OnTheJourney

Try Viking...I think you'd be well pleased. Having started with RCL and X (mostly RCL) and then did several with Viking, I'd sail with Viking probably all the time if they went out of our two local ports - Bayonne and Baltimore. There's alot about Viking that we really enjoy. Our first cruise was with Carnival - short one following a Disney vacation. We enjoyed it, but never went with them since. The no-flying convenience of RCL and X out of the two ports I mentioned resulted in us going with them. We did Holland America once - for Alaska, and then did a Tauck river cruise in Europe (LOVED it...top of the line company in my opinion.)

Compared to more expeditionary cruises, definitely.

Sorry for confusion...yes...M class. We've only ever been on the Infinity and Summit - out of Bayonne NJ. And, yeah, the doors hit each other if both are open.

We've only ever done Aqua class on the Summit - deck 9 (I think?)

So sorry to hear of your loss, but at least you have the great memories (and I'm sure many pictures!) to look back on. With some of my DW's health issues I'm not sure how much more travel is in our future either. I'm grateful for all the experiences we've had over the years. Noone can take those away from any of us.

Yeah...we've been in regular veranda cabins several times (aqua really isn't a bigger cabin - maybe by a few square feet) and having the closet and bathroom doors hit each other has gotten old. I won't do it anymore. Next time probably suite class or at least a bigger room. What category room is this? Veranda or ocean view?

This thread has really got me going here. Couldn't resist sharing a few pics from my '17 trip. We were on the ship during the super bowl (another amazing Tom Brady comeback in the second half - largest in super bowl history actually, with Patriots overcoming a 28-3 deficit). The ship put out quite a bit of food and a cake. Had we known all that there would be to eat, we would have eaten less at dinner. Showed the game in the theatre and had (team) colored balloons on both sides of the stage. It was so much fun and the most unique super bowl ever. Would have enjoyed seeing the Falcons win though. 😉 Cruise director promised we'd dance in Antarctica...sure enough! a few penguin pics At the one Estancia, I got talking to a young family member about this horn. He said his grandfather died on the Titanic and somehow the family wound up with this horn. Authentic, not a reproduction. I personally remain a tad skeptical but interesting for sure. How would they have gotten it - surely doesn't look like rescued from a dive expedition. It worked, too. The other thing that intrigued me (actually drove me crazy for awhile) is that the moon phases appeared to be reversed, which makes sense being in the southern hemisphere. It's not a change in phase, of course, but rather a difference in the orientation of the moon with respect to your horizon.

Great option. Not sure I could talk DW into that extensive (or long) a trip anymore. Going that far, should at least do 3-4 weeks. Thanks for the idea though!

Curious as to whether one of the Estancia tours was an option? We didn't do any private tours with maybe the exception of Bluff Cove in Port Stanley - but I think that was a ship excursion also. Like I mentioned, a long-time dream trip to go down there, for me anyway. My wife wouldn't have said the same before we booked it and wasn't totally sold on it, but I sweetened the pot by telling her we'd do an extra few days before and arrange a private (through Viator I believe) Pope Frances tour. We're both Catholic so that really meant alot to us. Another dream trip has always been Australia / NZ, but realistically starting to think it'll never happen. Probably waited too long. DW is not big on real long flights, but for Antarctica we did business class with Argentine airlines. Price was reasonable and it made the 10-11 hours quite enjoyable. Left out of JFK.

Yep...we were told that had we been there the day before, we wouldn't have been there. It was sweatshirt only weather - wonderful for enjoying the scenery and taking many pics of penguins.

Actually I believe they were guanaco. We saw them also down there. Camelid closely related to llama. Oops! I didn't read far enough. Someone beat me to it earlier! Enjoyed your pics. It took me back to 2017 when we did this same trip on the Infinity. I'm sure zodiac landings are fantastic and real purists are not hesitant to say that you really haven't been to Antarctica if you never set foot on it, but we were fine with the "drive-by", especially having never been to South America. Fantastic trip all around, AND you had the same weather we did crossing the Drake the way it seems - had the 'lake" both ways. One of our favorite excursions was on Montevideo where we visited Estancia La Rabida and experienced a Patagonian traditional "asada" barbecue lunch which was amazing. When they put the meat on the grill down there, they don't mess around! Had a hay ride to the farm and then there were lots of different hands on activities. There was another barbecue lunch at Madryn - Estancia San Lorenzo, and yet a 3rd one (we didn't go hungry) at Estancia La Mimosa in Buenos Aires. There they also did gaucho horse races (pretty cool - a traditional game where they try to spear a ring suspended from a pole). Recoleta Cemetery was really interesting also. Again, thanks SO much for taking the time to do this and post all your great pictures. I look back on the trip quite fondly and am so glad we did it. I've wanted to go down there for literally decades but always shied away from it due to the Drake reputation for notorious seas. Once the Celebrity itinerary came long (actually booked it while on another X cruise), we figured it's now or probably never!

