OneSixtyToOne

BBC just posted a video report about the world cruise and its diversion to Africa https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-69008529

There are definitely separate systems at play. We once had our pre-cruise reservations not appear when we boarded. We were told that the software used by the ships is independent of the website. This is one reason they tell you to check the Viking daily as there may be a delay with what is on the web. The integration between the two systems must be a periodic data update, or even worse, a manual process. My career is in IT and I’ve worked on plenty of places that have a hodgepodge of off the shelf, custom software, and multiple 3rd party systems. Integration is always a challenge. I suspect they have an integrated off the shelf solution that runs their fleet and everything offshore is totally different. Ironically when we had our extension in Athens, our hotel was hosting a European computer conference for a company that sold ship fleet management software.

Totally forgot about the rolled ice cream. I asked for strawberries and they went into the kitchen and located some. I added them to vanilla ice cream and white chocolate. Heavenly.

I’ll add that the ship doesn’t sell mouthwash.

I believe Greenwich is used in high season but sailings earlier or later in the year use Tilbury.

We have two included tours on our stop in Bergen for our next cruise in August. It should be noted that you can only select one.

I’m speaking strictly of cost. Unless you drink a lot, paying per drink might be more cost effective.

As I said, much discussion. As I’ve stated in other threads, IMO unless you drink liquor the SSP is not worth the cost. All wines are available for purchase so there is nothing exclusive in the package. It’s just a different way to pay for drinks.

Your gratuity is available to view in My Viking Journey (MVJ). If you haven’t set up your account yet, do so now. Go to “Before You Go” and click on Pre-Paid Gratuities to see the amount. BTW most people do not prepay because on board credits may be used for this purpose. Even though you might not have any credits, you might obtain some during the cruise. For example if you book another cruise while onboard you will receive an OBC. Also if a paid excursion is cancelled you may end up with a credit that can be used for gratuities. The beverage package includes additional wines. Whether they are an upgrade or not has been the subject of much discussion on this board.

I have a feeling this is the quid pro quo that the cruise lines have negotiated with the government to allow them to dock. The rug shops that Viking visits are subsidized by the government.

We book just to have a time slot then onboard review the menus and change accordingly. We always get our preferred menu.

The Polaris is an expedition ship and the “entertainment” revolved around science and nature lectures, movies, and some sort of one person show by the cruise director. I throughly enjoyed it as opposed to the typical ocean cruise with less than stellar Broadway productions and C level comics. It’s Torstein’s vision of a thinking man’s cruise and I’m onboard with it.

If traveling in the EU you’ll get an entry stamp and an exit stamp, even then some entry is automated and there are no longer stamps. Also our last time entering the UK it was automated and there were no stamps.

Last summer we took the London Walks tour of the British Museum. We had visited before but the tour guide really did a great job showing us the highlights and telling marvelous stories about the museum itself that I never knew. We’ve taken at least 10 of their tours over many visits and we highly recommend them.

Chile required everyone to go through agricultural inspection when leaving the ship. if you ever drive cross country into California they do the same. It’s to protect the agriculture industry from invasive insects.