Twitchly

44 minutes ago, montythecat said:

On a very fine balance I would recommend Viking but would agree

100% with uktog that Viking are happy to miss a port and 

substitute a sea day without making any effort to maintain the

published itinerary or find an alternative port. They are also inclined

to provide ridiculous excuses for such changes. Azamara seem to

try and avoid such alterations. This might be worth bearing in mind

when booking your cruise.

 

On our British Isles cruise in September, when Viking determined conditions were unfavorable for us to go to the Shetlands, they took us instead to Stavanger, Norway. So sometimes they do find alternatives.

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

The eye roll?  Not a training issue but a flaw of youth and character

And being in the wrong career, which this individual clearly was.
 

I discovered early on that I could never, ever work in the service industry. I am in awe of most of Viking’s extremely courteous and friendly crew. I couldn’t do what they do in a million years.

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Another drive-by attack on a cruiseline.  Wagers on whether or not we will ever hear again from "nightmare"?

I’m thinking the handle “Viking-nightmare” is a clue as to their intended longevity in this forum. 
 

Not casting stones here. There was a point where I would’ve been happy to post to any refrigerator discussion group under the name “LG-Is-a-Pile-of-Steaming-Pig-Feces.” 

1 hour ago, Cruisenewbie63 said:

Thanks.  Would that just be for electric shaver or toothbrush charger?  Or would it power hairdryer etc ( full power outlet). Thanks for the reply.  Much appreciated 

See this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2787438-hair-dryer-question/

14 hours ago, Cruisingin2223 said:

What is Viking's policy about CBD gummies? I take these for sleep sometimes. Any insight would be helpful. Traveling in may different countries. TIA

As others have said, you would need to check to see what each country’s policy is regarding CBD. Here’s a start for Europe: https://www.theextract.co.uk/is-cbd-legal-worldwide/ . But rules change, so you would need to do further research to get the most up-to-date information for each country you’re visiting.
 

Seems like way too much work to me, but I guess it depends on how badly you want to bring those gummies. I can recommend a long walk and a cup of warm milk before bedtime as an alternative.

You can’t really go wrong either way. We’ve stayed in PV rooms and have cruised with and without the drinks package. We spent more with the drinks package than without it, but we had a lot of fun with it and would do it again. It just felt nice not thinking about running a tab because everything had already been paid for.
 

With the package we definitely drank more than we otherwise would’ve — I think I tried every red wine they had — but managed to avoid falling off the gangplank. 

I love this thread.

59 minutes ago, Insanityx4 said:

i have read on Facebook and other media sources that there is a possibility and some speculton that a whale or other large animal tried to breach under the Zodiac which threw people up in the air, caused a man to fall overboard, and a woman to seriously break her leg. It's just a theory but seems like a possible cause after hearing accounts from those on board the Zodiac when the incident occurred.

This is exactly what happened to a friend of ours while whale watching off the Gaspé Peninsula. Big bump from below the boat made it shoot upward. Our friend came down wrong. Leg snapped in several places. You don’t mess around with whales. Or whatever that was.

10 hours ago, KBs mum said:

Lowlands and Speysides don't have heavy peat, that tends to be the islay and Islands. The likes of Laphroaig and Lagavulin have the ammonia effect. Lagavulin was sold as a medicine in the US during prohibition, it was classed as medication. 

To avoid the peat go for a light coloured young lowland. 

Also drink at room temperature with only a few drops of water. Ice kills it

We did a single malt tasting on our last cruise. Several of the options had no peat, including one big award-winner from Japan. They were smooth and pleasant and bored me to tears. Give me lots of smoke and earth in my whisky/whiskey or I might as well just have a G&T.

Heh. Never underestimate the Great Lakes.

We’ve booked ourselves, and we’ve used 2 TAs. Our TA experiences weren’t great. Small discounts aside, they really didn’t add any value, and each screwed something up, one significantly when, against our request, she canceled our cruise before we had a chance to cancel our excursions. That resulted in all of our excursion money going onto a voucher rather than a refund on our credit card. Thanks to this group and others like it, we knew more than she did about how to handle this (and she didn’t listen when we told her to wait before canceling).
 

Also, once we’d booked a cruise through a TA, we had to go through that TA in order to do a number of things, from something small like receiving luggage tags (which we never got, thanks to a screwup at the TA’s office) to trying to sign up for a sold-out extension, which required checking frequently and jumping on it as soon as an opening became available, something our TA was too busy to do. So we gave up and created our own extension.

