Sparky333

Thank you for posting the link to your great trip report. I enjoyed it very much and got some ideas for our Rhine cruise next summer. I had to chuckle at the notes at the end on fellow travelers....it sounded painfully familiar to my experiences on previous trips involving group tours.

You mentioned possibly not doing river cruises in the future but I wanted to recommend that you might look into one on the Douro before you put them permanently behind you. We did Viking's version 2 years ago and really loved it.

I have a Viking Rhine cruise booked for 2017 with pre-extension in Lucerne and post-extension in Amsterdam. Last night I got an email from Viking saying that 2017 extensions were now available and I should consider adding one to my cruise. I do understand those email blasts go out to everyone on their mailing list but it did specifically say "Extend Your Rhine Getaway Cruise" so at some level it's tied to my reservation number. And it seems like they wouldn't need to send that kind of advertising to someone with both pre and post extensions already booked and that there would be a way to filter out passengers who've already got both extensions.

Not a big deal. BUT...it caused me to look at my reservation on their website and the pre-ext said Basel not Lucerne. I called to speak to a Viking rep and he said oh no, you booked Basel not Lucerne. No, I didn't and I have the Guest Statement from the day I booked in February which clearly shows Lucerne. I finally convinced him there was an error and he went in and changed it.

I know these things happen and it's not the end of the world especially since I caught it in advance but it did trouble me a bit that such a glitch could happen out of the blue. And it was also annoying that he didn't offer even the hint of an apology and made it sound like it was not really a problem and that even up to the day of travel I could just be moved to another hotel so it wouldn't have impacted my trip.

I'm chalking this up to them switching to their new website format but I have looked at my reservations since then and it did previously show Lucerne correctly so I'm clueless as to how an extension just gets changed like that.

Anyway, just letting others know to keep an eye on their reservations.

Eaglewatchers, I'm glad to hear Viking let passengers add or change excursions on the ship and you're not locked in by the pre-sailing choices you make online now. I really don't like their new way of booking excursions for river cruises but if it's able to be changed then it's not a big deal. I hope that flexibility isn't just while they're starting up that program and that next year when we sail it's more rigid.

Hilarious!

Haha, I totally believed that X was trying desperately to grab a younger demographic -- thank God it was a joke or I would've sworn off X forever :p

So nice to read such a positive post! Glad that you had such polite fellow cruisers :)

We came in through Ft Laud last week. Because we got off the ship early by carrying our own luggage there really weren't lines at customs longer than a few people. I asked about a Global Entry line and was told since there were no lines yet they hadn't opened it -- but then she came back a minute later and said she'd move us to the front of the line.

HOWEVER, as others said you do need your GE card and we didn't have them. In the past we've only ever used our passports at GE kiosks at airports -- have not come in by land (apparently a cruise is considered the same as Cananda/Mexico land entry - which since it's not through an airport with kiosks makes sense).

Since we didn't have the cards we had to wait in the regular line which didn't take more than a couple of minutes. But if we'd been later getting off the ship and the lines had gotten long I'd have been very angry with myself for not having that card with me! In the future I'm going to have it in the passport wallet I use just in case it's ever needed!

That does sound like it would be rough - coming in from a port day and having to pack and leave the next morning. We just got back from a nice itinerary that had 2 sea days at the start, 4 port days, then 2 sea days at the end.

Yes, the pools in the S-class ships are different. They have a solarium which is maybe overall similar to on Connie (honestly can't remember) but the pool is just a normal small pool. But there are lots of exciting positive differences with that class of ship that you'll love.

We've been in aqua class for the past few cruises and eating in Blu for every dinner so I've never even tried the specialty restaurants. I don't miss the MDR because it was always so loud like you said. And I don't like sitting with people I don't know for dinner (sorry, but it's just painful!) so that was why we started booking aqua class cabins - to get Blu. Now you can get a table for 2 in the MDR but I'm still not sure I'd go back to it.

Enjoy planning your cruise! I always think the planning phase is half the fun :)

Thanks for posting your review. It me nostalgic for the Connie - we cruised on her twice years back and I did love that ship. I think you'll really love the Silhouette. The only thing missing is that T-pool which I did really love on the Connie!

Thanks to this thread I found out about her tour and booked it -- I wasn't having much luck figuring out what else to do in Martinique. I thought I'd post that we had a great experience with Christelle on Jan 7th. (from the Celebrity Equinox)

Another group had cancelled so it ended up just being my husband and myself so we had plenty of room in the van ;)

We had a great day - stopped at the places richfromhaw listed - enjoyed the snacks and drinks she brought for us to try. She's very sweet and speaks perfect English - as someone mentioned she was an English teacher before starting this business. We learned a lot of the history of the island and the Empress Josephine who was born there.

I was especially happy to be able to pay in US $ and not have to worry about euros.

One thing I would mention is to get to the waterfall we crossed a shallow river (just a few feet across) on foot. Even if you can find rocks to walk on your feet will get wet so be prepared for that with shoes that can get wet or if you're not comfortable doing that you might not want to cross. Possibly you could get a peek of the waterfall from the far side of the river. I took mine off and crossed in bare feet which was not the best idea - the rocks were a little ouchy to me. So - water shoes if you have them would be good to have with you!

It really was a great day and we thought the island was beautiful - very lush and flowers were growing everywhere. Other people on the ship that evening said they didn't enjoy their day in Martinique so I was thankful we had a good tour to see the nice parts of the island.

