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I wish I had tested the AirMini before I bought it. It is so noisy it is of no use. Even with the hose adapter and hose muffler the noise keeps me awake. I will just chalk up the money lost to not doing my due diligence and carry my AirSense from now on.

Thank you for your thoughtful review...very helpful. Question regarding the dining tables for four or six. Were you assigned a table that stayed the same the entire cruise? Did you have any choice between four or six? Thank You

I have discovered an added bonus to wearing hearing aids. I can control the reception through an app on my iPhone, and when it gets noisy in the restaurant I can turn them down to minus 8 db or even turn one side off, which takes the edge off of loud annoying voices. I can still converse with my wife across the table who does not have to raise her voice if she is speaking directly at me. Before I started wearing the hearing aids it never occurred to me that they would also be useful in tuning people out. Win Win!

I have had good luck using Lyft. Never had a wait time more than three minutes.

Agreed. Least favorite.

MDR was open for dinner and breakfast everyday. Closed for lunch on port days.

On the 7/18 cruise, which we are on now, there was no other place to eat besides the main dining room. On port days a smaller eating area on deck 8 was opened in lieu of the main dining room. I would have enjoyed an alternative to the main dining room. As on the previous cruise the pool was never filled with water, but the hot tubs were open. Have not felt any motion at all as seas have been calm with minimal swell. The deck 8 observation lounge is a very nice area to view the sights, however the music from the speakers was extremely loud and totally annoying. They did turn it down when asked however. We are on deck 6 and smelled cigarette smoke in the hallway most of the time. Even after complaining we could still smell it coming in from the crew smoking area. I heard other passengers complaining of cigarette smoke in the deck 7 hallway. We wanted a cruise that had not many passengers (110 on our sailing), not visiting cities everyone who has done Alaska has already seen, and anchoring in remote coves with opportunities to see wildlife...we got all of that. The expedition team is a great bunch of enthusiastic kids. I call them kids because I am almost 80 and they are all in their 20's and early 30's. You can tell they like their jobs. Other staff very caring and efficient.

Jon... Nice to read your always fair and informational words again. We (Gordon & DeeDee, next to you on Grand to Hawaii) have decided Princess is no longer for us and have been traveling with Viking. We have two Oceania Vista cruises booked and are seriously considering Seabourn, so it was great to read your review. Thanks. Best regards, Gordon

We are going to be on the cruise following yours so will be interested in any comments you get and your own observations.

Please advise how you "track" available cabins with Viking. Thanks

No subs this cruise, but kayaks, zodiacs, and special ops boats running a couple of days.

We are currently on the Octantis and have eaten at the Grill in the World Cafe almost every night and it is outstanding. Steaks, Chops, Lobster, and the grilled Swordfish is amazing. I wish the bigger Viking ships would incorporate this feature into their dining offerings.

I logged in as soon as excursions were available (noon PST today) only to see all included excursions "sold out," plus some pay for excursions we wanted gone. I know I have read many times on these threads to not worry about it and book on board, but why can't we book now if Viking knows they are going to add excursions later? Why make it a hassle? Last cruise in April on the Orion I had to stand in line with MANY MANY others for over an hour just to get included excursions and restaurant reservations that never showed up as available in MVJ. Yes, I did eventually get what I wanted but the process to do so was a lot more difficult than it needs to be. The OP is correct, when we paid for this cruise over two years ago the marketing hype was "excursions included."

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We embark in Toronto October 1 on Octantis. I called Viking Air+ to request a deviation to go in a day early. Yes, I knew there would be a charge. Viking said no deviations allowed for this itinerary. Spoke to Supervisor, same story, no deviations allowed for this itinerary, no reason given. Gave up and booked my own air, so Viking wins. They do not have to provide my air just because I want to get to Toronto a day early.