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Pearse for Trinity, Grafton st etc ,Tara St for O’Connell St . They are very close to each other

Yes I would recommend the Irish Times pub which is a lovely Irish pub with great food ,Craic and atmosphere a grand place for a birthday celebration

I also feel Viking Ocean are not transparent. We booked our first V O cruise in 2017 and paid in full a year ahead. About 6 months before our trip it was advertised at a deep discount with free air. Our TA called immediately to get the new offer to find we would have to cancel and rebook with a $6000 penalty!. Recently we put a deposit on an Antarctic cruise which had to be paid in full within a week. When they sent a medical form which needed to be completed by a physician it was obvious my husband would not qualify so we tried to cancel immediately. Luckily we had only paid them $1000 as that was the last we saw of that and could not even transfer the deposit to a different cruise. We normally cruise with Oceania and always get the latest offer available if it is to our benefit.

Don’t forget both Dun Leary and adjacent Blackrock have great pubs and restaurants so there is no need to go back into the city centre at night for a drink. IMHO Temple bar is highly overrated and over run with stag and doe groups from UK especially at weekends. The DART is also a very easy way into Dublin and is not affected by traffic

Just got off Nautica Capetown to Mumbai last week and found no problems wth the food quality and quantity. It was very similar to pre Covid food. We had the occasional miss but nearly all meals were excellent. the choices were the same and the menus changed about every 2 weeks .Again the fruit in the Terrace for breakfast was great. We have been sailing with Oceania since 2004 and have no concerns about a decline in food quality. As well there were two Market dinners with fresh ingredients bought on shore that day

We are Canadian as well and Oceania took care of our Vietnamese visas on our 3 cruises to Vietnam over the years but this was pre-Covid so just have your TA check directly with O

Thanks I will try this when we board

We booked times shortly after our dining bookings opened. We were successful with Manfredi’s but Chefs table was unavailable. Our TA received a confirmation but now when I check our MVJ it tells me no reservations are available for tables for 2. We are happy to share but as we are travelling on our own do not have any other booking numbers and unlike Oceania there is no option offered to share. I find this very frustrating and do not have the time to phone Viking and spend time on hold.

Usually 4pm unless it has changed recently

We were on the TA on the Splendor in November We had an excellent cruise but there were definite supply chain issues Within the first week they ran out of Stella Artois,diet ginger ale and Splenda. as well there was a real shortage of fresh berries after the first few days no raspberries ,blueberries or blackberries just a lot of canned peaches and pears. None of these were a game changer but a bit of a disappointment

On our last TA in November 2022 we flew KLM from Pearson to Amsterdam and then KLM on to Barcelona without a problem.

We were in a Concierge veranda and had binoculars

Hi Joanie Thanks for doing that as we would like to keep in touch and we do not have Mary and Marks info. I’m still in cruise withdrawal but really enjoyed your blog and meeting you Emer

Really enjoyed your blog and meeting you at all the games,trivia etc. It has been a pleasure and we loved your list of what you missed the first time so have been busy trying to get everything done before we disembark tomorrow. I think you have given a very fair summary of the cruise

We are currently on 848 on Splendor and our balcony has room for 2 chairs a table and full sized lounge chair . It is about 26inches wider than 846 next door

We just finished packing and will head up to Toronto tomorrow morning. Hopefully the weather will co operate. We are Emer and Dale in 848. Looking forward to meeting you

Hope we run into you on board. We are also boarding on Sat in Barcelona for our first Regent cruise. We normally travel on Oceania but missed the Canaries last year because of the volcano. Looking forward to trying something different.

When we were on Regatta a few years ago they also offered turkey and pumpkin pie for Canadian Thanksgiving which is next weekend.Whenwe we’re on Rivera last year for American Thanksgiving there was turkey in all venues and the following day they started with Christmas decorating!

Same here

PreCovid we did a tour with Spain Day tours .They picked us up at the ship when we disembarked and did a personalized tour for 4 people in a taxi.The driver spoke excellent English and took us all over the city as well as up to Monserrat and dropped us off at our hotel at the end of the day. They also brought us to the airport 3 days later. Their rates were very competitive and they answer emails very promptly

There is also happy hour where you get 2 for1 .They don’t open them so you can take them to store in your fridge so you have some in your stateroom for whenever