Azulann

Great cruise report. I love sea days. Your pictures make me hungry. Passengers should do their talking on their devices or listening to shows on their iPad or phones in the privacy of their stateroom. Or at least use headphones so no one else can hear. Very irritating whether on land or sea.

They have nice size tubes of shampoo , conditioner, body wash and body lotion , two set of each on selves next to sink. They re the same since Viking Ocean started. room steward will repleanish as needed. I like them and even take a couple home with me. they also have a small bar of soap too.

Cruisemom42, I have read your post for years here on CC. You are indeed a informed traveller. I too love history , a good lecture and a very knowledgeable guide when I cruise and do excursions. Viking has a resident historian on every cruise plus other lecturers such as scientist, general topics, port talks. The resident historian on my recent Scandinavian cruise was a college professor of art history and archaeology at a small college out East. Dr. Emily gave lectures of the Viking Age and Vikings : the Hanseatic League. There were well done and I learned a lot. She was also very accessible around the ship. The resident historian also does have smaller focus groups, if people are interested. I had to miss her focus group on last cruise because of a conflict. As others have said all their lectures can be viewed on your stateroom tv if you miss the in person lecture that day.. My first Viking cruise was a transatlantic cruise on Viking and we had the best resident historian. He was from UK and had his PHD on "invisible holocaust museum ' under Soviet Rule. He even had office hours in the Wintergarden some days. We did have 6 sea days in a row which contribute to his availabilty. Viking optional tours which you pay for has had some really great guides. I had the director of the Art museum on Bermuda give our small 8 person group an enlightening tour of the museum. My guide for Viskby and Gdansk this summer gave in depth commentary to our group and answered lots of questions from our group. I also love the resource link on any Viking Itinerary on their web page. it is a list a curated bibliography and movies to read or view before your cruise. As Viking claims Viking is for" curious travelers.: I do know that they rarely have a decent solo fare which is a shame for many of us who could cruise as a solo. without breaking the bank. Hope you find a Viking cruise that fits your criteria and budget.

WOW that is a lot of responsibility. Did you book using a TA or directly with Viking? As to excursions , have your whole group pick out the optional excursions you want first and then which included excursion. Make a list the groups priorities. Then someone in each booked stateroom needs to book for their stateroom. Hope you are all in the same category of stateroom: DV or PV's Pay by e-check which you set up on MVJ. When your date for booking excursions open each stateroom person can book for both of the occupants. Pick optional one and pay for each , then go to include ones. Don't worry aboutincluded ones, most have a number of different time thought the day for the included ones. These are mostly 2-3 hrs bus ride or walking tour. Once on board you can also go to excursion desk and see if you all can get the same time for the included one if you did not previously. Good Luck. Once on board you can all relax and enjoy your first Viking Cruise. BTW, which itinerary are you going to be on as a group of 8? Cheers! and welcome to Viking. cheers!

Thank you for your review as a first time cruiser. I think your Alaska itinerary might have something to do with the sloppy dress by some. On our cruise int eh Baltic this summer, no-one was wearing sweatshirts or jeans in the restaurant. The lady in the bathrobe in Explorer Lounge. story is priceless.. there always seems to be an eccentric passenger on most cruises. Brings back memories of my first cruise. After it I was hooked on cruising as the perfect vacation.

To add to the discussion: an expert from Viking Ocean forum.: chengkp75 25.7k February 19, 2013 Retired to Maine #9 Posted Monday at 04:56 AM (edited) Under the new Canal tariff schedule, a Viking ocean ship will pay about $195,000 just for the transit (various required services are extra), and since the new schedule does not charge passenger ships on the basis of total berths, but on PC tonnage, this is also about what a container ship of the same size would pay. Then, to get a guaranteed slot, in daylight, the cruise ship pays another $70,000, or a 35% surcharge. Backlogs of ships awaiting transit during dry spells have happened many times in the past. Edited Monday at 04:57 AM by chengkp75

None of Viking Ocean, full transits have been cancelled for 2023 or 2024. All the fresh water used in the canal is from the river and mountains of Panama. Climate change can certainly impact the canal and various other places on our planet.

