Live from Viking Saturn June 7-21 NYC-Canada-Greenland-Iceland

[CCWineLover]

Another wonderful sea day!  So relaxing!  So much to do and so many choices so just going to the beach.  Roof and windows closed, sun out, and seas easy so it’s really like a resort at the beach!  
Mai tais!!

[deec]

Love occassional Sea Days.  I am actually a bit apprehensive about next year's British  Isles Itinerary that is SO port intensive!!

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

This morning I looked on Cruisemapper for the Saturns current location.  I noticed a boat icon actually in Greenland with a track showing it had made several stops along and into waterways on Greenland's western coast.  I clicked on it to learn it was a Poseiden Adventure expedition ship with a hull reinforced for ice.  I don't know the ice class rating of this ship vs that of Viking expedition.  So for those who wish to have a better chance of visiting Greenlands ports, there is an alternative, as this ship visited ports in the last week that Viking had to cancel.

 

If it was the Sea Spirit, her Ice Classification is 1D, which is the lowest level and capable of operating in 1st year ice 4 - 6". The Viking Ocean ships are classed as 1C, which is a higher level of classification, so can operate in thicker 1st year ice. If it was the nuclear icebreaker then it can handle most ice conditions.

 

The Viking Expedition ships have a newer Polar Class 6, which is significantly higher than 1C or 1D.

 

As I mentioned before, the ice conditions change daily, at times even hourly, so what is not passable today could be clear tomorrow or next week. Pax are also not privy to the ice forecasts, so while it may look like minimal ice, the forecast could be for ice conditions to develop.

 

Pax wanting to cruise these regions need to research the ship, specifically the hull ice classification and the probability of maintaining the itinerary. If the itinerary is critical, pay the money and book a cruise on a Polar Class 6, or even better, a Polar Class 5 hull. With the Polar Classifications, a smaller number handles thicker ice.

[Azulann]

Kent  and Deec, I am will make my own sea day on the Jupiter   No sea days on this itinerary I am on starting today 

[CCWineLover]

37 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

If it was the Sea Spirit, her Ice Classification is 1D, which is the lowest level and capable of operating in 1st year ice 4 - 6". The Viking Ocean ships are classed as 1C, which is a higher level of classification, so can operate in thicker 1st year ice. If it was the nuclear icebreaker then it can handle most ice conditions.

 

The Viking Expedition ships have a newer Polar Class 6, which is significantly higher than 1C or 1D.

 

As I mentioned before, the ice conditions change daily, at times even hourly, so what is not passable today could be clear tomorrow or next week. Pax are also not privy to the ice forecasts, so while it may look like minimal ice, the forecast could be for ice conditions to develop.

 

Pax wanting to cruise these regions need to research the ship, specifically the hull ice classification and the probability of maintaining the itinerary. If the itinerary is critical, pay the money and book a cruise on a Polar Class 6, or even better, a Polar Class 5 hull. With the Polar Classifications, a smaller number handles thicker ice.

Thank you Andy!  Great info, as always.

[CCWineLover]

I spoke again with Jordan Smith, our Cruise Consultant.  There will be no future cruise presentations- they are phasing them out.  
So I asked again about the new Vela Class.  Learned more.

-10 Vela class to be built

-1st one named Vela to be launched November 2024 and will do Norway, Scandanavia, and Northern Europe.

-68 more passengers capability (34 added cabins). To make sure the 998 falls below the magic 1000 number

-this means roughly 8-9 cabins per deck or roughly 4 new balconies.

-important:  ALL restaurants to be expanded to accommodate the additional passengers.

 

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, deec said:

Love occassional Sea Days.  I am actually a bit apprehensive about next year's British  Isles Itinerary that is SO port intensive!!

I hear you.  Our next cruise is the Med in February with 3 day pre to Umbria area in Italy, 14 night cruise no sea days then 2 nights post in Athens.  I get exhausted thinking about it.

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

15 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

I spoke again with Jordan Smith, our Cruise Consultant.  There will be no future cruise presentations- they are phasing them out.  
So I asked again about the new Vela Class.  Learned more.

-10 Vela class to be built

-1st one named Vela to be launched November 2024 and will do Norway, Scandanavia, and Northern Europe.

