Vagabond51

CDR2001 and everyone else... THANK YOU for your suggestion. Just got off the phone with a VERY helpful Viling rep who took the time to find amd email us the 2022 Med Istanbul Barcelona itinerary and shore excursion 51 page pdf. This will give us a bunch to chew on. As I'm sure most all of you are aware, much of the joy of a trip like this is the hours and hours of planning, discussions and researching our choices. HAving to deal with 25 separate vendors in each port would be a nightmare. They rep also said while the "official" time is 77 days, she has been working at Viking for 7 years and see's that "usually" the current itinerary get's released 20 to 30 days before the first group gets booking rights. Blood preassure is subsiding. Cheers...

Thanks for the responses and suggestions folks. I believe my frustration lies at the expectations we had based upon definative information provided us by Viking staff, twice. I guess I'm bewildered why Viking would tell us we would know what was being offered in excess of 100 days out when that "just ain't so...". I know it probably sounds like I'm sniveling about it, but WHY tell us we would have the list 100 days out? I know the world is changing, rapidly and the globe is in the process of fracturing. I get it. Our expectations were bases upon conversations with Viking staff. Even now, they had no intent of notifying us that our expectations and information we relied upon from them was incorrect. Again, I know things change. But for the coin they are charging they REALLY dropped the customer service ball. Big time. I truly appreciate the suggestions offered and will take them to heart and be proactive in putting together a game plan for the trip of a lifetime. But it does make me very wary of most anything else Vikling customer service tells us. Sorry to be so blunt, but they really did drop the ball on this. Cheers,

Wished to share our experiences with Viking the past few months regarding shore excursions. Short background. We are sailing on the Viking Star 30 day Med Tour Istanbul Barcelona all of May 2023. Back in September (I take careful notes) we were told we would know what excursions would be offered and receive an email “about” 130 days out, but we would not be able to actually book them until 77 days out. We decided to upgrade to a Junior Penthouse to get priority based on this information. At the end of October we were told there was some delay but the excursions list email would come to us by the end of November (again, I take careful notes). I just got off the phone with Viking. There will be no offered excursions list emailed to us until 77 days out when we would then be able to book. It appears Viking had no intention of even informing us of the change in plans. In effect, Viking has mislead us, twice, with regard to when we would know what excursions would be offered. So as it sits now we have no planning time to decide what excursions we may or may not wish to buy prior to the final book/pay date. We spent a great deal of money to upgrade our stateroom, let alone a 30 day cruise thinking we would have 30 days or more to plan and research our itinerary and then buy our excursions when they open. Nope… Fooled you. Given the amount of resources I have into this, I’m pretty upset with Vikings customer service. It took me 2 hours on chat and phone and then a supervisor to get the fact there would be NO lead time. Everyone along the way just obfuscated and deflected the conversations until I got quite adamant about wanting to know the truth. Just though you folks may wish to know how it turned out for us. Cheers.

Please just give me the can and a spoon, leave out the fluff.... Great posts...thanks.

Yup... pretty much a physical impossibility, especially halibut, but it sounds pretty "Alaskan". Guys have gone to jail for selling halibut from a sport boat to a 'fish and chips' slopshoot. Halibut longliners go out for days, if not weeks at a time. The vast majority of halibut sold to tourists has been frozen. Locals, and some visitors can taste the difference.

Thank you for your detailed posts. Istanbul Barcelona May 2023. Your details were a pleasure to read and were very informative for the wife and I. Much appreciated.

Look at Junea Car Rental company on Industrial Blvd, almost across the street from the Sand Bar and great halibut. No airport fee, cars tend to be more used, but the prices reflect it. Affectionately called "Juneau Beaters" by the locals. If you rent for a day or more drive out to the 'end of the road', Cowee Creek. You won't get lost, only one road. If you have four or five hours, hike out the trail at Point Bridget State Park. Best views in SEAK. Stop at the Shrine of St. Terese. Limited time? Take in Gastineau Hatchery. Best tourist stop in town for the buck. You might have to get a cab to the car rental.Split it with another couple. Montana Creek road, drive to end, park and walk the trail/old road up the creek. Should be full of salmon now, beautiful level walk.

