Viking Sun World Cruise ongoing review/comments

Thanks all. I'm tired just reading about your busy days. A sea day will seem a welcome opportunity to get your breath back!

After lunch taxis to the Conrad with a trip down to the high end mall below.

Really great reporting, Jim. We stayed at the Conrad after our Viet Nam cruise in 2008. One of our favorite meals in Hong Kong was at the Chicago Grill in the mall below the hotel. :D We had one dinner in Kowloon where we had no idea what we were eating until our guide the next morning explained that the birds nest soup is made with bird saliva. :eek: Zimmy nearly lost it in the car after hearing that. "But the ladies like it because it is good for their complexion," explained the guide. Didn't make Zimmy feel any better. Give Lois our love and enjoy the rest of the trip.

You are all painting a very different picture of these recent ports than I had in my mind.....in a very positive way. Thank you all so much for sharing. This just looks to be such an amazing journey.

You are all painting a very different picture of these recent ports than I had in my mind.....in a very positive way. Thank you all so much for sharing. This just looks to be such an amazing journey.

You put it just right. We are painting a picture ourselves that is quite different than pre conceived notions. The only two ports we have previously been to were Tahiti and Bora Bora so all after are new to us except London. China particularly was an eye opener. We felt very safe and welcomed. Not at all what I initially expected. Viet Nam tomorrow. not yet sure if we will endure the 2.5 hour bus ride each way to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) or visit some closer villages. All new to us. (Well except bus rides-we are becoming very familiar with bus rides).:eek::cool:

We lived in Việt Nam and visit pretty much every year so are having a car take us to our hotel and back as there isn’t much near the port.

At least in Singapore we should be at Marina Bay.

Bangkok is far too. Some have booked car and hotel but we are just taking fruit orchard tour and hiring car and driver for day 2.

Can’t see staying on board ever since there are so many sea days

Currently approaching our berth at a large container port not very near any towns. We plan on taking the provided shuttle bus to Ba Ria. The trip is approx. 90 minutes each way but we hope to see some of the countryside on the way. Tomorrow is a very long day touring Saigon as the bus ride is approx. 2.5 hours each way. It is my understanding they don't dock cruise ships in Saigon any more. More later.:cool:

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Trying to add pictures of the band

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Will be interested in your descriptions of where you’re berthed. The ship cam is not very - um - complimentary.

Jim: in news from back home, Alabama just lost to Villanova in the second round of March madness. But at least they got to demonstrate that UA knows what to do with a round ball! (Auburn won over Coastal Carolina, Davidson lost after an excellent run against Kentucky)

Will be interested in your descriptions of where you’re berthed. The ship cam is not very - um - complimentary.

Jim: in news from back home, Alabama just lost to Villanova in the second round of March madness. But at least they got to demonstrate that UA knows what to do with a round ball! (Auburn won over Coastal Carolina, Davidson lost after an excellent run against Kentucky)

And in quite an upset, University of Virginia (1) lost to U Maryland/Baltimore County (16).

I have waited a bit to post this as I wanted to cool down a bit. I will recount our experiences in Viet Nam but let me emphasize that this is our encounter only. I encourage others to post their experiences on this thread as well. And further, what I am going to post has nothing to do with the fine on board crew. They continue to excel. In VN, we docked far away from anything at a very large container port directly adjacent to a large stock of scrap iron and wood chips. I know, have been hearing it for months now, Viking is new in this part of the world, etc, etc. Now besides that, they did provide a complimentary shuttle to Ba Ria. You have probably never heard of that as there is not much there for us to do. Regardless, we took the shuttle in and did a bit of walkabout. The next day was the much anticipated 9 hour venture into Saigon. Our bus was fairly comfy with adequate legroom so we started out hopeful. Our Vietnamese guide told us he was 22 years old. Not that it matters but in light of subsequent events one might get the importance of educational systems. Our guide was one of those who never shut up. Never. And despite repeated requests to tone it down never got the drift he was too loud. Fortunately I had a pair of foam earplugs. Tolerable with them in. Not exaggerating, made my ears ring. The ride in was, mercifully, about an hour shorter than we had been led to believe and was interesting riding past businesses, rice paddies, slums, then the plethora of high rises announcing the approach to Saigon. Our first stop was a shopping stop at the glass works. Some nice trinkets of which DW managed a few. Then more driving to a smallish, crowded, smoky temple which was fairly interesting but again crowded. After more traffic time we were told we would be arriving at the cathedral which, unfortunately, we could not go into due to repairs. This is close to the famous post office so it was an interesting stop. Our guide had stated that due to time constraints we could not go to the "very busy" Chinese market. Several on board protested this and later we were taken to a smaller market. But first, there was lunch. Somehow, the Dining Room that we were told about in the port talk was substituted for. Naturally there were a number of bus loads there before us and, after walking up three flights to the dining room assigned to us, were told there were no seats together. When we protested the owner then grabbed two chairs and tried to get them up to an already overcrowded round table. Obviously this was not going to work and would in fact make those already at the table even more crowded so we left and found an Indian restaurant on our own and had a very nice peaceful lunch. This did not put me in a warm fuzzy place regarding the excursion in general. Have to run now but will finish up soon.

