22 hours ago, hbtraveler said:

Hi.  We did Cappadocia as a post cruise extension in early July.  So the sequence may be a bit different for a pre-cruise trip.  It was a packed 3 days but well worth it.  We left the ship at 4:00 am to drive out to Istanbul airport, which is 45 minutes or more outside the main city, for our 6:45 am flight on Turkish Air to the small Nevşehir airport.  Note that there are 2 security checks at Turkish airports, one to get into the terminal and a 2nd one after getting your boarding pass.  We had 4 buses (at about 2/3 capacity) for all of the Viking folks.  Once at Nevşehir, we drove to the Göreme Open Air Museum, which was our first stop.  The guide took us to several of the churches built in the caves and we then had some free time at the sight.  Back on the bus, we drove to the nearby Pasaba Valley with its fairy chimneys.  After some brief introduction by the guide, we were free to wander amongst the chimneys.  By this time, it was getting toward lunch.  So we went to the town of Avanos for lunch.  A decent "local" lunch.  After lunch, we started toward the hotel, stopping at a couple places around Uçhisar, a pair of peaks filled with cave dwellings.  A lot of the cave hotels are here, I think.  We drove a while to our cave hotel, Kalsedon Cave Suites.  It was located adjacent to a small town which didn't seem to have a lot in it.  The hotel was nice enough, although our room wasn't actually in a cave.  We had dinner here the first night after some rest time.  Note that there is a fair amount of up and down walking to get to some of the rooms.  So, if you have mobility issues, I'd try to request a room close to the lobby.

 

With regard to balloon flights, Viking let us know a few days before arriving in Istanbul that an optional balloon flight would be available on the morning of the 2nd day.  It was $290 per person.  Since it was one of the top things to do in Cappadocia, we signed up, as did most of the people on the extension.  Unfortunately, on the way to the hotel on Day 1, the guide informed us that, due to predicted high winds for the next morning, the balloon flights were cancelled.  Needless to say that everyone was disappointed.  But safety first.  Viking said that they would refund the cancelled flights (although I'm still waiting for my refund).  At least we got to sleep in.

 

Day 2 started with breakfast at the hotel.  A much more leisurely pace today as we then headed out to the Kaymakli Underground City.  Early Christians used these caves to live in while hiding out from the groups that wanted to quash them.  This underground city is 7 stories deep.  You can go to the 2nd level and then exit, or go all the way down to the 7th level before heading up.  Not for the claustrophobic or those with back or other walking issues.  I went to the 2nd level before heading back.  Like most sites, there are plenty of souvenir stalls around to keep you busy until the rest of the folks return.  We then took a scenic ride to Ortahisar heading for a rug demonstration.  As with most of the rug demos, they had a couple of the women show how they wove the carpet.  Then there were beverages while the owner showed the various types of rugs.  It is a low pressure sell.  We found something we liked and, after the expected bargaining over the price, bought one (they really are quite lovely).  If you are interested in a carpet, you may get a better price here than in Istanbul.  After carpets, we headed to lunch in Uçhisar.  Nice view.  After lunch, we headed to Avanos for a pottery demo.  It was quite interesting and they let one of us work on a pot.  A visit to their showroom followed (really nice work if you are interested in ceramics).  We finished up the day at Love Valley with more stone formations.  We were supposed to stop in the valley, but the parking lot was jammed.  The driver took us to an overlook and then went back down the road for a very slow drive-by of the formations.  We then headed back to the hotel.  For dinner that evening, we went to a restaurant that featured some folk dances from the various cultures that populate Turkey.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and more than a few joined in the dancing when asked to join (me included).

 

Day 3 was another early start, leaving the hotel after breakfast at 6:45 am to catch an 8:30 am flight.  Passed through 2 security checks (even at this small airport).  They checked the weight of all bags, including carry-ons.  Anything over 8 kg became checked baggage.  After the 1 hour flight to Istanbul airport, we picked up the luggage and took a bus for the long drive to Istanbul.  They took us on a driving tour of some of Istanbul (which they admitted was mostly killing time until our overnight hotel room was ready).  I would think that, for a pre-cruise extension, they'd take you to the cruise terminal.

Thank You for your in depth reply above …. a great amount of detail; and you are right about the post cruise being very different to the ore cruise.

Did you fly Turkish Airlines or Pegasus or another airline please?

Kind Regards

We are taking the Cappadocia pre-cruise extension in October 2022. Could any of you have taken this extension recently please? Can you share information on the travel arrangements from and to Istanbul please? Also we’re any of you able to fit in a dawn ballon ride? If so, how?

Thanks for reading this far. Safe Travels. Cheers
 

I would just like to say a BIG “Thank You” for every post you have made on your trip round half the world. I’ve read almost every post and enjoyed the honesty, the insights, the education and your humour.

Enjoy the rest of your trip. Kind Regards to you both.

1 hour ago, portisheadblue said:

Good Morning to anyone currently on Venus …. How many PAX are there on board please and also are you really in Zeebrugge today, Thursday, and if so why. Is this a one off? We are doing same cruise on 5th February so have an interest. Have a great time Cheers

Oh dear …. Seems the tracking web sites think you are in Zeebrugge but the webcam looks like a very foggy North Sea - Enjoy !

Good Morning to anyone currently on Venus …. How many PAX are there on board please and also are you really in Zeebrugge today, Thursday, and if so why. Is this a one off? We are doing same cruise on 5th February so have an interest. Have a great time Cheers

9 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Hey Jim - don't forget those dots & dashes😁😁

 

Back in my cadet days, we hit 8-words/min by light, then went into the radio shack, where Sparkie worked Portishead Radio at > 30 words/min. I couldn't even send that fast. Wow, those chaps were amazing.

We live in Portishead …. The Portishead Radio building is now a rather nice block of flats/condo/apartment depending on your vocabulary. Cheers All

Re UK residents … the NHS app (not the NHS COVID app) has proof positive of all your immunisation - and much more.

Simple to download and set up.

20 minutes ago, NeilP57 said:

If you could share costs of the some of the excursions that would be very much appreciated. 

The Beatles experience is £144pp

lizard Hike is £134pp

jurassic hike is £134pp
 

as of this morning MVJ now operational for this cruise.

our plan was to take three of the “extra” excursions - 2 hikes and The Beatles experience .... total cost for 2 of us is £694 ..... so we changed our plan and will purchase Silver drinks package instead.

We have done two VO cruises and have 2 more booked and we also have 2 VR cruise booked.

Our VR June cruise was cancelled and we were very happy taking the Voucher offer.

Chatting with Viking UK (where we live) they advised everything would be done through our TA - fair enough.

Surprise surprise when the emails land in my wife and my inboxes. Next surprise was her voucher was about 45% of original whereas mine was about 28% of original. Plus our TA was not copied.

Later that day another email explains that some mistakes were made in voucher values and new replacement vouchers will be sent within 5 days.

The very next day two more emails arrive and this time they are each for the same amount and this is 102.5% of the original cruise instead of 125%.

At least we know they are working on the voucher!!!

Stay Safe Stay Healthy


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