austinetc

I'm booked on the Epic, mostly (95%) for the ports. First time Norwegian cruiser and first time on a megaship. That the ship holds 4,100+ passengers and the most recent (largely negative) reviews fixate on crowds, I wonder if anyone could give me heads up on the least attended locations on board. Also on when some of the more popular spots are least crowded.  Thank you.

16 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

austinetc,

I appreciate the time you have taken to provide this thread. We recently returned from the Barcelona to "Venice" portion of the trip, and are coming back for the Venice to Istanbul part in October. I am sorry that your visit to Istanbul was disappointing. Do you recall if Viking offered an optional tour of Hagia Sophia? It is too soon for our excursions to be listed, but I am interested for our planning purposes.

Thanks.

I know there were driving tours around it, but don't recall any that planned to enter it, which seemed strange. I was told by our guide that, at the moment, the interior is full of scaffolding. But he used that to explain why the mosque we visited was a better overall experience. Perhaps he was just rationalizing.

Saturday, 5/7 (and conclusion). This was an ordeal. Leaving Turkey required an entry stamp at the terminal, which was silly, since we'd already entered the country. The airport required three xray checks, including two post-xray physical inspections of my backpack. Our passports were checked three times at the ticket counter line. Overall, passports were inspected at least eight times. They even performed an old-fashioned Q&A to make sure we had our stories straight. 

14 hour flight was fairly straight forward.

The high points of the cruise were, as usual, the excursion destinations and the face-to-face interactions with the crew. The food was a high/low point. It was superb, but it became clear that the menus have a decidedly vegetarian tilt. Meatless pasta sauces and meatless pizzas were the overwhelming theme. Why they couldn't serve naked pasta and offer a variety of sauce options escape me. And the complexity of the choices seemed made to be complex. There's a reason why "chocolate chip cookies" are America's favorite, without added incredients. The sushi bar was extraordinary. 

I have an unbalanced anger at the wine options. ALL by-the-glass wines were $6. Granted, some of the wines had a retail grocery store price of $20, so a restaurant price of $6 was a steal. But for someone with a taste for only very good wine, I was extremely disappoointed. None of the wines were better than just ok. (Sorry, but I can't get off this rant.) They had excellent ($11+) whiskeys that certainly made the Beverage Package worthwhile, but . . .

The inevitable cattle-call routine of the excursions was tiring. Slow people (kudos for their desire to travel), dense people (guides explaining for the fifth time when we'll regroup), number of people (about 30) all took a toll on the enjoyment aspect. To be fair, I'm used to small-group tours of 15 or fewer people. So I have unreasonable expectations.

There were some noteworthy failings of the Viking organization which detracted from the experience. 

I'm not sure the high points counteracted the lows. I think, overall, we've just tired of ocean cruises. We are booked for one more ocean cruise and after that maybe we'll focus on the river cruises.

Friday, 5/6. Istanbul was a sort of a bust. We did the Included tour. A ride past the city walls, then stopped at a medium sized mosque with beautiful blue tiles. No, not the famous one. A little walk through the bazaar. A boat ride north, away from the Hagia Sophia. We sat in a nice spot to see the sites, but couldn't hear a word of the running commentary from their poor speaker system. We were dropped off at the ship pier, which is a brand new facility. Lots of shops and restaurants, though the walk through the terminal is long and winding.

We had lunch and took a taxi into the old city. Big mistake. It was Friday, their version of Sunday. Massive crowds. We quit the quest early due to that and due to my foot getting more and more sore. So we didn't see the Hagia Sophia. Big diasppointment. 

Thursday, 5/5. Troy. I expected to be underwhelmed by the experience and I was spot on. It’s so confusing. There are eight (or nine?) layers of Troy, meaning that to research Troy #1, one has to desecrate the remaining Troys. Touchy work. A smart guy did realize how confusing it can be and placed signs on a slope, labeling several ages of Troys. But there isn’t really much “there” there. Also, there’s a lot of reconstruction, so I wasn’t sure that what we saw was what it was, or what archeologists think it was.

But, hey, I’ve been to Troy. Check that off the list. Other than one bus that took people across the Dardanelles to visit the battlefields of Gallipoli, Troy was where everyone went.

Afterwards we spent some time in the port city of Canakkale. The Trojan Horse used in the recent movie is on display. The waterfront was busy but no one was trying to sell us anything, so it was a nice stroll. The actual port used by the ship is butt-ugly.

