OnTheJourney

Works for me. Thanks for the info!

At over 106,000 posts I’d say it already is!

I’ve no doubt. Right now I’d say it’s pretty high up on the list. The Pacific Explorer cruise looks nice also. Would give us a chance to meet up with our daughter in LA.

Sounds (and looks) great! Makes the Great Lakes cruise sound like a really nice option for using whatever vouchers or other reimbursement we might be getting from this MS cruise that has sort of derailed in terms of originally planned itinerary. Long story - can find it all on the MS river thread.

I suspect the grill you’re referring to is much like the aft part of the cafe on the MS where they grill several different things every evening. Unfortunately none of what they do is listed on the daily menus so unless walking back to check it out you wouldn’t know. Thanks for the info! Your description though sounds like much more variety and so likely a larger area.

Interesting. How come?

Saguenay is lovely. We wound up there as part of a rescheduled Celebrity cruise itinerary. Had amazing fall colors. During an extensive car trip we did the Pictured Rocks cruise near Munising, MI. Fantastic experience. Stopped at Mackinac and also the Soo locks. We’ve also driven a good part of the Great Lakes Seaway trail. The Antique Boat Museum in Clinton is a must see if you’re in the area along the St Lawrence. Same for Alexandria Bay. Spent several days there in a lovely corner room at a waterfront resort right across from Boldt Castle. We visited the Welland Canal while there, which is part of the Viking itinerary. Since we live so close to Baltimore and Bayonne we’ve done several Canada / New England cruises, which are among our favorite itineraries. We love Quebec also. Celebrity usually does an overnight stop there. So, yeah, Viking’s Great Lakes cruise is surely a good fit for us! Thanks for the encouragement! 🙂 ps. Sorry I see I already posted much of what I just said. Didn’t remember. Memory is crappy unfortunately!

I sort of thought you took me too literally. I was not actually posing a question. No problem! Thus far they’ve promised 25% of cruise fare in vouchers but I suspect this might change. AUS - NZ has been a dream trip of mine for a long time but very honestly I doubt I’ll ever get there at this point. Good on you for making the long journey. Doubt I could talk DW into going that far anymore. Sorry to hear of your port cancellations.

Yes. Heavy traffic for sure.

I’m inclined to agree Jim. They had to know what they were getting into. Tough for the older, less mobile people to navigate those steep shore landings rather than at a “real”dock. Crew has to scrabble up through the woods and find a good tree to tie the lines to. Wonder how things went during the previous northbound sailing. Southbound has priority from what they told us. We had our share of what is apparently referred to as “barge rodeo” where a towboat screws up on a turn and either the cables snap and the barges go on their merry way (around 26 of them the one time 😳), or else simply run aground on a sandbar. Spent many an hour parked along the shoreline waiting for these types of issues to clear up, or else just waiting for traffic. At one point the captain said that we, alone, were allowed to proceed underway. Probably some nasty looks from the towboat pilots as we passed LoL! Some pax are leaving the ship today in Alton, IL. Others are leaving who just completed the 4-night land option rather than coming back onboard. Crazy day for the crew with all that going on. Also we’ve been running low on certain food items. Taking on some food today since this is the last stop before Red Wing.

Really? Lol. just kidding of course We didn’t want any more vouchers but we’ll surely use them. Thinking might redo this cruise only southbound IF things improve with the water levels. I’m not expecting any sort of refund but do expect they will be increasing the originally stated 25% due to losing so many ports. They said they will evaluate the entire cruise in a few weeks. This might well be one of the least successful sailings on the MS

What are the chances of using the voucher from this cruise only to wind up on another cruise that also has encountered significant issues (nothing like the Sky of course) that will result in yet another as of yet undetermined voucher amount?! Out of 11 ports on our MS sailing, we’ll only have gotten to 3 of them along the way due to extremely low water levels. I had no idea the water level situation this summer was so bad here till someone on the cruise after ours started talking about it. I’m reading that the same situation is present in the Panama Canal and many lines are canceling their trips through there.

Like I said, they gambled on this one with the near-record low water levels and it didn’t work.

BIE?

