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Batchy65
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Hello, new to all of this. I am celebrating my honeymoon on the Viking Sea in February on the West Indies Explorer cruise, if anybody has previously been on this cruise and has any recommendations for the onshore excursions I would be interested to find out. Also if anybody has any general recommendations as this is our first time on a Viking Ocean cruise.

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I haven't been on the West Indies cruise, but HAVE been to most of those ports on another cruise line. This is just one person's opinion, but based on a quick glance at what Viking's offering, here are my thoughts:

 

San Juan - We did a short trip to the rain forest (driven by a friend) but weren't overwhelmed by it. I love San Juan, though - very colorful.

 

Tortola - We stopped in Virgin Gorda on our cruise, so I don't know how long the boat ride is from Tortola. However, I found the Baths themselves to be pretty interesting and different. Thumbs up, although there is definitely some effort involved in going through them.

 

Barbados - Didn't know what to expect, but we rented a car and drove around much of the shoreline on the island. It was a very enjoyable day - Barbados is very pretty.

 

Antigua has a good amount of things to do and see. I loved the view from Shirley Heights.

 

St. Lucia was nice, although really the Piton mountains are about the only unusual thing about St. Lucia in my opinion. However, I see Viking is offering a helmet dive. We did that in Tahiti and found it quite fun, fairly easy, and rather unique - and not scary. I don't know how much there is to see underwater around St. Lucia, though, so I'd probably want to know a little more before I took that excursion. Also, some people are a little afraid of that type of excursion. We loved it, though.

 

Haven't been to Guadelupe (spelling?).

 

If you want to take a filled-up optional excursion, just keep checking back with the destination folks next to the Guest Services area. Things DO change.

 

I think you'll love Viking, as long as you don't crave fancy entertainment, non-stop activities, casinos, and a younger crowd. They do and have a lot of little things that are unusual - things as small as having a doorbell and night light to larger things like giving everyone free internet and access to computers/printers. You may need patience for shore excursions - especially the included ones. Because excursions are free or relatively inexpensive, and because many Viking passengers aren't used to arranging their own private excursions, the number of people going on excursions tends to be high compared to other cruise lines we've used. And if you're used to a river cruise, well, just be patient and leave more time for things than usual. But overall, they do an excellent job, with great service and food, and knowledgeable and friendly staff. I always advise taking a lanyard of sorts for your keycard. You'll be pulling that thing out a lot and I find a lanyard (but don't punch key card) lets me avoid fumbling around for my card all the time. Also, if you have questions, just go to or call the Guest Services folks on deck 1 by the computers. They are very knowledgeable. And explore the TV in your room - lots of stuff there. Make your Manfredi and Chef's Table reservations as soon as you can, especially if you don't like dining late. Don't forget to check out World Cafe (where they make up some food for you - not just buffet with food under lamps) and Mamsen's and the coffee and nibbles at the Viking Bar. Go to the free spa area, explore the lesser-visited areas of the ship up top - plenty of quiet spaces. Use the cool desk in your room - handy cubby holes. Enjoy the beautiful bathroom with drawers. Bring a beach bag. If you forget suntan lotion, Tylenol, etc., you can buy those in one of the stores - but not while the ship is in port, when they must close. Medical center is open 24/7, though, in case you need aspirin.

Edited by roothy123
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Hello, new to all of this. I am celebrating my honeymoon on the Viking Sea in February on the West Indies Explorer cruise, if anybody has previously been on this cruise and has any recommendations for the onshore excursions I would be interested to find out. Also if anybody has any general recommendations as this is our first time on a Viking Ocean cruise.

 

You can find more general information about the various ports you will be visiting in the Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic and on Trip Advisor. Ports of Call are not cruise line specific and they focus on the ports not the cruise lines. If you have a Viking specific question ask it here in this forum but if your question is all about the port itself then ask in Ports of Call (where the audience is bigger).

