Twitchly

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.

9 hours ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Smithsonian Channel has a program called "Mighty Cruise Ships" and they featured the Viking Sea, the Viking Star and the Viking Gefjon.  Lots of behind-the-scenes!  

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

On 5/21/2024 at 6:12 PM, SJD117 said:

 

We'll be there on our own next month! Spending three days on Shetland and five on Orkney, plus a couple of weeks touring around the Highlands.

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.

On 5/13/2024 at 11:49 AM, janetcbl said:

Exactly how we handle it! No lost luggage and black pants go with anything.

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. 

On 5/9/2024 at 10:31 AM, cruising denise said:

We're both working on removing those pounds that somehow glommed themselves onto our bodies during our nearly 4 months onboard

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

13 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

BTW—there was no charge to me for the meds and service I received when quarantined.

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! 

On 4/29/2024 at 3:42 PM, OnTheJourney said:

I love it! Yes, I'd gladly hang out with both of you. You did Viking ocean if I recall correctly?

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. 

4 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

80 cruises, though, is really not that big a deal around CC the way it seems. I suspect many have done way more.

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! 

8 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We toured The Alhambra with Viking and here are a few things to be aware of.

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.

6 hours ago, SJD117 said:

 

The Viking experience could be worse --  a lot worse. (Paywall alert, but it's worth signing up for a trial to read the author's account.)

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-icon-of-seas/677838/

 

 

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

On 4/18/2024 at 8:45 PM, deec said:

what an absolutely wonderful extension and your descriptions brought it alive!!!

Hoping our Gin, Gardens and Grand Homes extension is as wonderful.

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

On 4/20/2024 at 10:49 AM, deec said:

Wait until you get home after 4 glorious months having to think of nothing but how to experience our beautiful world and what to eat and drink!

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

10 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We are in Gorée Island & Dakar! Much to my surprise given it’s been removed from most (all?) itineraries over the last few years. 

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.

4 hours ago, Astromaid said:

Clay, I have seen you playing a game of LRC and needing 3 one dollar bills. There is a whole discussion on Carnival about some one reporting this game being played on a Carnival ship and the participants have fists full of dollars. Illegal on Carnival and security shut them down. Must be that Viking is OK with the game. 

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

5 hours ago, TravelerTeacherRetired said:

Sam, I don’t know either. I have an iPhone 15 but if the 110 plug is fine , we should be fine. 

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.

2 hours ago, TravelerTeacherRetired said:

Standard converter? You mean the one that I have with the phone already? Sorry I’m not a tech person. Good idea on the back up power. Thanks 

 

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. 

3 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Guess what?  It was still there at the bottom on this voyage !

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... 

On 4/6/2024 at 5:10 AM, CDNPolar said:

If you want to see the main site that you are there to see you have to be ready to move yourself through the crowd elbow to elbow to get to the front.  If you are shy or not aggressive enough you will not see what you are there to see.

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

On 4/1/2024 at 9:20 PM, LindaS272 said:

Just had to click on this story today on CNN since it involved a cruise ship off Africa. So it could be worse than not making it through the Suez Canal!

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/norwegian-cruise-passengers-stranded-africa/index.html

 

 

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.)