cruising denise

Hope you will be joining us on the Sky, Clay! On a completely different topic, we are seeking to do a private tour of the USS Arizona and related sites in Honolulu. We are finding them available online, but wondering if anyone who was there on the 22/23 WC can recommend a particular guide? or alternately is there anything we should avoid? It also appears we could do this on our own for much less money but since this will probably our only time there, I'd like to make the most of it. Any guidance appreciated, TIA.

Hi! We aren't doing the overnight trip however are interested in making the most of our time in Mumbai. I'd love to have the name of your tour guide who gave you the great tour in Mumbai. Thanks!

Hi! Suggest you go over to the Viking Sky 23/24 WC roll call - I have filled the group but there are several others who are now actively working on a second group - they have been posting about this on that roll call over the last couple of days and you may be able to piggyback with them - hope this helps!

Haha - I was wondering about that!!!! Thanks for the clarification!

Yes we’ve been told the same by guides. However the crisp clean bills part is essential. We learned this lesson while working with a private tour guide in St Petersburg Russia back in 2011. She made it very clear that she and the driver were to be paid in USD….but all crisp clean new bills! thanks to you, too, for your wonderful blog and posts. I am way behind in catching up but really enjoyed your spectacular photography, and posts here on CC.

Thanks! And thank you so much for all your great travelogue along the way. Really wonderful to read and even more so since we will take so much into account for our trip next year. Did I say next year??? This December!!! Maybe you and Becky and the sloths could become travel guides in your own right! Thanks again

Wow! Which new cruises did you book? That is exciting!

To all of you who have provided such wonderful info along your journey, thank you so much! I have loved reading about all the experiences! And though I’m behind on the blogs I will be catching up as I really enjoy them. One last question if it is easy to answer: in which countries did you need local currency? Although it is always helpful for certain small items (bathroom fees come to mind 😊), on our last cruise which included Turkey and several other non Euro using countries, our guides were more than happy to take gratuities in euros or USD. But I know this also can present difficulties . Any guidance on which local currencies are strongly recommended? Thanks again for all the great info and perspectives on your voyage.

We wee both uncomfortable with the bed on the Sky last October. Mentioned it to our cabin steward who got the “egg crate” toppers which made all the difference. We were fine after that

Wondering if those of you who are currently on the WC will continue to monitor this forum after you return? As those of us who are starting to gear up for 23/24 WC have so many questions, and though many have been answered via the 22/23 roll call, and this forum (and others!), I'm sure other questions will still arise. Many of you have been so generous with your time, even while you're on the cruise - it would be wonderful for us if you might still be available to answer questions after you return. Please let me know what you think! Thank you!

We were just in Venice in October, on the Ancient Adriatic Treasures (Venice to Istanbul). We did the pre- in Venice. While the JW Marriott was a beautiful property, it was on an island that was about a 20 minute water shuttle ride away. The water shuttles ran frequently, and the hotel had a beautiful rooftop restaurant, so it wasn't too much of a problem. We were originally supposed to be docked in Fusina but at the last minute we were moved to Chioggia (much further out of central Venice) But I digress, that's a whole 'nother story....As far as a tour of the Jewish Ghetto area, we had a fantastic private tour on our couple of days there before the cruise. Venezia Autentica was the tour group: https://veneziaautentica.com/ Our tourguide was Sebastian (who I think may be the owner of the company). Our tour was a 2-hour tour, which combined their walking tour (Off the Beaten Path, a 90-minute walking tour), plus a 30-minute gondola ride. Sebastian is a native Venetian, and the Jewish Ghetto area was part of the walking tour. He explained that this was where he grew up playing soccer as a young child, and sure enough, in the square were many kids playing, watched by moms and grandmoms... https://experience.veneziaautentica.com/experience/walk-and-row-in-venice/ (you can also just do the 90 minute walking tour) Sebastian also was extremely flexible and helpful. We sought out a tourguide for Doge's Palace and the Basilica. These tours are not his company's forte, as so many others do it, but Sebastian is well connected within the Venetian tourguide community, and set this up for us. Unfortunately when the ship's location was changed from Fusina to Chioggia, all our plans were thrown off. Sebastian worked with us to find another guide for a different day and went out of his way to help us. If you have specific wishes and interests, I have no doubt you can work directly with Sebastian to create a custom tour. If you do reach out, please mention that we went with him on the Off the Beaten Path tour back in October - there were 3 of us - I'm sure he would remember all the rescheduling issues we had that he helped with! I can't recommend them highly enough. Great organization, and completely local.

oh no. I am sorry to hear that. How long will you have to remain quarantined?

Hahaha! I had the same concern....but here they are, looking as spry as ever. Maybe they just needed a few days of rest in between fast-paced days of excursions!