 

You can meet and chat with other people who will be sailing with you in February on the Roll Call for your cruise. Here is the link for Viking Sea roll calls. Once there, look for your sail date to find your roll call. Click to open the thread and read it. Don't for get to take a moment to introduce your self (just click on the button that says "Post Reply"). You may also find it helpful to read other roll calls for your itinerary.

 

Viking hosts a Meet & Mingle party for members of Cruise Critic. Advanced sign-up is required as the information for the party will not be announced in the cruise dailies but will come in the form of an invitation left in your cabin. Use this link to sign up.

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I haven't been on the West Indies cruise, but HAVE been to most of those ports on another cruise line. This is just one person's opinion, but based on a quick glance at what Viking's offering, here are my thoughts:

 

San Juan - We did a short trip to the rain forest (driven by a friend) but weren't overwhelmed by it. I love San Juan, though - very colorful.

 

Tortola - We stopped in Virgin Gorda on our cruise, so I don't know how long the boat ride is from Tortola. However, I found the Baths themselves to be pretty interesting and different. Thumbs up, although there is definitely some effort involved in going through them.

 

Barbados - Didn't know what to expect, but we rented a car and drove around much of the shoreline on the island. It was a very enjoyable day - Barbados is very pretty.

 

Antigua has a good amount of things to do and see. I loved the view from Shirley Heights.

 

St. Lucia was nice, although really the Piton mountains are about the only unusual thing about St. Lucia in my opinion. However, I see Viking is offering a helmet dive. We did that in Tahiti and found it quite fun, fairly easy, and rather unique - and not scary. I don't know how much there is to see underwater around St. Lucia, though, so I'd probably want to know a little more before I took that excursion. Also, some people are a little afraid of that type of excursion. We loved it, though.

 

Haven't been to Guadelupe (spelling?).

 

If you want to take a filled-up optional excursion, just keep checking back with the destination folks next to the Guest Services area. Things DO change.

 

I think you'll love Viking, as long as you don't crave fancy entertainment, non-stop activities, casinos, and a younger crowd. They do and have a lot of little things that are unusual - things as small as having a doorbell and night light to larger things like giving everyone free internet and access to computers/printers. You may need patience for shore excursions - especially the included ones. Because excursions are free or relatively inexpensive, and because many Viking passengers aren't used to arranging their own private excursions, the number of people going on excursions tends to be high compared to other cruise lines we've used. And if you're used to a river cruise, well, just be patient and leave more time for things than usual. But overall, they do an excellent job, with great service and food, and knowledgeable and friendly staff. I always advise taking a lanyard of sorts for your keycard. You'll be pulling that thing out a lot and I find a lanyard (but don't punch key card) lets me avoid fumbling around for my card all the time. Also, if you have questions, just go to or call the Guest Services folks on deck 1 by the computers. They are very knowledgeable. And explore the TV in your room - lots of stuff there. Make your Manfredi and Chef's Table reservations as soon as you can, especially if you don't like dining late. Don't forget to check out World Cafe (where they make up some food for you - not just buffet with food under lamps) and Mamsen's and the coffee and nibbles at the Viking Bar. Go to the free spa area, explore the lesser-visited areas of the ship up top - plenty of quiet spaces. Use the cool desk in your room - handy cubby holes. Enjoy the beautiful bathroom with drawers. Bring a beach bag. If you forget suntan lotion, Tylenol, etc., you can buy those in one of the stores - but not while the ship is in port, when they must close. Medical center is open 24/7, though, in case you need aspirin.

 

Thank you for the detailed response, that certainly gives us something to work with.

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You can find more general information about the various ports you will be visiting in the Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic and on Trip Advisor. Ports of Call are not cruise line specific and they focus on the ports not the cruise lines. If you have a Viking specific question ask it here in this forum but if your question is all about the port itself then ask in Ports of Call (where the audience is bigger).

 

You can meet and chat with other people who will be sailing with you in February on the Roll Call for your cruise. Here is the link for Viking Sea roll calls. Once there, look for your sail date to find your roll call. Click to open the thread and read it. Don't for get to take a moment to introduce your self (just click on the button that says "Post Reply"). You may also find it helpful to read other roll calls for your itinerary.

