kcpvwill

I usually find the Star Theatre unbearably hot. Once I took my thermometer to check it out and it was 28C (82F) I asked them to turn it down as it was also airless. You can add layers or use the blankets but very difficult if you are hot! They had it cooler by the next day but still too hot for me.

Our’s was LHR to Greenwich not Tilbury.

We had an awful transfer from LHR to Greenwich in June 2022. We arrived mid afternoon and had to wait in the terminal for a late flight before boarding the transfer bus. Then it took 4 hours to get from LHR to the ship, as there were accidents, roadworks and Friday rush hour to contend with. We got to our cabin about 8pm, exhausted, hungry and in need of toilets. We’d only come from Manchester UK. That’s the M25 for you! Not Viking’s fault. When we disembarked in Greenwich after a month on board, BA had cancelled our return flight. Viking had 3 alternatives, for us: an earlier crack of dawn, a very late one or a mid morning flight from Gatwick which we opted for. They gave us a private limo transfer to the airport which was considerably less time than the arrival transfer.

In the UK there are three versions of the ‘ Tea meal’ 1. Cream Tea - scone with jam and cream (Cornish cream tea) or scone with cream then jam (Devon cream tea) served with a pot of tea in a teapot. Teapot must be warmed with boiling water, tipped out and then one spoonful of tea per person plus “one for the pot” with freshly boiled water added. If the water goes off the boil the tea does not brew properly. Weaker tea on the first pour. 2. Afternoon tea is served on a three tier cake stand. Bottom plate has dainty sandwiches (without crusts) usually, smoked salmon and cucumber, egg mayo, & ham plus ANO. Middle plate for the scones and cream/jam or vive versa. Top plate small cakes. Tea as above. Afternoon tea was introduced to the UK in 1840 by the Duchess of Bedford (lady in waiting to Queen Victoria) as she got hungry before her dinner at 8pm. 3. High tea was originally a working class meal eaten about 5pm after the working day. It was strong tea and a substantial cooked hot meal with meat and potatoes - the main meal of the day. Over the years it got changed to a “put-you-on” snack meal with tea and choice of eggs on toast, sardines on toast or beans on toast. Not served very often now. In the North of England many people still call their meals breakfast, dinner (mid day) and tea (the South of England dinner).

Sorry CDNPolar I couldn’t find Everywhere in the Meet & Mingle link. Would you give a clue as to where it is please? I am aware that cruisers can get one organised themselves but I’m not that computer literate to do this myself (even with instructions!) LindaS, I wonder how Cruise Critic can be encouraged to reinstate them if, as you suggest, they are responsible.

Does anyone know when the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingles will be “Unpaused”? Is it controlled by the cruise lines themselves or is it Cruise Critic that will reinstate them? The pause happened as a result of Covid, but I would have expected them to restart by now.

Yes tours are given acceptable headings.

Totally agree with OP. We’re about to do our 20th Viking cruise (River & Ocean) and I have scribbled out the expectation headings and explained why on most of our cruises. As Viking has so many repeat cruisers now I’m surprised they still do this. The staff are aware of the problem and encourage us not to use met expectations as this being the middle one reflects badly. Come on Viking, what’s wrong with “Excellent, Very Good, Good, Satisfactory or Poor”. Viking gets it right most of the time, so why are they not listening to feedback from their loyal customers.

We also did this cruise in 2019. We had a few missed ports because of remnants of hurricane Dorian (take your seasick tablets)! Once the sea calmed down it was an enjoyable cruise. We did B2B with Eastern Seabord finishing in NY.

Tom-UK We are in the UK and our 20th cruise with Viking is coming up soon. We are 20 mins from Manchester Airport and in Europe we have had flights with KLM, Air France, and BA. Also Lufthansa, Air Malta, Vueling and SAS depending on the destination. Each involved a change which is tedious, especially as we are not getting any younger. (Started with Viking in 2013) For our next cruise we found direct flights at times to suit from Manchester with SAS to Stockholm and back from Oslo with SAS. We asked Viking to book us on them and they have done that for us. We hope that you will come to enjoy Viking as much as we do.

What are these ducks? Not seen any on the cruises we’ve done.

I love the bird sounds and hope they will be on Neptune when we embark in August for our 20th cruise with Viking. (Ocean & River) Perhaps ONE person has complained and as is the norm these days in the UK ,that person gets their way. Hope it’s not the Viking way.

We did the Kiel canal cruise in 2018 and really enjoyed it. Viking doesn’t do it anymore which is a shame, perhaps it wasn’t popular.

Yes we got one too from the UK Destinations Travel show in Manchester from the Viking stand. Great to chat to the many people from the London office who have helped with our 20 Viking cruises. The handles are long enough for a shoulder carry.

I regularly get a hot chocolate from the lounge on deck 1 as my bedtime drink. They make it with hot milk. Sometimes it is not very hot but they quickly get used to me so I don’t have to stress the ‘hot’ Further into the cruise I sometimes just have hot milk to limit the calories as the hot chocolate is rather sweet. World Cafe also has sachets (occasionally need to ask for them) which you can take to your room and make yourself if you’ve asked for a kettle. The coffee maker boils water but trying to make chocolate or tea using this does not work well so we usually request a kettle.

We tendered in Leith on our Edinburgh stops when we did Edinburgh on the British Isles Explorer as a B2B with Midnight Sun. Leith is within walking distance of the Royal Yacht Britannia and we booked our own tickets online. Very good value and fascinating for an ardent Royalist like me. You could just walk up to get tickets when we went. There was lots to do and you can stay as long as you like. You get an audio guide and can do as many links as you want. On the other leg we went into Edinburgh and did the included panoramic and then at free time we left the guide (not forgetting to tell her) to do our own thing in Princess Gardens. We then got the shuttle bus back to the ship, they run every 30 minutes. We were lucky it was not the Fringe, Festival or Tattoo as during those times traffic grinds to a holt.

Not many on our roll call yet (on Neptune in August) to have a M&M but will await more.

That sounds so nice. We have only been to one official Meet & Mingle before the pause but it was nice to put faces to some regular CC posters. I hope they return soon.

Meet and Mingle for CC member gatherings were paused during Covid and this is still the case. Have they just been discreetly dropped or are they likely to return? I know some people organise their own unofficial ones on some sailings.

Assuming this is not a Viking announcement then, but a joke.

Has there been any announcement about re-routing round Africa yet?

Has there been an announcement about re-routing round Africa or not?

We tendered in Dun Laoghaire on BIE and the sea looked deceptively calm. Unfortunately it wasn’t and the trip to shore took nearly 30 minutes and I’d not taken my travel sickness pills. I was so queasy I couldn’t countenance a coach to Dublin. Found a place to buy pills and after an hour or so returned to the ship. We were told that the problem was not the waves, but the current and wind combination which played havoc with the tender. We had to circle the ship and wait for a calmer time to get back on Venus. Another time I’ll take the pills regardless! Good luck to the OP, ericosmith

Formernuke I believe you are right, London is cosmopolitan and caters to tourists. We rarely go. In the NW where we live “keep left” is standard everywhere.

The tours on the change over day were only offered once on board and turned out to be long days of 10-12 hours, which are beyond our capabilities nowadays. We would have liked to go to Ostia having been to Rome 10 years previously when we were fitter. We complained that none of the included tours was suitable for us and the excursions manager said he would feed this back. We did take the port shuttle bus to the town and did an ‘Adventure Lab’ which is a GPS enabled treasure hunt linked to Geocaching. It took us to some nice sites and a decent walk. Note the shuttle is run by the port authorities just to get you out of the dock area. They take a 90 minute lunch break and the times are not fixed.