farmecologist

Thanks for this. We are cruising for our first time post-covid soon and was wondering if anyone was doing any mitigation whatsoever on board. Sounds like the answer is a resounding 'no'. That doesn't fill me with confidence, especially since you heard more and more 'deep coughing' as the days went on. Yikes..even if it isn't covid...still yikes. Glad to hear you were doing the best you could though! As for us, we will be doing pretty much what you did...strategically masking, etc... We figure it can't hurt...

What happened to spontaneity in travel? The internet. 👍 Thank you.

Good to hear. The only decent reservations I could snag for our upcoming cruise was LeBistro and La Cucina. I have been reading the fillets at LeBistro are arguably better than Cagneys..which surprised me. We wanted to reserve Ocean Blue....but nothing available. We may try to switch La Cucina to Ocean Blue once on board....but after looking at the menus, La Cucina actually looks pretty good. Either way...we won't starve. 🤣 The Osso Buco at La Cucina looks right up my alley as well.

I'm assuming Viking is sweeting the offer on the March, 2023 crossing because it is coming up soon and they want to attempt to fill the remaining cabins. We probably won't see similar deals on the Nov 2023 sailing for quite a while.

I never got a solid answer on this when I asked... Since Starbucks is prominently displayed in the Le Bistro menu in the "coffee" section ( and nothing else )...will they charge you extra for coffee when using FAS credits? If so, that is pretty shady... Anyone have the answer? 👍

Yep, after thinking about it, this is exactly why we decided NOT to upgrade fo FAS+/Premium+. My wife is a lightweight drinker and I'm not exactly a heavyweight drinker. 👍 I will say that the "expensive bottle of wine at dinner" and the starbucks is a nice perk. However, my wife isn't much of a wine drinker anyway. If we really want the odd starbucks, we will just a-la-carte it.

I guess I could understand the 1-1-1-1 rule under the guise of "less food waste" IF they also did this in the MDR. It is really quite an odd disconnect...which really makes no sense. 🤔

Good, so based on my research and your response, my "cat cam" camera should work fine. 👍 However, we are considering upgrading to unlimited internet for one account...and leave the other one as the basic "frea at sea" minutes.

Oh lovely...not going to be good if that happens! We have been on NCL before a couple times and liked it...but that was pre-pandemic. Unfortunately, we booked this before looking into Viking ocean. We do have our first Viking river cruise booked for this summer....which prompted a deeper look into Viking ocean. We are seriously thinking about doing an atlantic crossing on Viking sometime in 2024. I have heard a lot of good and bad things about NCL lately...and all cruise lines for that matter. It usually comes down to expectations. We will see what happens. Viking is in the top tier though...I'm not expecting a Viking experience on NCL, that's for sure! 👍 With that said...I am a bit worried about covid still. I just don't get why pretty much the entire world isn't...haha. But that is a talk for another time.

Interesting...so just ask for "coffee" in the MDR/restaurants and they will bring you non-Starbucks coffee that is included? I swear..they are making this stuff intentionally confusing...

Ok..thanks! I forgot one more question. While I know Starbucks isn't included in the basic FAS, I thought I saw that they serve "starbucks" coffee in the restaurants and possibly in the MDR? If so, is that included with basic FAS? In the past on other cruise lines we also sometimes like to order a cappuccino, etc... after dinner. Is that included with basic FAS? On other cruise lines it always has been included ( if I'm remembering correctly, that is...it has been a while ).

Ok, dumb newbie question here....but I'm a little confused about *non-alcoholic* drinks with the "free at sea" package. From my reading it appears that "fountain" soda and club soda is included...but bottled/canned water/soda/etc... isn't. In other words...anything that comes out of the bar fountain 'guns' is included in the basic FAS....correct? For example, if I wanted a diet coke, I could ask for one at the bar and it would be included...correct? But a can of diet coke would *not* be included?

I haven't seen much information on *what* kind of streaming NCL blocks...just major streaming sites...or ALL video streams? Reason why I'm asking is we have a video camera that will monitor our cats while we are away...haha. It does send "video". However, I'm not sure NCL would catch this instance...since it is very low bandwidth, etc... Any ideas? Edit : I think I found my own answer...from NCL's site : Premium Internet : "The package also gives you streaming options via YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Audible, Hulu, Tik Tok etc." So It seems the "streaming" internet only blocks specific sites. Therefore, I think our "cat cam" will work. 👍