 

Viking hosts a Meet & Mingle party for members of Cruise Critic. Advanced sign-up is required as the information for the party will not be announced in the cruise dailies but will come in the form of an invitation left in your cabin. Use this link to sign up.

 

Thank you for the response. The meet and mingle information is especially useful, I didn't know that.

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We are doing this itinerary in March and I’ve been looking forward to it. I have been adding excursions to my wishlist on the My Viking Journey section of their website. You have to sign up for it and put your booking number in to get your specific cruise to show, then there is a wealth of information on the ship and on the ports.

 

We wanted to do the Viking optional horseback ride in El Yunque, but the rainforest was badly damaged in the hurricane. We will probably just do the San Juan walking tour and visit the forts for the spectacular views.

 

The one thing we really wanted to do was the Sugar Cane Train in St Kitts, but for some reason even they can’t seem to explain, there are no excursions at all listed on the My Viking Journey site for that port - only that port. St Kitts had very little storm damage so I don’t know what’s up. They said they would look into it and get back to me.

 

A number of other things we wanted to do were impacted by the storm. I have been to St Thomas before and so I’d hoped to go over to St John because I’d heard it was beautiful, but they had a lot of hurricane damage. Keeping my fingers crossed for March. The other thing I wanted to do - that I didn’t get to do the last time I was in St Thomas - is the Sky ride to the top of Paradise Point. Unfortunately the Sky Ride cable car system was a victim of the storm. I have heard that you can take a cab up there for the view, though.

 

I’ll just play this by ear. Maybe we will go to Megan’s Bay or one of the other beaches and then walk around Charlotte Amalie. Normally, we would do a mix of ship excursions and exploring on our own, but with the islands that were hit by one or both of the hurricanes I think we will stick with ship excursions. Without knowing how roads were impacted, I wouldn’t want to take a chance and miss the ship [emoji33]

 

I was also looking forward to going to the bar by Maho Beach - I think it’s the Sunset Bar - and watching the planes come in. Hadn’t planned on standing on the beach while they fly overhead [emoji16]. I would love to, but I’ve heard it’s quite dangerous. Unfortunately Maho Beach washed out to sea and the bar was badly damaged. The sand will come back and the bar will rebuild, but I don’t know if that will happen by March.

 

On our Tortola stop, I wanted to take the ferry to Jost Van Dyke and visit the famous Soggy Dollar Bar. The Bar was another casualty of either Irma or Maria, but I have heard that they are open again. Keeping my fingers crossed on that!

 

For the other ports, I’d mostly planned that we’d do a mix of included and optional excursions. They are all new to us and I’m mostly interested in beaches and beautiful tropical scenery. We will probably do a catamaran sail here or there I was thinking of getting one of those full face snorkel masks and trying it out. I’ve always wanted to snorkel but I can’t get the hang of the regular gear.

 

I don’t know if that helps any. I haven’t been to most of the ports and the ones I have got hit by the hurricanes. The ports I haven’t been to yet, were not affected so that’s good. I’m mostly looking forward to a relaxing trip. When I’m in the Caribbean it’s mostly about taking in the gorgeous scenery.

 

We are doing the Grand European Tour next September on Viking River Cruises and that will be intense and activity filled. In March I just want a warm tropical breeze and a fruity drink [emoji484]

 

Enjoy your cruise and your honeymoon (congratulations!) and please let us know what you do.

