Mike1733

8 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Mike, you should get an Opt-In text from Carnival (post #13 above) as long as you have your cell phone number entered in your booking info. There doesn't seem to be a set date as to when they send these out. Look at post #6 above to see an example of when we got ours. But it's looking like this alert system isn't going to do you any good either because it appears they aren't even using it for these recent cancellations.

Thanks, I will check our booking page and see if there is an option I did not check.  Any Idea if and when this big announcement will be?

Where and How can you sign up for it.  Anything is better than the nothing I am getting now.

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 2:19 PM, CelticMutt said:

I thought I'd wait a few days and let the jet lag wear off before ending up.

I'll start with the obvious positives and then touch on some of the things I thought Viking could have done better.  

We loved the cruise!  The ship is beautiful; service is outstanding and the food was wonderful in every one of the restaurants including room service. Entertainment is certainly improving.  (Daniel on guitar; Tim on piano and the four kids who did the primary shows were all great!) We had an aft DV cabin (5111) which was cool for views, but a long walk from everything.

We didn't do much of the enrichment aspects - had already lost too many brain cells.  The planetarium was a bit too… Schmaltzy! We only saw one of them (Mars) but decided to pass on the other two that we had tickets for because we would’ve sooner been in a ship environment than watching what is basically a sci-fi cartoon! I’d suggest using the planetarium for more of its original purpose – to show the stars’ and planets’ positions.

Included wines and beers were pretty good, but I feel the Silver Spirits package is a steal at $20 PP per day because of the wine upgrades and the ability to have a couple of drinks a day at no extra charge.

The itinerary was excellent, but could have been better supported by the excursions - especially the included ones.

All four of us would highly recommend this cruise!

Now for some recos that we felt Viking could work on:

- "Viking Air" needs some serious work.  We paid the upgrade to choose our own flights and thought we had our “to” and “from” schedules pretty set.  (We had opted for business class throughout.) Total travel time out was to have been about 30 hours (Newark to Dallas to Sydney and then to Cairns - and Aukland to Frisco to Newark home - at about 20 hours.  While maintaining our home flights, Viking Air arbitrarily chose to radically change our "to" flights which amended travel time to over 40 hours and necessitated a 5 AM flight out of Newark.  We knew nothing about the change until we saw it in our revised itinerary on "My Viking Journey".  This really could have been done better!

-  We opted for the "pre" extension in Cairns because we wanted to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef.  We were booked at the Sheraton Grand Mirage for the three days.  The hotel was ... just OK.  Pretty, but spread over a large amount of land which necessitates a lot of walking.  A lot of pools (we upgraded to a swim-out), but the fresh water pool was closed for repairs and ALL the salt water pools had green algae coating the bottoms.  

The two included tours here couldn't have been more different.  The rain forest tour was great in spite of a deluge.  The very commercial tour to a snorkeling platform on the GBR was a big disappointment.  Way too many people made the water cloudy and choked with OPF (other people's flippers!)  One of the other passenger groups opted for a private Viator snorkel and were very happy with it.  So I'd very much recommend that alternative.

- As I noted before, leaving the hotel and getting to the ship was a mess.  There were about 100 people in our group and getting them and their baggage moved seemed to be ill-planned especially at Sydney Airport.  We waited in line for almost 90 minutes while 3 busses loaded everyone.  Each bus's driver was the only person to load the baggage per bus which took about 30 minutes for each bus.  A much better idea would have been to put all the luggage on one truck and just board the passengers. They did this on the way home and it worked fine.  

- As stated above, the included excursions need a lot of work.  Most of them were quick bus rides through the port city.  "Extra" extensions were a lot better, but were very pricey.  (And the Southern Alps tour's lunch of a saran-wrapped mystery meat sandwich could have been a whole lot better.  Like the wonderful lunch buffet at the geothermal tour!!)

I know it sounds like I'm spending more time on the negatives than on the really significant positives, but I also know that Viking reads this kind of input and I'd sooner deliver a constructive criticism than a simple complement.  Well, while actually both are important,  you don’t have to do anything with a positive, but to maintain it. Working on a negative necessitates a lot more effort!

We'd take this cruise again in a minute and would highly recommend to others.  Unfortunately, when you hit a couple of negatives early, it can affect your attitude.  Luckily when this happened there was alcohol!! 😉

 

A Votre Sante!

Bill

Hello CelticMutt, if you are still reading this rollcall I would like to ask you a couple of questions.  I will try your email.  But if it does not work can you please email me at mtroastle  @  rap  . midco  . net  ,  I wanted to know wht airline you flew out on and back.  We go next Feb 21 and am starting to work my flights.  Thanks for the constant updates and infor you provided.

Mike

On ‎7‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 8:38 PM, Peregrina651 said:

 

Thank you! Definitely not my weather. Going to have to re-think my visit. Definitely want to get there but looks like including a cruise may not work.

Hi Peregrinea651,   We are on the Feb 24 Trip in 2020.  Did a lot of talking with you on our Roof of the world China trip this Sept.  Lots of good advise.

Were looking forward to our trip to Australia and New Zealand.  Maybe we will see you aboard.

Mike and Lisa.

Hello all. Time to recap our trip. Roof of the World

First of all to packing.

