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8 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We toured The Alhambra with Viking and here are a few things to be aware of.

A footnote to your excellent list: there’s a considerable amount of walking on uneven surfaces. Nothing like what we encountered on our (non-Viking) trip to the Holy Land, but we had a couple people who couldn’t do it. They spent some time in a garden area instead, as I recall.

Our guides were terrific (we had a separate guide for the long bus trip, and she was interesting), and I highly recommend the excursion. But oh, the crowds. 
 

Finally, I recommend Washington Irving’s “Tales of the Alhambra” for a glimpse into what it was like a couple hundred years ago. 
 

On my bucket list: to stay overnight at the hotel inside the Alhambra and see the place when the mobs are gone.

6 hours ago, SJD117 said:

 

The Viking experience could be worse --  a lot worse. (Paywall alert, but it's worth signing up for a trial to read the author's account.)

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-icon-of-seas/677838/

 

 

Thanks for that. I will never again see those tubular water slides without thinking of a colonoscopy. 

On 4/18/2024 at 8:45 PM, deec said:

what an absolutely wonderful extension and your descriptions brought it alive!!!

Hoping our Gin, Gardens and Grand Homes extension is as wonderful.

I really want to hear about yours. It sold out very quickly for our ‘22 cruise, so I’d love to live vicariously!

On 4/20/2024 at 10:49 AM, deec said:

Wait until you get home after 4 glorious months having to think of nothing but how to experience our beautiful world and what to eat and drink!

I can’t imagine. I get whiney doing dishes again after just 2 weeks. 

10 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We are in Gorée Island & Dakar! Much to my surprise given it’s been removed from most (all?) itineraries over the last few years. 

I’ll be curious to hear what you think of Gorée. I was there many years ago and found it fascinating. It was nearly empty at the time. No idea what it’s like now.

4 hours ago, Astromaid said:

Clay, I have seen you playing a game of LRC and needing 3 one dollar bills. There is a whole discussion on Carnival about some one reporting this game being played on a Carnival ship and the participants have fists full of dollars. Illegal on Carnival and security shut them down. Must be that Viking is OK with the game. 

Probably because Carnival sees it as competition to their casinos. Which thankfully don’t exist on Viking. 

5 hours ago, TravelerTeacherRetired said:

Sam, I don’t know either. I have an iPhone 15 but if the 110 plug is fine , we should be fine. 

That’s the bottom line. You don’t really need to deal with USB-A or USB-C outlets on Viking if you don’t want to. You can just plug your phone in as you do now. 
 

Hotels overseas are another story. That’s where you might want to bone up on those USB options. And bring a country-friendly plug adapter. You can check with your hotel to see what kinds of USB outlets they have, if any.

2 hours ago, TravelerTeacherRetired said:

Standard converter? You mean the one that I have with the phone already? Sorry I’m not a tech person. Good idea on the back up power. Thanks 

 

Yes, you can bring your usual phone plug. It will work on the ship. 

We found the beds to be too hard, and we like a firm mattress. Wish we had known to ask for a topper or two. 

3 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Guess what?  It was still there at the bottom on this voyage !

How lovely! A part of you is always cruising with Viking. 
 

On the other hand, that makes me wonder about the cleanliness of the pool... 

On 4/6/2024 at 5:10 AM, CDNPolar said:

If you want to see the main site that you are there to see you have to be ready to move yourself through the crowd elbow to elbow to get to the front.  If you are shy or not aggressive enough you will not see what you are there to see.

This echoes my experience in Asia. Lines are not a thing. 

On 4/1/2024 at 9:20 PM, LindaS272 said:

Just had to click on this story today on CNN since it involved a cruise ship off Africa. So it could be worse than not making it through the Suez Canal!

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/norwegian-cruise-passengers-stranded-africa/index.html

 

 

Gack. What a mess. 
 

Reading things like this makes me realize my days of traveling for enjoyment in countries with crappy health care are over. (No insult intended to the places mentioned in this article, which may have sterling hospitals for all I know. Long ago when I lived in Africa, such was not the case.)

23 hours ago, deec said:

We leave for the a British Isle Cruise ( May 1) and the Pre-extension late April. 

We wanted to take this pre-extension but it was sold out. Looking forward to hearing about your impressions!

42 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

Tonight a Destination performance brought on, "La Rumba Catalana", guitar and flamenco show.  Very entertaining.

Sounds lovely. The destination performances are always worth going to, in my experience. 

20 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Hello from Viking Star.

 

Tonight, On Viking Today, CD Damian has announced that they are bringing back...Abba and Beatles Shows.  He didn't say when it would be restarted.  Hinted that it also could be a slightly different repertoire. 

 

Not sure it is fleetwide.

 

Anyone else hear about this?

One word: why??

20 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Bring out the popcorn!  Looks like we've stumbled on a topic that people feel real strongly about at both directions - sort of like the elections.

Now, if the ducks start wearing baseball caps … 🍿
 

Nice underwater shots! The beach looks idyllic. Except for the jellyfish. 😳

That’s a beautiful night photo. @Pappri How did you manage it?

19 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Oh, the caftan is Verr-Sache

Speechless.

On 2/26/2024 at 6:10 PM, retiredman said:

https://rubenshotel.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=local&utm_campaign=hotel-the-rubens-at-the-palace

 

Stayed here the week of the Coronation, older Hotel, but within walking distance to so much.

We stayed here, too, and enjoyed it. Close to Victoria station and Buckingham Palace. (We ended up staying there the day after the Queen died, so we were right in the middle of things.) If you stay here, I suggest springing for one of the better rooms. 

21 hours ago, 5thDimension said:

Hmm..Of course there are tomatoes in the Philippines but they're not use  for ketchup. The eggplant/salted egg salad from the menu is close to what I had growing up, and my family used cilantro on most dishes.  Quail eggs which I'm allergic to, are commonly sold by street vendors. 

Interesting. I lived there a long time ago, in a remote area. Never saw any of these things. (I would’ve loved to have tomatoes, but the only ones I found were imported and too expensive.) Maybe we just lived too remotely. In our village, the only street vendor eggs I knew about were balut (fertilized duck eggs). 

Sounds like there is a world of Filipino cuisine I missed!

On 3/7/2024 at 8:04 AM, Clay Clayton said:

No and no.  It’s fusion-nothing traditional.  You can see the menu and photos over on the menu thread.
 

But I did get a promise that he would try to have halo halo served onboard sometime. 🤞

I would love to hear how Viking would make halo halo! Thanks for posting the menu.

On 3/6/2024 at 3:18 AM, vslparis said:

Hope this comes out OK. 

Looks tasty but not especially Filipino. The tomatoes, for one thing. (When I lived there, nobody had them; they have to be imported. They make ketchup out of bananas.) I don’t recall much in the way of cilantro or quails, either. Ah, well. At least there’s seafood.  

11 hours ago, millybess said:

👍

 

I'll be interested to see the menu for that!

Me too. I wonder if it includes pancit guisado and halo-halo*?

*(A kitchen-sink drink made of crushed ice, sweetened condensed milk, corn, black beans, cubed gelatin, jackfruit, and heaven knows what else. Weirdly addictive in 114-degree heat once one gets over the ick factor.)

3 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

@FetaCheese - Oh, so just the bookings on the first 2 days are locked in. That's a different thing.

Yup. We got that in 2022, as I recall. They stopped allowing changes in the couple of days before boarding, and no changes for the first couple of days of the cruise. We did talk with the excursion people on boarding day about getting on a waiting list for a later excursion and had no problem.