 

 

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I think you'll love Viking, as long as you don't crave fancy entertainment, non-stop activities, casinos, and a younger crowd. They do and have a lot of little things that are unusual - things as small as having a doorbell and night light to larger things like giving everyone free internet and access to computers/printers. You may need patience for shore excursions - especially the included ones. Because excursions are free or relatively inexpensive, and because many Viking passengers aren't used to arranging their own private excursions, the number of people going on excursions tends to be high compared to other cruise lines we've used. And if you're used to a river cruise, well, just be patient and leave more time for things than usual. But overall, they do an excellent job, with great service and food, and knowledgeable and friendly staff. I always advise taking a lanyard of sorts for your keycard. You'll be pulling that thing out a lot and I find a lanyard (but don't punch key card) lets me avoid fumbling around for my card all the time. Also, if you have questions, just go to or call the Guest Services folks on deck 1 by the computers. They are very knowledgeable. And explore the TV in your room - lots of stuff there. Make your Manfredi and Chef's Table reservations as soon as you can, especially if you don't like dining late. Don't forget to check out World Cafe (where they make up some food for you - not just buffet with food under lamps) and Mamsen's and the coffee and nibbles at the Viking Bar. Go to the free spa area, explore the lesser-visited areas of the ship up top - plenty of quiet spaces. Use the cool desk in your room - handy cubby holes. Enjoy the beautiful bathroom with drawers. Bring a beach bag. If you forget suntan lotion, Tylenol, etc., you can buy those in one of the stores - but not while the ship is in port, when they must close. Medical center is open 24/7, though, in case you need aspirin.

 

 

A doorbell? Seriously? I hadn’t heard that. Very cool [emoji41]

 

Will they or can they punch a hole in the key card? My lanyard works best with the hole because the bottom bit detaches. I have one with a clear pouch but it’s kind of a pain. On the river cruise I didn’t need it because we just gave the room number, and with only 190 passengers they often just remembered.

 

I wondered how it worked for the 930 passengers on the Ocean version [emoji2]

 

We have done helmet diving in Bermuda. So much fun. We were checking that out, but I think Hartleys (the Bermuda company) has us spoiled. Greg, the owner, is a real character [emoji7]

 

So looking forward to this cruise. It will be our first time heading to the Caribbean in the winter!

 

 

 

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We are doing this itinerary in March and I’ve been looking forward to it. I have been adding excursions to my wishlist on the My Viking Journey section of their website. You have to sign up for it and put your booking number in to get your specific cruise to show, then there is a wealth of information on the ship and on the ports.

 

We wanted to do the Viking optional horseback ride in El Yunque, but the rainforest was badly damaged in the hurricane. We will probably just do the San Juan walking tour and visit the forts for the spectacular views.

 

The one thing we really wanted to do was the Sugar Cane Train in St Kitts, but for some reason even they can’t seem to explain, there are no excursions at all listed on the My Viking Journey site for that port - only that port. St Kitts had very little storm damage so I don’t know what’s up. They said they would look into it and get back to me.

 

A number of other things we wanted to do were impacted by the storm. I have been to St Thomas before and so I’d hoped to go over to St John because I’d heard it was beautiful, but they had a lot of hurricane damage. Keeping my fingers crossed for March. The other thing I wanted to do - that I didn’t get to do the last time I was in St Thomas - is the Sky ride to the top of Paradise Point. Unfortunately the Sky Ride cable car system was a victim of the storm. I have heard that you can take a cab up there for the view, though.

 

I’ll just play this by ear. Maybe we will go to Megan’s Bay or one of the other beaches and then walk around Charlotte Amalie. Normally, we would do a mix of ship excursions and exploring on our own, but with the islands that were hit by one or both of the hurricanes I think we will stick with ship excursions. Without knowing how roads were impacted, I wouldn’t want to take a chance and miss the ship [emoji33]

 

I was also looking forward to going to the bar by Maho Beach - I think it’s the Sunset Bar - and watching the planes come in. Hadn’t planned on standing on the beach while they fly overhead [emoji16]. I would love to, but I’ve heard it’s quite dangerous. Unfortunately Maho Beach washed out to sea and the bar was badly damaged. The sand will come back and the bar will rebuild, but I don’t know if that will happen by March.

 

On our Tortola stop, I wanted to take the ferry to Jost Van Dyke and visit the famous Soggy Dollar Bar. The Bar was another casualty of either Irma or Maria, but I have heard that they are open again. Keeping my fingers crossed on that!

