A Canadian news station is livestreaming the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV2LUj9FFe4

1 hour ago, RMLincoln said:

Will we ever hear what repercussions might befall the captain, if any?  I have not heard the captain's name, tried looking for it but maybe they are not giving that out yet to public, although I would think passengers would all have it, it has not been mentioned in the news briefs I have read.   

The Sky's captain is Bengt-Owe Gustafsson.  His picture appears in the blog entry for Corey Sandler, who was a passenger and lecturer (?) on the trip.  

http://sky.coreysandler.com/  scroll down to the entry

23-24 March 2019: A Night to Remember in Hustadvika

I've done 10 cruises (mainly RC and Princess) and nine trips with Road Scholar. Next March I'm sailing for the first time on HAL (Rotterdam) with Road Scholar. I'm in my late 50s so I'm always one of the younger people on RS trips, but I don't mind. I've met some amazing people on those trips and I'm looking forward to my first HAL cruise. I understand the entertainment won't be close to what I experienced on Allure last month but that's fine, especially since RS will provide lectures on the ports, as they did on the Princess cruise I took with them (Pacific coast wine country).

Your upcoming HAL trip sounds intriguing. Does Road Scholar charter the whole ship or is it just a very small group? If your group has lectures using the ship's spaces, are they open for others to drop in and listen in on?

What is the focus of that particular sailing?

The Veendam has a very unique Club Hal area for teens. It is a two story space at the ship's aft called the Oasis.

It takes up space on deck 12 and 13 and has a tropical feel to it's outdoor space. They even have their own little splash pool. Google is your friend for photos of it. I've walked through it, and it looks appealing me to me. I think teens would enjoy having their private space to relax and make new friends.

;)The souvenir industry in Mexico for the most part is owned by the same company. Product is shipped from a central area. Prices are set by the company, vendors are employed by the co. This is why wherever you go you begin to notice it all looks alike. Yes there are a few exception, these people have been grandfathered in and are allowed to compete with the Co. This is the same in the caribbean and various countries.:confused:

What company is that? I want to avoid them! When I travel I want to experience the local culture.

I do actually like to shop from the beach vendors in Mexico. I find them very convenient. That said, I'm willing to travel for something unique, like the aforementioned Huichol art.

Gosh, I don't remember ever having visited the place, so how did this user get a photo of my girlfriend and I before our cruise?

Another vote for "no", don't buy.

The only times we've had a beverage package have been during a promotion. We've never thought it a good deal. Many of our favourite wines are excluded from the package.

IMO, if you drink highballs, you're better off than if you're a wine drinker.

We do this often with family. We get a room at the Embassy Suites 17th Street. There is a hot breakfast waiting for us if we so desire. There is a pleasant pool that the kids can have a good swim in before or after a nap.

The room is divided so that that someone could take a nap while others watch TV or otherwise use the living room. There are lots of taxis available from the property when it's time for your departure.

I always try to attend the Staff Mystery Box cook-off events when they offer them - lots of fun, and enjoy getting to know the staffers at another level.

What is the Staff Mystery Box cook-off? Sounds intriguing.

I'm not doing that specific cruise, but the Feb. 21 cruise (15 day Grand Mediterraen) that also includes a stop in Tunisia. I did notice that Viking does not have any scheduled stops into Tunisia until December of this year, so I will be anxiously awaiting more information about whether or not the ship goes there in December.

Our trip includes two stops in North Africa, which is why we chose it in the first place. The other stop after Tunisia is Algeria.

Are you doing the 8 day segment or the 15 day segment?

I'm curious if the Viking Star will make the scheduled stop in Tunisia.

It's absolutely true that Costco will have liquor prices cheaper than almost anywhere, however, they do have a pretty limited selection and a lot of the bottles are the 1.75 litre size which I don't think you're allowed to bring into Canada.

The other thing I've noticed with the Costco liquors, is that now they are phasing out some of the premium brands and bringing in Kirkland brand rum, vodka, tequila etc. So if you have your heart set on a certain brand, you're unlikely to find it there.