Hi Joanne and Tom - yes! We are Denise and Ed from Madbury, NH and we are on the Sky. If you are interested, I'll keep track of your info. My email is DENISEDLD@ATT.NET, in case you want to shoot me an email, sometimes that might be more direct than communicating via CC. I will also post about this excursion on our Sky WC roll call and see if there are two others who might be interested. I'm thinking six is probably ideal for a group size but will wait to see if those who went recently weigh in on that.

Yes, I'd recommend that, too (contact him directly). He has already told me no problem for next year, assuming the ship docks as early as it is supposed to. He didn't mention anything about me needing to contact Memphis Tours for transportation. He only uses his WhatsApp for contact (posted above)

I have been in touch with El Tayeb based on the glowing, wonderful recommendations @mbviking2023 and @BeckySt have made. I was thinking to organize a group of maybe six people? He is willing to work with whatever size we want. I'd like to go with others but not a large group. How many people were in your group? What size group would you recommend? THANKS AGAIN!

Thanks very much. Sorry, I thought I had read everything till now but I must have missed your recent post on this topic. But what??? Avoid Explorers? 🤣 We are in a forward PV on deck 6 so probably more prone to feeling the movement. In fact, when we decided to book the WC it was while we were on the Sky for the Adriatic cruise. As we rounded into the Aegean, it was a bit rocky, and in fact we had to forgo Crete - the port authority there was not allowing any ships in due to the conditions. Many passengers were not feeling well, and we all looked like a bunch of drunken sailors staggering down the corridors. When we made the booking for the WC, we booked the cabin that was right above ours and asked the people staying in it if they would mind if we could take a look, as we hadn't seen a PV yet. They were fine with us coming in, but the poor woman was feeling very seasick and was just laying in bed. Didn't bother either of us, but I think it is best to come prepared...just in case. Thanks again.

@Jim Avery and @Heidi13 and any others who have knowledge on this topic. I've never been seasick in my life, and have experienced the ocean when it was not calm. However I've also never been on the Pacific Ocean, which I think can be much rougher than anything I've experienced. I've heard that even people who have never been seasick might still get seasick at some point. As we will be on the 23/24 world cruise, do you recommend that I come prepared with some of those seasickness patches or something? Thanks for any recommendations!

I agree with your statement a while back, and others participating in this forum, that all comments both positive AND not so much, should all be posted to help provide well-rounded and various perspectives on all aspects of the trip. I have read all the posts, by all passengers, on this forum, eagerly, in anticipation of the Viking Sky WC in December. It seems that you have been able to point out places or activities which you have not enjoyed. I'd be interested in also hearing your positive perspectives - are there some places, or activities, or aspects of life on the ship, which you have particularly enjoyed? Thanks for sharing all perspectives, to all the people who are taking time during the cruise to continue posting!

So then are you on the Sky WC?

I am guessing perhaps they mean just go on to the public website, as if you were researching a world cruise. Once you are there, stay on the "itinerary" page, and scroll down to the list of ports. To the far right for each one, you will see a "read more" arrow to expand that port. The page that brings up will show you possible shore excursions for each port, though they of course caveat they are subject to change and I'm sure they do change them up for a variety of reasons from year to year. Here's a link both to the main page: https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/world-grand/viking-world-cruise/index.html and then to an example of a page for potential shore ex for a specific port, in this case, Cozumel: https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/world-grand/viking-world-cruise/index.html#itineraryday/3 Hope this helps!

I am pretty sure they will be released well before that. Our booking (we are in PV class) says shore excursion booking will open on September 14th (we are on the Sky, departing FLL 12/20/23). Since there are I think 3-4 cabin classes above us, with 10 days between opening for booking between each class, I am guessing the bookings at the highest cabin class will begin maybe late July or early August. And they have to make the list of shore excursions available prior to that for people to review. They will be visible to you once open (but before your cabin class can book). I know, because we watched in frustration on one cruise where several of the excursions we wanted were sold out well before our DV class was able to book. But we got most of the others we wanted, and Viking did make some additional availability once we were on board the ship.

Thank you! We are on the Sky 23/24 WC and might possibly be interested in this, not sure yet. My email is: DENISEDLD@ATT.NET. If you would be so kind as to email me at your convenience, I may like to take you up on your offer to share details of organizing the tour at some point after you all have returned and we are busy planning our shore excursions!!! Thank you so much.

Thanks, Jim, for reminding me of this! I think it was your recommendation to go this route that we followed, and have also purchased those.

Just be careful of which ones you buy. The first ones claimed to hold 25 lbs or so, but didn't. We returned them and got some better ones. There is also some question whether they are accepted for shipment in LuggageDirect. We may just put them in our luggage we bring ourselves. Many people have also highly recommended a hanging shoe bag with multiple pockets. I believe people hang them on the outside of the bathroom door and they are also convenient for neatly storing many smaller items.