 

For the other ports, I’d mostly planned that we’d do a mix of included and optional excursions. They are all new to us and I’m mostly interested in beaches and beautiful tropical scenery. We will probably do a catamaran sail here or there I was thinking of getting one of those full face snorkel masks and trying it out. I’ve always wanted to snorkel but I can’t get the hang of the regular gear.

 

I don’t know if that helps any. I haven’t been to most of the ports and the ones I have got hit by the hurricanes. The ports I haven’t been to yet, were not affected so that’s good. I’m mostly looking forward to a relaxing trip. When I’m in the Caribbean it’s mostly about taking in the gorgeous scenery.

 

We are doing the Grand European Tour next September on Viking River Cruises and that will be intense and activity filled. In March I just want a warm tropical breeze and a fruity drink [emoji484]

 

Enjoy your cruise and your honeymoon (congratulations!) and please let us know what you do.

 

 

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Cyber Kat,

 

We were on the Viking Sea's repositioning cruise (NYC, Bermuda and the West Indies) in October. It was moving the ship to San Juan for it's current Eastern Caribbean cruise season. As such, we were the first of the Viking cruises to encounter the hurricane devastation in that area. You are correct about St Kitts not receiving much damage and we had no problems taking the Sugarcane Train excursion as Viking optional tour.

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I think I did the train tour in St. Kitts, but I may be thinking about another island. I remember we rented a car in St. Kitts so perhaps we took the train elsewhere - maybe St. Thomas? In any case, I never tried to do the Sky ride in Tortola (I think?) but I think you can probably easily get to the mountain top via tourist train or other means (driving). I assume Viking is just a little late in posting St. Kitts excursions. With all that apparent damage to some islands, they probably had a lot to re-evaluate & change when it came to excursions. A lot of people love St. Thomas, and I did find it beautiful, but honestly, it was not my favorite port - so crowded with tourists. On our second visit there, I took the ferry over to St. John (Saint John?). I would guess most things would be OK by February or March, but who knows? Of course, I'm a photographer, so I always find things to do and photograph - or if nothing else is available, it doesn't kill me to lie on a nice beach! There are plenty of them, although St. Lucia didn't seem to have any that were easily accessible.

 

Be aware that Tortola has two different places where ships dock. That probably won't affect anybody much, but we had rented a motorcycle or scooter there, and we had to call the vendor and let him know our dock had changed. Generally, though, the vendors monitor such things, so it's not a problem. But I only mention that to point out that sometimes on ocean cruises you have to be a little flexible in making your plans - stuff can change and port assignments are not up to the cruise lines. Perhaps that's one reason some people always stick to ship excursions. The ship won't leave without you if you're late on an excursion. On your own, they might, as they DO have tides, distances, port schedules and weather to worry about. Normally you'll need to be back on board a half hour before sail time. Also, you'll probably need to meet in the theater or lounge or whatever a little before the posted excursion time. But the daily paper will tell you all this. Viking was great when it came to communication, and I found their port talks to be excellent. You can find those on the TV if you can't go in person. They normally had them in rather bad times for my schedule - 5 or 6 PM. However, I have not done the West Indies cruise, so it may be different for that one.

 

I hated reading about the damage to Sunset Bar on Maho Beach in St. Martin's. That's mostly what I did there, and it was fun. It's only dangerous if you are one of those people who insist on being on the beach or near the fence when planes depart or land. I propped myself on one wall of the Sunset Bar to take pictures. Anything else is a little risky, but more so to your camera than your body, unless you insist on standing right under the planes or holding onto the fence. Some people are really stupid. They used to have a webcam, but I think they took that down - perhaps to discourage the stupid people. If you're there when the big KLM comes in, that's supposed to be a real treat. We weren't. When we were there, it only came a couple times per week, direct from Amsterdam.