I get it. I believe it's just that I hate to see other teams not get their chance for the big games. We have a local high school basketball team that's generally always county champs cause their school is so much bigger than anyone else in the county. Strong basketball tradition as well. NFL - I got really tired of Tom Brady, and now are equally tired of Mahomes. I usually pull for the underdogs. This is probably why "Rocky" became such a successful movie.

Not sure I want to watch it. I was really hoping for Ravens vs Lions. So tired of KC at this point (I hate any sort of sports dynasties) and now even less since they always show Swift cheering whenever Kelce catches a pass. Don't care for her either. Go niners!!!

What exactly is that? I vaguely recall it but it's been a long time....🤔

Fantastic! Happy for all of you. Both of those are amazing ports. Loved the scenery up there.

Cheapskates! When we watched the superbowl back in '17 on the Celebrity Infinity, they put out a (free) real nice spread - hot sliders, other sandwiches, chips, salsa, veggies, etc. plus a gigantic cake. Showed the game in the theatre. Each side of the stage was filled with hundreds of colored balloons for both teams. It was so much fun! People sat on their respective side of the theatre to cheer on their team. It was another amazing Tom Brady come-from-behind win. On Viking last year, they showed the divisional playoff games on the stateroom tvs. Some people (due to the time difference since we were in Europe) stayed up all night to watch, and yet except for experiencing it real-time they wouldn't have had to. The games were available to play at any time the rest of the cruise under the "special events" menu on the tv. I thought that was great of Viking to show them.

Unless one is really into using the Persian Garden as well, although that's not very expensive for non-Aqua guests to visit. With aqua, I generally only get to the PG once during a cruise anyway, so unless DW and I feel really enamored of continuing to eat in Blu (not sure of that based on the last cruise experience), I might as well just pay once to use PG if I want. First time in Aqua we really liked it alot - they brought nibbles to the room every day, and also really good iced tea. All that went bye-bye after covid, so what really am I paying extra for (besides Blu and PG access)? The other thing is, I'm tired of the smaller room size with Aqua - at least referring to A1 or A2 - if those designations are even appropriate. I don't really book a cruise based on this sort of (perk) stuff anyway, but moreso go by the itinerary and when the cruise best fits our schedule. This is why I really like Viking for what they DON'T try to do. They don't mess around with a tier system, different passenger levels, etc...no "aqua" class, "suite" class, "whatever other" class. There's nothing like the RCL "key". Keeps it simple. You book the room category you want and everyone has access to the specialty restaurants and whatever else is taking place onboard. Wine and beer with lunch or dinner also. No limited access to "diamond" or "concierge" lounges (yes, agreed that you've surely paid for the specialty restaurants - and the drinks - as part of the higher cruise fare). Reserving the entire front of a ship for one class of passengers like X does, for me, is too much like a throwback to the old days of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class passengers that were limited to specific sections of the ship.

You said Aqua vs. veranda. I'm confused on what you mean. Aqua class rooms (I think anyway) all have verandas. So you're talking about Aqua compared to regular veranda room. What price are you quoting? Is the $75 for an Aqua (veranda) room or non-Aqua veranda?

I'd say that sounds very worth the $10. Probably one of the things we like best about it (though not sure we'll do it again - I'd like to try suite level) is the more relaxing and less crowded venue for breakfast and dinner. That said, we still sometimes went to the buffet if we wanted something additional after either meal or else just for more variety. Blu is nice but limited menu options. We weren't as impressed overall the last time, and the whole thing I got into in a previous thread about them opening earlier than the stated time for dinner didn't sit well with me. If I have to wait in a long line for Blu might as well go to the dining room especially if I have a reserved table for MTD.

Euphemistic for saying that they'll make as much money as they can wherever they can!

Like I said, on our sailing we never got that far - would have ended in Tilbury. Zero gravity actually sounds like a bit of fun.

LOL...good one!

Yeah, that was fun at times, but it got old. Let me eat in peace without coming around to get my picture. For my part they could get rid of 'em entirely. As someone else said, if people want to dress up and get a pic taken, fine. Can do it anytime, especially depending on how it works now.

No thanks...but each to his / her own! Viking spoiled me...none of those special dress code evenings. Every evening is 'smart casual' which generally winds up being more casual than smart. Works for me! Used to drag along a sport coat and tie on cruises. Done with that.

Already have enough cruise pictures to last us! Most turn out crappy anyway and hit the recycling bin 😆 Some people are far more photogenic than others. We're not among the group that generally is. If our status offers a free pic, then we'll usually take one along. Now that they don't come around to the tables much anymore (is that even still done?) and don't even seem to have the usual stations set up around the ship, we don't bother. How does it work now on RCL? Must you schedule a time to get pictures taken?