I'm sure dedicated Viking cruisers already know about this, but thought I would mention it. Viking is offering a 12 day Nile Cairo Luxor cruise that can be reserved until the end of June for $25. A location I have always wished to explore, but had strong safety concerns. We are doing a cruise with Viking in May 2023, 29 days Istanbul Barcelona. We made a reservation for September 2024 for $25 plus we did pay trip insurance that IS nonrefundable if we pull the plug but vochured if the world really does start to fracture by then. Final payment due March 2024. Its a great venue in my opinion, as I have looked into options for some time now. We may add a safari in Tanzania after since we will be in the neighborhood. AND... locking in prices today is wise, for our view of things anyway.

Another factor we took into consideration is the cost of the airfare. We also are taking a 2023 cruise from Istanbul going all the way to Barcelona. Global airfare rose 12% in May, last month. Depending on you point of view of the state of the world, not a subject for discussions here I'm sure, 11 months is a very long time. I also harbor uncomfortable feeling about the general state of affairs in Istanbul, especially the past few months. Again, 11 months is a long time but.... The way I look at it I would rather just keep a close eye on what Viking Air is doing, with all the fine and friendly help here, than take the task on myself. Viking has much better tools than I. I'll just let them do their job. We worked with them for a canceled round trip recently and they were quite competent and worked with us.

Again, not to come across as snarkey or trolling, but this discussion has been going on in the industry for a few decades now. There have been numerous double blind taste test involving dozens of folks, easily found with simple searches. No one, not one person, could distinguish a fish caught in a magical river from one caught elsewhere. Similar tests have been done with wine. About 3% of people could distigiush a $500 bottle of wine over a $30 bottle. Yeah... subjective works I guess. I'm sticking with my belief system. Cheers.

"Copper River" sockeye has to be one of the neatest marketing snow jobs in seafood history. There is no, nada, none, zero difference between any salmon caught in any magical river. My son owns and operates a 50ft gillnetter making his living harvesting sockeye salmon in SEAK for over a decade now. He's fishing as I type this. Pretty much any commercial fishing boat is going to have a galley with a diesel stove in it. No hot meal for a month probably a comment for the tourists. Don't mean to sound snarkey here, just sometimes the BS piles in over the knees. CC a wonderful helpful resource. Just trying to give back a bit. Cheers.

The wife and I recently used our vouchers from a canceled (we pulled the plug) May 2022 Budapest Amsterdam river cruise to secure passage on the May 2023 sailing of Viking Star, 29 days, Istanbul Barcelona. Most of our lives we have traveled as independents, doing a great deal of homework pre trip and trying to avoid the crowds and get a bit off the beaten path. This trip will be quite a departure from our norm, but we are willing to “go with the flow” for a package tour. With the world turned upside down, we decided to wrap ourselves in the Viking cocoon and “giverago”. I’ve spent a bit of time reading through the posts here, about three months back and still going, bookmarking the best and pertinent for our trip to begin planning. What a great resource! A sincere THANK YOU to those who took, and continue to take, time to pass on helpful info for all. I guess my first inquiry has to do with the ability to overnight away from the Viking Sky in ports with more than one day stay, notably Athens, Venice and Florence. We have been to both Rome and Florence before and we know what we want to see this time around and have done extensive research for Venice, but not Athens. Do we have the option of getting off at these ports, secure our own transport into the city and staying at a hotel and “doing our own thing” until we depart? BTW, hopefully we can contribute to the resources here regarding Alaska. My wife was born there, (after 40 years she still refers to be as an “import”). We spent our careers there, and now live in a much more warmer climate. Also… and I know this may sound a bit goofy, but have any golfers out there ever found a 7 iron or a putter in the gym onboard? Thirty days without swinging a golf club I may have serious behavioral issues. Look forward to making new friends and helping where we can. Thanks!