Pam

It has been a while, but I was able to get Coke Zero onboard.

This has absolutely nothing to do with your cruise (which I thoroughly reading about), but my youngest gradddaughter is in her fourth year at Savannah School of Art and Design; she would have graduated this year but asked and received permission to pick up a minor in Doll Design. My theory is if they want to learn, go for it. She loves it there.

My friends had to pay 14 months in advance, and after that if they approached Viking about anything like an upgrade or a program that Viking had just announced, they were met with a stone wall and "no'. Others on their roll call were talking about getting free upgrades, while my friends were willing to pay. Strange.

No, the opposite. They were paid using nonrefundable, and Viking has changed them to using refundable.

Did I say that? I said it was a red flag. I wouldn't go on Viking based on several reasons, but that wasn't one of them.

I have never cruised Viking although a good friend did. I got caught up in both 'live from' threads from the world cruisers; i was amazed that Viking had enough passengers to fill two WC ships, then saw that one wasn't totally all WC'ers. Now they are having the same problem all cruise lines are having with the Red Sea area unrest. But I am reading on both those threads that Viking HQ is changing tours that were paid for with nonrefundable OBC, over to saying they were paid for with refundable OBC and the people are getting very little if any cooperation in their protests. That is a red flag for anybody reading along on several cruiselines' WC threads. Or, that is my opinion.

Leopard Hills is a fantastic place to stay! We did direct land safari trips with a group of friends twice; we stayed at Singita Boulders and Ebony the first time (filled both resorts), Leopard Hills and Madwike the second (which was our least favorite because at Madwike you couldn't go off road). We were booked for a third trip but my husband passed away rather suddenly. S. Africa was his dream trip and I think he would have returned again and again.

This has been very interesting, thank you. I have been on all of the older RSSC ships, some several times, but haven't been on the three new ones so I am going off a fairly old memory. Did your wife ask the maitre d or the head waiter directly if she could have over the next few nights her steamed veggies with no salt? I have seen Regent do some amazing things with 24 hour notice, and can't imagine steaming some veggies and not salting them would be beyond their grasp.

Absolutely! I missed the War Rooms but my daughter and son-in-law went; she said she could spend countless hours there with no problem.

London is fascinating! Don't miss Westminster Abbey, that can consume as many hours as you are willing to spend there. The HOHO bus gives you a good overview.

I am so jealous of all of you traveling to my favorite places! If you can, book a tour that includes Clava Cairns, then as you pass through the gate see if you also suddenly sense a feeling of total calm. Also if you tour Culloden, sense the intense grief that still lingers in the air. I've been to both twice, and felt the different 'spirits' both times. And I'm not one who senses stuff like that usually.

There would be a fee every time you used a machine like that (I used one on Azamara); you might reconsider and use the gift idea Dave suggested.

Which I guess means I have to toddle over to the Celebrity forum to check out the mayhem. (I love Regent)

Many years ago we did a cruise down the California coast and parts of Mexico; we sailed out of the port where Queen Elizabeth is docked. While boarding the ship, we sat and watched dozens of people being wheeled up the gangway, seemingly one at a time. A porter would take one up, then come back with the wheelchair and pick up another one. It turned out we had stumbled on an anniversary cruise of Mariner's maiden voyage and these people were reuniting for a cruise; we had sailed on part of her maiden itinerary so we mistakenly got the t-shirts and a couple of other things, but we weren't invited to any of the gatherings. All to say, it looked like the wheelchairs were owned by the Port Authority. There were a few incidents of near fist fights on who had the next turn. =

The fishermen haven't been allowed to harvest the Alaskan King Crab at all during the last few years; I don't think they have been able to give a date when the ban will be lifted.

I also agree with the WhatsApp being faster than the ship's internet; I was on an Azamara cruise in the area of Brussels, Copenhagen, etc., and the internet was abysmal; the WhatsApp worked perfectly.

We had the Seven Seas Aft suite on Mariner's first Alaskan itinerary (along with ChatCat, but we didn't know her at the time). We also did basically what you are doing later on; had booked the same suite but there was a double upgrade fluke that put us in a Grand Suite at the front of the ship. That was some kind of anniversary cruise, we got a t-shirt but if there were activities we weren't included.

Did anyone on the previous segment interact with John Barron? He is usually out and about when he is on as Cruise Director, and I thought their contracts lasted longer. He didn't seem to be onboard as long as usual. When he was with Regent, everybody loved him.