In the evening we passed under the “1915” Canakkale Bridge, which, in spite of its name, opened just a few months ago. It’s now the longest suspension bridge in the world. The center span is 6,600 feet long, 2,400 feet longer than the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s quite a sight.

Surf and turf again for dinner. Had seconds of surf. Yum.

Photos at: http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/

We cruised on Celebrity one time, so we have limited comparitive data. One thing I will say is that VIking has a better class of passengers. The hot tubs, as one example, aren't dominated by youngish groups that act like they own it all day.

Wednesday, 5/4. (May the Fourth be with you.) Arrived in Kusadasi for a short visit to the ruins at Ephesus. Full of history. There were several tour options but we choose the Included one. My foot is hurting a lot, so it's just as well.

The guide was excellent. Lots of humor and anxious to answer questions. I particularly liked how he’d stop talking for a few heartbeats once in a while to allow me to process what he was saying. The reconstructed library facade was the high point. Many pieces of Ephesus are in Europe's finer museums, some legally, some not. The theater was also very impressive. However, I think what struck me most was that Roman engineers dug a canal from the ocean to the city to improve commercial activity. The canal is no longer visible, but that they both thought of it and then did it is remarkable.

On returning to Kusadasi we expected to be shown the various shops near the ship. But the guide took us to his favorite local carpet store, where we got a briefing on how silk is produced and how carpets are made. Then, after being offered drinks and a snack, they rolled out many demonstration carpets. Then the sales pitch began. Interestingly, the Turkish government reimburses carpet showrooms 100% of shipping fees, so there are no added costs to the buyer. We had no interest in carpets, so we left.

On the return walk to the ship we were treated to the traditional hard sales efforts. A glance at anything resulted in an immediate salesman talking into your ear. For once there’s an advantage to being deaf in one ear. But I wonder if they’d ever been advised that their enthusiasm discouraged visitors. We very likely would have spent more time in town if we weren’t barraged by their noise.

Went to Manfredi’s again. Excellent food.

It irks me when written guidance is issued, then an official of the organization that wrote the guidance says it's not correct. Our disembarkation guidance states that "Visa required nationals must also carry a printout of the E-visa." Nevermind the insanity of needing a printout of a deliberate e-document. I checked with customer service and the representative immediately said that an image on my iPhone would be fine.

I still have extreme doubts that I needed an evisa at all. Yes, we entered Turkey yesterday. But we also left it yesterday. We will do the same today. So tomorrow we enter and 30 hours later we fly away. That doesn't count as 72 hours in my book. We'll see how things go.

Transiting through any international border is troubling enough without having doubts that the transit may not be smooth. Viking needs to spent more time in their own research and interpreting that research for us.

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

I was under the impression that if you arrive by cruise ship that no visa was necessary for Turkey.  We have ours but we fly in arriving Thursday for pre excursion 

I discovered we needed visas for Turkey only on Sunday. According to Viking, then the Turkey website. Did it online. $50. My wife, holding a Japanese passport, doesn’t need one. We also need two days of recorded temp checks. Viking has four stations on board to do this. 

1 hour ago, hbtraveler said:

I'm enjoying your travel reports since they give us a preview of our June cruise.  I noticed that you went to Rhodes first and then Crete.  On our cruise, we are scheduled to do Crete, then Rhodes.  Did they change the sequence or was it always in that order on your cruise?

They changed the sequence. MVJ didn’t update the excursion schedule though. Until we came aboard, our excursion was scheduled to begin two hours before the ship arrived.

Tuesday, 5/3. Heraklion, Crete, Greece. First impression was of bad air. Visibility was poor in an unusual way. Later we were told that dust storms from Africa is not uncommon. 

Our Excursion was for the palace of Minos, which is the origin of so many myths. The site is full of reconstructions done by the original archeologist, which is illuminating on one hand, but confusing on the other. We couldn’t tell what was fact or fancy. They did show us what’s likely the first “road” in Europe. That it had no traffic, I had some doubt that it was an actual Grecian road. (Haha.)

Our guide’s audio transmitter failed off and on, so many in the group choose to adjust their audio boxes to receive another guide’s lecture. We did that. But our guide was devastated by the failure, in tears. I felt very sorry for her.

To be truthful, we’re a little tired of ruins. I’m very likely to Google the places we’ve visited. But the visuals are beginning to run together.