Ok, back to the story. After lunch we are to be taken to the "Reunification Palace" aka the former US Embassy. On the way there our tour guide showed the iconic photo of the last helicopter out of Saigon on the roof saying "this is when we won". More about our young guide (born in 1995 as he told us). Almost from the beginning he touted the party line. Referring to the way the Americans (and French before us to be fair) had mistreated the people of Viet Nam. Numerous references were made to the bombings, to Agent Orange, and what the Vietnamese people have overcome. Obviously the only things he knows were learned in school as he is too young to have experienced any of the bad things that did happen. An extensive description of their flag being "red of the blood of our people" and other tid bits of info continued. Now when we got to the Reunification Palace I told him we were staying on the bus. At this point I had no more desire to be herded about with his non stop commentary. Not to mention there were busses all over the Palace grounds and the place was crowded. He said ok and all but us two left. After a bit the driver (who spoke nearly no english so communication was poor) declared we must leave the bus. The group was gone and I told him we stay on the bus. He became most agitated and ran down the isle at me screaming "leave bus, leave bus" while gesturing wildly. I forcefully told him "NO". He backed down and then started driving. Took the bus to the farthest reaches of the palace grounds away from the rest of the parked busses and stopped the engine and air conditioner and left the bus. Not knowing where our guide was, we stayed aboard. Fortunately it was a short stop so the driver had to come back and start the bus (and AC) to meet the group. He had a conversation with the guide that got a bit heated but was of course in Vietnamese and I only pick up a word or two. The last stop at the market was interesting and we went in and made a few purchases. Oddly enough, the guide announced before the stop that anyone who wished to stay aboard was welcome to do so. I appreciated that but by now my desire to tip them had totally vanished. Blessedly, on the return trip the guide let us rest. No running commentary. No further dilemmas but I should have taken a page from Wagnerite and others and booked a car to a hotel in town so as to do our own thing. Live and learn. Again, I stress the onboard crew and the beautiful ship are still excellent. All our issues to date have involved the shore excursions, especially the included excursions. Very poorly done imho. Most towns have 4 or 5 options for excursions. That is simply not enough for 900 people. You just cannot expect a good experience with 4,5,6 or more bus loads traveling with you. More options and fewer people on each excursion would help immensely. Again just our experiences and opinions. I truly hope those who had other experiences will chip in here. Sometimes bad reports can be as helpful as good reports. Glossing over issues never fixes anything. We are cancelling included and are doing extra cost excursions or our own plans from here out. Hopefully my next installment will be a more fun read.

Jim’s post is too long to quote but I agree that most included excursions are not worthwhile for a number of reasons. In the big cities we tend to explore on our own, especially the ones we have visited many times. We have arranged a few private excursions and in some ports we just schpatzere around. We booked optionals to Petra(please let it be decent) and to the Alhambra.

In Viking’s defense, I hear that other cruise lines don’t include any excursions. Of course, the price of Viking’s excursions is built into the price so when they are not fulfilling then you are overpaying.

The Shorex crew is dedicated and works hard. The excursions are all contracted out so that Viking doesn’t have total control butthey are still responsible.

One of a few rules I’ve tried to live by:

Never stand in line.

You will do more and experience more interesting things if you try to adhere to that rule. It has a lot of connotations.

Does Viking have one of their people go along on the included excursions? I think when we have sailed with Silver Sea they did that. It is a good quality control measure, and enables someone with authority to step in when things go off the rails.

:cool:

One of a few rules I’ve tried to live by:

 

Never stand in line.

 

 

You will do more and experience more interesting things if you try to adhere to that rule. It has a lot of connotations.

