Viking Sun World Cruise ongoing review/comments

[deec]

Yes...World Cruise is a different set of rules and expectations. We all have silver seas package. They stocked our mini bars with regular sized bottles that we requested before boarding. Getting the minibar restocked is hit and miss on a daily basis but it does eventually happen.

[Redwarrior68]

Our experience similar to others. Once onboard the staff seems very reasonable to requests. We changed out the champagne for a nice white wine and also changed soft drink mix. Our mini bar actually stopped working at one point and was replaced within two hours.

On a different and perhaps more sensitive topic, we are seeing a lot more heat exhaustion and falls on excursions. The falls have lead to at least two fractures and one concussion. A number of passengers start what is described as an intermediate level tour (often 2-3 miles walking over uneven surfaces) and then have to stop and leave the tour due to exhaustion. It is very hot and humid here and people are not physically prepared. A number of otherwise able passengers are overweight. With 10 months to go before the next WC please evaluate your fitness for walking and prepare yourselves or select excursions only rated as "easy." Everyone has been really mindful of each others welfare but a lot of this is an individual's responsibility. I offer these comments with only the best of intentions. Others on the cruise can offer their own assessments.

On an up note, we had a world-class pianist last night and she was incredibly gifted.

[Wagnerite]

Armin and Alex a/k/a the two Bosnians who keep trying to get into our cabin by buzzing and saying “minibar” are extremely accommodating as are Walter the Beverage Manager and Lorena the Sommelier. They tell me that we can pretty much ask. No reasonable request refused.

 

The pianist was quite good and she didn’t have to play with two fingers or jump up and down

 

I’m hoping our Resident Pianist, Ferry, will get a good turnout for his Atrium Concert today.

[Jim Avery]

Red Warrior brings up a very sensitive but valid point. None of us like recognizing our limitations, especially when spending a significant amount on a trip like this. A fellow passenger put it right on target when he said "a great many passengers on board are doing a rather poor job of self assessing". Let's face it, we all have some form of diminished capability compared to our middle aged self. Also recognize that most of the countries visited have no concept of the Americans With Disability Act. Those who fail to recognize or admit their limitations on excursions are not only placing themselves at risk but are also impacting the experiences of their fellow passengers. Distances are farther than they appear, stairs are steep and uneven, paths are rocky and slippery, and then the heat and humidity in the Equatorial regions are highly hazardous. If you are capable, great. If not, please do yourself and your fellow passengers a favor and accurately self assess.

[Eaches]

Red Warrior brings up a very sensitive but valid point. None of us like recognizing our limitations, especially when spending a significant amount on a trip like this. A fellow passenger put it right on target when he said "a great many passengers on board are doing a rather poor job of self assessing". Let's face it, we all have some form of diminished capability compared to our middle aged self. Also recognize that most of the countries visited have no concept of the Americans With Disability Act. Those who fail to recognize or admit their limitations on excursions are not only placing themselves at risk but are also impacting the experiences of their fellow passengers. Distances are farther than they appear, stairs are steep and uneven, paths are rocky and slippery, and then the heat and humidity in the Equatorial regions are highly hazardous. If you are capable, great. If not, please do yourself and your fellow passengers a favor and accurately self assess.

 

 

 

Well said ! Thanks - I feel for the people who have been hurt or become ill during our adventure . As Jim said “ Know and Live within your limitations, don’t jeopardize others by trying to exceed yours!

 

 

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[Twitchly]

I’m surprised that 3 miles on uneven ground with stairs in equatorial heat would be considered “moderate.” Accurate self-assessment is no doubt important, but maybe Viking could be more helpful by adjusting their ratings, especially to account for heat.

[Eaches]

I’m surprised that 3 miles on uneven ground with stairs in equatorial heat would be considered “moderate.” Accurate self-assessment is no doubt important, but maybe Viking could be more helpful by adjusting their ratings, especially to account for heat.

 

 

 

Well if you are talking about the dragons, think about it ! We should have seen them at the beginning and at the watering hole and that’s it . No need to go. Into the bush when we already saw them once and the guides knew that the waterhole was the key! Oh well , glad we saw them ! But it was warm !

 

 

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[Redwarrior68]

Jim: Thanks for reinforcing my comments on fitness as they were intended to help people prepare physically for a WC. In 10 months one can lose significant weight and build endurance by watching caloric intake and routinely walking. I do think Viking is getting a lot of feedback on more accurately characterizing the level of difficulty of excursions as well as encouraging the tour companies to be more forthcoming on route selection and time allocation for visiting specific sites. Brunei tomorrow!

