Twitchly

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.

We cruised with Viking in 2018 and again last fall. No discernible difference in quality. Lovely both times.

That puffin shot is magical.

As others have pointed out, there are multiple layers of actors here. That’s why I much prefer to book our own flights whenever possible. When we’ve booked flights through a third party, it adds a layer of complexity and reduces my control by another factor. The airlines may indeed change schedules, but at least they’re the only player I need to deal with.

Great idea. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082

Same with us on Mars last fall. Admittedly, we don’t have hearing issues. Closed captioning and/or the ability to use wireless headphones would be a good solution. Better than cranking up the volume and annoying the neighbors.

Ideally Viking could provide wireless headphones in the room. That would be a much better solution than turning up the volume further. We found the walls to be on the thin side on our first Viking cruise a few years back; we could hear every word on our neighbor’s TV.

How do they differ?

If you like licorice, Iceland is licorice Mecca. I loved their licorice yogurt (found in grocery stores, which is where we sourced many of our meals due to the eye-watering price of restaurants). Sounds weird, but it’s marvelous! Don’t let anyone talk you into trying the fermented shark. Just don’t.

None on Mars in the fall. We were desolate.

I’m glad you explained that. I thought it meant they rarely posted!

I wondered how that went. Now we know.

I second this. If it’s at all possible, try to fly into Venice a day or two early and stay there. The evening and early morning hours are magical.

That was fun, reliving our autumn BIE cruise through your posts. And you didn’t miss a single port! We lost Ullapool and the Shetlands (sob). Maybe spring/summer offers calmer seas. Now I want to go again!

Very much looking forward to hearing comparisons between Viking and Seabourn. Does the latter still have formal nights? If so, are they easily avoided? Also, what is “the Retreat” I see mentioned in Seabourn threads, and how does it compare to anything on Viking?

If your cruise doesn’t include the south coast (which is not to be missed), it’s easy enough to rent a car in Reykjavik and drive yourself. I would suggest giving yourself a couple of days (and booking your hotels ahead of time). That will get you as far as the glacier lagoon (Jökulsárlón). There’s a hotel nearby (Fosshotel) that’s quite nice and allows you to see the lagoon early or late in the day when the crowds have gone. We arrived there at dusk and had the place largely to ourselves (in September). Allow time to stop along the way at waterfalls and take in the Black Beach (Reynisfjara) at Vik. The whole drive is just spectacular. Otherworldly.

That’s the question for us as well. We just got back from a 12-day land tour (pilgrimage) of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. It was unforgettable and wonderful, but it was not peaceful or comfortable. It was intense and strenuous. We’re already thinking our next trip will be another cruise. Maybe that’s what ultimately works best for us — alternating in-depth experiences with relaxing, lightweight samplers.

I’d never leave the house if I thought social media was an accurate reflection of the real world. People are rarely their best selves when hiding behind pixels.

It had probably just passed through a hot water cycle in the Caribbean.

Yeah, our TA really dropped the ball — or rather her office did. She was away when her office received our tags and documents; we never got them. Turns out her office didn’t put adequate postage on them and they were returned. We have not yet figured out what benefit TAs provide.

This. We have often felt that Viking Onboard and Viking Onshore are two completely different companies. Viking Onshore has been an unpleasant obstacle course one has to tolerate in order to reach the lovely Viking Onboard. I don’t know any TA who says they enjoy dealing with Viking Onshore. You’re right; it’s a tremendous disservice to the wonderful onboard folks who work so hard and do such a great job. And it’s not sustainable in the long term; there’s a lot of competition out there.

Or what if Viking got rid of its in-house people and instead featured local talent? I suppose that would take a good deal more coordination, but I would absolutely love it. Imagine listening to Irish bands when docked in Ireland, Spanish performers when in Spain, etc.

Too recent. Maybe some nice Johnny Rotten & the Sex Pistols. Their rousing version of “God Save the Queen” in honor of the upcoming coronation, perhaps? 👑 Sadly, it’ll probably be something like Billy Joel and Neil Diamond instead.