-68 more passengers capability (34 added cabins). To make sure the 998 falls below the magic 1000 number

-this means roughly 8-9 cabins per deck or roughly 4 new balconies.

-important:  ALL restaurants to be expanded to accommodate the additional passengers.

 

This reminds me of the controversial move Royal Viking made by lengthening Royal Viking Star, Sky, Sea in the early 80's. Didn't please the core RVL fans. Restaurant enlargement is a start, but I'd want this to include lounges & pools. 

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

If it was the Sea Spirit, her Ice Classification is 1D, which is the lowest level and capable of operating in 1st year ice 4 - 6". The Viking Ocean ships are classed as 1C, which is a higher level of classification, so can operate in thicker 1st year ice. If it was the nuclear icebreaker then it can handle most ice conditions.

 

The Viking Expedition ships have a newer Polar Class 6, which is significantly higher than 1C or 1D.

 

As I mentioned before, the ice conditions change daily, at times even hourly, so what is not passable today could be clear tomorrow or next week. Pax are also not privy to the ice forecasts, so while it may look like minimal ice, the forecast could be for ice conditions to develop.

 

Pax wanting to cruise these regions need to research the ship, specifically the hull ice classification and the probability of maintaining the itinerary. If the itinerary is critical, pay the money and book a cruise on a Polar Class 6, or even better, a Polar Class 5 hull. With the Polar Classifications, a smaller number handles thicker ice.

Thanks Andy.  Yes it was the Sea Spirit.  Her track (if correct) clearly showed going deep into at least 2 fjords/bays (?) but i did not look at her itinerary to see if she missed ports.  Perhaps if the ship is Greenland located and continuously plys the waters there, she is in a better position to determine if an area is safe to enter or not at the time.

[Heidi13]

5 minutes ago, Myrtle Ave. Mayhem said:

This reminds me of the controversial move Royal Viking made by lengthening Royal Viking Star, Sky, Sea in the early 80's. Didn't please the core RVL fans. Restaurant enlargement is a start, but I'd want this to include lounges & pools. 

 

Hardly a similar comparison, other than the chairman of both companies being the same person.

 

Based on memory, the primary driver of increasing the size of the 3 RVL ships was to make them financially viable, so the increased length was almost 100' and the pax count increased by about 200. Hardly the same as the Viking Ocean ships where the increased size is driven by SOLAS requirements and the pax are increasing by 68.

 

To increase the size of the ship, but retain the same number of cabins would require a complete re-design. By effectively adding a new section the remainder of the ship remains the same, with only the cabin layout changed, and those are all prefabricated in factories outside the shipyard.

 

If the ship size had to increase, this is the most cost effective option that also keeps the ships almost identical.

[Heidi13]

17 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Thanks Andy.  Yes it was the Sea Spirit.  Her track (if correct) clearly showed going deep into at least 2 fjords/bays (?) but i did not look at her itinerary to see if she missed ports.  Perhaps if the ship is Greenland located and continuously plys the waters there, she is in a better position to determine if an area is safe to enter or not at the time.

 

The decisions are based on the ice forecasts and when operating in ice, unless the Master is certified, they will have an ice pilot. But, as with everything that involves humans, it is never black & white. I always like to explain it as you have old Captains, bold Captains, but never old and bold Captains.  

[PRH]

1 hour ago, deec said:

Love occassional Sea Days.  I am actually a bit apprehensive about next year's British  Isles Itinerary that is SO port intensive!!

Dee—the British Isles is intensive but we had a great cruise!  Only one sea day as we made every port—great day to do laundry and relax.  We did the included in the morning and optional in the afternoon so we packed the days and we’re in bed by 9pm.  Others just did one per day and spent the afternoons relaxing by the pool and going to tea.  There are some ports, like Liverpool, where you can walk off the ship into the town easily.  Others, the port is rather isolated so you either go on a tour or stay aboard.  Questions?  Just ask.  
 

We are on the NYC-Iceland cruise next year so interested in what is being said here!

[deec]

Kent,

Please tell Jordan that Pat and I say hello!!!

He was on the Jupiter last year with us ( and you and Pam).  Did you book with him last time?  He is a delightful man!

Jordan was on the Octanis last winter...if you see him ask if he is going to be on it again this winter...we are planning to do the cruise that we missed last year!

