donaldsc

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on St. Thomas - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in St. Thomas lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on St. Martin - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in St. Martin lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on Antigua - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in Antigua lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on Barbados - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in Barbados lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on St. Lucia - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in St. Kucia lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on St. Kitts - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in St. Kitts lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on Tortola - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in Tortola lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

This is going to sound like a dumb question but here goes. We are taking a 10 day Viking Ocean Caribbean cruise in February. We are doing it not because we really want to do a Caribbean cruise but we want to check out Viking Ocean cruises so we can decide if we want to make Viking Ocean our future go to cruise line and this was a conveniently located cruise. It isn't that we don't want to go to the Caribbean but it is just that we really aren't interested in beaches and snorkeling. With that opening, does anyone have any suggestion for interesting tours on Dominica - cultural, historical, nature related, arty and maybe even food tours. I wouldn't want to rule out tours on boats but we don't want to spend our day in Dominica lying on the beach or in the water. Thanks. DON

Anyone out there?? DON

I will give you the same reply about Antarctica that I give to people who are stressing out about which ship to go to Alaska on. In Antarctica it doesn't matter what is on the ship as long as the ship and your cabin are comfortable. What matters is what is outside of the ship - scenery, excursions etc. Just my opinion but I feel that spending the large sums of money to do a luxury cruise to Antarctica is a total waste of money. A few years ago I did an adventure cruise to South Georgia Island - look it up on a map. My cabin was not large and not fancy but how much time do you spend in the cabin. There was no balcony but there was lots of outside deck space to see stuff. Just one dining room without an overwhelming number of menu choices but there was always something that I liked including a meat, fish, pasta and vegetarian option. The public spaces were not fancy but they sufficed. The good part was that the trip organization and the adventure staff were wonderful and I was there. I also got to spend as much time on the bridge as I wanted which I doubt that you would have on Viking. You have to decide what is important to you - a great cruise that might be longer because it is affordable at a fair price or an overpriced fancy cruise that doesn't give you anything more than what you came there for - Antarctica. DON

It wasn't the fault of your TA that this problem is happening and it also seems that she is trying to fix it. Why are you going to punish her on the rebooking. Do you really think that you would be better off it you had booked directly on the Princess site? DON

But I bet it does fool lots of geographically challenged cruisers who think that London, Rome, Florence and Berlin are directly on the ocean. Just walk out of the Vatican and you are on a beach. DON

I have never been able to figure out what the difference between north bound and south bound is in terms of the quality of the cruise. There is not a lot of difference between either of your cruises. Your port time on the south bound is marginally better. However the north bound gets Sitka instead of Skagway and in my opinion Sitka is a much better stop than Skagway. When 3 or 4 Genormous of the Seas ships are in Skagway at the same time it becomes a zoo. Sitka is a much better stop. One problem w both of the cruises is that your only visit to a glacier is to Hubbard Glacier. Hubbard is great IF you get into it but many times the ships can not get into Hubbard because of ice this means that you don't get to see any glaciers. Try to find a cruise that includes Glacier Bay. That is a great visit and the odds of getting into Glacier Bay are almost 100%. DON

Sitka is one of the better ports in AK because it does not get inundated with people in the same way that most of the other ports are. Juneau, Ketchikan, and especially Skagway become a real zoo when 4 or 5 Genormous of the Sea ships hit town at the same time. Skagway is also a town that would dry up and blow away if the cruise ships stopped coming. Sitka has great scenery, interesting places to visit and existed before the cruise ships started coming and would continue to exist if the stopped. We spent 2 or 3 days there on our last visit and would love to go back. DON

Somebody has to be making a profit or the company would go out of business. Some information is missing here. DON

The difference is that cruise visitors spend almost no money in town. They just crowd the streets, buy a few souvenirs and maybe buy an ice cream cone. Land visitors spend time in town. They may even spend several days in or near town. They leave money behind. DON

What public spaces which should be available to all the passengers will be reserved for just the group of 700. If I pay for a cruise I don't want to be denied usage of any area of the ship. Perhaps people who have booked on a ship where a large group of passengers also booked can respond. Would the people who have been subjected to large group booked cruises like to respond? DON

That group will take over the ship and make the cruise miserable for everyone else on board. Everyone else on that cruise who is not on the group should cancel if at all possible. DON

Just so you know - sunset in Juneau on 15 October is 5:52 and sunset in Skagway is 5:53. DON

Great idea except that there are rules on cruise ships about dropping useless garbage into the ocean. LOL!! DON

How old is your son? I don't know what the rules are for the ship you are looking at or the cabin(s) you are looking at but if he is below a certain age you may not be allowed to book in as a solo in any cabin. You need to check. You may need to book one of the older folk into a cabin as a single and then switch cabins once you board. DON

I know that this story about a couple who traveled to Mexico w/o insurance but I can't find it. Here is a link to another site - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhPwNYw7uX8. Read it before you decide to travel w/o insurance. DON

To me there is no contest doing the car option. Say you are on the train and a bear and her cubs or a moose and her babies are by the side of the track. You won't get a picture of it or even see it if you are looking down because trains do not stop. Say that you are going past a wonderful vista and you would like the to have the time to admire it for a few minutes. The train does not stop. Say you want to make a slight modification of your route because something off the route looks interesting - the train does not stop. Should I continue. I like to be in control of my travel destiny. I have done 3 train trips in my life. One was in AK and I hated it. One was the Ghan in Australia. I was willing to do the 1883 mile drive because it seemed like a neat thing to do but my wife vetoed it. In hindsight I guess that she was right and it was a cool train trip. I could have tried to convince her to do the 983 mile drive from Alice Springs to Adelaide but I didn't. She might have agreed to that. We did do a recent train trip in Europe from Paris to Lyon for a cruise but that was only because the airline cancelled by Athens to Lyon flight and it was too late to make driving arrangements. The best I can say about that train trip was it was fast and boring. I have not been on a train trip yet. Basically if I can't drive it I am not interested in it. I guess that the "Different strokes etc" applies. DON

About time. The real id law was passed in 2005 and supposed to take effect in I believe 2011. Talk about kicking the can down the road. DON

There is always Uber. I just checked. UberX: $188-250 (~1 min away) UberXL: $325-433 (~3 min away) I don't know what the train fare is but the Uber fare is not a bad deal. Also you get to do the trip on your schedule. DON