What about when there are two restaurants next to each other and one has a line, one doesn’t. Especially if it’s an ethnic restaurant and the people in line are that ethnicity, you’d be foolish to go to the empty place!

Make a reservation.

Ok, back to the story. After lunch we are to be taken to the "Reunification Palace" aka the former US Embassy. On the way there our tour guide showed the iconic photo of the last helicopter out of Saigon on the roof saying "this is when we won". More about our young guide (born in 1995 as he told us). Almost from the beginning he touted the party line. Referring to the way the Americans (and French before us to be fair) had mistreated the people of Viet Nam. Numerous references were made to the bombings, to Agent Orange, and what the Vietnamese people have overcome. Obviously the only things he knows were learned in school as he is too young to have experienced any of the bad things that did happen. An extensive description of their flag being "red of the blood of our people" and other tid bits of info continued.

Hoo boy. That must’ve been fun for everyone. Given Viking’s demographic, there could easily have been Viet Nam vets on board, too. How nice for them.

If Viet Nam wants tourist money, they might want to rethink their propaganda. Or do a better job vetting their tour guides.

All our issues to date have involved the shore excursions, especially the included excursions. Very poorly done imho. Most towns have 4 or 5 options for excursions. That is simply not enough for 900 people. You just cannot expect a good experience with 4,5,6 or more bus loads traveling with you. More options and fewer people on each excursion would help immensely. .

This is good info, and I hope Viking takes it to heart. Their marketing is all about getting to know the countries they visit (which is the main reason we booked them), so the excursions are critical.

For all you experienced Viking cruisers, is it typical for most excursions to have multiple Viking busloads go at the same time? What about included vs. optional — does the latter usually have just one busload? Or more?

Does Viking have one of their people go along on the included excursions? I think when we have sailed with Silver Sea they did that. It is a good quality control measure, and enables someone with authority to step in when things go off the rails.

Sometimes they do sometimes they don't. Yesterday was one of the don't ones.

Today we have a hot, sunny, beautiful day in Cambodia. The complimentary shuttle was not starting till 10am so took a taxi which dropped us right at the large central market. I am loving these crowded, dirty, smelly, noisy markets all over Asia. Great fun wading in and mixing with the locals. Haggling is an art form here and afterwards it is almost like you get to be best buddies with the seller. Got a great $3 T-shirt.;p After mooching about the market for a while struck a deal with a Tuk-Tuk driver for a tour. Had a really fun time zooming in and out of the traffic and getting up close and personal with the local sights. He took us to two beach areas, one more for locals and the other being rapidly built up with high rise casino/hotels. The construction all over Asia is quite amazing to see. At the temple with the reclining Buddha DW bought some hand crafted bracelets and I disregarded former advice to never give the beggars money. I gave a buck to one and in an instant it was like throwing bread to one seagull and being covered with a flock. Fortunately one of the Viking tour busses arrived so there was a target rich environment and we escaped back to our Tuk-Tuk. The driver was grinning hugely at us so we shared a laugh. Our fun ride ended back at the Central Market where we wandered about some more through the jewelry section where many craftsmen and women were making the jewelry on site. Managed to escape unscathed (there is still Bangkok) and took the provided shuttle back to the ship with only 4 other passengers. Tomorrow starts a two day visit to Bangkok, the day after is Koh Samui where something we are doing involves elephants:eek: then one sea day before two days in Singapore. We are in the heart of the voyage with ports coming quickly one after another. As you might guess, time is flying by.

:D

Make a reservation.

If there’s a line, they probably don’t take bookings. Don’t try to tell me that good restaurants always take bookings lol as many do not! Just saying, I don’t care for lines but sometimes they can’t be avoided.

:cool:

Again Jim’s post too long to quote but sounds nice.

We took the bridge tour, then shuttle to town. I talked Carol into walking towards the beach, stopping first to get a few $$ from ATM as I forgot to take extra from the safe. Good thing that they use USD so leftover is no big deal.

After a couple of miles to the Lion Statue Roundabout, we wanted to eat and, seeing nothing close hailed a tuk tuk and had him take us to Sandan, a restaurant run by a school for underprivileged children whom they train to cook and serve. After graduating, the students get job placements in restaurants.

The food was quite tasty. We had glass noodle salad and eggplant with pork over brown rice and an Angkor beer. Bill was $15!

Next I contributed to the local economy by keeping our tuk tuk and hiring him to take us to Wat Krom, the temple with the reclining Buddha and then to the market.

