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Heartening to hear the beds may have improved. I didn’t find them painful exactly, but we both felt achey after sleeping on them. I remember the relief when we slept in our hotel in Bergen afterward. Requesting a topper ahead of time sounds like a great idea. You can always remove it if it’s not needed after all. We will definitely do this next time.

Good to know, thanks! We don’t have cable; I’ll see if I can find it on the internet somewhere.

Ooooh, lucky you! I’d love to hear more about this. We missed Shetland due to weather but loved Orkney. I’d love to have more time in both places. I did rail travel around the Highlands many years ago. Would love to spend more time there, too.

I would love to watch a documentary about the behind-the-scenes life on a Viking Ocean ship.

Interesting thread. We skew a bit younger than average on Viking Ocean with several possible decades ahead of us (God willing), but I would loathe a rock ‘n roll show. We like Viking because it’s not the glitz ‘n party experience of so many other cruise lines. If the newly public Viking does decide to go that route, I sincerely hope it’s easy to avoid without having to hide in one’s stateroom. That said, we quickly decided the evening shows of covers and show tunes weren’t for us, either. Loved the local musicians when they came aboard on a couple of stops, but aside from those we stayed out of the theater. And I’d have to say we weren’t wowed by the performers scattered around the ship on our last cruise. The guitarist in the Explorer Lounge (playing the inevitable James Taylor and Jim Croce covers) was indeed too loud, and the classical duo in the Living Room was just plain bad. As in, wrong-notes-and-screechy-violin bad. I don’t recall the music being this amateurish previously. Which is a shame, because I’d enjoy some competent classical music or some lovely jazz piano or acoustic guitar, especially at a more moderate (background) volume. Barring that, I’m fine with silence. I actually like silence in public spaces and frankly miss it these days. But I know I’m in a small and vanishing minority there.

Less to schlep around if you do any traveling pre- or post-cruise, too, which is mainly why we go this route. If we were just going straight to the ship and then straight home, I’d probably be more likely to check a bag. But we never do that.

It’s horrifying to imagine how much weight I could gain after four months on a Viking ship.

I was not charged for the Tylenol the nurse gave me when I sprained my knee. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t allow me to have more than 6 Tylenol total. Since the ship’s store had none in stock, I gritted my teeth for a few days and did without until my husband was able to find some onshore. Moral of the story: bring whatever you think you might need.

These days we just take carryons. If you don’t mind wearing the same few outfits for a couple weeks, it’s not that hard to do. On our last cruise I didn’t bother to bring jeans — just a couple pairs of black pants I could wear on excursions and in the no-jeans dining venues. Our carryons were adequate for our 3-week trip (we spent an extra week onshore beforehand). The biggest tradeoff is having to do laundry more often when you have fewer clothes. We packed enough to go a week between laundering, which meant washing underthings in the sink or shower in between times. Or you could pay a bit extra and have Viking do your laundry.

This is a fascinating thread. I spent much of my career as a contractor/consultant. I never worked in a situation where the entire staff was made up of contractors. Is that the case on a Viking ship? I would be surprised if there were’t at least some number of actual Viking employees on a ship in order to ensure that Viking’s cultural and quality standards are met. While I’ve seen contractors take on those duties to some extent, I’ve never seen a company hand them over completely to outside staffing.

Thanks for bringing us along virtually with you. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. What a wonderful adventure!

Likewise! Our last cruise (on Viking) was to Britain in 2022. We tend to do more land trips (the Holy Land and Jordan last spring; Nova Scotia and PEI this June) but enjoy both.

Note to anyone who feels like they’re losing this competition: hang out with us. We’ve taken a total of 3 cruises. You’ll feel great about yourself!

A footnote to your excellent list: there’s a considerable amount of walking on uneven surfaces. Nothing like what we encountered on our (non-Viking) trip to the Holy Land, but we had a couple people who couldn’t do it. They spent some time in a garden area instead, as I recall. Our guides were terrific (we had a separate guide for the long bus trip, and she was interesting), and I highly recommend the excursion. But oh, the crowds. Finally, I recommend Washington Irving’s “Tales of the Alhambra” for a glimpse into what it was like a couple hundred years ago. On my bucket list: to stay overnight at the hotel inside the Alhambra and see the place when the mobs are gone.

Thanks for that. I will never again see those tubular water slides without thinking of a colonoscopy.

I really want to hear about yours. It sold out very quickly for our ‘22 cruise, so I’d love to live vicariously!

I can’t imagine. I get whiney doing dishes again after just 2 weeks.

I’ll be curious to hear what you think of Gorée. I was there many years ago and found it fascinating. It was nearly empty at the time. No idea what it’s like now.

Probably because Carnival sees it as competition to their casinos. Which thankfully don’t exist on Viking.

That’s the bottom line. You don’t really need to deal with USB-A or USB-C outlets on Viking if you don’t want to. You can just plug your phone in as you do now. Hotels overseas are another story. That’s where you might want to bone up on those USB options. And bring a country-friendly plug adapter. You can check with your hotel to see what kinds of USB outlets they have, if any.

Yes, you can bring your usual phone plug. It will work on the ship.

We found the beds to be too hard, and we like a firm mattress. Wish we had known to ask for a topper or two.

How lovely! A part of you is always cruising with Viking. On the other hand, that makes me wonder about the cleanliness of the pool...

This echoes my experience in Asia. Lines are not a thing.

Gack. What a mess. Reading things like this makes me realize my days of traveling for enjoyment in countries with crappy health care are over. (No insult intended to the places mentioned in this article, which may have sterling hospitals for all I know. Long ago when I lived in Africa, such was not the case.)