 

Since it's your honeymoon, I would (right now) let Viking know that it is. I don't know what, if anything, they do for that, but many cruise lines will at least bring a cake or special dessert out to you if you make it known you're celebrating a special event. However, you may need to notify them a month in advance, and then check back with someone once you're on board.

 

I wouldn't punch your key card. Ask on board, though - maybe it's possible. I just went out pre-cruise and got a plastic name tag holder - large enough to hold a credit card - and that worked well. You can just place the whole thing up against the sensor on your cabin door or the one at security when you enter/leave the ship - don't even have to take mine off from around my neck - makes it easy (and safer too). If I go ashore, I stick it under my shirt until I come back.

Edited by IWantToLiveOverTheSea
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"Viking hosts a Meet & Mingle party for members of Cruise Critic. Advanced sign-up is required as the information for the party will not be announced in the cruise dailies but will come in the form of an invitation left in your cabin. Use this link to sign up."

 

Thank you, Peregrina651 for this information. I did not realize there would be a M & M party. I've signed us up for it. (Now have to remember to tell Nancy.) There are only 8 people signed up so far, to attend.

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To Senior Gators. My sister, son and daughter-in-law and I did the Grand European Tour river cruise and loved it. It certainly is port intensive. We were there at the beginning of July and there were some days when the heat was just too much. Just after our cruise there were parts of the Danube that, due to the heat wave, were too shallow for the boats. We stayed in Budapest for a couple of days after the cruise. It is a walkable and wonderful city.

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Cyber Kat,

 

 

 

We were on the Viking Sea's repositioning cruise (NYC, Bermuda and the West Indies) in October. It was moving the ship to San Juan for it's current Eastern Caribbean cruise season. As such, we were the first of the Viking cruises to encounter the hurricane devastation in that area. You are correct about St Kitts not receiving much damage and we had no problems taking the Sugarcane Train excursion as Viking optional tour.

 

 

 

Thanks! Glad to hear that! My husband will be disappointed if we can’t do this

 

 

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Good news on the Sugarcane Train St Kitts. Still don't see it listed on My Journey.

 

Has anyone on a West Indies Explorer Cruise tried the Day 10 Antigua Idyllic Beach Retreat excursion with no details 10 AM - 4PM?

Looking for details as seeing others closed down due to storm damage issues. (Butterflies and Botanical Garden) or none listed as on St Kitts. 7 days to selection date.

Edited by bcorre2
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"Viking hosts a Meet & Mingle party for members of Cruise Critic. Advanced sign-up is required as the information for the party will not be announced in the cruise dailies but will come in the form of an invitation left in your cabin. Use this link to sign up."

 

 

 

Thank you, Peregrina651 for this information. I did not realize there would be a M & M party. I've signed us up for it. (Now have to remember to tell Nancy.) There are only 8 people signed up so far, to attend.

 

 

 

 

I’ve heard that Viking will do the M&M for one person [emoji41]. I’ve also heard that they do it up right.

 

 

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More people will sign up later. There's a cutoff a week pre-cruise, so if you want, one person could give stateroom number and promise to contact latecomers with time/place. I suppose if you ask Viking about the M&M once you board, they will add your names. Viking told one of us that they had invited 35 people, which is more than the number who signed up on Cruise Critic. Our invite came on our second day onboard. It was scheduled for our first sea day (Cuba cruise) at 5 or 6 PM in the Wintergarden.

 

Viking definitely does it up right. Ours only had 25 people signed up a week pre-cruise, but Viking still went all out. There was wine, champagne and punch, hors d'oevres, and 5 or 6 key Viking folks - heads of housekeeping and Guest Services, one of the major chefs, etc. I really enjoyed talking to the housekeeping head and chef. Chef lived in Stuttgart and was going off ship in Singapore (World Cruise); was not looking forward to his plane rides home! At first at the M & M, there were more staffers than cruisers, but eventually all of us cruisers got together for a large circle of conversation. It was actually kind of nice, because sometimes at M & M's, some people don't get to mingle all that much (they're too stationary) but the big circle in the large expanse of the Wintergarden made it easier.

