mseldga

I was on this cruise in January 2022, so I looked back at my Viking Daily for Alta. We docked in Alta that year and also - due to Covid - there were no private tours allowed, so I can't be very helpful. But, the tour we went on left at 8:30 and lasted four hours. It was Hunt for the Northern Lights and we drove well into the interior from Alta and saw incredible aurora. So, lots of other people will be out very late - even on the Viking tours - and the tenders will have to run very late, I would think. I'd still probably ask if I were you to be safe. Good luck seeing the lights! Alta gave us our best view. 😀

Thanks for asking this as I'm booked in 3056 on the Saturn in a couple of weeks and am worried about being directly across from the laundry room. I've searched this forum for that cabin number and found some mentions about the laundry, so you might be able to do the same with the cabin you're considering.

 

The posts I found mentioned that the laundry door being opened and shut can be heard, but that the  annoyance from the noise was more than made up for by the convenience of being so close to the laundry room. Hoping that's true! I'll look forward to responses from anyone who has experienced a cabin across from the laundry. I'll also post my own experience after my cruise in a couple of weeks. 

I was on this cruise in late January/early February 2022. My memory is that we were docked in Tilbury very early, at least by the time we woke up that morning around 6:00 a.m. I had air transport through Viking and used one of their bus transports to Heathrow, so I can't help with the self-disembarking information, but I would think you'd be able get off by 8:00 a.m. as that was the time we were able to leave on our scheduled bus transfer. Our cruise was about 1/3rd full due to Covid, so our experience might have been different than yours will be, but Viking seemed to run disembarkation much more smoothly and much more quickly than other cruise lines I've experienced.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise and are able to see the northern lights! We had fantastic light shows twice on our trip, with the best lights we saw being in Alta. 

Thanks everyone - I'm looking forward to it and we're going to do the penthouse veranda. I'll bring my noise machine and earbuds for sure! 

Thank you! 

Hi all! Brand new to Viking, but lots of cruises on Princess, Celebrity, etc. I have an opportunity to join some family members on a Seeking the Northern Lights cruise on the Viking Venus. The catch is that I'd be sharing a cabin with my father and neither of us are eager to share a King bed- lol. I've looked on Viking's website, but can't tell if the King beds can be separated into twins. Does anyone know? Any other suggestions for cabin selection if sharing with someone other than a spouse or young child would be appreciated! We're both light sleepers and don't want to make each other miserable. 😂. Suites are sold out on our sailing, but we could maybe do a penthouse veranda if we're sharing.

Thanks!

@MJSailors - I was just about to mention pescado amarillo if no one else had.  I'm currently obsessively reading her Yellow Fish cruises blog and told my husband that's how I want to spend our retirement!  She mainly travels on Princess, but provides so much great information about packing, planning, flights, etc.  They've been doing months-long cruising for so many years and have learned tons of great tips and tricks that she shares on her blog.  Plus, they are very inspiring with their adventurous and marvelous attitudes about other cultures and fellow cruisers that it's a pleasure to read.  

Thanks again everyone!  Just purchased the pass today with the 20% off Valentines sale.    I appreciate all of the advice! 

Thanks Cheermom!  Sounds good and I think I'll definitely try to convince my Mom to go for it.  I had a thermal suite pass once on a Princess ship and enjoyed it, but there weren't any windows and it was a fairly small area that got crowded.  I looked at the pictures of the spa area on the Breeze and love the windows and the larger area.  :) 

Hi all - I'm booked on the Breeze March 9th and am debating a thermal suite pass for the week.  I haven't been on a Dream class Carnival ship and am hoping some of you can give me details on your experiences in the thermal suite on Breeze.  I'll be sailing with my mother who has back issues and I'm thinking she might really enjoy the thalassotherapy pool.  None of us are booked in the Spa cabins, though, so we'll have to purchase the pass separately.  

 

I'm wondering how crowded it typically is in the thermal suite and just any thoughts on the value of the 7 day pass.  Thanks!

My family and I were on this cruise too and agree that the ship looked great and service was excellent. The weather wasn't great - rain at every port except Victoria - but Alaska was still beautiful and we usually had spots of sun each day, or at least breaks in the rain. I was amazed at all the kids in the pool on the cold/wet days and the hot tubs definitely got heavy use. :)

I kept the patters and will try to scan them and post tomorrow if no one else has done that. I meant to take pictures of the menus, but completely forgot - sorry about that!

My kids did a couple of things with the Teen club if anyone has any questions about that. I remember my daughter said there were 40 kids her age on our sailing, but I don't know if she meant total teens or 15 year olds. Definitely fewer kids than Caribbean cruises and participation in the teen events seemed pretty sparse.