My first cruise ever was on the Century in 2008 , 11day Western Med cruise. It was in an inside cabin with friends who had a beautiful big aft balcony across the hall. I was in heaven about service, food and destinations. The Panama Canal cruise on Century years later was fabulous. The best Celebrity cruise was on Constellation, 15 day cruise around Iberia peninsula called " Running with the Bulls". My sister did that memorable excursion. At that time the premium beverage package was $29.00 pp per day. fond memories of the m class ships, Murano's and great itineraries in Europe. We had great roll calls, and great guides both ship and private. The mix of passengers were US, UK, AU and NZ. Then Viking Ocean came upon the cruise scene. Did one and never looked back. But I still read trip reports on Celebrity forum because they re some the most fun folks who are all having great time. 👍🏻🥂

Panama Authority get big money from cruise lines. They pay up front a big premium to go through the full canal in daylight. Those who work for the Panama Canal are the best paid folks in Panama. They do make a very fine wage. Maybe this new Crystal line could not find an opening for a price , so they cancelled.

HA I absolutely love the Munch moments from 6-6;30 on Viking Ocean. They are on one big screen on landing in the Atrium.I love this feature..Viking has the gotten the rights to use Munch paintings to use this way. You are of course on a Norwegian owned cruise line. To each their own, but then again Viking Ocean has a great niche and is doing very well.

YEA! a trip report. Thank you for also giving us your blog link. Have a wonderful cruise .

Love reading trip reports . Looking forward to your experience on a Viking cruise after the pandemic .

Yes, that s the name.

When you are on the main page of app, which shows cruise lines and how to book a cruise.. I did find the Cruise Critic boards and you are right, there is our Viking Forum

I usually wear only cotton and linen , so love, love the iron and ironing board.WhenI unpack I press my linen trousers and tops. I did notice eon last cruise in June they now have nice laundry baskets , perfect for its purpose to and from your stateroom.

I heard back from sending them a message on my app on iPhone they replied in two minutes. They said it is a new app and they are loading more cruise lines including Viking in the near future. At least they are very prompt in relying. So may be we are part of a beta testing? 😀

I dug around on this app. It is from the UK . When I went to profile , they wanted me to fill out my info with Country : United Kingdom shows up . Also they do not list Viking ocean cruise line except on CC boards.

HA , weather in the 50”s will be balmy coming from MN where it will be below zero Feb. we will be doing a guided excursion on Santorini. Other Gr ports will be to visit ruins and museums . It will be 11 day cruise from Athens. My sister had never been to Greece . I have been to half the the ports twice and the other half will be new to me. I do have the luxury to sail in off season and not in the height of tourist season and the heat of summer. Love being retired

So glad I booked Viking Greek Odyssey cruise for Feb 2025, the "quiet season." yea no tourists but all the sites will be open on this 11 day cruise. I have been to Santorini twice, First time on a a Celebrity ship ,We explored Fira for the whole morning. By the time we were ready to take cable car down, there were five ship in Caldera. We instead walked down donkey trail. It was Sept 2008 and temp was 100 degrees. Next time we ported there, I stayed on the ship and had sea day. This future cruise I will do a Viking excursion to Oia and wine tasting and see more of the island, but again will need to take cable car down but probably we will be the only cruise ship in caldera.

Ok, I downloaded the app on my iPhone. Needed to use my email address instead of my old user name Azulann. Let’s see what moniker I get now . I see it is the same !‼️

I received an email this morning about their new app. I see it also includes planing, and researching cruises, plus the CC boards/forums. I will get it later today from the Apple Store and give it a try. Being able to private messages is a great feature. thanks for the heads up.

They will take your photo as part of check in . No worries 😉

A toast to both of you, Clay and Mike!🥂 Looking forward to hearing about about your adventures on the World Journey beginning in Jan 2024. I had so enjoyed following your adventures since you retired. I read your Word Press blog as you lived a nomad life traveling through Europe and South America. I love your trip reports of your cruises on Viking her on Cruise Critic. You two are an example of "Seize the day" attitude to life's opportunities, true explorers. Will you two be taking more than your standard red carryon luggages for this marvelous trip? 😀 BTW, the Virtual Explorers Lounge is the perfect place to announce this upcoming wonderful journey. It will be here before yo know it...

I bought wonderful shawls(cashmere and silk) on Mykonos for my daughter in-laws and myself. Lovely leather purses on Rhodes. Greek icon in Athens in little store in Platka neighborhood. Lovely 18 k gold charm in Kusadasi Turkey .Gave them as Christmas presents to family.

True story: My cousin and his wife recently retired. After the pandemic, they ask their two adult children( spouses and their three children) if they wanted any inheritance when cousin and wife died, or they could take the whole family to Denmark (the land of our ancestors) for two weeks. Family voted to do the land trip which they did in 2022. The memories they have priceless. 🥰