The next stop was a village museum. Beautiful flowers and some excellent displays of historic homes and professions. Tried some local liquor. It wasn’t Ouzo, thank goodness. 

My feet were really bothering me, so upon returning to the ship I spent a lot of time in the various hot tubs. That helped a lot!

Dinner was at “The Chef’s Table.” A set menu and wine pairing. I felt the pairing suffered from having a limited selection of choices for the ship to choose from. “Sweet Potato Chips” was two exceedingly small mouthfuls of a chip loaded with sour cream (tasted like blue cheese). Crab Cakes on a bed of avocado was fantastic. To calm the palate we had frozen Moscow Mules, which was interesting. The seared halibut was marvelous. Desert was some kind of mandarin orange cream sorbet. 

The Explorer’s “Thank you” party was interrupted by technical problems, so they relocated to the night club, my normal hangout. I had to relocate.

I had to go online to get a $50 visa for Turkey. Yoriko, holding a Japanese passport, didn’t need a visa. We both need to have our temps checked today (and tomorrow) to gain the authority to go ashore tomorrow. The ship’s facial recognition system is disturbingly accurate and fast.

For photos, http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/

Monday, 5/2. Rhodes, Greece. Arrival wasn’t scheduled until about noon, so I mostly slept in. We had a light lunch as our excursion was to show us how to cook Greek-style food, then serve it to us. Originally schedule for 10AM, the actual start time was 2PM. Our “lunch” was at about 4:30. 

First we had a little drive to the favorite viewing point, which was sadly not so good. Low, dense clouds. We stopped to look at the coliseum, which was reportedly the longest in Greek times due to the fact that the constructed distance was measured by the best runner. The Rhodes runner was apparently the tallest man in Greece used to determine the distance.

We then did a walk. The fort and its defenses were very well preserved. For once I was impressed by the fortifications. Triple walls and double moats. The guide told some great stories about its history.

Dinner could have been disappointing if we had not taken seats immediately in front of the cooking station. The two tables were 12 seats deep perpendicular to the cook, so those sitting farthest away probably weren’t as satisfied as the two of us. It was a fast demonstration, but the passenger-cooks in attendance seemed to get the gist. Two complex sauces for bread, a form of lasagna, and a salad. After the meal each couple was given a sheet with the recipes. There were nice shops in the town and getting back to the ship was only a 10 minute walk.

We planned to have a light dinner on board, but we discovered that on the side opposite from the sushi station was a king crab/shrimp station. Heaven.

32 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

That's most disappointing.

 

I would have thought the ship's agent or the shore-ex providers would have provided the ship a head's up, so pax could be informed and adjust plans accordingly.

I agree, but I have a strong feeling that Viking and all tour organizations are having to play catchup after Covid. So I'm rating their performance on a curve. Life goes on.

Sunday, 5/1. Athens again. May Day. Without an excursion, we decided to take the shuttle into the city and ride the HopOn-HopOff Bus, largely for the commentary. Big mistake. Because it's May Day, there were demonstrations scheduled at various locations throughout the city, with some of the most consequential streets closed. The bus almost immediately had to take alternate routes, skipping several landmarks. The audio feature would be talking about places that we weren’t passing. After an hour of seeing just about nothing, we got off to walk through the shopping district on our way back to the shuttle bus.

The Flea Market was as advertiwsed. Junk, just on the edge of being antiques. We stopped at a wine tasting shop and had an entertaining time tasting five Greek wines. Much better than I expected.

Spa Pool was great. Taught some of the first timers about activating the spa feature of the pool. Always fun to watch them realize it has jets.

Had Beef Wellington again. Should have had scallops and lobster. Decisions, decisions.

Overall, a slow, mildly disappointing day.

For photos, http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/

I'm not a fan of TAs.  We booked once through a TA because our friends did. The TA said she could get us on-board credits, but they never materialized.  With the TA we got information from Viking late, in once case because the TA was on vacation herself.

I'm very interested in why TAs are useful. I'll be watcing this board. Always willing to change my view.

3 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Was your Mac and cheese the Greek specialty  παστίτσιο Pastitsio ?  When made the authentic way, just delicious!

Yes, you got the name right. It was okay, but not delicious. Bland. It's certainly the kind of dish that welcomes modified recipes.

5 hours ago, hbtraveler said:

Did Viking provide excursions for the first day in Athens?  They currently have nothing for our first day in June.  Also, did they offer shuttle buses to Athens, since it sounds like a do-it-on-your-own tour of the Acropolis might be better?  Thanks for this.

