CILCIANRQTS

Our daughter is in the business - Jackson Family premiums. She’s absolutely loving it! And we’re loving the substantial discounts she gets!! 🍷😋

We’ll be at Grgich Hills next week. I’ll bet they have a bottle or two of Chateau Montelena still around!! Also going to Freemark Abbey - it’s going to be a great week!!

For display only, of course!

Where the 1976 vintage was declared “The Best Chardonnay In the World”in Paris in 1979!! Nice.

150% of the base fare EXTRA for a bigger seat sure doesn’t seem like a good deal to me. Maybe if I did a careful cost analysis from the airline’s perspective… I fail to understand this premium economy frenzy. Of course, I’ve never paid $1800 for a cabana on a private island either.

That’s true.

We ask for the same waiter, so the waitstaff knows preferences and to develop better relationships - which results in better service. Tipping during the cruise also helps - if you’re so inclined.

3 inches of additional legroom makes a massive difference on a long international flight -IMHO.

Our cruise overnights the first night, but no matter when I fly, I’m not accepting that tight an international connection.

P.S. For an upcoming November Bordeaux cruise, Viking offered us a routing with a 1 hour 25 minute connect time in CDG. We said, “What, are you crazy?? No!!” They then offered a reasonable connect time for $800 more. Not sure why we should pay extra for a reasonable connect time. Waiting for a better offer.

Viking’s website is notoriously bad at updating flights, seats, etc. We simply using the airline ticket locator to pull up our file on the airline’s website, then print out an up-to-the-minute copy. once your tix are issued, it’s always better to deal directly with the airline, in our experience. When it comes to air reservations, Viking is serving as a ticket agent, not your personal travel agent. Which is why they DO NOT guarantee to get you to the ship if your flight is delayed or cancelled, although they have jumped in to help in some cases. They don’t do much to dispel this misconception, as they want to keep selling you airline tickets.

And, as holders of equity rather than debt, you go to the end of the line for getting any distributions. Perhaps not the best investment.

This will force them to go public with their financial statements. It’ll be interesting to see how much cash they hemorrhaged during covid.

Some will protest loudly, but give the head bartender at your favorite bar (Explorers Lounge?) a $20 bill on your first day and ask. I suspect, from experience, they will accommodate you. Let the flaming begin! 😎🏴‍☠️

Still operating. $1.25 to the resort, last we used it. A nice local experience, depending on your comfort level given State Department warnings. Bus owners have a strong vested interest in keeping out the bad guys. We’re flying down Saturday and will cab it from point to point.

And cruise ship passengers leave at the end of the day, so they make excellent targets as they won’t be around to cooperate in any investigation/identification/prosecution of the perp.

I was referring to those who have a choice when to arrive and show up early. That’s what clogs the pipeline.

You’ll be fine so long as you avoid the eager-beavers who arrive at 9 or 10.

And bless your heart for thinking that anyone hasn’t figured out what “bless your heart” means…

Or he…

Most hospitals have an infectious disease clinic, and some of those even have a travel clinic subsidiary. We’ve found them VERY helpful in discussing both travel requirements and travel suggestions, in addition to prescribing meds to take along “ just in case”. They also gave us risk info sheets on each country we visited. There is a modest fee, but we felt it was well worth it.

$1,000 for missing a minor port due to weather? That’s unbelievable!! 😳

Viking’s demographic has always been an older crowd. As a laid- back experience, with no Broadway shows or climbing walls, etc., older folks tend to gravitate toward the small ship, simpler experience. As a relatively pricey cruise, well-to-do older folks are more prevalent, and wealthy older folks tend to have more infirmities. As for the dress, my theory is that Viking has to go further down the demographic ladder to fill their ever-expanding fleet of ships. In addition, while they publish supposed standards, they obviously don’t enforce them. Viking has never had a diverse cross-section of travelers, which many of us are fine with.

And all this while I thought they used crazy glue on those laundry tags!! They are a nice reminder of cruises past.

24-48 hours. Good quality of service. You request folded or on hangers. Never had a problem.