Glad you got a good value out of FAS+! 👍 We wouldn't drink anywhere near 16 drinks a day, so I'm not sure the 'math' would work out for us. Also, my wife is a very light drinker...BUT she loves coffee...so the Starbucks benefit of FAS+ certainly needs to be taken into consideration. While we won't drik 16 drinks a day, the drinks we do try are the 'expensive' ones that we wouldn't normally pay for a la carte, which is the beauty of the package, regardless of the 'math'. 👍 In other words, we can try exotic (to us) things without worry. I never thought about the "expensive bottle of wine at dinner" thing either. I enjoy wine at dinner...so an "upscale" bottle of wine seems to have value as well. Is there a limit to the bottle cost? Thanks for this thread. We never even considered FAS+. However, we were considering upgrading to unlimited internet anyway...so it seems like I should go do the 'math' to see if it works for us. I think it just might! 👍

Minnesotan here too ( Rochester ). Winter is getting old fast! We do have an NCL cruise coming up in a couple weeks...and a Viking river cruise this summer. But this depths of winter stuff...no thanks! BTW - We are considering a Viking transatlantic ocean cruise at some point. Viking ocean seems like our kind of crowd. 👍

That's great to hear! Bonnie ( i.e. - Meclizine ) is a miracle drug for us...no drowsiness and no noticeable side effects. However, we have not had the 'opportunity' to use it in very rough seas. Glad to hear it works for your wife. We just might try a transatlantic crossing yet! 👍 BTW - Many years ago I started out by using a prescription for the Scopolamine behind-the-ear patch. Unfortunately, I had some really, really strange side effects from it....short term memory loss being one. Very scary. After the fact I learned that memory loss is a listed side effect of Scopolamine! Yikes...Needless to say, I haven't used Scopolamine since.

Well yeah...of course...haha. 🤣 However, I guess my question is...how is the 'movement' on the viking ships compared with the larger ships from NCL, etc...? With the meds we take, seasickness has never been an issue on large ships while in the Caribbean. However, I have had some bad experiences on small fishing boats ( granted..I did not take my meds because my uncle said a 'seasickness bracelet' would be more than enough...I should have known better. 🤣 ). However, if there is a pronounced difference on the Viking ships because they are generally smaller, or a transatlantic is far worse than a Caribbean cruise in regard to ship motion, it may be an issue. Anyone else with potential seasickness issues that has taken a Viking transatlantic cruise ( or any Viking cruise for that matter ) care to chime in? Thanks in advance!

We are considering a Viking transatlantic at some point. Having never done a transatlantic crossing before, we do have some concern about ocean swell, etc...compared to a Caribbean sailing that usually has minimal swell. Note that we do take seasickness meds as a precaution as I am a bit prone to seasickness on occasion ( we have used one a day generic chewable Meclizine tablets for years without issue ). Bottom line...I wonder if we could handle a transatlantic crossing without being miserable when rough seas happen?

Haha...yep, I have hereby appointed you the "muster Police". 🤣 Seriously though...I agree...I will be masking as well. It just boggles my mind that anyone is 'comfortable' being herded around like that. As for me, I avoid the elevators as well. Not just because people are crammed in there and the obvious 'disease spreading' implications, but because I'm somewhat claustrophobic....and elevators definitely trigger that. Oh...and the stairs are great exercise! So win-win-win! 👍

I posted something similar above....and sure enough, the "muster police" attempted to set me in my place...haha. And, as expected, they brought up masking. I didn't even mention masking....I only mentioned that I have never liked the 'muster herding' aspect of cruising, regardless of the pandemic. Frankly, if someone was breathing on me, I'd get the F out of there...I can't believe some think this is 'ok'. And we wonder why diseases *of any kind* spread so fast on cruise ships. Just dumb... I agree...The e-muster was/is a great idea. Not sure why they need to go back to an inferior way of doing things, especially with reduced staff. Sigh...

Wow...not sure I'm ready yet to be herded shoulder to shoulder like I remember during the pre-pandemic days. Yikes..

One thing I would recommend is to get yourself a top tier travel credit card like Chase Sapphire, etc....and use that to pay for your trips. As for Chase Sapphire, their travel insurance is great...and they do advocate for you.

Has anyone tried putting a plate of food into a ziploc? Problem solved...sanitary *and* proper. Sorry...I just made the thread even odder. 😁

On the flip side...do we want people out on the street or what? Rents have skyrocketed...and the increase in pay for many doesn't even cover the rent increase. I have a front row seat to the ridiculousness as well ( two struggling early twenty something kids ). It has been absolute insanity in the rental markets...absolutely no 'reasonable' rents at all where they live.

There is also an ingredient cost issue for small breweries. Some small operations have already closed...and many others are starting to price themselves out of the budget of many. Tough situation, for sure. And breweries have much lower overhead than restaurants do. I can only imagine how tough the restaurant business must be these days.