There was an excursion list in our stateroom for the first day in Athens when we arrived on board. (In the excitement of that first day, I filled out the form but forgot to turn it in. I realized my mistake the day before arrving in Athens. They still allowed us to sign up.)

They have a shuttle bus for both days, departing hourly. Our excursion's guide pointed out where the bus picks people up. This was also true in Dubrovnik and Corfu. Split and Montenegro's downtown is within sight of the ship.

It may be a cultural thing, but our three guides in Greece have all been a little less anxious to move along, giving us less free time than I want. In Athens, for those returning to the ship on the excursion bus, free time was about an 50 minutes. TIme to eat or window shop, but not both.

7 hours ago, traveler55g said:

We arrive in Venice on 11/7 at the end of our cruise. Our plan was to spend one night in Venice, then fly home. It sounds like tangled mess to arrive in the commercial port, be transported to the old terminal for luggage pickup ; and then proceed to a hotel for one night. Does anyone have a suggestion for a hotel close to the old terminal in Venice.With luggage it sounds tricky.

 

My only suggestion is to do your research, doubt much advice without confirmation, and expect limited (if any) assistance from Viking. I'm not faulting Viking entirely. The situation in Venice is complex. Half the city doesn't want you there, the other half would probably lie to get you to come. There's a proposal to charge day trippers a fee to enter the city.

Saturday, 4/30. Athens. Our excursion’s first stop was the Acropolis. Though it was crowded, the guide described it as much less than it could have been. We were the only cruise ship in port. She had experienced the crowds with six ships. The guide was intensely interested in teaching us all about Greece, past through present. This was very bad, as it distracted from actually looking at the site. Many, like us, simply wandered away from her lecture. As it was, we didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked. I’ve since concluded that guides act as though it’s the 20th century, before the internet. She delved into subject matter that we can now easily find. We wanted to see stuff. We can learn about it at home. She took at least 30 minutes of our time away from looking.

However, the Acropolis was one of those places that, despite all the hype, exceeds expectations. I had not realized how large it is. Its position on the hilltop is impressive. Distractions aside, I had an exciting visit. In some ways it was the purpose of the entire cruise. Well worth it.

Our shopping stroll resulted in some purchases. Lots of variety available. Lunch was fun. The server lost our order and the delay resulted in some light joking. I had essentially Mac and cheese, Greek-style.

Our return was slightly complicated by the shuttle bus not being exactly where our guide said it would be. But was made it back. This was a changeover day, when hundreds of passengers leave and an equal number come on board. Per routine, they all had to wear masks on day one. A little odd to see.

Sushi for dinner. Almost exclusively. We canceled our Delphi trip for tomorrow. We weren’t able to handle a nine and a half hour excursion, involving mostly a bus ride. I suppose the Oracle of Delphi prophesied our decision.

We're on board the Viking Sky, in Greece. No hint of ending testing. Honestly, I'd be far more excited if the ship allowed crewmembers to take off their masks. With masks on it's too much of an us versus them feeling. I also can't hear them nearly as well as I'd like.

Friday, 4/29. Olympia, Greece. This stop is all about the original site of the Olympic Games. There were a few passengers who went elsewhere, doubtlessly because they’d been here before.

It’s ruins. There’s no better way to say it. The site was destroyed by command of religious zealots, then by an earthquake. The French discovered the site in the 19th century, but after they appropriated items they found (I.e., stole), Greece kicked them out. Germany, more ethical (or more closely watched), was called in to continue. But all the effors to reconstruct the site hasn't really yielded a clear image of what it had been. Our tour guide, an archeologist, explained that much of what stands is "fake". Fortunately for the reconstruction effort there are extensive written descriptions of the Games. It’s a fascinating trip back in history, but there really isn’t much to photograph. It tickles the imagination more than the eye.

We returned to the ship and encountered a surprise. The approach to the gangway was lined with hundreds of crew members cheering our return, with wine and music. Our bus was apparently the first one back, so the effect was momentous.

The afternoon at sea was a little cool, leaving me alone in the infinity pool. Its spa didn’t work.

Dinner was preceded by a trip to the sushi bar. I had lamb as my entree. All delicious.