SHIP: Equinox

CABIN #: 1515

DECK #: 11

CLASS: AQ

AREA: Port/Foreward

BED NEAR: Bath

QUIET?: Heard music from Sky Lounge most nights - sometimes very late

BALCONY VIEW: no obstruction

BALCONY SIZE: normal

WIND A PROBLEM?: no

SOOT A PROBLEM?: no

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS:

Near the relaxation room and access to fitness center is a plus. However the noise from the Sky Lounge was a problem for me - but I'm a light sleeper and also go to bed early. So it might not bother others.

Our ship gets in at 8 and there are 2 ships in port that day from what I can tell. I don't think we need to get on the beach too, too early but I wonder if there's a reason to not wait until a 10:00 reservation because of the beach getting crowded by then or there being a run on taxis around the time we'd be looking for one, say 9:30ish.

And then there are some posts about them "opening" at 11 but maybe that's only the restaurant not the beach.

Would you try to get out early just to beat whatever rush or do you think 10 is okay?

Also our ship sails at 5 so we'd be heading back early afternoon so I guess to get the most time at the beach maybe earlier, like 9, makes more sense. Hmmm.

Hi - just wanted to update this thread after calling to book today. The law enforcement discount is no longer offered for federal LE agencies. The Celebrity rep read me a paragraph about the policy changing because federal employees couldn't accept a discount which was discriminatory and since it didn't apply to all federal employees, only LE, it was not allowed.

I'm sure glad I asked about federal agencies being included or I would've gotten a shocker when I tried to check in :o

The difference would be $600/stateroom so I'd have to see if that's better than other discounts available at the time of booking since it can't combine with others.

Thanks again for the replies.

"Active employee" would cover it - thanks!

I tried searching the forum but couldn't find the answer - does anyone know if the law enforcement discount would only apply to sworn officers or also administrative staff? I looked into that once before and was told admin could get it also with proper ID. I just wonder if you call and book that way and then get to the port and show the LE admin ID if there's a possibility of that person saying "oh, admin doesn't qualify" in which case I'd be charged the difference on the spot.

I think asking on the phone they would tell you yes just to get you booked - but there could be some disconnect between the customer service staff on the phone vs. at the port.

Got2Cruise: this was on another site...(I can't verify it's accuracy):

Ships Owned by Douro Azul

Spirit of Chartwell

AmaVida

Queen Isabel

Douro Spirit

Douro Queen

Douro Queen

Douro Cruiser

Douro Princess

Douro Prince

Enigma (yacht)

Cenarios (scenic, day and evening cruises)

Carlota Do Douro (scenic, day and evening cruises)

Catarina Do (scenic, day and evening cruises)

Viking Torgil

Viking Hemming

FWIW, I will say that the on the Viking Torgil there was no feeling of it being anything but a Viking ship. We've sailed before with Viking and this had the same exact vibe. So in our case having another owner really was a non-issue.

You're welcome Maliboo! Enjoy your Danube cruise :)

Maiboo -- this is very after-the-fact at this point but if you happen to see this we did the Viking Douro cruise in Portugal this summer and LOVED it. I just (finally) wrote a review. Wish I'd followed through with that in July when it was fresh in my mind.

But we loved everything about it - no complaints at all with any aspect. When I got home I saw Go2see was writing live from her cruise on the same itinerary. She was very thorough and I didn't feel the need to basically write about the same exact things so I didn't but unfortunately she must've run out of steam and didn't finish it.

So if you have any questions if you're still considering the Douro I'll check back and try to answer them. As I said in my review if the world wasn't such a big place with so many places to see I'd definitely love to take the Viking Douro cruise again someday!

Hi Go2See -- I'm enjoying reading your description of your trip - we just got home from the same itinerary on July 11 and we loved every minute. Sounds like you're having a great time, too.

I was going to do a trip report but ours would be so similar (so far anyway!) to yours I don't think I'll need to. I'll just do a review instead.

I hope you continue to enjoy your journey and look forward to reading more about it :)

Hi - glad to see you posting again - when you stopped your Celebrity review before the grand finale I was a little worried about you guys! Haha at least it was just real life interrupting cruise reviews but nothing bad :o

I'll check over on the Celeb boards some time and see if you wrapped that one up. No pressure!!! Moving and Hawaii are way more important :D

Our experience might've been an anomoly but they ran out of a lot of drinks (including beer!) at the bars we were close enough to walk to so we settled for some fruit punch with rum that was pretty bad. That was after lunch so maybe if you don't wait until then you'll be okay.

Hopefully that was a one-time situation of too many thirsty people ;)

Hi Maliboo - we're doing a Viking cruise in Portugal this summer: "Portugal's River of Gold." We'll start with a few days in Lisbon then we're bussed to Porto where we board the ship for 7 nights on the Douro (round-trip up river and back to Porto). At the end we're doing the 3-day extension to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

I'll post a little review on this forum when we get back.

Recently when we used Viking for air the connection through Frankfurt seemed dangerously short to me so I called and asked for a different flight with a longer layover and they accomodated me with no problem, no charge. I think you have some flexibility if you call them right after you get the itinerary (hopefully that's always true and it wasn't just an anomaly that one time).

Hi Jerry -

Patiently awaiting the rest of your review!

Hope all is well and you just got busy. Just want you to know your audience is still out here looking forward to more. :)

We've never done a stay-on-the-ship day while in port but it might be what we do in Falmouth next time (always assuming there will be a next time!). We did enjoy the Rosehall Hilton we visited for the day last time but it was pretty pricey and I don't know that we really got our money's worth.

I'm sure having the ship somewhat to yourselves made for a nice, relaxing afternoon.