If you watch this video:

http://www.avidcruiser.com/2015/05/06/viking-star-day-5-avid-cruisers-viking-star-video-review/

you get a look at one of the regular verandah rooms at 3:30 in the video.

> snip. I was told about it on another site and decided to check it out.

Since I love the cruising websites, can you tell us which one it was?

If you look at Halfacts.com you can see an image of one of the inside K rooms on Deck 8.

http://halfacts.com/232-prinsendam/

If you go to the Holland America site and look at the deck plans for the other decks were there are insides, you will see a photo of the layout of all the other inside K rooms. The layout shows that there would not be room to put these two beds together.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/main/DeckPlansFull.action?ship=pr_2&deck=d&deep=0

Doesn't HAL offer some kind of a program where you sign up, they try and match single travelers together, then if they don't get a match for you, you get the room at the double occupancy rate? Or am I thinking of a different cruise line?

The inside K cabins on Deck 8 have beds that can be make as one larger bed. There are only 4 of them.

All the other K cabins have single beds that cannot be made into a queen bed. Aft Deck 8 was an add-on to the Prisendam. You can tell on the deck plans because all these aft cabins state that they don't have a walk-in closet.

Al & Martha Stasi, Grand Mediterranean Tour, 20 Feb 2016

Hi Al and Martha,

Our cruise roll call is here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=46605868#post46605868

Yes, the change to me seems unwarranted. More cruising may be good, but why pass up the chance to see this magnificient historical hospice? I just don't see the benefit to the 2016 change.

Take a look at the weather high/low charts for where you are going. That will give you an idea of what to expect. There may be crowds depending on where you go in August, if say it is the beach or the place may be deserted, if it is a city where locals are escaping from. It depends. You'll still have a great trip whenever you decide to go. Careful planning and preparation makes it so!

We did Scenic last summer Nuremberg to Budapest. Traveled with our friends who added the Scenic three day Prague extension on at the beginning of the trip. When they told us they were adding the extension on, we considered it as well, until we saw the price. We ended up doing our own three day add-on for considerably less.

Booked airfare ourselves. Our friends on the Scenic extension stayed at the Prague Marriott. We booked ourselves into a Prague Barcelo for about 1/3 of the cost of the Marriott. Both hotels had included breakfasts. The Scenic extension included all of one Prague walking tour the whole time plus a transfer to the ship. No other meals or activites were included with the Prague extension. We joined them for daytime walks, had dinner together and booked our evening activities and concerts together because the Scenic extension really didn't include a lot.

Yes, we had to arrange our own transfer to the ship, but that slight hassle was worth it to us. We had the same experience as our friends but just slept in a different hotel.

Since you are leaving from Budapest, I'm not sure why your pre-excursion stay would be in Prague. Seems like a long way from Budapest. We had a three hour car ride from Prague to Nuremberg, so I don't know how Scenic plans to get pax to Budapest. Transfer aside, the pre- and post-extensions are easy to do on your own. Plus the extra time at the beginning helped us get over our jet lag!

A balcony is so not necessary on a river cruise. They are so port intensive that you will just have little to no time to just sit there and enjoy it. There are lots of other wonderful places to sit and enjoy the scenery (included in cruise fare) when you do have the time to do so.

I have some questions regarding the inclusive port tours. So far, from reading the comments here, I've ascertained that they're quite large, go multiple times daily, are poorly organized, and of questionable value.

But what I'm curious about is if passengers know ahead of time if the tour is exclusively a walking tour or a coach tour?

Are you showing up for a what you think is a port walking tour and then being escorted onto a bus?

Is detailed information about the tour given to you ahead of time or are you just getting info from the little blurb on the website?

Do you know before the included tour starts if it is to be say one hour vs. four hours?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, the ship itself is getting stellar reviews in the press. However, what is more telling is how the inaugural cruise passengars are being treated and communicated to (or not) on this maiden voyage.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2210313

I've booked a cruise on the Star for 2016 so I'm watching this with interest.

Lattelady,

Please do let us know what you hear from Viking on the matter.

In many of the river cruise lines' marketing materials they emphasize the walk-on, walk-off ease of their docking locations related to town centers. I suspect that alone attracts a lot of interest from former ocean cruisers.