terrydtx

No, with the new air online option you have a place to choose Economy of FC/BC pricing. No phone call is needed. There is not anywhere I could see to choose your dates and any flight deviations, that I could find, I assume you do this when you book by calling.

Most of Vikings included excursions tend to be more shuttle bus drive by or walking city tours type excursions, which we did not want. We were one and done with Viking Ocean in 2019. I much prefer the SM excursion credit as we can then chose and book excursions we are interested in.

That is the same accounting spin that drove us away from Celebrity's Retreat suites that increased as much as 40% this year. Celebrity was asking more for a Sky Suite than an A category Concierge cabin on comparable Oceania itineraries, so we switched to Oceania.🤔

I believe Viking Ocean does the same with fewer specialty restaurants to choose from.

I just did a mock booking to repriced our March 2025 Marina cruise without air and the prices are now $1000pp more than when we booked with SM last year. I also tried pricing the cruise with the O air in BC and they are quoting over $1400pp higher than what we paid in May by booking direct with American Airlines.

We had one on the Noordam and Oosterdam, but they were more of a cooler than a refrigerator, they kept the cans of soda cool but not really cold. Better for keeping our wine at a proper temperature.

Figure 4 nights maybe 5 but on sea days. If you are worried about conflicts do specialty dining on port days or just go with the flow. Anything in the Pinnacle grill will be way better than anything in the MDR any night you might miss.

A friend uses this rechargeable insulin cooler when she travels. She got it on Amazon

Exactly we do it all the time after booking flights with FE before final payment. You can also cancel the FE flights before final payment. We had used FE to book our BC/FC tickets for our Volendam cruise next month. Then in April we found the same American Itinerary direct with AA on the AA website for $300pp less. We booked the AA flights direct and canceled the HAL FE flights.

We have cruised with Oceania after the NCL Aquisition and IMO they overall are heads and Shoulders above any mass marketed cruise line including HAL and Celebrity in service and dining.

Just the opposite opinion, for us Simply More was a huge advantage and add-on. Before SM we always took the old O'Life non air option and for our included amenity we chose the House Beverage package for wine and beer at Lunch and Dinner. When we booked our March 2025 South America cruise, pre-SM, we did the non-air O'Life with beverage package. After SM was announced last year, we had out TA rebook us with non-air SM and we got the same beverage package plus a $400pp shore excursion credit. So, we picked up an $800 total addon and our new booking price was $200pp less than with O'Life, I look at this as a $1200 added value for free. We have a couple of port stops for this cruise that only Oceania has shore excursions for, so we had no problem using our $800 SM credit. The balance of our shore excursions are all private 3rd party tours, which we always prefer.

A good guess on a 7-day cruise, is the first sea day and they last sea day that is not the last night of the cruise.

I agree 100%. If you want to go up a notch to real premium lines, you have sail on Viking Ocean and Oceania. We choose our cruises by itineraries, that no longer includes the Carribean or Mexico. Brand loyalty is second after we find an itinerary we want.

After 7 post covid Celebrity Cruises in Sky Suites we are done with them. They have priced us out and we can now book Oceania for less per day. We now for the future are cruising with Oceania and HAL.

We only use stainless steel water bottles and take them with us everywhere. I have 2 RO systems in our house so we NEVER use plastic water bottles or drink water from plastic bottles. On the road we buy water in glass bottles. The microplastics are a real issue.

I have been in the Nestles plant in Houston and it is amazing. I live in San Antonio and our city water is extremely hard and tastes horrible. Niagara brand Bottled water has a bottling plant in Seguin 50 miles from us and they use the same water source as our city, but I have had people tell me it comes from Niagara Falls, LOL I am familiar with Jay Leno's water show, what he didn't know ( I think) that if the word Purified was on the label it was not unfiltered Miami water.

If you are talking about anytime dining, we have only cruised with HAL having anytime dining and not once have we made or needed a reservation for dinner. We prefer to enter the MDR between 6:30 and 7:00pm about the time the 5:00 or 5:30 service starts to empty out. I think the most we have ever waited for a table was 10 minutes. This is why we prefer anytime, 5 or 5:30 is just to early and 8:00pm way to late for us to eat. If you have to eat at 5:30 then you would need a reservation as the lines to get into the MDR can be snaking down the hallways leading to the entrance. I have seen passengers waiting in line 30 minutes to an hour before the MDR opens, like they are afraid the dining room will run out of food. I would much rather spend that time in a bar having a pre dinner martini or Scotch.

Here is where IMO in inferred that the plastic plumbing didn't need chlorination. See you comment above. I apologize if I got what you were saying wrong. I did see later you brought up the low levels of Chlorine in the cabin tap water which is correct.

Not entirely true any bottled water in the US that is labeled "Purified" has gone through reverse osmosis to remove 98% of all water contaminates. The water sources are mostly from Municiple water supplies but then filtered with RO and the bottled water producers have to label the source for the water. Nestles is a major bottled water producer in the Southwest and their purified water comes from the City of Houston Municiple water supply. Spring water comes from the underground water and undergoes minimal filtration but can have a high mineral content. I was in the water filtration business for over 25 years. I never drink unfiltered tap water and on cruise ships we carry refillable water bottles that can keep water chilled for up to 12 hours. I have found the water refill station on the HAL Lido to have a very good taste and quality.

The water that comes out of the tap in the cabin bathrooms does contain chorine. I was in the water filtration business for over 25 years and I can smell chlorine in the water.

Except it is chlorinated after being filtered and then run through the ships plumbing. Purified bottled water doesn't have any chlorine.

We had CO on the Koningsdam last November and loved the CO dining room. The service and food were a big step above the MDR for a much more intimate and quieter dining experience. I tried several of the special CO entrees and they were all excellent. Never had a cold dish either like we had many times in the past in the MDR. I recommend CO 100%.

We have only ever cruised in a Signature or Vista suite with HAL and I know they promise binoculars but like I said they are next to worthless. We have always had umbrellas, but I do not think we ever had to use one and take it off the ship. I guess we have been blessed with good weather.

it's not that they were damaged when they were put into the cabins, they get damaged from use and abuse by the people in the cabins over many years. Not sure if HAL has any plans to replaced them periodically.

On HAL we sail mostly in Signature and Vista Suites. On Celebrity in Sky Suites. On the Noordam in a SS in 2019 the binoculars were so scratched they were useless and I couldn't get them replaced. Even on the K'Dam last year we had cheap $10 ones that were broken. We bought 2 of these and take them on all of our trips.