Try 5 of the last 6, as is currently the case on the Mississippi. Or, for those who didn’t want the hassle of riding 6 hours on a bus and decided to stay on the ship, we will only get to 3 out of 10 ports.

I’d appreciate the feedback. If we wouldn’t be getting yet another voucher due to all not going as planned with the Mississippi cruise, we had no plans for any travel anytime soon, but I have been looking at the Great Lakes cruise and like that one. I’m equally partial to the Pacific Explorer itinerary as well, so it’ll be a tough decision. Hope this finds both of you doing well. I highly recommend the Mississippi.

My goof on Munising. Didn’t recall that it’s actually on the Upper Peninsula, not terribly far from Sault Ste. Marie.

Thanks so much for more great info. I have no issue with kayaking, and have one of my own that I use on a lake minutes from our house, but it’s not my wife’s thing at all. So maybe I’d go for it. Even without any of the ‘toys’, however, I saw that most of the ports offer the usual types of experiences that we enjoy so I’m sure we’d like the trip. As to the itinerary specifically, on a car trip we’ve been to Mackinac, the Soo locks, Welland Canal, Niagara Falls (several times), Cleveland R&R Hall of Fame, and did the wonderful Pictured Rocks cruise near Munising. Too bad Viking doesn’t go up to the northern side of Superior since it’d make a great excursion offering. Often wanted to get back to Mackinac and I see that an excursion there offers an afternoon tea at the Grand Hotel, so that alone sounds worth it. Never been in the hotel. On the two days where most of the outdoor activity options are available, we’ll find something to do I’m sure, maybe even a zodiac. We loved a vacation we did in Alexandria Bay, which is when we visited Welland. The Great Lakes Seaway trail is a terrific drive. Did a good part of it already. I’d like to do more along the lakes and this cruise seems to be a good fit in that regard. I greatly appreciate all the detailed info as it helps get a feel for what an exploration cruise is like. Can’t have much more of a thrilling exploration experience than having been helicopter air lifted from the Sky during the March ‘19 Northern Lights cruise! Everything since is rather tame by comparison. 🤔

I foresee that we’d be doing very little of any of want you mention. DW is not really into the idea of going on zodiac or kayaking outings. Thanks for all the additional info though. Not much interest in the sub.

Good to hear that you enjoyed it! I will have vouchers to use following the current Mississippi trip and so the Great Lakes is a very attractive option. Based on what you’re saying, I suspect that those two days are available to do a variety of explorational activities. Another cruise option I like is the Pacific Explorer.

Well worth going even with no landings or zodiacs. We did a “drive-by” and were very pleased with it. Just being there is a unique experience.

If you look at the itinerary online you’ll see what I’m referring to (if looking at each day’s shore excursions.)

Can someone clarify? On days that mention this, there are no usual excursions offered. A specific example would be the day at Frazer Bay and the other at Silver Islet.

Seems to be a general consensus about this. I photo enhance everything I take once I'm home from a trip. Mac "Photos" is ok, but have to manually do one pic at a time. I still like an old software program called Nikon "pictureproject". Came with my 2003 imac (which I still use for this purpose along with the older version of garageband to do my guitar recordings. It'll auto-enhance any number of pictures. Once it gets started on however many pics are selected, it does its own thing. Then, I still go back and adjust sharpening, color, etc. I don't know of any way to adjust exposure once a picture's been taken, but it looks like your wife did a bit of enhancing with increased color, definition, brightness, contrast, and so forth. I like the "before" pic quite honestly 😁 Below is one that one of the passengers took on our Viking cruise. Obviously good equipment. Semi-professional photographer as I recall. I like how it picks up not just the NL but also mountains, town, water, etc. without losing focus on any of it. Always wondered, though, if he added some brightening to certain parts of the picture. The town buildings, for instance, look brighter than they should during an evening NL shot - almost like a late afternoon sun is on the town, so likely a good bit of enhancing in this as well. Still, makes for a cool picture. Almost has a oil painting quality to it.

I will send her an email expressing condolences. Losing any pet is so hard. Wow! Transatlantic - sounds like it was a great itinerary. Never did one of those.