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  • 1 month later...

We are still 50 something days out, but making progress on our plans.

 

We got the email notifying us that we are going to St Croix instead of Tortola - the reasoning was hurricane damage but both of these islands were affected about the same, I thought. I'm disappointed that I won't get to Jost Van Dyck and the Soggy Dollar bar, but such is life. I'm saving $178 :cool:

 

We're only going to do the included walking tour. I kind of wanted to create a bit of a sea day, so this will be it. Looking forward to all the other islands and the tours we have booked. We've got the Barbados photo tour which I've heard great things about, and we are headed to St John's from St Thomas. Doing Antigua and St Lucia Land and Sea tours, and the Carapet Falls and Distillery tour in Guadeloupe.

 

Really looking forward to this cruise despite all the changes caused by those nasty hurricanes!

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We have 8 - a virtual crowd [emoji13]

 

 

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When is your cruise? The sign up for M&M closes a week before the cruise but you can go to guest services on embarkation day to get yourself added or the M&M instigator can do it for you.

 

 

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When is your cruise? The sign up for M&M closes a week before the cruise but you can go to guest services on embarkation day to get yourself added or the M&M instigator can do it for you.

 

 

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March 17 but we’re already signed up, as are the other 6 participating in our roll call.

 

 

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Well we're up to 12 now! This sailing is not sold out completely, so maybe we'll have a few more. Everyone is set for the M&M.

 

I do have some questions:

When are the Welcome Aboard and Farewell parties? We board in San Juan on the 17th (can I find an Irish bar in San Juan :)), we are there for the whole day on the 18th and we set sail at night. The next day we will be in St Croix, then after that St Kitts - trying to make dinner plans. I've heard tell that there is lobster - I do not want to miss that!

 

Question #2 - what about towels? I understand there aren't separate beach towels in the room. Are the beachy type towels by the pool you can take or do you just take a towel from your room when doing a beach excursion.

 

Question #3 - we are doing some Land and Sea tours that have a stop at a beach. Are there usually places you can change or do you wear your bathing suit under your clothes all day? I have cover-ups that are like dresses and I think they would be more comfortable than shorts if I can't change. If there's no place to change, I guess I'll take more of those and fewer shorts.

 

I had another question, but I can't remember it :D

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Well we're up to 12 now! This sailing is not sold out completely, so maybe we'll have a few more. Everyone is set for the M&M.

 

I do have some questions:

When are the Welcome Aboard and Farewell parties? We board in San Juan on the 17th (can I find an Irish bar in San Juan :)), we are there for the whole day on the 18th and we set sail at night. The next day we will be in St Croix, then after that St Kitts - trying to make dinner plans. I've heard tell that there is lobster - I do not want to miss that!

 

Question #2 - what about towels? I understand there aren't separate beach towels in the room. Are the beachy type towels by the pool you can take or do you just take a towel from your room when doing a beach excursion.

 

Question #3 - we are doing some Land and Sea tours that have a stop at a beach. Are there usually places you can change or do you wear your bathing suit under your clothes all day? I have cover-ups that are like dresses and I think they would be more comfortable than shorts if I can't change. If there's no place to change, I guess I'll take more of those and fewer shorts.

 

I had another question, but I can't remember it :D

 

 

#1 - Welcome aboard is on day 2 (the day after you board the ship). Farewell is the 2 days before so that you can spend the day before packing etc. Meet & Mingle is on Day 3 (we boarded Sunday so it was on Tuesday). All the chief officers were including the Captain.

#2 - If you are booked on an excursion where beach towels are needed, your cabin steward knows that and will put a towel in your room the night before. If you're doing a beach thing on your own - just ask to have a towel provided and the steward will happily take care of that for you. They are the "beachy towels" provided by the pool.

#3 - Don't know. Will ask hubby who did a snorkeling excursion. But suspect it really is dependent on the site. Given how Viking seems to be careful to go to places that provide decent rest rooms, you should be ok.

 

 

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