TERRIER1

1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said:

Thanks all. and Harters?Terriers,.. but traveling with a person of  very limited mobility, taking the bus. water taxi, hiking and Positano ( steep narrow streets) and Capri will not work at all  for her     Gotta stick with car tours and accessible places....   May have to just enjoy the ship that day.    You do what you have to with the card you get dealt.

The Rick Steves forum suggested two private guides. Perhaps that would work best.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/amalfi-coast-driver-monetti-or-del-pizzo

We have been to these ports several times with Oceania. Sorrento, Postiano and Amalfi are all tender ports and use the Oceania tenders. Once it was too choppy to tender in Amalfi so we tendered in Sorrento. We took the bus down Positano and then hung around and visited SOrrento. If you have a long port time you can ferry over to Capri for the day. There isn't much to do in Positano. The next time we were able to tender into Amalfi. We took the bus to Ravello and visited the gardens at the Hotel Villa Cimbrone. Beautiful. We walked/hiked backed to the ship with a lunch stop in Atrani. I'm glad I did it then since I couldn't do it now lol. The next time we were able to tender into Amalfi. We again took the bus to Ravello and visited the gardens of Villa Rudolfo. Both the town of Ravello and the gardens are lovely. We took the bus back to Amalfi which turned out to also serve as the local school bus at that hour and had the ride of our lives. 

40 minutes ago, PeabodyMa said:

I was there

Didn't that world cruise leave from Miami?

Exactly what defines luxury? Is it pricing, capacity, service, excursions, inclusiveness? I have only sailed Oceania, Viking and Azamara and all were fine by me. I would not be happy on a QE2 sail or dressing up. There must be some parameters  on how they classify luxury.

Food is so suggestive but here is my opinion. Jacques definitely goes to the top of the list. Never had a bad meal and everything is delicious. When we were sailing up on the French Atlantic coast they had the best mussels they brought on board that day. Their dover sole is fabulous.

Next up is Toscana. Always had a good meal. Osso Bucco is excellent.

Third is Red Ginger. The duck and watermelon salad is great and so is the sea bass. We had one inedible dinner. I believe it was the beef short ribs. Our friends who ate there earlier ordered the same and sent it back so just a bad piece of meat so I'll give them a pass. If you want extra spice just ask.

The last is Polo. We had many a bad steak and swordfish dinner. The swordfish on multiple occasions was rubbery and the steaks tough and full of gristle. We decided to keep the reservations and order either filet mignon (hopefully medium rare if they listen to you), lamb rack or crab cakes lol. The lamb rack is good but so are the baby lamb chops at breakfast in the main dining room lol. They use to have a fabulous Iberico Pork chop but it is not on the menu anymore. The pork chop available is different and you can taste the difference. The veal chop was good as well. They say their lobster is from Maine but it sure doesn't look or taste like any Maine lobster we have eaten in New England. 

No one will go hungry and all the restaurants make for an enjoyable meal.

17 minutes ago, Ontario/AZ said:

They are electronic, sent by email.  Your account at Viking keeps them while they are valid.  We have had many vouchers and hope they are used on our bookings slated for 2022.  We will see if Sydney AU is a go in March!!

 

Hope it does but Australia has said it probably would not relax its travel restrictions until at least mid 2020.

Just now, DaveSJ711 said:

Mike is Clay’s husband. 

LOL. Thanks. I enjoy Clay's posts.

4 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

His name is Steve Rhodes and the group is “Viking River and Ocean Cruises Friends”. I am getting ready to remove Mike from the group as it really has become even more a cheer leader than some of us on here for Viking as well as a personal photo album for the moderator.  LOL.  (Says the fellow that may post too many pictures on here and for sure does on Instagram!😂)

Who is Mike? What group? So confused but nothing new for me. I knew who Steve is but not Mike.

In the past the transfers were airport to ship and ship to airport only if you used Oceania air. Also, the transfers were not included if you used Oceania air and took the deviation (i.e. came if early, stayed after cruise). Things might have changed but I doubt it. 

The poster Richard Albrecht posted this morning. This is his post:

Safe and pleasant travels to everyone.

For us - it’s peace out (until we book the next trip )"

9 minutes ago, gramfrog said:

I have a client on the Viking Orion Bermuda cruise that boarded today.

There are only 100 passengers onboard. 

How is Viking financially sustaining themselves running these cruises?

Who else is traveling to Iceland and are they having these issues?