Tomorrow in Athens people leave and others come aboard. I’m told the total number on board will be unchanged (720).

http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/

Thursday, 4/28. Corfu, Greece. My 52nd country. A lot to see from the ship. Two large forts fill the eye. Albania is visible in the distance.

Our excursion was to the opposite side of the island, about 40 minutes away. From there we boarded small boats. The area is famous for small caves that the boats enter. They aren’t deep caves, but it’s still an event. The famous one is the “Blue Cave”, where sunlight reflects up through the water under a section of the cave. That was very cool. The driver threw food in the water and suddenly hundreds of fish appeared. I wouldn’t call this a wonder of the world, but it was a good time.

We then took a tour of downtown Corfu. The guide, who impressed me with her ability to put me to sleep during her talk on the bus, was unimpressive during the walk. Her lack of comfortable English was a problem. So too was her willingness to let one or two passengers dominate her with their life stories. Rude. The high point of the city tour was (I suppose) visiting an Orthodox Church that allowed photography. But since it’s general policy that photos not be taken inside Orthodox Churches, I declined on principle.

A lot of well made wooden products. A guitarist playing for Euros. Poorly maintained buildings next to nicely refurbished ones. Orange cocktails. Gelato! Crowds.

A bit of family connection. On Orthodox Easter (last Sunday), it’s a tradition to fling pottery out the upper story windows. Broken chips are collected and dated as mementos. There were still many small chips scattered around today. My mom’s travel log details that in 1986 they were in Corfu on Easter and saw it happen!

We returned to the ship in a shuttle bus. Jammed. Some people standing. So much for Viking’s pledge to maintain social distancing.

Made full use of the spa pool area. Large hot tub, cold water bucket dump, steam room, snow room. Repeat.

Dinner was sensational. Surf and turf. Baked potato. I went up to the World Cafe to find apple pie (found later on the room service menu), but instead Yoriko discovered the sushi bar. Vastly better than what they had seven years ago. We’ll probably make that a stop before the Restaurant tomorrow. 

I’d felt tired all day, so rather than prowl the ship at night, I turned in early.

It appears my Dubrovnik entry never posted.

Tuesday, 4/26. Very pretty coastline as we sailed in. I can only imagine how pretty it was for my parents to do the same in 1985 on a 42 foot ketch. 

I was in this city just eight weeks ago. Our excursion began with a great boat ride along the coastline, ending in the ancient Dubrovnik harbor. The guide was excellent. Incredibly, her talk was very different than the one I’d heard before. She brought an entirely new angle to the city. Whereas the previous guide spoke at length about the 1992 siege, this time the conversation was about the city’s commercial history.

Afterwards I retraced my steps to the Buza Bar, but unfortunately they only dealt in the local currency. We had lunch at the first place we found after that. Excellent! It was at the top of the famous “Walk of Shame” steps. Everyone was told to take a photo to impress those friends of theirs who were Game of Thrones fanatics. 

At one point during our walk, I heard a familiar voice. Confused, I turned and saw the trainee Trip Leader from my visit in March! We said hi, but as he was conducting a tour we couldn’t say more.

Wine tasted. Bought another t-shirt for the grandson. An incredible number of shops were open that had been closed in March. Stores dedicated entirely to Game of Throne merchandise came out of the woodwork. 

We returned to the ship to rest. Yoriko did laundry. Had another great dinner. Competed in a trivia game. 

1 hour ago, PeabodyMa said:

 

Oops. We were in Montenegro. 

23 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Does it taste good to me is the question.  Our yacht club used to have a wine tasting event.  Everyone would bring a bottle of wine but take the label off.  We would rate the wines as we tasted them.  Consistently the most expensive wine would NOT rate in the highest category.  Anyone remember "2 buck chuck", a red wine (Charles Krug I think) that was sold at Trader Joes?  LOL but that wine occasionally would rate high.

I’m the originator of this thread. I once thought White Zinfandel was a fine wine. But after having tasted wines in over two hundred tasting rooms, I am now a bit more refined in my requirements AND more knowledgeable. Two (and a half) buck chuck is an interesting wine in that Trader Joe’s buys grapes from sources that have an excess. Sometimes they get great deals from great wineries. So it’s very possible to get surprisingly good wine. BUT, no one would call two buck chuck premium wine. I’ve been on Viking for six days now, tasting their $6 wines. None have excited me. At $25 a bottle none would be called premium wine by anyone who knows wine. I’m now drinking a fine $11 scotch. I’d rather be drinking a fine $11 wine.