[SantaFe1]

Our experience similar to others. Once onboard the staff seems very reasonable to requests. We changed out the champagne for a nice white wine and also changed soft drink mix. Our mini bar actually stopped working at one point and was replaced within two hours.

On a different and perhaps more sensitive topic, we are seeing a lot more heat exhaustion and falls on excursions. The falls have lead to at least two fractures and one concussion. A number of passengers start what is described as an intermediate level tour (often 2-3 miles walking over uneven surfaces) and then have to stop and leave the tour due to exhaustion. It is very hot and humid here and people are not physically prepared. A number of otherwise able passengers are overweight. With 10 months to go before the next WC please evaluate your fitness for walking and prepare yourselves or select excursions only rated as "easy." Everyone has been really mindful of each others welfare but a lot of this is an individual's responsibility. I offer these comments with only the best of intentions. Others on the cruise can offer their own assessments.

On an up note, we had a world-class pianist last night and she was incredibly gifted.

 

It’s funny, my husband and I were just discussing the other day whether or not to bother taking our hiking sticks on the WC. We go a different route, but still some places where we thought we might like to have them. On another note, we are sometimes reluctant to rely on the difficulty rating provided by the cruise company. In our experience it has been the opposite...something marked difficult, which I almost didn’t sign up for, turned out to be very easy. We like everyone else have our limitations these days, but I don’t want to go around the world and NOT see things. I guess if we didn’t feel fit enough we wouldn’t spend all that money to go.

[watchdiva]

My husband and I talked about self-assessment after reading these posts. I have some mobility issues but tend to think I can do more than may be practical on excursions. John is my “assessor” and will always be the deciding factor on excursions that I want to do. Sadly, ziplining, jetskis, lots of walking are no longer in my wheelhouse!

 

 

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[Merrywench]

Thanks for the advice, Frank. I have always found the staff knows more about the can/can’t dos than administration anyway. We will talk to our steward. It was advised that we just order from room service. I don’t feel comfortable having someone deliver ONE glass of wine when a mini-bottle (or other) would be convent and free up the staff. When I inquired what would be different in the replenishment of the mini bar under Silver Spirits, the rep stopped responding. Now it makes sense. She didn’t want to say “nothing”.

BTW, we just returned from DownUnder with Globus. Amazing country but exhausting with 7 flights and endless bus rides. Your cruise is doing it right. Enjoy. Hope we meet up on the Briny Brine one day.

Jackie

[helenandfrank]

Thanks for the advice, Frank. I have always found the staff knows more about the can/can’t dos than administration anyway. We will talk to our steward. It was advised that we just order from room service. I don’t feel comfortable having someone deliver ONE glass of wine when a mini-bottle (or other) would be convent and free up the staff. When I inquired what would be different in the replenishment of the mini bar under Silver Spirits, the rep stopped responding. Now it makes sense. She didn’t want to say “nothing”.

BTW, we just returned from DownUnder with Globus. Amazing country but exhausting with 7 flights and endless bus rides. Your cruise is doing it right. Enjoy. Hope we meet up on the Briny Brine one day.

Jackie

 

 

Thank you Jackie, and I hope DownUnder was all you expected it to be. Travel safely. Frank

Edited February 28, 2018 by helenandfrank
Spelling

[sunbrookgal]

Not sure what you are saying. Exceeding hull speed is not an issue as the Viking Sun lacks the horsepower to achieve this . Hull speed is calculated as 1.34 x the square root of the waterline length. Waterline length of Viking Sun (including the extended waterplane aft) is rounded to 730'. Square root of 730 is 27.02. X 1.34 = calculated max hull speed of 36.2 knots. I had said I was not privy to the accurate burn rate charts for VS but used generic numbers for example. My entire point was that we could easily have exceeded 10 knots and had a meaningful stop in Darwin with small increase in real cost for the fuel for that instance. Of course higher speed means higher fuel burn rate.

 

I stand corrected. :)

[Wagnerite]

Agree on dragons. Wearing walking shoes we managed the uphill part but several waited yet one of them fell and another got scraped and cut on an emergency trip into the woods. It was hot and humid. It might have been prudent to suggest that anyone with mobility issues meet the rest at watering hole.