13 minutes ago, KarNog said:

But not all the tours are 8 hours on a bus with 40 other people. Some tours are on a boat or on ATVs or hiking or walking.

But to get to some of these tours you need to go by bus. The question is how long must the "contact" be before you need to quarantine?

17 minutes ago, Bruce4fun said:

 

 

 

UPDATE: They have not been told they are not allowed on Airplane back to Reykjavik, they must take a 5 hour bus ride from Akureyri to Reykjavik, overnight in hotel, then fly home.

I cannot see how they will allow them on a plane to the USA, but not on a plane from one city in Iceland to another?

By the time they load people onto a flight from Akureyri to Reykjavik (if enough seats are available), unload luggage at airport, and load them onto buses to hotel,  would probably take longer than 5 hour bus ride. They will need a PCR test to get on the plane back to the U.S.

Both Crystal and Silversea offer low single supplements but they are high end and have higher fares to begin with. The only reason Viking is offering a no single supplement is that they can't fill their ships during these trying times. I find it very shabby that they will not honor the new offer especially since their ships are sailing only partially full and people are now cancelling due to the Delta variant.

Will Oceania provide PCR testing on board before disembarkation or is the passenger responsible to find his own?

We stayed at the Hotel Jazz and the Hotel Acta Atrium Palace. Check the location and pricing. Our first time in Barcelona we stayed at the Hotel Praktik Rambla which is a boutique hotel in a 500 year old building. We had a deluxe veranda so the room was a decent size. As much as we liked this hotel it got too expensive for what you got. We like staying in the Eixample neighborhood and make a point to not stay near the Ramblas.

I concur with the others. One hour to connect in CDG is way too tight and bordering on the impossible. Planes are flying full so if you miss the connection who knows when the airline will put you on the "next" flight out.

14 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Yeah but what has Viking said to cruisers? Other posts say Viking reps told them Viking has a “deal” with the Maltese government. Don’t know what it is, but have yet to hear anything official from Viking. There’s a cruise out of Malta tomorrow July 11 and another one July 14. Is Malta going to turn back Americans arriving July 14? I really don’t think so, but we’ll see!

Don't these cruises return to Malta as well? Are they not going to let them back?

We were on an Oceania cruise in 2012 that took in the Canaries and loved it except for Casablanca.  Lanzarote is amazing. We took a private tour with Lanzarote Experience Tours and they were great. In Agadir, a private tour to Taroudant was arranged by another cruiser and it was very nice. We didn't do anything in Agadir itself since we were out the whole day with the tour. We walked around the town in Santa Cruz de La Palma and went up to the black sand beaches. Nice town.

8 minutes ago, DaveSJ711 said:

Yes we did — it took forever! We were driving south to north, so the tunnel pullouts were all on our side. This meant we had to pull over in the tunnel and yield to every car coming our way. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

You are a brave soul. We did a 12 day road trip and decided to stay in Seydisfjordur so not to go through that tunnel south to north. Scary. Our luck had us going over the mountain in a total fog in. Couldn't even see the road until we came over on the other side on a lower elevation. The picture from the hotel is lovely.

15 minutes ago, DaveSJ711 said:

Jerry,

 

Much of the snow on the mountains will likely be gone by the time you arrive. Not so for us! I look at the surrounding peaks and wish I’d brought my skis.

 

This hotel checks all the boxes: fabulous design, great location, and views to die for. You’ll have a great time at the Sig.

 

David

Did you have to drive through the one lane tunnel?

1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Thanks for posting that.  I read a little blurb about it, but that was before I thought we might be able to "wander" in each port we visit, and I didn't note address or even name.  My spouse would probably like to visit this place. 

And if you know anything about the "old fish factory" with art exhibits in summer,  I'd like more info on that!.

We were there in the middle of June. I know nothing about the "old fish factory". It is a very small village but very quaint. We were driving the entire ring road and made a stop there. 

7 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I hope to!  I cut off the eggs on the map I printed, but I did look to see where they were (North on The eggs are off the map I printed, north on Vikurland!)  Here's the whole town.....

There is a lovely little "museum" crystal shop here. It was very interesting. If you get to wander freely you should go.

13 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Clay - Between ports they will no doubt sail far enough offshore to clear Iceland's 12 mile territorial waters. At a minimum, they will want to make FW, which requires a minimum of 12 miles from shore.

 

Therefore, most evenings between ports you should be in International Waters and free to consume any duty free you can purchase.

You can drink your duty free spirits purchased at the airport on land. No need to wait to be out in international waters. Enjoy. Wishing everyone great weather.