[deec]

PRH....I will be like you trying to do 2 excursions in one day....glad to know that it is possible!  Are there any MUST do excursions?  We are doing pre-extension Homes, Gins and Gardens and then the Oslo extension.  Traveling with a group of friends on this trip!  I

[CCWineLover]

6 minutes ago, deec said:

Kent,

Please tell Jordan that Pat and I say hello!!!

He was on the Jupiter last year with us ( and you and Pam).  Did you book with him last time?  He is a delightful man!

Jordan was on the Octanis last winter...if you see him ask if he is going to be on it again this winter...we are planning to do the cruise that we missed last year!

We didn’t book with Jordan, but he’s a great guy!

 

wonderful guitar player in Explorers this trip!  Lawrence is his name and has some good eclectic songs rather than the old tried and true.

good Italian Primativo on wine list.  Sunny skies, another energetic fabulous lecture from Russell Lee.  He’s so popular now the Star Theatre filled up at 4:09 for the 4:30 lecture!  Rock Star!!! heading to Iceland.

[katlew]

On 6/9/2023 at 4:14 PM, CCWineLover said:

Oh! Laurence was the guitar player on our NZ/Aus cruise over Christmas. We really enjoyed listening to him.

[deec]

Laurence was on the Jupiter last winter with us!  Kent, was he not on when you were there, maybe he had gotten off by the time you joined the ship?  Glad to see he is still with Viking! 

Thanks for all these wonderful live posts!!! 

[CCWineLover]

26 minutes ago, deec said:

Laurence was on the Jupiter last winter with us!  Kent, was he not on when you were there, maybe he had gotten off by the time you joined the ship?  Glad to see he is still with Viking! 

Thanks for all these wonderful live posts!!! 

Dee - he did look familiar!  I’ll have to ask him.  He’s quite good and much appreciated here!

[CCWineLover]

WiFi remains really bad.  At times simple texts go “undelivered”.  Irony: can’t even bring up Vikings own web site unless early in morning.  
Just did a check and it proves how dismal it is.  and it is STARLINK.  

[CalTrojan]

28 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

WiFi remains really bad.  At times simple texts go “undelivered”.  Irony: can’t even bring up Vikings own web site unless early in morning.  
Just did a check and it proves how dismal it is.  and it is STARLINK.  

So much for the promise of Starlink to make internet speeds reasonable on Viking.
 

I’ll gird myself for a return to the age of dial-up speeds when I board the Saturn in a couple of weeks.

[CurlerRob]

58 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

WiFi remains really bad.  At times simple texts go “undelivered”.  Irony: can’t even bring up Vikings own web site unless early in morning.  
Just did a check and it proves how dismal it is.  and it is STARLINK.  

 

Thanks for posting this Kent!

 

People need to be aware that Starlink is not a magic answer to internet capability on board ships. One issue is that the Starlink satellite grid is not complete - coverage at higher lattitudes is still sparse to zero. See https://satellitemap.space/?constellation=starlink 

 

The other major factor is how much bandwidth any given cruise line chooses to buy and how the usage by pax changes when they realized that more is available.

 

There are reports on various boards of great service and of poor service - it will certainly get better over time, but will be a mixed experience for some time to come yet. Enjoy the trip! 🍺🥌

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

WiFi remains really bad.  At times simple texts go “undelivered”.  Irony: can’t even bring up Vikings own web site unless early in morning.  
Just did a check and it proves how dismal it is.  and it is STARLINK.  

That's disappointing.  We had Starlink on the riverboat we took up the Amazon after Viking and it was good.  

[uktog]

Starlink is affected by the location the ship is in and nearer a Pole is notoriously tricky 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Starlink is affected by the location the ship is in and nearer a Pole is notoriously tricky 

Yes I know, but it’s been bad since leaving New York and I don’t think of it being that far north.  In fairness it is extremely affected by number of users, as about 6:30 am it goes from good to bad and then by 7 am bad to worse as people get up and turn on their devices.  Then a brief really bad spike 9-10:30 pm and then good again.

[CCWineLover]

And as usual, Resly Really bad the half hour before the 6:00 dinner rush as now everyone can FaceTime with their kids.  This take 20 mi utes to 6 before dinner.