Viking Sun World Cruise ongoing review/comments

[jollyjoyce]

As in any foreign country, watch out for pickpockets and the likes.

 

 

Your post was really good and we have been here loads of times and never felt at risk.

Just wonder which country you live in to make the comment about pickpockets !! Aren’t they everywhere ?

[Gnoelj]

Sorry, I made a mistake...."Terima Kasih" (Thank you) in Malay means "I have received your LOVE" (not heart as I had mentioned about) . That is why they still touched their own hearts (to signify love) whenever they say that.

[Twitchly]

Interesting question about whether pickpockets are everywhere. I think here in the US they skip your pocket and go straight for mugging you instead.

 

Really enjoyed the cultural insights about Malaysia, Gnoelj!

[Wagnerite]

:cool:

Just wanted to chip in with my thanks to Jim for starting this thread. It’s such a compact way to hear about the trip from several cruisers. I’m especially pleased that Wagnerite seems to be having such a good time.;)

 

I generally have a good time wherever I am. Group travel has its particular problems but we knew what we signed up for and can make our own fun. I’m just sad that my Albanian crew friends left, exactly as I became fluid in eight words of their language.

[2552phxcrzr]

 

I'm a bit worried about Petra as it was one of our must do things and Jordan isn't as easily accessed as a lot of the other places. I guess I'll at least look online and see what is out there as we have some time to decide. Of course if I do cancel, that's $698 back in the onboard credit bank so I'd have to buy quite a bit of wine.

 

In Petra we — and several others — did private tours with Via Jordan if you are looking to find a company online. We were very pleased with the booking experience as well as the tour itself. We got to Petra an hour before the ship’s tours arrived ... would have had longer if we had not opted to walk the Siq to get to the Treasury. The site won’t be totally devoid of people, but there is a significant difference once the groups show up.

[Jim Avery]

h2so4,

I just have to ask about the sulfuric acid thing?? Quite the handle...:cool:

[Jim Avery]

One small correction to Wagnerite's post. We are not cancelling all excursions, still planning on the 4 day 3 night trip to Taj Mahal. A bit more complicated at this date to try myself. Much easier to schedule a private car for day trips. Not Viking Sun crew's fault, just "bussed out" for now. Stayed onboard today as Lois has a bit of recurrence of the "Coughing Crud" that has been going around, and around, and around......:eek:

[Eaches]

One small correction to Wagnerite's post. We are not cancelling all excursions, still planning on the 4 day 3 night trip to Taj Mahal. A bit more complicated at this date to try myself. Much easier to schedule a private car for day trips. Not Viking Sun crew's fault, just "bussed out" for now. Stayed onboard today as Lois has a bit of recurrence of the "Coughing Crud" that has been going around, and around, and around......:eek:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[2552phxcrzr]

h2so4,

I just have to ask about the sulfuric acid thing?? Quite the handle...:cool:

It’s just a neumonic that only translates well in Turkish ;p

[MMDown Under]

One small correction to Wagnerite's post. We are not cancelling all excursions, still planning on the 4 day 3 night trip to Taj Mahal. A bit more complicated at this date to try myself. Much easier to schedule a private car for day trips. Not Viking Sun crew's fault, just "bussed out" for now. Stayed onboard today as Lois has a bit of recurrence of the "Coughing Crud" that has been going around, and around, and around......:eek:

 

Sorry to hear that a "cough" is going around the ship. As someone who does not suffer from coughs, I was surprised to pick up a bad "cough", towards the end of my last fourteen day cruise, which took a long time to get better back on land.

[sunbrookgal]

Thank you for your opinion, we do appreciate it, but we also are exploring the world and sometimes things go wrong . Viking to their credit, after learning of our problems made every effort to keep us safe and comfortable ASAP. I know they’ve learned from this adventure . I’m sure it won’t happen again.

(y)

[Wagnerite]

OK. I feel like included excursions are like Hampton Inn breakfast. If they were wonderful, they wouldn’t be included. That said, don’t include them if they’re worthless. Yesterday we took included in KL and it was fine. Photo ops, commentary and a museum. I’m still trying to work out the last weeks of the cruise. I have to find great food in Mumbai and Goa. Indian crew members can probably help.

[Jim Avery]

Cruising the Andaman Sea then Bay of Bengal heading to India. We don't have much to say about Phuket as the window there was just a few hours. I guess these "drive by" ports add to the port count for marketing but they don't allow any real time to see a place. Same basic time as the Darwin stop. Actually glad to be moving on from Asia. Many spectacular things seen and done there but glad to leave the heat/humidity behind for a bit. Yes, I know it will be hot in India as well. Probably won't feel pleasant till we get to London.:eek: We are taking the overland to Taj Mahal so have fingers crossed all goes according to plan. No cancelled flights! There are two Taj overlands. 6 day/5 night from Chennai and our trip 4 day/3 night from Cochin. We will miss the port of Goa and two sea days hopefully rejoining the ship in Mumbai. DW is still fighting off the "coughing crud" for the second time. Not sure why the ship cannot get over this persistent cough that seems to be going round, and round, and round. The Dr says she is not contagious. Ok, where did she catch it? Possibly something to do with modern sealed air conditioning systems? No fresh air circulation? Who knows? Anyway we are still enjoying seeing the world and will be immersed in India for 4 days. Reports are that Viking uses nice hotels and the transfers work fairly well. I hope Eaches is going as her pictures of KL were spectacular. Eaches, we need you to photo document India. :cool:

[Eaches]