I had resolved to give him whatever he asked but $20 was too much. I knew I would overpay because why not so I said $15 to which he agreed, since it was probably triple the going rate.

We spent about 15 minutes at the temple the he dropped us off at the market. Carol said to give him $20 so I did. It should make up for slow days or fierce bargainers. The only developing country in which I bargain hard is Việt Nam only because I speak the language and tell them I can’t pay what the tourist do. They usually laugh and agree and I tell them I’ll recommend their shop if they don’t charge way too much!

The market was nothing special, compared to the ones in Hà Nội, Sài Gòn and Yangon but we spent some time before going to where the shuttle dropped us in the morning. Somehow they had changed the pickup point so I ran after the bus as it sped by. Luckily the new stop was in a parking lot so we caught it easily.

Tonight Ferry the pianist has promised to play a Grieg favorite of mine during Munch Moments and the show inthe “Beautiful Star Theatre” is four opera singers who will not be singing “Time To Say Goodbye” or My Heart Will Go On!”

Again Jim’s post too long to quote but sounds nice.

 

We took the bridge tour, then shuttle to town. I talked Carol into walking towards the beach, stopping first to get a few $$ from ATM as I forgot to take extra from the safe. Good thing that they use USD so leftover is no big deal.

 

After a couple of miles to the Lion Statue Roundabout, we wanted to eat and, seeing nothing close hailed a tuk tuk and had him take us to Sandan, a restaurant run by a school for underprivileged children whom they train to cook and serve. After graduating, the students get job placements in restaurants.

 

The food was quite tasty. We had glass noodle salad and eggplant with pork over brown rice and an Angkor beer. Bill was $15!

 

Next I contributed to the local economy by keeping our tuk tuk and hiring him to take us to Wat Krom, the temple with the reclining Buddha and then to the market.

 

I had resolved to give him whatever he asked but $20 was too much. I knew I would overpay because why not so I said $15 to which he agreed, since it was probably triple the going rate.

 

We spent about 15 minutes at the temple the he dropped us off at the market. Carol said to give him $20 so I did. It should make up for slow days or fierce bargainers. The only developing country in which I bargain hard is Việt Nam only because I speak the language and tell them I can’t pay what the tourist do. They usually laugh and agree and I tell them I’ll recommend their shop if they don’t charge way too much!

 

The market was nothing special, compared to the ones in Hà Nội, Sài Gòn and Yangon but we spent some time before going to where the shuttle dropped us in the morning. Somehow they had changed the pickup point so I ran after the bus as it sped by. Luckily the new stop was in a parking lot so we caught it easily.

 

Tonight Ferry the pianist has promised to play a Grieg favorite of mine during Munch Moments and the show inthe “Beautiful Star Theatre” is four opera singers who will not be singing “Time To Say Goodbye” or My Heart Will Go On!”

Here is a good one ! Thank you so much for stranding 60 of your WORLD CRUISE PASSENGERS in the the airport in Cambodia! Not a way to run a cruise ship line . We have no firm way of getting to our next port . First of all, there should have been an experienced person running the operations while we were in a very distant port Our tour guide tried but she should have done flight checking instead of laying by the pool.

We signed up for the next WC but not now ! I’m a Loyal Supporter but this plus the Christening have really broken my spirts towards Viking. Someone should answer for this !

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Here is a good one ! Thank you so much for stranding 60 of your WORLD CRUISE PASSENGERS in the the airport in Cambodia! Not a way to run a cruise ship line . We have no firm way of getting to our next port . First of all, there should have been an experienced person running the operations while we were in a very distant port Our tour guide tried but she should have done flight checking instead of laying by the pool.

We signed up for the next WC but not now ! I’m a Loyal Supporter but this plus the Christening have really broken my spirts towards Viking. Someone should answer for this !

 

 

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We’ve had to stand in an uncomfortable airport since 3pm sitting on the floor due to no seats being available. Still no word on Viking’s response to our

Mess . Viking remember you have people stranded here in Cambodia.

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What? 60 of you are stranded at the airport? What happened?

What? 60 of you are stranded at the airport? What happened?

We left the hotel and we all (100) went to the airport , 40 got on the plane and the rest are now stuck in the airport . Not sure why Viking has dropped the ball but it’s not Right !

Karl Erle , VP OPERATIONS just came aboard the Viking Sun to apologize for their poor showing at their Hong King Christening , now this ! Karl, you are using up our faith in Viking ! And that’s not Good !

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