The bottom line: a TA is a layer between you and your trip vendor(s). If they’re good, they (apparently) can be a buffer and facilitator. If they’re not, they’re an added complication and a stumbling block. 

So how does one find a great, knowledgeable TA who stays on top of everything for you? And is easily available in case of a snafu? We found each of ours via friends. That didn’t exactly work out.

14 hours ago, Mittens101 said:

Oh dear I vaguely remember when that happened. With all I’ve seen and experienced recently with cruising I’m really starting to think about how I spend my vacations. 

I understand. But out of the thousands of cruises (or flights or car trips) going on at any given time, only a tiny fraction make the news. The other 99.99% are thankfully uneventful. 

There’s quite a bit of discussion about this over in the Expeditions thread. Tragic.

Darn … guess I’ll have to leave my hookah and wallpaper knife at home. 
 

(Trying and failing to imagine why anyone would want to bring a wallpaper knife on a cruise …)

I believe there’s a river cruise forum here on CruiseCritic. Maybe ask there?

10 minutes ago, LinnieRed said:

Newbie question specific to cold weather cruises: We are boarding in February on the Northern Lights cruise and trying to minimize our luggage. We have an abundance of warm clothes, do we need to take sporty/chic dinner wear also or are our daily exploration clothes fine to wear at dinner? 

So long as your daily exploration clothes don’t include jeans, you should be fine. Might want to bring some shoes that aren’t sneakers or hiking boots. A nice scarf or two to jazz things up won’t take up much room. 

10 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Thx for the confirmation. The "price tag" for doing it that way is that you have to listen to the elevator music that plays on the camera channel when there are no announcements 🤢     🍺🥌

We just turned on the TV right before the regular daily announcements. Or as soon as we heard them begin in the hallway. There’s a slight delay before they reach the TV, so you don’t miss anything.

23 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

If my memory serves from 2019, they can be heard on the bow cam channel (or I’ve confused it with a different ship 😬 ).   🍺🥌

Yup, that was it. 

Highly recommend wandering over to the travel insurance forum here on CruiseCritic. Lots of good info over there. 
 

Steve, a travel insurance broker with https://tripinsurancestore.com, posts over there and does some great Q&A sessions. We’ve dealt with him and are very happy with his service.

You can hear the daily announcements without opening your door. We listened to them on the TV. I can’t remember how we did it (maybe the live ship cam?), but your steward can probably tell you. Ours did.

Penthouse Veranda rooms and up get a selection of spirits in their minibar, which are replenished daily. (I think DV rooms also get alcohol in their minibar but I don’t know if it’s replenished.) You can request which blend of spirits you get, up to a point: for example, you can request another mini bottle of vodka rather than the rum. Or you can request a bottle of house wine rather than spirits. You can also request specific soft drinks or mixers (such as tonic water) daily. 
 

Between that and the fact we don’t drink much, we normally wouldn’t be tempted by Viking’s drink package. But we had to use up some leftover voucher money on our last cruise, so we got it. We ended up drinking a good deal more than we usually do, and I must say it was a lot of fun! We tried nearly every red wine on offer by the glass and about a third of the whites. And we enjoyed playing around with various cocktails, too. It was very pampering to just order whatever we wanted and not think about the tab. 

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

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

I would imagine another difference would be the dramatic and sudden influx of cruise visitors, as opposed to the more gradual ebb and flow typical of land tourists. The sudden arrival in a small town of an additional 2K or 3K people would have a noticeable impact. 

3 hours ago, claranda said:

I think an alternative method of getting into central London from Greenwich may be the Thames Clipper service, which calls at the pier close to the Cutty Sark. 
https://booking.thamesclippers.com

That’s what we did (going the opposite direction). Wonderful views of the city from the water and much cheaper than a taxi. Highly recommended. 

 

16 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Cruise ships have a large impact on a community like this but not a lot of spending.  There are more than enough non-cruise tourists as it is.

I’m sympathetic. Cruises are great for many things, but there’s no question they overwhelm small ports and completely change their character. 

https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2022-11-09/bar-harbor-voters-approve-major-reductions-to-cruise-ship-passengers
 

With a cap of 1K per day, Viking could still squeak in … though maybe not if staff disembark, too.