[Wagnerite]

[Jim Avery]

Docked at Brunei today and we have declared a sea day. Not very comfy with the Sultan’s imposing strict sharia law on his subjects with all that entails, especially for women, while he owns places all over the world like The Dorchester in London. Tales of his excesses are easily found. Then he returns to the largest palace on the planet while thousands of his subjects live on stilts over the river without basic sanitation. So he has a gold toilet, so what? I have seen Elvis’s gold bathroom on his plane! Who has meant more to the world, Elvis or the Sultan? Ok, that’s about as political as I need to be on Cruise Critic.🍺🍸😎

[larry1365]

Docked at Brunei today and we have declared a sea day. Not very comfy with the Sultan’s imposing strict sharia law on his subjects with all that entails, especially for women, while he owns places all over the world like The Dorchester in London. Tales of his excesses are easily found. Then he returns to the largest palace on the planet while thousands of his subjects live on stilts over the river without basic sanitation. So he has a gold toilet, so what? I have seen Elvis’s gold bathroom on his plane! Who has meant more to the world, Elvis or the Sultan? Ok, that’s about as political as I need to be on Cruise Critic.[emoji481][emoji483][emoji41]

 

 

We enjoyed the best “included” tour, with a wonderful Hindu Chinese guide. We visited a very clean dry market, a small but interesting history museum and a visit to part of the water village. Yes, the houses are on stilts and have all the conveniences but waste water pipes. 30,000 out of the 150,000 of the capital city live there and apparently don’t want to move, even when offered very cheap subsidized housing. 70% are Muslim and there is a very relaxed Sharia law. The civic legal system is based on their English heritage. The people love the 29th Sultan (king) whose family has ruled for 400+ years. Yes he lives in luxury, but many more people now live in modern large 2-story houses than when we were here 7 years ago. The country has $0 debt, no taxes, $1 cost per medical visit (including hospital stays and surgeries) and free education. Their money comes from offshore crude oil and natural gas platforms, making them the 5th richest nation in the world. The people and school children were very friendly. A really good day and fine world cruise experience.

[Jim Avery]

Hi Larry,

Glad you had a good day. I never expect everyone to feel the same way I do. We all have certain things we do not agree with. I was simply expressing my own reasons for avoiding Brunei as I have been posting impressions port by port. See you on the bus.:cool:

[Jim Avery]

Today we are docked in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. Compared to Indonesian towns we have visited, KK appears prosperous and well maintained. And the drivers seem to actually pay attention to the lanes on the road. ;p Traffic not nearly as chaotic. We took the included tour today, the Mari Mari Cultural Village. Had a newish bus with good legroom for a change. Our Chinese guide was knowledgeable and had a good personality so we learned quite a bit enroute. The village has reconstructed traditional structures and demonstrations of cooking and brewing rice wine. Samples were given along with the chance to shoot a blow gun. The finale was a great dance show of traditional Malaysian tribal dances. The troupe was very good. The only downside was the usual (for this part of the world) heat and humidity but there was plentiful shade and bottled water was readily available. Highly recommend this tour. :cool:

[Eaches]

Today we are docked in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. Compared to Indonesian towns we have visited, KK appears prosperous and well maintained. And the drivers seem to actually pay attention to the lanes on the road. ;p Traffic not nearly as chaotic. We took the included tour today, the Mari Mari Cultural Village. Had a newish bus with good legroom for a change. Our Chinese guide was knowledgeable and had a good personality so we learned quite a bit enroute. The village has reconstructed traditional structures and demonstrations of cooking and brewing rice wine. Samples were given along with the chance to shoot a blow gun. The finale was a great dance show of traditional Malaysian tribal dances. The troupe was very good. The only downside was the usual (for this part of the world) heat and humidity but there was plentiful shade and bottled water was readily available. Highly recommend this tour. :cool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[SantaFe1]

Thanks again, Jim and Eaches. You two are a great team!

[Azulann]

It is a big diverse world we live in!

Love this thread, posts and pictures.

Thanks for for taking me along.

[CharTrav]

It is a big diverse world we live in!

 

Love this thread, posts and pictures.

 

Thanks for for taking me along.

 

Ditto! [emoji1360]

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

Another welcome sea day after a busy port day. Sunny, calm seas, nice temperature. Hard to complain.😎 So with time on my hands, I had a thought. Ever since leaving Bora Bora we have visited countries that drive on the left. I expected it in OZ and NZ but was not aware of all the areas of the South Pacific, Indonesia, Malaysia that drive on the “wrong” side. My Mother is English so my first driving experience (at age 14) was with my Grandfather on English country lanes so one might expect me to know all the left drive countries but not so. I am learning there are far more than once thought. That’s the observation of the day.😎🍸🍺😎

[Jim Avery]

And not to forget, we are required to attend a “thermal screening “ today. This is Philippine government on board. Not sure what it entails but we can all post later if we pass or not.😱🤡