Twitchly

On 9/11/2023 at 10:32 AM, uktog said:

The town has adopted being a “slow place” part of a global network to encourage a less frenetic life style in the world.

What a worthy goal. I need to move there.

Thanks so much for sharing your journey. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

11 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

I’m sorry to hear that.  We flew them in 2019, on a trip to Turkey.  It wasn’t the first time we had flown with them, but the most recent.  They were fabulous and picked up the pieces, especially when we had to dispute with Pegasus Air.  
I’m sorry to hear they’ve deteriorated.

From what I’ve seen, their reviews are all over the map. So it’s likely they haven’t deteriorated since 2019; they’re just wildly inconsistent.  That may be in part because, according to Wikipedia, they fly to more countries than any other commercial airline in the world. 

44 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

Yes, it’s excellent and better than most US airlines.

That was very much not our experience. This past spring we flew Turkish Air to Tel Aviv, and then back from Amman, both times with stopovers in Istanbul. The flight out was dreadful. Uncomfortable seats, torn upholstery (I couldn’t put anything in the seat pocket because it had completely ripped out), filthy. The flight back, we were able to upgrade our seats and had a better experience. And all our flights were considerably delayed, more than two hours in one case. 
 

But the worst bit was dealing with their booking staff. I won’t go into all the gory details except to say their website is a malfunctioning mess and their staff was truly dreadful. We ended up having to file a dispute with our credit card company. 
 

TA has been around a very long time and is, I believe, one of the busiest airlines in the world. If you’re stuck with them, I strongly suggest upgrading your seat if possible. Their best reviews seem to come from folks who have done that.

As for us, we hope never to use them again.

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. 

On 8/23/2023 at 7:00 PM, Clay Clayton said:

Look what we booked today!😳😀

Oooooooooooooohhh!! 

1 hour ago, SJD117 said:

Rick Steves says he travels for months at a time in Europe with just a carry-on bag/backpack. That philosophy wouldn’t set too well with much of the Viking crowd.

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. 

7 hours ago, Ray4Fun said:

Had a lady on last cruse who wore what appeared to be the same outfit 9 days in a row. Blue shorts with a yellow top.  Up in Norway no less. 

I’m betting on lost luggage.

1 hour ago, biggerbearmom said:

That is good to know! Our neighbors on our February 2023 cruise to Panama had their TV up really loud every night, and late into the evening.

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. 

3 hours ago, formernuke said:

I’m confused why not use the provided washers and dryers in the laundry?

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

11 hours ago, Travelingwithstyle said:

They really could have used this sign in the fancy woman's bathroom.   A Chinese lady had squatted on the toilet bowl to use it.  She left her shoeprints on the seat.  You can't make these things up. 

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.)

7 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Safari loo in Africa 

Deluxe! 😄

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

23 hours ago, j4giz said:

We're sailing on Monday--Viking Ocean for the first time.  Do we need to have a swimsuit cover-up to go to the pool or spa or can we use the supplied robe?

 

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. 

On 8/3/2023 at 10:58 PM, Vineyard View said:

We have two future cruises booked. One on Oceania with their new promotion. By far, the pricing is miles apart from Viking for similar itineraries, and as mentioned in a previous post here, includes more in areas that are important to us.  We also have another booked with Seabourn. This cruise is also significantly lower than Viking, and includes a whole, whole lot more on a much smaller ship.
I am calculating total cost per day per person in these comparisons. 

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?

On 7/27/2023 at 5:14 PM, shipboy said:

Sai Kung in the New Territories is a lovely little fishing village, with plenty of restaurants and bars. It’s well worth a visit, although I may be biased as I lived there for four years

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.