Happy sailing to those of you with upcoming Alaska trips! Sad mine is over, but now we're enjoying going through all of our pictures. By far the most pictures we've ever taken on a cruise!

Susan

I received one of the magical free upgrade phone calls about a week before a March 2013 Caribbean cruise. We had booked one balcony and one inside cabin for our family of four and Princess offered us an upgrade to a full suite for the same price because they had people wanting our cabins. Of course we took it and absolutely loved our suite and the perks that went along with it. It was a once in a lifetime thing, though, and now we're back to two inside cabins for our next cruise. :)

 

Anyway, I'm almost positive our caller ID said Princess. I had decided to go home during my lunch hour from work - which I very rarely do - and so happened to be home when the call came in. I never answer our home phone unless I recognize the number or name, so I wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't identified as coming from Princess. Boy was I happy I came home and picked up! When I made our most recent booking, I made sure to give them my cell phone number just in case lightning strikes twice. ;)

Thanks for the replies everyone - I knew you all would make me feel better! It's definitely much better than not going at all and I'm glad to hear that the views are best from the outside decks. :)

Hi all - I'm hoping some of you can help me feel better about booking 2 inside cabins for my family for our first Alaska cruise on the Crown Princess in 2015. We're very excited about the cruise, but I can't help feeling a little disappointed that we had to go with inside cabins because we've had balconies for our last few cruises to the Caribbean and even were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite for our most recent cruise. Plus, I've always heard and thought myself that Alaska was the one cruise where I'd really want a balcony.

 

For various reasons we just can't swing anything more than the inside cabins for this cruise. But, we're going with a family group and two of them will be right across the hall from us with balconies that they promise they'll share. :) Also, we're on the port side aft, Riviera deck and I know from prior Princess cruises that we'll spend a lot of time at the nearby Terrace pool.

 

So, can anyone who did Alaska from an inside cabin reassure me that I won't regret being in an inside cabin too much? I think anything would have been a bit of a letdown after our suite upgrade experience, so we might as well go all the way back to inside. :o Plus, more money for excursions, right?

 

I don't mean to sound spoiled - I do realize I'm lucky just to be able to go.. But, I'm just afraid I have let myself get used to the nicer cabins. Thanks for any opinions -

How much does the # of ships in port impact traffic? We'll be docked at Crown Bay in March with it looks like only one other cruise ship there - docked at Havensight - and neither are a mega ship. I'm worried about going to St. John on our own and getting stuck in traffic and missing the ship. Thks!

Sorry to post to my own post, but I forgot to say thanks for the gorgeous pictures of Grand Case, Gary. Looks like spending the day there will be a great decision. The ribs look incredible!

Thanks for all the responses. ILgirl, please do post a review of your day at Tijon - I'll look forward to reading it! I think we'll definitely go with a taxi to Tijon and just plan to spend the day in Grand Case without worrying about seeing Marigot or the planes land at Maho. That should allow us to relax and just enjoy Tijon and Grand Case without stressing about traffic and whether or not we'll make it back to the ship on time.

 

We'll just have to plan to return to St. Martin to see the rest of the island another time. :D

Hi all! My family and I will be in St. Maarten on our cruise in March 2013. I have read a lot on these boards and am still struggling planning this day for us. We are a husband and wife and 2 daughters, 10 and 12. Our other stops on this cruise are all going to be snorkel/beach days, so I'm leaning towards something different in St. Maarten - none of us have ever been there before.

 

Mainly because of my daughters, and because of wonderful reviews on Trip Advisor and CC, I'm thinking of going to Grand Case and the Tijon perfume factory. It sounds really neat and I think my girls would love to make their own perfume and have that as a keepsake of the trip. Grand Case also sounds fun with Lolos for lunch, decent shopping, and a pretty beach we can relax at for a bit if time permits. I'd love to go to Maho in the afternoon too, again if we have time - our ship is there from 10-6.

 

My questions are whether we'd be missing out on a real feel for St. Martin if we don't go to Phillipsburg or Marigot, and also the best way to arrange an excursion like this on our own - the ship doesn't offer a Tijon excursion. I emailed Joyce after hearing about her on these boards and she was very quick with a response, but the cost to have her on a private tour for the day (it would have to be private if we want to do Tijon) would be an awful lot when added to the cost of the perfume factory. Should we just hire a taxi at the pier and head straight to Grand Case? Maybe try to hire a taxi driver for the entire day without any expectation of a "tour"? Or, rent our own car to do these things on our own?

 

Anyone have experience getting around the island in March - it's a 3 cruise ship day with one of those being a mega ship? Is a tour guide worth the cost if we're going to spend a big chunk of the day in Grand Case and the perfume factory? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I see that feet pictures are pretty common, but I love this one of me and my husband from our recent cruise. This was our last night . . .