Jjg34219

I just bought it for 9.95 this weekend!

We are on the Empires of Mediterranean in July. We know its going to be hot, and we live in Florida so hot is not a problem for us. Most evenings we will choose to dine in the World Cafe as my wife enjoys the better variety of options to fit her mostly vegetarian diet. Being mid summer Im thinking I will likely dress in nice dressy shorts with a polo for dinner, but theres a dress code requirement for the other areas of the ship for evenings…my question is does that mean I will need change into long pants if we choose to hit the Explorers Lounge after dinner for example? Its not that I have issues changing, thinking more about dress code in heat of the summer.

3 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

In my experience, no discount for prior purchase.  And with prior purchase, you can't apply any OBC to the price.  Thus, I have always waited and used the OBC towards the cost.

 

 

We have OBC, and I see on MVJ it can be used to prepay gratuities, Silver Spirits, etc…no?

20 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Sorry for the single picture above-wifi in the pacific is pretty crappy!   Got an email today (which is yesterday for most of you!).  Several sailings including the one above, all three spring transatlantics and the last segment on our current cruise are available on this promo.  Come join us in Singapore-will be interesting to see where we go on our way to London!

 

Here is a link-not sure it will work as it may be to an Australian site since we are “downunder”. 

https://data.em.viking.com/ee/v1/click?params=v1.9eCeUDYfLnYm3927cAtvVFDD3e-d1zB77Bc8v2Ud1x3WU9n28asXr69HE729e6PmpAf8K0ubKIltlLM_M_0oq4y3zECCFYMR1fLUExoSGDiyupHz7nyx6RVlh4rak05NNIl20Qv-fjSFW4EaVaR3UKrOd0r6V6bALCmccLCtklhw-GKy5f9in07uUmrDhqGT_8ykBzC0101vc22BqF4uIRoSh6oEdotTLAKihZ_-YW3WUkf93y3KZ4AMV751a4jpdbiacPaHmV-Teuv8Tjq3z2EwElzGcVHK1ZGCWa84pu9myY20RJS2YN5LaELixCdjkfzI3xx9PPLoC87i_-bTH3i5mhI_2t7FUx8IMOCYfHBEfbjFv9nIzazjjA91rxL5_MKGwbc5DtSRM7adaOUapnTQLDqBvpJdrvuX3j9l94CeZNxgyFkoayE2qHyTe7-0eUyZ4l5UBmIpsmUrAp3C9BKANneBkvxA5Q&pid=v1._NZ8D_32dYk2I0OZopNaSY9dKTGIJsxCWWcyGAHAQdjBm87PmFq-g1XtLXK83UXSV3mb_W1u6Gx0ZBXvjNlI&tuid=65bc0e2d7d21856ae0822f29&configId=2f8538b3-0a8b-4ad8-b75c-7f5d1c8367ab:PROD

We have never received email offers like this…and I know Ive signed up multiple times!

So to be clear, if we called today to book a cruise we could transfer to our TA and she would get the booking credit?

Shouldnt they become available soon? I see nothing beyond October

In August, 2022, we booked Empires of the Mediterranean for July, 2024. Havent really paid much attention to the pricing on Viking since we booked, but it has increased by about 25% since we booked, and the two extensions have also increased by about same amount.

We are so glad we decided to book while onboard in Alaska!

We have only done one VO with 2 more booked. Have priced O many times and it always prices similar to VO.

What we really liked about our VO experience was the “casual” feel of everything and the overall simplicity of the ship. We loved all the open spaces on VO where one could just hang out and look at the open sea, or just enjoy some quiet time and be in our own lil world. We just felt at peace with everything.

We have used Air Plus 3 times now, latest booking our air for next July just this past week, and so far we have no complaints. Our latest, we paid a lil more extra to fly Delta, but overall we are flying cheaper than if we booked ourselves

2 hours ago, scmomofboys said:

We did the Madrid add on before our cruise that left out of Barcelona. We were blown away by Madrid! Viking did everything right on that trip and this add on was no different. We had great guides (loved the Prado too and we aren't really art enthusiasts either). The high speed train was a fantastic way to travel - much better than flying I can tell you. Everything was seamless and we would highly recommend. We didn't really see much of Barcelona that trip (we went to Monseratt -excellent! - which ate up much of our time there) so we are going a few days early on our trip this November. So I can't compare the two but Madrid was a definite gem!

We have not ever been to Spain. We arent ones to really delve into a certain site like a museum, but prefer to just “see” lots if that makes sense. Thats why I was kinda leaning towards Madrid to start…get like a day and a half there, do the train which we have never done, and since we overnight in Barcelona thought we should get a good feel for the sites there day one of the cruise. My one concern was maybe that plan would be kinda hectic vs just doing Barcelona more leisurely.