Cruising the Andaman Sea then Bay of Bengal heading to India. We don't have much to say about Phuket as the window there was just a few hours. I guess these "drive by" ports add to the port count for marketing but they don't allow any real time to see a place. Same basic time as the Darwin stop. Actually glad to be moving on from Asia. Many spectacular things seen and done there but glad to leave the heat/humidity behind for a bit. Yes, I know it will be hot in India as well. Probably won't feel pleasant till we get to London.:eek: We are taking the overland to Taj Mahal so have fingers crossed all goes according to plan. No cancelled flights! There are two Taj overlands. 6 day/5 night from Chennai and our trip 4 day/3 night from Cochin. We will miss the port of Goa and two sea days hopefully rejoining the ship in Mumbai. DW is still fighting off the "coughing crud" for the second time. Not sure why the ship cannot get over this persistent cough that seems to be going round, and round, and round. The Dr says she is not contagious. Ok, where did she catch it? Possibly something to do with modern sealed air conditioning systems? No fresh air circulation? Who knows? Anyway we are still enjoying seeing the world and will be immersed in India for 4 days. Reports are that Viking uses nice hotels and the transfers work fairly well. I hope Eaches is going as her pictures of KL were spectacular. Eaches, we need you to photo document India. :cool:

 

 

 

We are doing the same tour and hopefully will be able to add a little additional color to Jim’s Great review. The only thing that I could add about the crud is -I wonder if a flu shot last fall would have helped with limiting the crud . I had both the flu shot and a brief bout of the crud . It only effected me for a short time.

As you know we did the previous shore excursion and the hotels Viking uses are either 4 or 5 stars .

The 6 day shore excursion had their meeting last night .It seems from the reports that Viking is not assuming anything and have staffed the tour correctly. I just hope they do the same for the shorter land excursion out of Cochin. We’ll see.

 

 

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[Host Jazzbeau]

OK. I feel like included excursions are like Hampton Inn breakfast. If they were wonderful, they wouldn’t be included. That said, don’t include them if they’re worthless. Yesterday we took included in KL and it was fine. Photo ops, commentary and a museum. I’m still trying to work out the last weeks of the cruise. I have to find great food in Mumbai and Goa. Indian crew members can probably help.

 

That's a really good way to put it -- especially relevant since we have recently decided to upgrade to Garden Inn over Hampton because of the breakfast. And it shouldn't be too much to expect the included excursions to be of Garden Inn quality, since that is still way below a full Hilton buffet plus menu breakfast (but good enough if included).

[Eaches]

Cruising the Andaman Sea then Bay of Bengal heading to India. We don't have much to say about Phuket as the window there was just a few hours. I guess these "drive by" ports add to the port count for marketing but they don't allow any real time to see a place. Same basic time as the Darwin stop. Actually glad to be moving on from Asia. Many spectacular things seen and done there but glad to leave the heat/humidity behind for a bit. Yes, I know it will be hot in India as well. Probably won't feel pleasant till we get to London.:eek: We are taking the overland to Taj Mahal so have fingers crossed all goes according to plan. No cancelled flights! There are two Taj overlands. 6 day/5 night from Chennai and our trip 4 day/3 night from Cochin. We will miss the port of Goa and two sea days hopefully rejoining the ship in Mumbai. DW is still fighting off the "coughing crud" for the second time. Not sure why the ship cannot get over this persistent cough that seems to be going round, and round, and round. The Dr says she is not contagious. Ok, where did she catch it? Possibly something to do with modern sealed air conditioning systems? No fresh air circulation? Who knows? Anyway we are still enjoying seeing the world and will be immersed in India for 4 days. Reports are that Viking uses nice hotels and the transfers work fairly well. I hope Eaches is going as her pictures of KL were spectacular. Eaches, we need you to photo document India. :cool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

Another great job Eaches. Are you going on one of the Taj trips?

[Eaches]

Another great job Eaches. Are you going on one of the Taj trips?

 

 

 

The shorter one. It will be interesting to get reports from the other tour to find out which was better !

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

The shorter one. It will be interesting to get reports from the other tour to find out which was better !

 

 

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We are on that one too.😎

[Jim Avery]

We are doing the same tour and hopefully will be able to add a little additional color to Jim’s Great review. The only thing that I could add about the crud is -I wonder if a flu shot last fall would have helped with limiting the crud . I had both the flu shot and a brief bout of the crud . It only effected me for a short time.

As you know we did the previous shore excursion and the hotels Viking uses are either 4 or 5 stars .

The 6 day shore excursion had their meeting last night .It seems from the reports that Viking is not assuming anything and have staffed the tour correctly. I just hope they do the same for the shorter land excursion out of Cochin. We’ll see.

 

 

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Missed this post earlier. Yes, we both had our flu shots last fall. No idea about the persistent "crud". Wish it would go away..

[Nippy Sweetie]

'Crud' - great word. I haven't heard it for years! Hope it clears up soon. So unfair to be ill on such a wonderful trip.

[Eaches]

Missed this post earlier. Yes, we both had our flu shots last fall. No idea about the persistent "crud". Wish it would go away..

 

 

 

Jim , All I can say is “ I hope you both feel better Soon !

 

 

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[lackcreativity]

Missed this post earlier. Yes, we both had our flu shots last fall. No idea about the persistent "crud". Wish it would go away..

 

I realize it is no consolation, but the "crud" is pretty persistent in our area too, and we are not on any ship!

[Eaches]

I realize it is no consolation, but the "crud" is pretty persistent in our area too, and we are not on any ship!

 

 

 

Well if the crud is widespread, you might as well join us in India.

 

 

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[lackcreativity]

Well if the crud is widespread, you might as well join us in India.

 

 

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Would love to, but the travel budget is committed to final payment on Russia and the Baltic Sea, April 2019. Fingers crossed that current political issues settle down before our three days in St. Petersburg.

 

I'll just keep following your fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing.