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Would you be willing to share your thoughts on the two cruise lines? And his?

What a fabulous photo!! Thanks for sharing it. I love vintage cruise shots. Another world.

My thoughts exactly.

Good to know. Your review was helpful; thanks. I’d be interested in hearing about dress as well. In particular, do O or Seabourn have formal evenings? That might be a dealbreaker for us unless they’re easily avoidable.

Looking forward to hearing comparisons from those who have cruised Viking plus Seabourn or Oceania. The onboard culture is something I’m particularly interested in hearing about. We fit very well into Viking’s culture; curious how the others compare.

This is exactly how we felt about our recent land tour to Israel/Palestine/Jordan. Like trying to drink from a fire hose.

We use them for groceries. (Maybe that’s one reason Viking doesn’t offer them. I’m guessing Kroger’s isn’t quite the association they’re looking for.)

Wow. Neither of our travel agents offered anything close to those numbers.

Another way to handle that is to bring black pants. (Or another neutral.) No need to wonder about pairing. We have taken cool-weather cruises so far. For the second cruise, we decided to just bring carry-ons because of all the luggage problems the airlines were having. So I left the jeans at home and just brought black knit pants. They went with everything and were wearable in all the restaurants. And they didn’t show dirt, a major plus for a mess like me!

That was the main (only) benefit of our TA experience. Does anyone know if you can get a credit when dealing directly with a Viking?

That reminds me of another activity offered on one of our cruises: nighttime star-gazing on the top deck with an astronomer. He was one of the visiting lecturers.

I’m sure that’s true. We’ve tried two TAs and had two misses so far. I’m starting to feel like Charlie Brown and the football. At some point you have to know when to say “enough.” Fortunately booking a cruise vacation isn’t exactly complicated.

That might be one way to convince Viking to start providing them!

That’s a bummer. We found the beds too hard, too, but didn’t know about the toppers at the time. I was looking forward to getting one next time we sail.

On our cruise last fall, there were trivia games and “name that tune” games in the Explorer Lounge. Not heavily attended. On another cruise I attended a class on different ways to tie a scarf. Scintillating stuff. Viking onboard life is pretty quiet overall. We like that about it.

The beds have duvets, no top sheets. (I think this is more typical in Europe, though it’s also what we do in our house.) The duvet cover gets washed with the sheets. I should add this was on our cooler-weather cruises. Haven’t been on a warm-weather Viking cruise, so I don’t know if they differ. As mentioned above, if you want a top sheet, just ask. Ditto for a mattress topper if you find the bed too hard.

Hmm. We see a lot of grass-fed pastured beef in restaurants these days, and that’s also what we buy for home. Is this all that’s available in NZ? No grain-fed feed lots? If so, good for them. I wonder how the price differs. I know we pay more for pastured beef.

Genuine question: do service dogs ever need to be on chairs in public spaces? I get that they might sometimes need to be on chairs at home. But in restaurants or public lounges?

Panoramic downtown Milwaukee?

I think I need to know more about these.

not to worry. I’m not assuming anything. Just pointing out that statistics don’t always tell the whole story.

I believe that is a probiotic made from yeast.

That may not be the reason for the low statistic. It’s possible the ship’s crew is underreporting illness. In the article quoted in the first post in this thread, it says: —— Recent federal studies show that sick employees were behind a majority of food contamination and foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. The CDC found that among outbreaks where a contributing factor was identified, 41% were caused by food contamination from ill or infectious employees. “If a food worker stays on the job while sick and does not wash his or her hands carefully after using the toilet, the food worker can spread germs by touching food,” according to the CDC’s website. Norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. […] In the cruise line context, many waiters and food handlers, who are paid almost exclusively by tips, are often reluctant to go to the ship infirmary when they are ill. No cruise line, to our knowledge, provides paid sick leave to their crew members. Unfortunately, there’s an incentive to work while sick on a cruise ship in order to be paid. ——

That’s lovely, nicely framed. Well done.

If you’re up for a taxi ride and want to splash out a bit for great food and ambience, we highly recommend Pond. It’s on a pond (thus the name) and we try to get there whenever we’re Chicago. The Museum of Art is excellent. And we loved the architecture boat tours, especially those run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Very knowledgeable volunteer guides.