Going by the Viking descriptions of the 2 pre stays, I think doing Madrid is better value, and the hotel they say they use looks better than the Barcelona one.

So thats why I like to throw these questions out. At our ages (early 70s) we know our good travel days are numbered, and God only knows when or if we get back.

Thanks for your input..now Im back on the fence..lol

Thank you everyone. This is our first time, so I think you have convinced me to do Barcelona. At first thought, Madrid was going to allow us to see more, but was concerned we would feel too rushed. Thanks again!

We are doing a TA from Barcelona to Ft Lauderdale. Day one the ship overnights in Barcelona. Trying to decide 2 additional nights in Barcelona or Madrid. Im leaning Madrid…thoughts?

7 hours ago, madmedic said:

No it won't let me open 😞. Thanks anyway. 

I was able to open

our cruise is in a year but gives me an idea

thanks!

2 hours ago, dd57 said:

Right now there are low clouds obscuring the coastline, but we are 4 hours away from our scheduled entry into Disenchantment Bay.  Hopefully the clouds lift when we get closer. The weather has been excellent the last 3 days....

Last year we had a nice clear day, but we didnt get very close due to ice chunks in the bay

Travel in general has gone up!

I think we forget the industry as a whole was basically shut down for close to 2 years due to Covid. Everybody now is trying to recoup losses. Even our std hotel stays here in the US are running 30% higher. 

We are currently booked for next July/August Athens to Venice

Looks like we could still book same but Venice to Athens late Oct/Nov this year

Just actually got the thought to look what might be available this late date, and considering the temps will be much cooler and crowds way less, that we should definitely consider doing the change. We live in Florida so used to the heat, but seems like the summers are hoteer by the year

Thoughts?

2 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Today was supposedly glacier watching day, but we did not get within a mile of the Hubbard glacier.

Some heard that there were large ice chunks, called growlers, that made it too dangerous to get closer, although ships from Celebrity and HAL seemed to get close.

Trip has been good, although Viking seems to be gravitating to “on your own” excursions, meaning no guide, just some admission tickets to local attractions.

Not sure that qualifies as an excursion…

Same thing happened to us a year ago on our day at Hubbard…we thought the day was totally underwhelming…our closest view of glaciers occurred in Seward on the Kenai Fjords tour which was excellent!

Last year on Orion in Alaska there was a NA version of Carlsberg beer available

Last May we flew Lufthansa Tampa to Frankfurt in Economy using Air Plus and we had seat asignments

i might add we really enjoyed our first experience with them too

8 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

I think Skagway, the town, is about twelve square blocks of tourist traps!  Lovely scenery, but nothing better than what we have had every day.  Not my favorite port.

Agreed! And we did the train excursion. It was just ok in our opinion

6 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Another easy run for both Viking and Yanks would be the Bahamas Out Islands from Palm Beach or even Tampa.  Tampa would allow for a stop at Fort Jefferson at the tip end of the Keys.  And too bad Cuba is not available at the moment.  I like the above about more around England and even Ireland.  Some easy beautiful fun stops with lots of history.

Since we live 45 minutes from Port Tampa we would be all in!

8 hours ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

Awesome!  I did not realize they would offer shuttles into town on embarkation day. 

 

Regarding lunch....I'm still weighing our options.  We are hoping to take the Resurrection Bay Wildlife Cruise on the 2nd day so that would leave very little time to see the town of Seward so we are contemplating walking around the town and having lunch after arriving on the train.

From what I remember from last August, it would be a very easy walk from the ship into town, but Im not sure theres a lot to do in Seward

16 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Starboard/odd numbered cabins, Deck 3, between the Atrium and the forward elevators, the closer to the Atrium the worse it is.

 

Torshavn is mostly on the Starboard side of the ship, with office space directly under the portside cabins.  

We were in 3054 over Torshavn and although we did hear some music it was not bad at all. We actually loved the overall location on the ship. 

1 hour ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

I'm curious to know what activities/entertainment they offer during our sea days.  It's on my list of topics to look up on the forums.

We only had 1 sea day…we were so tired from being on the go that we just took a day to relax in the pool area

8 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

We boarded Orion yesterday.  There was a big group of about 100 from the pre-cruise extension, but boarding went smoothly.  We had our favorite, Asian Panorama at Chefs table last night.  It was very good, but the recipes had been changed a bit.  We enjoyed the premium wine pairings.  Today we went on a five hour excursion to Resurrection Bay, at the entrance to Kenai Fjords National Park.  It is a wildlife cruise, and we saw all 24 of the animals they advertise you might see.  Just a wonderful day.  And, they said, a “beautiful” day because it was the first day in two weeks it hasn’t rained in Seward.  Off to dinner at Manfredi's tonight. 

That tour in Seward was our favorite one!