PasadenaDave

Andrew thanks for this informative post. We will be there December 28 from 11-6. The tour from our ship to Bonorong is sold out. I notice that the Sanctuary offers a shuttle for a fee from town to the Sanctuary and back. That appears to the better method of visiting the Sanctuary versus taking a taxi. Do you agree? I have a few concerns about taking a taxi to the Sanctuary but then not being able to find one to return to the ship.

I always enjoy either the light or dark beer offerings at lunch. I don’t always take one for the road but you can. Also you can ask for a small glass if that is all you want. Beer at lunch, included wine at dinner and Gin and Tonic in the room from a bottle purchased ashore is my spirits package. Well we buy a martini or Manhattan at the Explorers Club now and then.

I’m not certain where you live, but here in Los Angeles County there is no such thing as a “similar looking American “. Recently I flew LAX to Newark during the High Holy Days and noted that there were more visibly observant Jews at both airports as a percentage of the population than I saw in Israel during Passover. My point is that we are already a melted pot in large metropolitan cities. Diversity is good I felt safer last April in Israel, Egypt and Jordan than many days here in Pasadena. I also note that in most of the rest of the world there are consequences for bad behavior thus unlike here, people are good to “the other” and “they welcome the stranger.”

Know the health of your kidneys prior to considering Paxlovid. I have kidney disease and while it is unlikely that I will succumb to it or ever need dialysis, I for one would never take that medication, but then I avoid most painkillers to preserve my kidney health. As always, your mileage may vary

We did the Jerusalem pre excursion before the Pyramids and Pharohs cruise on the Nile. I would not want to do a day trip to Jerusalem from a cruise ship as it would be a long day. The time that we were in Jerusalem was plenty for our desires and it allowed free time. I recognize that losing two ports and parts of three days is a below expectations, but that is still a great itinerary. I recommend a combination Israel and Jordan land trip. Jordan is amazing and to me better than Israel.

Thus all of the new credit card lounges.

In April Air France at CDG premium lounge directed credit card lounge access people to another lounge telling them the Air France lounge was for Air France passengers only. We. Saw many turned away and many pleaded to get access

Thanks Doc for your always interesting insight. I went on my first cruise in 1992 and I was unimpressed with the food that so many raved about. I returned to cruising in 2016 and we seem to do one per year now with Viking. My opinion on cruise dining has never changed, food is generally acceptable but not amazing. We have and continue to have the opportunity to eat at some fabulous restaurants and find that unless the place is high end, we both can cook better meals than those served at average restaurants. My theory is that the average person on a cruise does not experience fine dining at their location of residence for whatever reason. This is what leads to the wow factor that cruisers have concerning dining on cruises. I find it interesting that the Kolb’s presently blogging from Orion in the far east typically eat at the World Cafe. Note that they being out for a long voyage likely to be efficient with time spent eating which isn’t always the case in the MDR.

If you are in downtown Long Beach I would suggest a late checkout from your hotel and have a nice walk in Shoreline Village or along Ocean Blvd. as there is some beautiful old homes and architecture. Return to the hotel, check out, cab ride, board, eat lunch all within one hour of the completion of your walk. That can be known as a perfect morning….well most mornings in Southern California are pretty perfect

Offended? Technically yes, but they do provide routing when you book your flight. I travel Southwest about six round trips annually including a few days ago Burbank to Sacramento which is a one hour flight. I always pay the $20 extra to change the flight home as my meeting often concludes early. There are four earlier return flights that fit my schedule but three go to Vegas or Phoenix first…no thanks. If the one direct nonstop is full, I sit around and read rather than fly the extra distance

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the busiest airport days of the year...fly in Tuesday...of Monday if you can. Having said that, i flew into LAX this past Sunday at 7 pm and found traffic on the ring road fairly light. This is due to required shuttle busses to Taxi/Uber lot which reduces a lot of private vehicles. Also while I was alone so I took the FlyAway bus to Union Station, when my wife and I are together we take a taxi as opposed to Uber as the Uber lines are long and taxi line non-existent and the price differential isn't much

I live here. Regardless of which hotel, I find Century City to be a pain when I have to go there. The area is very expensive and not walkable or at least until the subway construction is completed in a few more years. LAX will be a zoo that week as will all airports. LA is easy to get around with or without a car. My suggestion is that you decide what you want to see and book an appropriate hotel near where you want to be and do the pre visit on your own. Suggestions: Downtown and subway to LACMA and Peterson Auto Museum. The Broad, Chinatown and Olvera Street. Subway up to Universal Studios or Hollywood Blvd. Light Rail to Science Center to see the Space Shuttle. All of this is in a small area. My view is that in easy to understand cities which for me includes all of North America, New Zealand and Australia you are much better off and save money doing your own pre or post. When other languages and exhaustive flights are involved the scenario changes. Despite what many say. Los Angeles has a lot to offer and you won’t be bored.

