Twitchly

Another option: grocery stores. I always enjoy visiting grocery stores in other countries, and you can pick up a light meal for much less. Restaurant food in Reykjavík can be crazy expensive.

We wanted to avoid the busyness of Las Ramblas and opted to stay in a lovely older hotel overlooking the marina: Hotel Duquesa de Cardona. Good breakfasts, quiet, lots of character, nice views. Walkable to everything and it wasn’t far from the ship. We’d definitely stay there again.

No app called “Cruise Critic Community” for Apple. I’ll stick to the website for now.

In the Apple Store, the name of the app is “My Kind of Cruise”?

The frequent laundry in the hotel sink was by far my least favorite part about carryon travel.

Oooooooooooooohhh!!

We’ve discovered the joys of carryon travel, thanks to all the baggage problems airlines had last year. It’s especially easy on Viking Ocean with the laundry facilities. But we recently took small international carryons for a 12-day land-based trip to Israel and Jordan and found it surprisingly doable. Not sure I’d do it again, though. And in cold weather, nope. If I could carry a larger backpack like Rick Steves, maybe. But that’s a non-starter these days. I’ll bet Rick’s crew has to cart hefty suitcases with all their gear.

I’m betting on lost luggage.

I’m not sure when Viking started setting the new volume limit on its TVs. Hopefully it was after your neighbors’ experience. I remember reading posts somewhere (here?) from disgruntled passengers who were unable to hear their TV because they couldn’t turn it up high enough after the change.

I have certain items I prefer to line dry. Quite a few, actually.

That’s not unusual in parts of Asia. I quickly learned that one shouldn’t assume a lack of feet under the door meant no one was inside.

How tragic for everyone.

I can recommend 4019. Quiet except for our neighbor’s TV. (Since that cruise, Viking has thankfully lowered the top possible volume of the room TVs.)

Deluxe! 😄

Trade Routes covers a lot of ground going up the west coast of Europe. We’d love to do that one again.

We opted to use the robes, as did many other passengers. Walking to and from the spa or pool in a robe won’t raise many eyebrows; wearing a robe while lounging around in other public spaces might.

The train system was great years ago; I assume it still is. Only downside is not seeing the area when you’re underground. I would definitely try to get out on the water and tootle around. Great views. There are multiple ferries.

Intriguing. I’m especially surprised to hear Seabourn is significantly cheaper than Viking. Is this becoming typical, or is this a one-off? Which itinerary is it?

I know what you mean about the joys of slow travel vs. cruises (and organized land tours). The latter is like snacks from street vendors; the former is a banquet. Both can be great. But I do miss the slow version. Probably won’t get the chance to spend that kind of time overseas again.

It may depend on the cruise, but thus far we have not found wine to be one of Viking’s strengths. We’re not serious oenophiles, but we have found their wine selections to be average at best. It’s nice they allow you to BYOB, but we find we rarely seem to come across wine shops during our cruise travels.

We did have some snow when we took that train in March a few years ago. Beautiful! I imagine in deep winter it would be spectacular. Is that the world’s smallest shower?

I don’t think I’ve been to Sai Kung, but I do second the suggestion to get to one of the island fishing villages in the New Territories. I spent a fair bit of time in Hong Kong when I lived in Asia years ago, and the little islands were my favorite part. A fascinating slice of life.

Feel free. “Gonzoid” is what happens when existing words are woefully inadequate so one makes up new ones.

Have you posted this in the River Cruising forum? Seems like it would be most helpful there.

This flavor of rudeness DRIVES ME GONZOID. It’s like the audio version of someone farting or blowing smoke in your face, except it goes on and on and on. It makes me want to get a yappy dog and encourage it to bark incessantly at them. I would hate listening to that, too, but at least it would provide some grim satisfaction.