Really no need for a umbrella, all the hotels have them either in the roomor at the concierge desk. And they just cause problems in your checked bagswith the scanners. Weight of Max 44 pounds is only in forced going toTibet in and out. Other wise they just collect all our bags and averageout the weight. Do bring extra tissues and wet wipes. you will needthem on trips and in the local bathrooms. Some have paper and somedon't.. For our trip the weather was warm and humid so went thru alot of shirts. Good walking shoes or sandals is a must. Good shade hatsare a must. A good Small backpack for trip travels to carry paper, water andsuch is a good idea. Lite weight sun shirts come in handy in Tibetwhere the sun is hot and much closer. More people got sun burned therethan any where else on the trip. Light weight synthetics (shirts,underwear, pants) that can wash out and dry quick help keep your loadlight and manageable. When you fly between locations your check baggageis collected and you only carry your small carry on bags on the flights.

Locations,

Beijing, has 22 Mil in the city and is very busy. no trees grass or plants seem to be around. The Hotel was great and thefood was ok. Going to the wall was cool and walking on it was very steepand crowded They offer a group pic and book for a 100 RMB (about $14) and it isworth it. you are with a travel guide the whole way from arrival todeparture. We had Ray and from what I observer he was the best of them.They will go out of their way to make the trip as easy as they can. Wewent on a few local trips in Beijing and they filled the time up well. You can exchange money at the hotel or use plastic on most trips. At mostplaces you can bargain on the prices, and at 100% of the tourist shops andstreet flee market shops which primarily take local currency.

Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City was a good tour the Square wasclosed but the city was interesting. Lots of history and information on the how and why of the city. The old Beijing Hutong tour (sort of arikshaw ride on a bike and home tour) was ok

Xian, seeing the Terra Cotta solderswas really neat, amazing how they were found and restored. This city only has 32 Mil in it so not crowedat all. As in Beijing the Hotel is 5star and very nice. Food again was notgreat but was good.

Lhasa Tibet, this was the best partof the trip in my opinion. This is where you need to be sure your check in bagsare less than 44 LBS each, coming and going. At close to 13 K altitude it is agood idea to have the air sick ness pills, I had Diomox 250mg and took half a pill thenight before and half a pill twice a day while there. Some slight tingling in my hand but otherthan that not bad. Another person had a500mg pill and had several problems of not feeling well and extreme fatigue for4 days after we left Tibet. The familyvisit was interesting and no sales pitch. The Temple Tour was good and was give a lot of background history onTibet and the area. Then to the marketwhich was fun and colorful we bought several items and got good prices in thebargain. Potala Palace (the Dali Lamas Place) was a good trip. Close to 300 steps up and down and as long asyou go slow and rest you should not have any issues. If Lisa and I could make it most otherscan. It was very crowded but worthit. Fascinating history and infor on howand what the Dali Lamas did and how they were revered. Then on to the Sera Monastery Tour. It was interesting and watching the Monksdebate was fun

Chongqing, the tour to the ShibaozhaiPagoda was very good. Lots of goodpictures and a very bigh flea market all the way up and down to thePagoda. Make sure you have plenty oflocal currency for it. Good prices andlots of variety Haggle well and get the best price, start to walk away and theprice will drop lower. The next was the boatride down a tributary of the river and it was relaxing and interesting. The 3 gorges Dam tour was informative andshowed how they came to the decision on where and why they built it. The Scholl visit was fun and the kids werecute and like the poperatizi wanting your autograph and to say hi. Very cute. Then off to the Hubei Museum and Bell performance. A very nice and modern Museum and the BronzeBells were amazing

Shanghai, the lights and the buildings in Shanghai are truly amazing. We stayed at the Peace Hotel and it was byfar the best of the hotels The Garden Tour was very nice. And the Bund (riverwalk) tour was great. That is where yousee the night lights at their best. TheShangHai Museum is a great Museum. Both inEnglish and Chinese.

Overall the Emerald is a nice ship. You cannot compare it with a Viking Long ship as it is not up to theirstandards. It is old andmaintained. The floors are a littlewarped but still nice. The food ismostly buffet style and good. If youhave a suit or Jr suit REMEMBER that laundry is free so get your clothes washedit is worth it. We had a suite and noone told us that until the day before we got off. The ship will not exchange money they are notallowed to. But you can check with yourguide and most of the time they can exchange money for you to use at themarkets.

The weather for Sept 1-17 was hot and muggy. Average high 80’s to low 90’s very little rain while we were there. We enjoyed the trip very much and it wasworth taking. If anyone has specificquestions I will try to answer them.

Enjoy the ride.

Mike and Lisa Sept 2018

Hello to all. I have a couple of questions that I hope some one can advise me on. Currently we have two cruises upcoming. In Sept 2018 we have a china tour\cruise Beijing to Shanghai on Viking. We will start in Denver. Can anyone tell me what kind of flights we are looking at to and back We did sign up with Viking Air Business. I have read the above posts and the custom air option seems like a good idea. How do I know which airlines Viking uses going from Denver and on to Chinal and back for Shanghai to Denver. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

2nd in 2020, we are going on Viking Ocean (Orion) from Australia to New Zealand Same questions as above.

Thanks for any responses and suggestions. I do like control when I know what to look for and try.

Mike and Lisa.

If anyone is still on this post , I have a question. We will be going to Syd in Feb 2020. Can you tell me where we fly out of. Will leave Denver as a starting point. Thanks for any info. Like departure times duration and any tips to make it better. We do at least have Business class so not too bad.

Thanks.

Mike and Lisa