Likely capacity issues. When we were going with HAL cancelled due to weather the trips from St Anthony were very low capacity due to lack of transport. The population of NW Newfoundland is small and they can’t just order up extra busses from a neighboring “city”

I think that you would get more assistance from this board if you listed your home airport. Given that you are somewhere in the southeast, flights to Ft Lauderdale I suspect would be inexpensive and include bargain airlines that Viking doesn’t contract with. A short domestic flight in my realm is a book on your own the day before and get a hotel.

Daily cleaning? I guess that I might be severely deficient in my CPAP cleaning of hot water occasionally.

I believe that Viking actually lands its tenders at a dock at L’Anse aux Meadows which is why rough seas often cancel the stop. We went on HAL last September specifically for this historical site. HAL stops in St Anthony some distance away and has limited excursions due to lack of busses in this remote region. The northern and eastern part of Newfoundland was canceled due to a hurricane so we missed it….but we got Covid!!! That was our first and last time on HAL. Back to Viking. I do think to see L’Anse aux Meadows you need to take long flights and a long drive. Cruising is tough, unless you take one of the ultra small ships of under 50 passengers.

I have a robe made from nice looking denim, can I wear it in the restaurant? By the way, I am a doctor with limited vacation time

Let me see tedious contracts, railroads, airlines, telecoms, internet service providers and that is long before we get to entertainment and what is net profits, NEVER AGREE TO A PERCENTAGE OF THE NET PROFITS!

Hmm, with the suggestions of adding a port stop, it causes me to think…..have port’s become full due to cruise popularity to the point that capacity has been reached?

I did have to chuckle as while reading this I heard “ping”. An email from Viking of a flight itinerary change. Five months out flight time changed from 11:50 to 11:20. Not a big deal but it is the fifth change in six weeks. This is the airlines, not Viking, There is a reason why we try to avoid air travel in the summer, over busy holidays and when storms historically occur. Given the high passenger loads on aircraft these days, there isn’t much capacity when impacts to schedules occur.

Also the price has increased and availability of tour busses has decreased during the past 24 months. The availability is likely even slimmer as you move away from population centers such as Northern Norway

I am adding to the thread, not that we are done with Viking, we are not but to share poor shoreside customer service. I may have noted earlier how in May of this year we booked Auckland to Sydney December 2023. At the time of booking we were on the fence about the post cruise extension in Sydney as we thought we could do much better on our own. Customer Service had us book it as we can later cancel. Issues: 1. Without consultation while still booked for the excursion our flight home was changed from January 4 to the 3rd. We spend over one hour on the phone explaining this and the customer service agent having to consult with the air desk, why couldn't we just speak directly? 2. Today I booked two nights at the same hotel as the post cruise extension using airline miles and I called Viking to cancel the post cruise extension. This was faster, only 20 minutes but they had to speak with the air desk. When the agent came back she wanted to charge an air deviation fee of $100 each. I explained with Air Plus and we paid the deviation fee to arrive in Auckland one day early we should not need to pay it again as we are just canceling the post cruise extension. More time on hold and then they agree that there is no charge. Having had to call multiple HVAC contractors who lack enough technicians these days and watching court proceedings without reporters due to lack of court reporters I understand the shortage of qualified employees, however in both instances the customer service agent had to speak with another agent numerous times on each call. Based on prior cruises and everyone's comments I know that on the ship customer standards still apply, but I certainly understand the frustration that Andy (Heidi13) experienced.

Mine does, I also think fellow passengers in business class like that I use a CPAP…..no snoring

Clay, that is one beautiful bowl. When I see such objects, I hear my father’s voice….”where will we store it?”

Jim, I remember your Southwest horror story. I'm a big Southwest fan, but only when flying up and down the west coast and east to Denver. Flying out of Burbank is very easy and a one day trip to Sacramento or Oakland is a dream. But I would not do Southwest long distance to the east coast.